Rule Suggestions

Alright, well, I'm trying to help Fallen Echo with the making of the site, so here's my little effort.

What kind of rules do we need here? This applies to anything and everything. Currently there's very few posted, so whatever you could think of would be helpful.

So.. throw them at us? *prepares the fishing net* o.o Just.. don't make them lead balls, I don't think the net is strong enough. *examines it*

Yes... I am that much of nerd. *bows* Thank you.

Text talk and/or using smilies in a post shall be met with public execution at sundown

Agreed! I was also thinking that if it hasn't already been mentioned, it should be made clear that the chatbox is pg-13, that way people can't say that they'd never heard that before if they get all *****.

Alright, these are some of the rules I already had in mind. More later if/when I can think of some. And I'm sure a few of them were already implied, but I feel it's worth it to say it anyway. Wouldn't want to forget. And...I like lists >.> Also, all the rules will be explained in ways that new users can understand immediately, but I know you guys get this stuff already So, in brief...

POST-WRITING EDIT: I sort of transferred to my admin voice...er...almost right away. So...not as brief as I'd originally intended. I didn't feel like changing it, though, because I was going to have to type those things anyway. A few things still need to be explained further, but...yeah.

RP/CC Rules:
-No GM
-No PP
-Use some form of OOC
-No post should be entirely OOC. That's what PMs and the Idle Chatter forum are for
-All posts should be at least three good sentences long ((That's how I've always done things))
-Listen to the OP. If they've made certain specifications and/or set their own special rules for the chat/topic, follow them
-Treat all members with respect
-Characters may swear and/or insult other characters--but don't take that as an excuse to attack the other user. On the other hand, if someone else's character insults your character, don't take it personally! If a user, however, insults you or otherwise treats you poorly, notify a staff member ((Again how I've always done things...though it comes eerily close to issues we've had over yonder...))
-Strive for spelling and grammar. Please.
-Respect these rules!

Chatbox Rules:
-Absolutely NO spamming
-Keep swearing to a minimum, both users and characters. If a user voices discomfort, please censor. (If a character voices discomfort, well...tough shit )
-Colors are a big deal around here. Respect chatbox colors. It's how we identify each other!
-No personal drama. We realize people have bad days and go through some really emotional events. Believe us, we go through them, too. We don't want to be insincere, but...please don't bring these things up in the box. It makes people extremely uncomfortable. If you need someone to talk to, please do so privately.
-Keep chatspeak to a bare minimum. "Lol," "brb," and other small things like that are fine, but..."you" is spelled Y-O-U, "at" is spelled A-T...you get the point
((And the thing about rating has already been said ))

So...er...yeah... o3o;

Just a few comments on your suggestions, Echo:
*Are we doing some lingo explanation guide delio? (you may have already mentioned that before, now that I think about it) I don't think anybody wants to have to explain OOC, GMing, PPing etc to every newb that passes through

*Completely OOC posts don't bother me (as long as somebody's just announcing that they have to go or something similar to a thread, if their chat buddies aren't in the box)so that might be a little harsh, unless they have an entire OOC convo in a chat

*'Good' sentences is a little vague

*Can we mention something about OPs not having TOO much power, though? I mean, yes, their word on rules is law, but it bothers me so much when they try to control the entire plot/characters just 'cause it's their thread. Just a thought.

*Are we gunna have enough colors for all the users when/if the site gets booming, since we're going to advertise? Will the chatbox even always be a convenient option when we get too many users? What about multiple boxes- is that somehow an option?

*Certainly.

*They've always bugged me, to be honest. It's getting credit for not actually doing anything, you know? Cheating, basically. This is another rule I've always used and that I've seen used on other sites. If the users really honestly have something they need to express, they can take it to PMs. Granted, the rule was first put in place with OOC conversations in mind. But if you're not going to let that happen, you might as well not let any of it happen. Tighter rules are both easier to follow and easier to enforce.

You may think it's a little harsh, but this is what brings me to OOC threads. It occurred to me earlier that I forgot to do this... I'm going to put a forum up in the Lounge specifically for OOC threads. You may not be familiar with them, but they're pretty common in the roleplay world, and I all but expect rpers to make them. If you weren't aware, an OOC thread is where you sign up and discuss the IC thread. Posts in this area will not contribute to post count. Does that sound fair?

*Yeah, I planned to elaborate on that.

*Certainly. This rule is mainly for "Um, that doesn't work for my plot... See the rules I put up? You kinda have to do that..." "SHUT UP I CAN DO WHAT I WANT." Overly dramatic, but you know what I mean. (Though I have seen basically that exact exchange a few times in the past, mainly in places where rules weren't all that enforced. Of course, we'd give warnings for stuff like that.)

*I figure we'll cross that bridge when we come to it. No, you can only have one chatbox linked to the site. If worse came to worst, I could set up an IRC client and put up a link to it, but it wouldn't actually be connected directly to this site.

About colors, though, I think there should be a point when, if a user hasn't come on in a dog's age, their color should be put up for grabs again. It's only fair; if you come on and post a total of twice, that regular over there deserves your color more than you do. On that note, how long of an unexcused absence should be considered too long?

Fallen Echo wrote:
*They've always bugged me, to be honest. It's getting credit for not actually doing anything, you know? Cheating, basically.

But post count isn't a contest... unless we actually do anything with it, I guess

And hm... 2-3 months?

*But the thing is, we are doing something with it. That Daydream Dakka is going to earn people stuff on here. (I believe the first blog post has slightly more information.) So...it really is unfair if one person gets points for gorgeous, you-can-just-see-the-effort posts, and another gets the same amount of points for stuff like "K, bbl!"

And it may just be my competitive edge speaking, but it always invoked some level of ire in me when I saw people climb for bullcrap like that while I was off working hard. And I'm sure there are going to be other users with a ladder-climbing drive who share those same sentiments. It's just...not fair, you know? I want all those people on the top 20 list to honestly deserve those spots.

*The range sounds good, but is it going to be 2 or 3? We need an exact number. It's that thing I said about tight rules again, not to mention that it keeps things fair. Fairness is definitely going to be emphasized here...

I remember that being mentioned, but I'm still confused :s

And how about three, so people have some extra wiggle room?

And wait, didn't you say you could make that by word count not posts?

When people reach a certain number of DD, they'll be able to "buy" things on the site. Once the thing is bought, the sum will be subtracted from the user's total.

Yeah, 3 sounds good.

Nah, turns out it doesn't work. If only...

Also, that thing you did right there reminded me of another rule:
-Do not double-post. If you need to amend a statement, use the edit button

I don't mean to target you or anything; it's another rule I stick to. And if it hadn't been you who reminded me, it would've been someone else. It's a spam issue, really *shrugs*

Also also, our post counts are going up for this and this should not be... *grumbles and goes to see what the issue is*

Alrighty

I made an entire "newbie" guide for a different site that I created, and I could go through an entire list of stuff that we came up with to explain and go through...if you guys would like some help with that...

Ah, I already planned to make a newbie guide, lol, so our minds were in the same place there. Certainly, if you have suggestions, feel free to voice them. (But yeah, if you've seen it/done it on another site and it works well/is good for the site, you can probably assume I'm doing it, too. Seven years of experience running sites and rping, after all You get to know stuff like that, haha.)

haha yeah. It was evil to write, but it works quite well. I'll go dig it up and see what else there is.
I just looked it up, because I haven't been in that part of the site in years, and we have an entire Tutorial section on just about everything from "misused words in the english language" to "a quick guide to character creation"...if there's anything you'd like help with.

So, are we all agreed on these rules? Everything reasonable? I want to get this up, so speak now or forever hold your peace.

I definitely agree. ^_^ The rules seem reasonable and still allow a lot of things. Perfect~

Thanks for your input ^_^

All I can think to add is "how to clarify your violent intentions so as to harm someone's character with maximum consensual gore, but not at the expense of psychologically harming the someone in question"... Which I feel like could also generally be put somewhere else...

And is the entire site just going to be ~PG 13 except in Mature, and places where explicit gore is practically mandatory...? or...? *me and ratings systems are not good but I thought perhaps I should ask...*

I think that's all I got. The rest all seems fine to me.

Er...for one thing, gore is not what makes Mature Mature. Smex is what makes Mature Mature. For another thing, if you're harming someone's character, you have to ask permission anyway. So that should be discussed between the users. I see this as a matter of personal responsibility, not something that should be made a rule.

Could personal responsibility be a thing that gets touched upon in the rules then?

And I know that that is why mature is mature. But I didn't know if there was going to be a gore ceiling or something for stuff that's appropriate for viewing of all peeps who happen to stumble across it...or if gore would be in any way regulated. I feel like I'm trying to make sense here but it may not be working right at this moment in time.