Jolt Forums - View Single Post - The One-Stop Rules Shop

Frisbeeteria · 30-04-2005, 19:54

Forum-Specific - Anything & Everything

General

General is considered the "Anything and Everything" home of NationStates, but that does not grant the right to post anything and everything anywhere and everywhere. All NationStates rules apply in General as much as anywhere else on the board. Threads need to have a topic and stay on it, spam and flaming are not allowed, and trolling must be carefully avoided.

Chat threads: If you want to have a private conversation with one or two other people, this isn't the place to do it. One of the instant message clients (AIM, MSN) or an IRC /query is best. If you must chat on forums, use Jolt's Chat forum.

Copy & Paste: All articles / extracts posted for debate will be accompanied by a full reference (working link or name of publication, piece and author) and original poster commentary. Copy and pasting of articles from unattributed sources with insufficient commentary will be considered trolling, spamming or copyright violation as most appropriate.

Copycat threads: When somebody creates a popular thread, copycats and parodies quickly flood the forums. Like any other fad, a few can be fun, but once everyone starts to copycat them it becomes overbearing and spammish. Such threads may be locked or moved to Spam by any moderator who considers that thread to be a copycat or spam thread. Threads with genuine content may be left alone, but that probability increases dramatically when you don't use a fad title.

Cybersex chats: Illegal under the "obscene" clause of the TOS. Take it elsewhere.

Homework Help: General is not the place to post your assignment and ask others to do the work for you. Discussing topics is fine, but not question and answer sessions.

Social RP: In the wake of several out-of-control threads, standards were established for socializing threads. These sorts of threads are tolerated as long as a) there aren't too many of them, b) they attempt to maintain at least a façade of roleplaying behavior, and c) may be locked at approximately 1300 posts.

Tag Games: Carrying on with a conversation or chase game in unrelated threads is spamming and topic hijacking. Don't do it.

Word Games are banned. Period. It is not a matter of bandwidth, they are just not coming back as they are spam. If you want to play word games, go start or join some in the spam forum. They are not welcome here.

Thoughts on Thread Management: It's common for us to lock, split, or otherwise maintain threads in General or other forums as a favor to the topic starter when such action will make the thread more readable or on topic. Examples of this include deleting or splitting posts from the General stickies that Erastide maintains or Komodom's UN sticky. Stickies are a somewhat special case, as their stickiness implies a certain level of Official Approval. If somebody has a non-sticky (but persistent) thread and wants similar assistance, we will consider it on a case by case basis. My base rule on that involves the question, "would I have done this if I stumbled across it myself?" If the answer is yes, I generally accede to the request.

Other General threads may be locked on request if the thread starter (or anyone else, for that matter) points out that the topic has devolved beyond redemption, or if rampant rulebreaking has wrecked the topic. From a maintenance perspective, this is just an extension of our own Modly ability to close problem threads and deal with topic hijacking. No one of us can possibly read every post in every thread, so it's fine to have them pointed out to us.

The thread ownership aspect in the RP forums extends much further than it does elsewhere. RP topic starters can ask to have certain players removed from a thread. We do not allow that level of control anywhere else. Also, requests for closure or deletion are almost entirely automatic, which is not the case elsewhere.

NationStates 2 and Jennifer Government

NationStates 2 is for speculation, whining, and pining for the much-rumored sequel to NationStates. To briefly answer the most common questions: Yes, you will have to pay monthly fees. No, nobody has said when it is coming out. Yes, it will most likely have a War engine, and No, we're not adding that to NationStates.

Jennifer Government (book, movie) is for discussion of the literary benefits of author Max Barry. Hey, NationStates itself is just one big advertisement for promoting his book. Go buy it and make the man happy.

[Edit history] Added Thread Management, (Fris, Jul 05); 30-June-2006 - added 'Red Arrow' copy & paste ruling, added word game spam status (TG); Added HW help (Eras,5/8/06)

30-04-2005, 19:54	#6
Frisbeeteria Needs to get out more Join Date: Dec 2003 Location: TNNN Towers Posts: 13,247	Forum-Specific - Anything & Everything General General is considered the "Anything and Everything" home of NationStates, but that does not grant the right to post anything and everything anywhere and everywhere. All NationStates rules apply in General as much as anywhere else on the board. Threads need to have a topic and stay on it, spam and flaming are not allowed, and trolling must be carefully avoided. Chat threads: If you want to have a private conversation with one or two other people, this isn't the place to do it. One of the instant message clients (AIM, MSN) or an IRC /query is best. If you must chat on forums, use Jolt's Chat forum. Copy & Paste: All articles / extracts posted for debate will be accompanied by a full reference (working link or name of publication, piece and author) and original poster commentary. Copy and pasting of articles from unattributed sources with insufficient commentary will be considered trolling, spamming or copyright violation as most appropriate. Copycat threads: When somebody creates a popular thread, copycats and parodies quickly flood the forums. Like any other fad, a few can be fun, but once everyone starts to copycat them it becomes overbearing and spammish. Such threads may be locked or moved to Spam by any moderator who considers that thread to be a copycat or spam thread. Threads with genuine content may be left alone, but that probability increases dramatically when you don't use a fad title. Cybersex chats: Illegal under the "obscene" clause of the TOS. Take it elsewhere. Homework Help: General is not the place to post your assignment and ask others to do the work for you. Discussing topics is fine, but not question and answer sessions. Social RP: In the wake of several out-of-control threads, standards were established for socializing threads. These sorts of threads are tolerated as long as a) there aren't too many of them, b) they attempt to maintain at least a façade of roleplaying behavior, and c) may be locked at approximately 1300 posts. Tag Games: Carrying on with a conversation or chase game in unrelated threads is spamming and topic hijacking. Don't do it. Word Games are banned. Period. It is not a matter of bandwidth, they are just not coming back as they are spam. If you want to play word games, go start or join some in the spam forum. They are not welcome here. Thoughts on Thread Management: It's common for us to lock, split, or otherwise maintain threads in General or other forums as a favor to the topic starter when such action will make the thread more readable or on topic. Examples of this include deleting or splitting posts from the General stickies that Erastide maintains or Komodom's UN sticky. Stickies are a somewhat special case, as their stickiness implies a certain level of Official Approval. If somebody has a non-sticky (but persistent) thread and wants similar assistance, we will consider it on a case by case basis. My base rule on that involves the question, "would I have done this if I stumbled across it myself?" If the answer is yes, I generally accede to the request. Other General threads may be locked on request if the thread starter (or anyone else, for that matter) points out that the topic has devolved beyond redemption, or if rampant rulebreaking has wrecked the topic. From a maintenance perspective, this is just an extension of our own Modly ability to close problem threads and deal with topic hijacking. No one of us can possibly read every post in every thread, so it's fine to have them pointed out to us. The thread ownership aspect in the RP forums extends much further than it does elsewhere. RP topic starters can ask to have certain players removed from a thread. We do not allow that level of control anywhere else. Also, requests for closure or deletion are almost entirely automatic, which is not the case elsewhere. NationStates 2 and Jennifer Government NationStates 2 is for speculation, whining, and pining for the much-rumored sequel to NationStates. To briefly answer the most common questions: Yes, you will have to pay monthly fees. No, nobody has said when it is coming out. Yes, it will most likely have a War engine, and No, we're not adding that to NationStates. Jennifer Government (book, movie) is for discussion of the literary benefits of author Max Barry. Hey, NationStates itself is just one big advertisement for promoting his book. Go buy it and make the man happy. [Edit history] Added Thread Management, (Fris, Jul 05); 30-June-2006 - added 'Red Arrow' copy & paste ruling, added word game spam status (TG); Added HW help (Eras,5/8/06) Last edited by Frisbeeteria; 06-05-2008 at 02:44..