New forum moderation policy?

[Crush]

Hello TMW forum community

As you might have noticed there is a recent rise of trolling and flamewars in this forum. I think that this is hurting the impression other people have of the TMW community as a whole, especially the impression we make on new contributors. In fact I believe that the current way some people behave around here has already scared away multiple potential new contributors and thus harmed the development of TMW. Thats why I think that it is in the interest of all of us when we try to keep these black sheeps in our community in line.

But of course noone wants this board to become a censored police-state where noone may complain or argue at all.

That's why I propose this new forum moderation policy. This policy is only a proposal by me and I will only enforce it when I believe that the majority of the forum community is on my side. That's why I opened this topic to discuss the new policy with you including a poll to see what you think about it. Making suggestions for improvements is encouraged.

That's my proposal for the new policy:


The sub-forums are separated into loose-moderation and strict-moderation forums.

Loose moderation forums are those mainly relevant for the community. We are all here to have fun, so moderation will stay lax here. Loose moderation forums are:

• Suggestions/Feedback
• Player Talk
• Market Place
• Off Topic

Arguments, even heated ones, are still allowed here. Even posting controversial postings for fun (trolling) is permitted here as long as it doesn't turn into severe spamming. Insults will only be removed and punished when someone complains about them using the button below each post. Posting of illegal or NSFW content is of course still forbidden and will be severely punished on sight. I also reserve the right to move individual postings or whole threads around when I believe that they fit better elsewhere.


Strict moderation forums, on the other hand, are those relevant for development and those most likely to be viewed by potential new contributors. These will have a much more strict moderation:

• News
• Job Posting
• Court House
• Whole "Development" section
• Whole "Support" section

In these forums the following things are strictly forbidden:

• Posting with a "Persona" character impersonating a celebrity or fictional character (Clarification: You can of course post with an account named after a celebrity or fictional character as long as you don't use this account to roleplay him or her)
• Making non-serious or off-topic postings
• Insulting people or using ad hominem arguments [Link]. (Clarification: You may of course provide criticism of peoples work, even when it is completely negative. But you may not insult the person him- or herself)
• Posting with multiple accounts while giving the impression that they are different people aka. sock puppeting. (Clarification: When you have more than one forum account for whatever reason you are on the save side when you post only with one of them in the strict moderation forums)

Violation will result in a forum ban and deletion of the offending postings.

[Platyna]

This policy is already in, that's why Development Moderators has been made. To moderate development section. I am now preparing to exams, so I have little time, I hoped you and Jaxad and can take over the care over community while I am not available.

Regards.

[foobo]

Maybe reorganize forums a little bit. Move player related categories to separate subforum and place it on bottom of the page, like on this picture:

[Rotonen]

If there is going to be reorganization, I'd also like to see eA dev and TMW dev split into their separate sections for the sake of clarity.

[Crush]

Added a rule against sock puppeting in high moderation forums.

[Amuk]

I think it is as awesome as is. However if you are open to a minor suggestion regarding the courthouse. I do have one.

I think the courthouse should be moved and fall under player control. Maybe a sub-forum of player talk.
Letting players try to work out problems seems like a good idea to me. Like recently how it has been slack about people starting discussions on complaints.

I would than like to see a new board made where the courthouse currently is that is read-only. That only GMs / staff can post on.

Just a thought.

[Wombat]

Maybe reorganize forums a little bit. Move player related categories to separate subforum and place it on bottom of the page, like on this picture:

I'd support this reorganization and that suggested by Rotonen (split eA and TMW dev) if the "player zone" were at the top of the list.

[Booth]

I think this is a good idea, but we shouldn't tend to putting anyone down that tries to develop anyting for the game, especially if you haven't done any work yourself. You can give them criticism but just don't throw stuff in thier face making yourself better than them.

[enchilado]

I'm all for this (surprised, ain't ya?).

[CapitanAwesome]

maybe a system of rating a forum members posts (anonymously) would help people to determine how much merit they should apply to another members comments.

I guess it would be smilar to the 'beans' on the ubuntu forums.

This would replace the current ranking system which relies on post count and would encourage people to post useful things rather then trolling and posting crap.

Hopefully there is a module around for the boards to acomplish this, otherwise it might be more work than it's worth.

Cappy =)

[LtCol KILGORE]

But of course no one wants this board to become a censored police-state where no one may complain or argue at all.

This would replace the current ranking system which relies on post count and would encourage people to post useful things rather then trolling and posting crap.

To be honest :

• the actual system proved itself to be EXTREMELY efficient (at our host benefit ...)

~ Just trash many posts and prosecute a few bans ! YEAH ! ... mmm ... GOOD (???) JOB ...

[Crush]

I am happy to see that the reaction to this proposal is mostly positive with 16/19 yes votes by now.

But there is still one person who voted "With some major changes" and two who voted "No".

Well, one of them is most likely that guy over my post who rather prefers to impersonate characters from movies instead of contributing seriously to the forum, so I can understand that he is against it.

But I would like the other two people to speak up and explain us what concerns they have.

[LtCol KILGORE]

Well, one of them is most likely that guy over my post who rather prefers to impersonate characters from movies instead of contributing seriously to the forum, so I can understand that he is against it.
But I would like the other two people to speak up and explain us what concerns they have.

Since "Freedom to speak up loud and clear" was removed from me a long time ago inside this forum, I would simply ask :

• • "what's the use of a poll if every NO has be be namely justified ?"

Come on, just answer this simple question ...

[Rotonen]

They do not have to be answered. He's just being fair and being interested in the reasons someone would strictly say no to the concepts posed here.

No such opinions were voiced out yet.

Your native impulse to try to forcibly find angles like you just displayed there is starting to get on my nerves again. Instead your need and we'll get back to this. We can have a long and lengthy discussion over this via PMs for our amusement if you so desire, but at least try not to publicly restrict points of view in discussions to the worst possible available options.

[Crush]

So is there anyone with any arguments against this new moderation policy proposal or not?