Not so long ago i came to the conclusion that the forum rules might be in need of an overhaul, since i've seen a number of people break forum rules, only for them to explain that the rules wheren't clear to them, or that they didn't bother reading it all because the wording of it seemed difficult. What i'm suggesting is for one of the staff writers to reword the rules to make them more easily understandable for everyone, including people who might not list English as their main language of choice And i'm also suggesting that maybe the rules that have been incorporated as of late be listed with the main forum rules, For example : the rules about torrent site invites, the rules that are set in the xbox forums [bold]*especially the rules about the xbox live cheating threads*[/bold], the rules that have been set up to prevent all the fanboys in the console forum from continuously bashing each other's console of choice, and maybe add a rule that clearly states we don't condone hacking/cracking and whatnot...
I also agree, I generally don't even go in the console threads just because its to hard to find any useful information or get any help with out the fanboy in people taking over. People should still express there opinions, but shouldn't get in the way of good help.
My 2penny worth One thing I do remember when I first came across this site during a Google search was that I had a problem with my PC, a serious one, which could have resulted in me losing a lot of work data. The help I have had from members on this site is secound to none and I imagine all members who have joined have come here to learn or get them selves out of trouble and the last thing they are going to think about is reading a set of rules. I mean lets face it and be honest how many people read license agreements in full!!. ok to my point I think it would be a great idea that when someone has joined and calmed down a bit because they have found their answer to send them an e-mail (just the one) with the forum rules asking that they now take the time to read them. By the way I have been through the forum rules and I think most of them are just common sense
I still say you should be forced to watch this http://www.starterupsteve.com/swf/posting.html for the people who are to lazy to read
Oh yea, that's a good idea, make it a forced browser object *make a harmless exploit that won't let you click it away* and force all new members to watch it !
Yes I completely agree..and what an excellent film. Funny and informative, can't beat that. I pinched some rules from a site I'm a member of. These seem clear thoughtful and well written. The site isn't keen on people hotlinking either to or from so apologies for posting them in full. Board-wide Policies This document is designed to clarify various responsibilities of community members here at www.phpbb.com. Please read it and become familiar with it, it's terms are retroactive and agreed by team and group members. 1. Forum rules 1. Posts are to be made in the relevant forum. Users are asked to read the forum descriptions before posting. Users consistently posting to the wrong forum may be given a warning (see policing below). # 2. Members should post in a way that is respectful of other users. Flaming or abusing users in any way will not be tolerated and will lead to a warning. # 3. Members are asked to not act as "back seat moderators". If members note an issue which contravenes something in this policy document they are welcome to bring it to the attention of a member of the Moderator Team. Only do this if a moderator team member has not replied within 6 hours. Do not respond to such topics yourself. Members who consistenly "act" as moderators may be warned. # 4. Members should remember this board is aimed at a general audience. Posting pornographic or generally offensive text, images, links, etc. will not be tolerated and will lead to a warning. # 5. Members are asked to respect the copyright of other users, sites, media, etc. Users linking to or asking for information on warez, crackz, etc. or re-printing material without permision will receive a warning and their post will be removed. # 6. Members should respect the bandwidth of other users and sites. The use of inline () image tags pointing to data stored on third party systems for which the user has not received permission to link to may be removed. # 7. Members should post in a way which is consistent with "normal writing". That is users should not post excessive numbers of emoticons, large, small or coloured text, etc. Similarly users should not SHOUT or use excessive punctuation (e.g. ! and ?) in topic titles or posts. Users consistently abusing this will be warned. # 8. Members should use an appropriate, descriptive title when posting a new topic. Examples of bad titles include; "Help me!", "I'm stuck!", "I've got an error!", etc. Examples of good titles include; "Getting an TABLE FULL error upon login", "Cannot restore a backup", etc. # 9. Members are welcome to use the test forum for general "test purposes". These may include checking signatures, testing a link or image, etc. (subject to previous points on decency, warez, etc.). Users posting in the test forum just to increase their post counts will be warned. # 10. Spam is not tolerated here under any circumstance. This includes offering hosting services (charged and free), installation services, solicitation etc. Recruiting of any sort (moderators, designers, professional MOD work etc.), be it for paid or unpaid jobs, is not permitted either. Users posting spam will be warned and their post removed. See specific item on spam and 3rd party linking for more information. # 11. Members are asked to not disclose to any 3rd party, board, or list any vulnerabilities in phpBB before first notifying the developers. You should submit all finds to our security tracker. Time should be allowed for us, at least 3 working days wherever possible, to respond. # 12. The moderating, support and other teams reserve the right to edit or remove any post at any time. The determination of what is construed as indecent, vulgar, spam, etc. as noted in these points is up to Team Members and not users. # 13. The above forum rules where applicable also apply to private messaging. Abuse of the private messaging system may lead to warnings (as above) and/or the revokation of private messaging. # 2. Signatures 1. Signatures may contain up to five lines (one line being that displayed on a browser opened to 800px width) of text (of small or normal size) and/or one image, valid combinations include; a single image of no more than 60px high, 468px wide and 6kB (6000 Bytes) in size. Signatures containing an image this large may also include one line of small size text. Signatures containing an image of 30px high may include up to three lines of small size text or two lines of normal size text. Images of 15px height or less may allow up to three lines of normal size text or four lines of small size text. Animated images are not allowed. # 2. Text sizes should be between 9 and 12 (small and normal). Text in signatures is subject to the same conditions as posts with respect decency, warez, emoticons, and so forth. # 3. Links in signatures are permitted to a maximum of four unique pages or sites. phpBB Team members are allowed additional links to aid in rendering support for phpBB. Such links may only be to *.phpbb.com or approved material. Linked sites may be commercial in nature. You may not include links in a way which suggests you offer official support, software, etc. for phpBB. You may not link to warez, porn or political, racist or other similar hate sites. Links are included in signature size limits. # 4. Users abusing these rules will be warned. # 3. Avatars 1. Users are permitted to utilise a gallery avatar or to link to one of their own (subject to previous points on misuse of bandwidth). User defined avatars are to be no larger than 90 pixels square, contain no animation, contain no image which attempts to portray the user as having an official status here (e.g. mimiking ranks or copying avatars of team members), may not exceed 6kB (6000 Bytes) in filesize and have a consistently high availability (i.e. links to images on slow servers or those prone to failure may be removed). # 2. Avatars are subject to the same conditions as posts with respect decency, and so forth. # 3. Users abusing these rules will be warned and/or may lose their avatar privileges # 4. Support of phpBB2 product 1. www.phpbb.com exists to support phpBB 2.x as made available for download on this site. No support will be given for versions of phpBB2 released or made available from other sites. This includes but is not limited to; mirrors, modded boards, modularised phpBB2 components, etc. Users of these boards should seek support at the site from where they obtained the package. # 2. 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janrocks the rules are a short read here,and simple to follow..hell if they had to read those and agree to them......that ye posted..thay would head for the hills..and me with them..
@ ireland. They basically say the same as the AD rules. Personally I like to know where I stand. I just posted those of an example of a "professionally oriented" sites ideas of what are important. Those are just the overview too..They stretch to pages and pages and pages and pages......every # is a link to a subset..Strewth!! The admin there says they are like that so that everybody knows exactly where they stand. If they need to ask for clarification after a warning they had better be damn sure which rule they are questioning, and why..
I agree that the rules need to be re-written. I dont know if this could be integrated into the rules in any way. But I know in some of the games I have isntalled that it requires you to scroll throught the EULA/"Rules" before it allows you to click the "I Agree" box and hit the "Next"/"Continue" button. Now if that could someway be integrated into the registration process at afterdawn, then users would be forced to read it or they could just scroll past the rules and then be banned caused they posted a reply against the rules they didnt read! But yeah in general though I am all for the rule redefining/clarifying.
