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Changes to the rules and forum functions -- please read!

Discussion in 'Forum announcements' started by Ketola, Aug 16, 2004.

  1. Ketola

    Ketola Turned ninja Staff Member

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    The forum rules have been clarified as far as the "No piracy" rule goes. Please see

    http://forums.afterdawn.com/thread_view.cfm/2487

    for the complete rules. We have tried to clarify the rule by the following case examples:

    Case examples regarding rule number five (5). No piracy.

    Case: Pirated material, such as serial numbers and direct links to pirated, copyrighted material (including direct links to torrent files and ed2k links). PROHIBITED

    Case: Technical, in depth discussion about copy protection circumvention (i.e. cracking). PROHIBITED

    Case: Discussion about pirated content and piracy, such as converting (downloaded) video and/or audio files to DVD/AudioCD/whatever format. PERMITTED

    Case: Discussion about copy protection circumvention in general (extracting encrypted content, such as DVD movies, compact discs, copy protected console and computer software, using existing software). PERMITTED

    Case: Links to sites offering possibly pirated content (including torrent files and ed2k links). PERMITTED

    Also the forums now include a Report an offensive post function which you can see at the top of each message, in the date field.

    Using this function you can report a post to the forum administrators and moderators. If you see a message that you think that breaks the forum rules, use this link! Please do not post a reply to the thread saying that the mesasge breaks the rules -- it is the responsibility of the admins and moderators to moderate the forums.

    Thank you for your attention. Happy foruming!

     
  2. Dela

    Dela Administrator Staff Member

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    Excellent Ketola, absolutely excellent!

    For future reference of moderators here i have just a couple of things to say.....

    1. Lately there has been a lot of "newbie bashing" and stupid "weed out" games on the forum that give the forum a bad hostile look and caused many newbies not to return, in future will there be a rules change or warnings that will stop this behaviour by threatening some form of disciplinary action?

    2. In the case of a rule breaking post, wouldn't I be right in saying that if the post is not very bad, that just like in the old days a verbal warning might be the best choice as opposed to bashing and banning immediately?

    3. Is there any chance for users to have an "report an offensive private message" feature, where the bad PM will make its way to the Mods/Admins including a short reason why thios PM was offensive?

    Just thought those 3 q's needed to be asked! :)
     
  3. Ketola

    Ketola Turned ninja Staff Member

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    "Newbie bashing" is not and will not be tolerated. It is already, although indirectly, prohibited by a rule -- 8. Don't reply with an off-topic comment/question. If necessary, an additional "Instruct and educate -- don't just shoot first and ask questions later" rule will be implemented.

    Yes. Only repeated and/or glaring rule-breaking posts should lead to a ban. Everyone has the right to learn from their mistakes.

    I don't really see the need for a separate feature. If numerous offensive PMs appear, an admin (me or dRD) should be contacted directly. Moderators have no say in private messages, and as you know, moderators have no means of viewing private threads.
     
  4. vurbal

    vurbal Administrator Staff Member

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    I lose my internet connection for a few days and AD gets another good feature. Cool! I, for one, am very happy about both the rules clarification and the Report to Moderator feature. Hopefully the former will help clear up some misunderstandings and the latter will be needed as little as possible ;-)
     
  5. ispy

    ispy Regular member

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    Thanks for putting the "Report an offensive post" link its good in that it may discourage posting of cracks etc.Last week I did PM a Mod about a crack post.
    Regards Simon
     
  6. Veblin

    Veblin Active member

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    I was wondering if the "Report an offensive post" link could sometime be changed to an icon with a pop-up message like those used for Edit or PM.

    I just think a icon would look better and look less threatening than all those "Report an offensive post" links.
     
  7. dRD

    dRD I hate titles Staff Member

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    Veblin: I think it is difficult to find an icon that would make it obvious to even new users what it would be. And we want to get as much user interaction in this issue as possible.

    One thing what I will still change to the system is to show the link also for users who haven't logged in, so they will be redirected to the login screen if they click it.
     
  8. Veblin

    Veblin Active member

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    I think an icon could work. Most browsers have the alternate text that shows when an icon is pointed at (if it is not disabled).

    I'm not sure that we need to worry about a few new users not knowing how to report offensive posts, because there are more than enough experienced users who can and will report those sort of posts.
     
  9. john179

    john179 Active member

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    Having now looked at these new rules i think it makes great improvement and will be more welcoming to all who visit the site.Having being going off the old rules in the past iam glad that the new one's were pointed out to me.To be honest i do not know if i recieved a mail indicating the new rules or not as i have had a few problems with mail just recently.Was the new rules sent out to everyone like in a post like a news letter is.If not would this not help a great deal because to be honest i don't check the rules each time i visit but i will now monitor more often.Some people still go by the old rules so it could be a good thing just to post them to all so everyone is clear what they are.
    Thanks
    John179
     
  10. Ketola

    Ketola Turned ninja Staff Member

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    John179,

    A notification of the changes is being mailed to all active users as I write it. Hopefully you have received it as well! =)
     
  11. tinfoil

    tinfoil Member

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    Good call, Ketola, though I wonder about this one:

    Case: Discussion about pirated content and piracy, such as converting (downloaded) video and/or audio files to DVD/AudioCD/whatever format. PERMITTED

    especially considering the first two cases.
     
  12. Ketola

    Ketola Turned ninja Staff Member

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    I don't see how either of the first cases would rule out the third case. Pirated material == posting copyrighted content directly on the forum. Discussion about pirated material == discussion regarding the material.

    Let's take a piece of software as an example. Posting a link to a pirated piece of software is not allowed, but asking for help on how to acquire, install or use pirated software is. It goes without saying that making such posts makes little sense, and it's highly unlikely that such messages would be well received, but they will nevertheless not lead to a direct ban unless some other rule is broken.

    Of course we could replace all the rules with "Use your head -- post smart." but I'm pretty sure we all know how that would work..
     
  13. darthnip

    darthnip Moderator Staff Member

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    I think the new rules are great! The new reporting feature is very nice indeed. I think relaxation of the rules might also slow down the fighting that has been going on lately, I hope anyway. I'd almost tired of banning people, well ok not really but i'm tired of having to give possible good members the boot! i think the new and improved "aD atmosphere" will help decrease the bitching and whining and fighting like little girls. If a newb screws up, so what. We all were at one time.


    **Disclaimer - The above post in no way means That you wont be "peacefully removed" if you grossly violate the forum rules. Play smart, learn well, have a good game. :)
     
  14. karen2003

    karen2003 Regular member

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    OK, I don't mean to be an old fart here, but I'm really surprised and to be honest very disappointed in the new rules. Am I the only one who sees a problem with encouraging piracy? I think the 3rd case, "Discussion about pirated content and piracy, such as converting (downloaded) video and/or audio files to DVD/AudioCD/whatever format. PERMITTED", clearly does this.

    This discussion reminds me of a "60 Minutes" piece that they just did last week on piracy. They interviewed an owner of some online download service (sorry, can't remember which one) who said, "We have no idea what people are doing with our software." Wink, wink. The ONLY purpose of his software was to help people download pirated movies; there was and is absolutely no other purpose. So to pretend that he had no idea what was going on was disingenuous to say the least.

    I know that Afterdawn isn't meant to be the Internet police. But in the U.S. anyway, piracy is illegal, and for these forums to now say, "OK, we won't give you links to sites, but we'll tell you all you need to know about how to make your pirated files into DVDs," well, what else is that except encouraging piracy?

    And I know these forums are international and maybe not all countries have laws against piracy. But wow, I'm surprised and, as I said, disappointed in the changes.

    Just my 2 cents' worth. Go ahead and call me an old fart, I called myself that. :)

    Thanks for listening.
     
  15. drchips

    drchips Active member

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    Hiya Folks,

    I personally tend to lean towards Karen's viewpoint on this...

    The clarification on what is permitted and what is not is welcome and probably A Good Thing (tm).

    The way I shall be dealing with it is:

    Where a rule PROHIBITS something - I shall abide by the rule.

    Where a rule PERMITS something AND I personally disagree with the rule - I will keep my counsel (choose NOT to assist)
    that way rule-based conflict is avoided,
    my own standards are not compromised,
    the community continues to function in the way the community leaders intend.

    Nice move on the "report" feature, can we use it for SCAM artistes??

    Have Fun...
     
  16. samintx

    samintx Regular member

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    Gosh, I'm afraid to post or ask a question after reading the new rules. I will not intentionally break the rules. I agree there have to be guidelines.
     
  17. DaBigPun

    DaBigPun Member

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    So, if we know a link to site that buys/sells/trades in backups....it can now be posted?
     
  18. Motomatt

    Motomatt Regular member

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    Case: Links to sites offering possibly pirated content
    (including torrent files and ed2k links).
    PERMITTED


    I was a little more concerned about this one? People are allowed to post links to pirated software now?


    Am I mis-understanding something here?

    Do we really need stuff like this in the forum?
    Why would you want to allow posts to pirated material?

    Matt



     
  19. samintx

    samintx Regular member

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    I don't even know of any websites that offer pirated material or whatever. I'm a dummie
     
  20. DaBigPun

    DaBigPun Member

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    I do, but I've always thought it was considered taboo to post links to them?
     

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