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1

Friday, January 27th 2012, 6:20am

Some Questions

So, what is with all these new forum rules? They seem somewhat arbitrary and ridiculous. Using such words as "undesirable attention"? What exactly does that mean? "Oh I don't like this word or that word, lets remove the post or even ban the player" I can see the need for rules, but how is this rule necessary? And if it is necessary, maybe clarify what the problem is instead of making a general statement that almost any action can be grouped under.

Kalvan

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2

Friday, January 27th 2012, 7:28pm

Actually, the newly-revised forum rules are virtually the same as the "old" rules. There's been some expansion, but that expansion more clearly defines what you may or may not post in a message.

As for the term, "undesirable attention", let's break that down a bit:

undesirable--something which one does not want

attention--a Frogster staffer having spotted or informed of an activity that might just be a violation of the forum rules

Words and terms will be edited or removed as required. Posts and threads may be deleted or closed at the discretion of the staff, based on the forum rules. There are limits to "free speech" on a privately-owned and operated set of forums, and as defined by the rules the operator makes for that set of forums. In addition, everyone here agreed to abide by our Terms of Service and our forum rules when they created their forum accounts.

I hope this answered your concerns.
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3

Friday, January 27th 2012, 10:11pm

So, I've been writing this for the last 5 until 10 minutes and I think I understand the meaning and the reasons behind that rule. "undesired attention" is any kind of attention drawn towards certain groups or flaws in the system which causes a negative, or unwanted, impact.

But it seems like the only way this rule cannot be taken advantage of is to assume that CMs/GMs/Frogster/Runewaker/etc. only have the desire to become better. This would also assume that these groups and people are not, in essence, human. Humans have flaws that they like to cover up and even convince themselves aren't flaws and what happens is that when someone points out those flaws they become defensive and retaliatory.

Now, a way around this could be to make some kind of company policy that any time an alteration or deletion occurs they must give a reason for this to the player. This could be helpful in another way, it also informs the person who accidentally made a mistake be able to avoid it in the future.

However, this also may present another problem: How do you enforce such a policy? I honestly don't know how this is possible without extensive resources and stupid bureaucratic systems, I don't know if there are already systems in place that can just be extended to include such things.

I also understand the need and reason to have rules for forums and it isn't just anyone posting all the time. The problem presents that presents itself many times is people start taking advantage of the rules. This is what many lawyers exploit and those who, excuse me for using D&D language, are in my opinion lawful evil.

Thank you for answering my questions though. It gives me some faith in at least you and possibly all of Frogster. I was honestly not expecting a response. Also, if it's possible, next time rules are revised or reworded, could we possibly get some kind of notification, probably through email, about it?

Kalvan

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4

Saturday, January 28th 2012, 7:18pm

Responses inline below.

Quoted from "driftingdruid;505730"

So, I've been writing this for the last 5 until 10 minutes and I think I understand the meaning and the reasons behind that rule. "undesired attention" is any kind of attention drawn towards certain groups or flaws in the system which causes a negative, or unwanted, impact.


A better explanation of "undesired attention" would be any activity which is against the forum rules that is either seen by a staff member or brought to their attention by a third party.


Quoted

Now, a way around this could be to make some kind of company policy that any time an alteration or deletion occurs they must give a reason for this to the player. This could be helpful in another way, it also informs the person who accidentally made a mistake be able to avoid it in the future.

However, this also may present another problem: How do you enforce such a policy? I honestly don't know how this is possible without extensive resources and stupid bureaucratic systems, I don't know if there are already systems in place that can just be extended to include such things.


We do have an internal document which specifies what is to be done regarding threads or posts which are deleted. I can't and won't give further information on that. Posts which are edited usually include the reason appended to them which forum members can see.


Quoted

Thank you for answering my questions though. It gives me some faith in at least you and possibly all of Frogster. I was honestly not expecting a response. Also, if it's possible, next time rules are revised or reworded, could we possibly get some kind of notification, probably through email, about it?


You're certainly welcome. It's not as if we regularly get a chance to explain, to some extent, the reasons why we--the staff--do some things around here. As for forum rule updates and revisions, any such will likely be announced publicly, rather than privately via email or PM.
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