Da Rules.

[Joe_Kerr]

Now I'm not one to whine much, but aren't the rules on this board a bit much? Seems that since many of the rules are so subjective, a mod could get you banned for not liking you. ??? Or am I just paranoid?

[Charity]

Paranoid I would go for ;)
Nah the Mods here are a very proffesional lot,( don't tell them I said that *furtive glance furtive glance*) Seriously though I have never heard of them doing that sort of thing. The rules look big 'n' bulky but they are generally pretty easy to follow, there are plenty of folk who push it something rotten and they're all here still.

[Sneak]

That's not really true. If you want a tightly modded forum, go to the CAD forums.

Most of the rules are just general rules, same as many other boards, to keep you from flaming. Just to keep the jackasses away.

The only rules that really affect most people that I can think of are the Three Post Rule in SMBG and the taboo on real-world politics and religion. And spamming, of course. And those are easy to follow.

EDIT: And even if it was true about the rules, the mods still wouldn't do something like that. They're great mods, hand picked by The Giant.

[El Jaspero, the Pirate King]

Hear, hear!

Yeah, it seems like a lot of rules, but they can basically be summed up as:

play nice

Be good to your fellow posters and you'll be fine.

(and, welcome to the boards!)

[WampaX]

Now I'm not one to whine much, but aren't the rules on this board a bit much? Seems that since many of the rules are so subjective, a mod could get you banned for not liking you. ??? Or am I just paranoid?


You did so poorly today in discussion, you get banned.
In fact, bannings for everybody.
Sneak: But I had an active account.
Is banned now!
I am Wampa!

[PhoeKun]

Is... is that a Lugosh reference?

[WampaX]

Is... is that a Lugosh reference?

What else would it be enclosed in "Simpsons" tags?

[Alarra]

I belong to a forum where once upon a time they decided that everyone that posted between certain times (like 9 to 10 am), which they posted ahead of time (ie....don't post tomorrow between 9 and 10) would be banned and then banned them.

It goes on 'martial law' once in awhile when they completely do away with warnings and probation and any little thing you do wrong gets you instantly banned.

Aren't we glad gitp isn't like that? ;)

[Roland St. Jude]

I belong to a forum where once upon a time they decided that everyone that posted between certain times (like 9 to 10 am), which they posted ahead of time (ie....don't post tomorrow between 9 and 10) would be banned and then banned them.

It goes on 'martial law' once in awhile when they completely do away with warnings and probation and any little thing you do wrong gets you instantly banned.

Aren't we glad gitp isn't like that? ;)

Is that forum called "Calvinball" by any chance? :)

[Were-Sandwich]

Could be worse. GW boards ban you for implying Squats ever existed. They honestly think they can cover it up....

[BelkarsDagger]

Could be worse. GW boards ban you for implying Squats ever existed. They honestly think they can cover it up....

You serious? Considering their lame excuse for how they all died, it might be true.

At first I thought the rules were too much, and almost complained about it (in big red letters). But just as I was about to hit the "Post" button, I decided it would only get me in trouble, and/or banned from a site that turned out to be one of the best online groups that ever existed :)

[theKOT]

I belong to a forum where once upon a time they decided that everyone that posted between certain times (like 9 to 10 am), which they posted ahead of time (ie....don't post tomorrow between 9 and 10) would be banned and then banned them.

It goes on 'martial law' once in awhile when they completely do away with warnings and probation and any little thing you do wrong gets you instantly banned.

Aren't we glad gitp isn't like that? ;)
Yeah, the Giant never instituted an absolute immediate banning for even the tiniest offence... Hello, what's this?


The Voice of Mod: OK, I just had to ban OddlyColoredCanine on this thread for this willfully flaunting my previous warning about insulting the intelligence of others, so here's the deal: Anyone is allowed to express their opinions about the quality of the strip. But if one more person spews an insult, flame, put-down, belittlement, or any other negative word about any other poster or group of posters--even if that group is passively defined, like "anyone who thinks that"--on this thread, they will be banned. Immediately. No warning, other than this here.

For the record, ALL of the following terms will qualify as insults in this thread from now on:
• Troll
• Sycophants
• Fanboy/girl

If you can express your opinions in a civilized manner, you may do so, but if you can no longer discuss the strip without insulting those who feel differently than you, then I will remove your presence from the discussion, permanently. This applies equally to both sides of the discussion.
hmmm, well certainly he didn't completely overreact to a harmless and good-natured joke, right?

on May 21st, 2006, 4:56pm, Dirigible wrote:
Isn't 'lame whitewolf larper' redundant?


The Voice of Mod: Well, I guess you thought I was just kidding. Insulting people who play White Wolf LARPs, as well as dancing around the words "troll" and "smug" in your previous post...I gave a very specific warning. You chose not to heed it. Banned.
Here's the context, (http://www.giantitp.com/cgi-bin/yabb/YaBB.pl?board=comics;action=display;num=1147931611 ;start=478#478) and Here are all of that users posts. (http://www.giantitp.com/cgi-bin/yabb/YaBB.pl?board=comics;action=usersrecentposts;usern ame=Dirigible)
Now that was during a particularly nasty period in the playground and everyone was on edge, but the Giant is willing to institute instant bannings if he thinks it necessary.

[Joe_Kerr]

Oh dear god. That does seem a bit like an overreaction. I'm going to guess I'm doomed then.

[Sneak]

KOT, you just couldn't leave well enough alone, could you? Now you're going to scare off the newbie.

@ The Man who's Not The Giant: Don't worry. Just play nice and nothing will happen. I mean, any post by a mod put in a vacuum could be seen as an overreaction. You have to know the full context before you judge it, and by that I don't mean reading the other posts in the thread.

Soundbytes are meaningless.

EDIT: For clarity.

[El Jaspero, the Pirate King]

*thumps table*

Hear, hear! Well put, Sneaktastic.

[Chris the Pontifex]

Now that was during a particularly nasty period in the playground and everyone was on edge, but the Giant is willing to institute instant bannings if he thinks it necessary.

huh I though the "particulairy nasty period" was during (or right before, I forgot) the crayon comics. With the massive lateness debate.

I totally missed all this.

[theKOT]

huh I though the "particulairy nasty period" was during (or right before, I forgot) the crayon comics. With the massive lateness debate.

I totally missed all this.

I didn't say THE particularly nasty period, I said A particularly nasty period. Here is the comic thread before that one. (http://www.giantitp.com/cgi-bin/yabb/YaBB.pl?board=comics;action=display;num=1147754906 ;start=287#287) Here's a thread that popped up just after that. (http://www.giantitp.com/cgi-bin/yabb/YaBB.pl?board=comics;action=display;num=1148306594 ;start=1#1)
This was also close to the scale back to two a week.

KOT, you just couldn't leave well enough alone, could you? Now you're going to scare off the newbie.

@ The Man who's Not The Giant: Don't worry. Just play nice and nothing will happen. I mean, any post by a mod put in a vacuum could be seen as an overreaction. You have to know the full context before you judge it, and by that I don't mean reading the other posts in the thread.

Soundbytes are meaningless.

EDIT: For clarity.
Cheat Sneak, I would hardly call an entire thread a "soundbyte". How much context was I supposed to provide? I showed all I could and even explained some of the setting. Also,
I wasn't the only person who felt the Giant was unnecessarily harsh. (http://www.giantitp.com/cgi-bin/yabb/YaBB.pl?board=comics;action=display;num=1147931611 ;start=480)

[Joe_Kerr]

You know, reading these threads really puts this whole board in a negative light. As I said before the rules are a bit much. For a online community to do well, the common man must have respect for the mods and higher up folks. But it seems to me that this method of order only provokes fear and causes people to stifle what they say or be banned. I also find the need for a regular time for new comics to be essential. Not delivering on a promise causes people to lose faith in Rich. Thus they lose respect and the community as a whole suffers.

[Sneak]

Cheat Sneak, I would hardly call an entire thread a "soundbyte".

I would.


How much context was I supposed to provide? I showed all I could and even explained some of the setting.

Right. But that's the whole point. You just can't provide enough context.

When you're dealing with imperfect humans, you have to take everything into consideration. What the Giant ate for breakfast. Everything. Context does not mean a page, or even a thread. Everything that happened for the past who-knows-how-long can be a factor. It may seem ridiculous, but we're only human. I hope.


I wasn't the only person who felt the Giant was unnecessarily harsh. (http://www.giantitp.com/cgi-bin/yabb/YaBB.pl?board=comics;action=display;num=1147931611 ;start=480)

Right, but any time the Giant makes any post, people will critisize him and say he spoke too harshly. It's part of being a public figure. Oh, and because dissent is patriotic...and really it does seem like he acts too harsh sometimes. The thing is, that's not the norm of things around here. If you only show someone the bad parts of anything, they won't want it. But if you show them the bad parts as well as the overwhelming majority of good parts, maybe they will.


You know, reading these threads really puts this whole board in a negative light.

That's just the thing. You can't only read those threads and not read the good threads and pass those bad threads off as the standard for the board. For every bad thread, there are at LEAST twice as many good threads.

It's like reading a book and only reading the worst parts of it. The plot isn't coherent.


I mean, if you read As I said before the rules are a bit much. For a online community to do well, the common man must have respect for the mods and higher up folks. But it seems to me that this method of order only provokes fear and causes people to stifle what they say or be banned.

It seems to me maybe you should stick around the boards for a while and actually see what they're like through your own eyes, not with someone else feeding you memories. If you still feel that way, maybe this community really isn't for you. But how can you know if you don't try?


I also find the need for a regular time for new comics to be essential. Not delivering on a promise causes people to lose faith in Rich. Thus they lose respect and the community as a whole suffers.

Here's where I get a little fuzzy. Where did Rich every make a promise to put them up on time? This webcomic is free.

Anyway, now that I look back on it, maybe I shouldn't have gotten into this discussion. But I didn't want any potential cannon fodder newcomers to be scared away.

[Charity]

The only threads where you get any of this are on the comic boards, and I am not a regular over there.

However from what I've seen of it all it goes something like this.

1. Someone makes a snotty/stupid and/or insulting remark/request to Rich.
2. Loads of people jump in defending Rich.
3. Loads of people jump in defending the original poster.
4. Rich is handed a great big can 'o' worms to deal with.
5. Rich gets the arse and bans some folk.
6. Everyone gets on his back about it.

Truth be told the comic is good, but it ain't Shakespeare lets be honest. There really isn't that much to discuss so as the old adage goes the devil make them lil hands busy.
Rich shouldn't get drawn in, we all know that, I'm sure he knows that, but... It is his baby (and by that I include the whole forum). It is inevitable that he's going to get defensive every now and then.

To the original poster I would have to say, take a bit of sneaks advice, try it, it's fine, you'll get along famously I am sure.

Now stop making me come over all serious would you guys, I'm worried the wind might change.

[theKOT]

I wasn't trying to say these forums weren't good or nice. I was simply debunking a claim. I have found the rules of posting keep a lot of arguments from starting/escalating. The mods are generally fair and even-handed. The place is run well, and Not the Giant should try it out.

Right. But that's the whole point. You just can't provide enough context.

When you're dealing with imperfect humans, you have to take everything into consideration. What the Giant ate for breakfast. Everything. Context does not mean a page, or even a thread. Everything that happened for the past who-knows-how-long can be a factor. It may seem ridiculous, but we're only human. I hope.
No, you don't need an infinite amount of context. The amount of backround I provided(I showed the thread, that users posts, the previous thread, a later thread, and explained the situation somewhat) is PLENTY enough for someone to draw a conclusion about what happened.


If you need an infinite amount of context in order to draw a conclusion, than nobody ever should draw any.

[Ikkitosen]

Hey 2nd Edition.

I have been reading OoTS since about comic 20 and have been a Forum member for quite some time now (although I lurked for quite a while ;)). I can honestly say that I have never had any problem with the boards whatsoever.

Just think of this - when you post to these boards, you are using something provided for free by a man who has clearly shown that he can make a living without them. Why are the boards still here? Well, I'd like to think because they're a nice place to be, and are a sort of throw-back thanks from Rich to the community at large, without whom his success may have taken a little longer to achieve. So, when you're going to post to these boards just remember that.

Now, since it seems you have actually read the rules of posting I am guessing that you are not the kind of person that might get banned here. It's not some gestapo state where Mods and The Big Bad Giant will jump on you at first opportunity, just be nice and you'll be fine!

Seriously, nothing to worry about.



Oh, and this was far less eloquent than I intended to be. Sorry! ;)