jumpenjuhosaphat

This is the official thread to discuss the forum rules announcement.

These new policies weren't put in place to annoy or irritate. This is an honest attempt at improving the forum for everyone's sake.

As is everything, this is open for discussion. I'd like to hear your viewpoint on the new policy changes, as well as anything that you think that we can do to further improve the forum.

THE SIGNATURE RULE IS ON HIATUS UNTIL IT IS FURTHER DISCUSSED. PLEASE DISREGARD THIS UNTIL FURTHER NOTICE.

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detoam

I agree with the new rules. Not to be picky but I see that You still keep Your signature.
On the serious note I do agree. there have been a little too much of B.S. lately. I have been participating in that as well, so I am just as guilty. I am going to stop that as of now. And to help gain the lost members back I am going to post some keyworded links on my site.

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dhscott

I agree with most of it, double posting could be a simple mistake though, I'm always doing it as I use the quick reply bar more often than not now. I'm sure there is a vB mod out there which merges the two threads together, its quite handy!

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jumpenjuhosaphat

I was just thinking the same thing detoam....I was about to leave to go to the auto store, and I remembered that I still had 4 links.....I can't expect anyone else to follow the rules if I'm not willing to do it too...

Yeah, the double posting issue isn't really so much aimed at everyone. But there are some members that make a habit out of it, and it's a time killer. I don't mind merging posts, I just don't want to spend all of my time doing it.

Thanks for reading through the announcement guys.

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blanchart

Well, I think we can assume these changes if we want both iWEBTOOL and yourself to survive!!.

You have been making a great effort to keep this running and the least we can do is giving you all our support.

I hope this will put things back in their place.

Chart Music

Just seen the new rules for the first time.

If I was a newbie I'd leave as the tune is most off putting and sounds like a forum going down hill. It's also to long to be worth bothering to read - from a newbie point of view anyway.

The rules seem quite unfounded also. Many of the problem seems to be because the forum is not moderated or not moderated enough.
Solution to such problems is to moderate the forum, not create more rules and moan to members, all that does is put members off.
Extra rules just get ignored by newbies and existing members who have read the rules feel uneasy seeing newbies break the rules, none of which creates the right environment for people to be happy and post.
The announcement is like a one way thing also, not an open thread what can get your members involved (with ideas, suggestions and assistance), but a dictate leading to members being alienated.

There is another issue slightly affecting board actively I suspect also, and that is there are a number of dead links on the home page. The whole 'links for sale' section is dead so in my view remove it.

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jumpenjuhosaphat

Actually, if you had read the announcement, you would have seen a link to a thread intended for the discussion of these new policies. There truly aren't any new rules per se, other than the signature link policy and a few minor ones that have to do with making pointless posts. The main intention of that announcement was to make members aware of the changes that are taking place. I strongly urge you, and all members of the forum to read the rules, because, like I said in the PM, it affects everyone of us.

As far as the forums not being moderated, we are here to moderate, take care of spam, etc...That doesn't mean that because certain members choose to not want to take extra steps to try to make the forums cleaner that it is the moderators responsibility. We get paid just as much as any other member does, so why would you think that we should be forced to do things that regular members aren't willing to do when they are empowered to do those things. The forum has plenty of moderation.

<*moved to the already in progress discussion thread*>

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Bagi Zoltán

I also think that the new rules are necessary. I hope that will cause the required improvement, since this board was a little better a while ago. Don't want to blame anyone, but as I remember the unpleasant things started when new signature rules was implemented. Somehow i think the quality of the postst and threads will be improved with the new rules and the forum will become as respectable as it was months ago. This is only my personal opinion so don't take it seriously.

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Bisje

Ok, it's probably me...still too early in the morning...but what are the new rules and where can I find them ?

When I click on the announcement I get following message :


Did you suspend me ?

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jumpenjuhosaphat

No....Never Bisje... We would never do that....I'm not sure, but that's the second time I've heard that problem...And what doesn't make sense is that you have sufficient permissions, so you should be able to view it. I'll look into it.

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Bisje

What a relief Thought I already broke the rules before reading them

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jumpenjuhosaphat

No...I'm not going to be a hard ass....I won't ban anyone at all over this....This is just an attempt at making the forums a better place to live.

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midlandi

I agree with the new rules.
As one who has been guilty of some of the "off topic posts" its easy to get a little carried away.But i always try to balance it out with help etc in other posts, whereas (no names) some here just contribute "drivell" all the time.

I totally agree with the "thank you" post also.

The idea of making certain areas non counting not to sure i agree with that, but thats only my opinion not a critasism.

On the whole it should improve the whole forum and i hope it works.

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jumpenjuhosaphat

And keep in mind, none of these things (except the signature rules) are set in stone...That's why I opened this thread, so that we can discuss how we feel about some of the things I mentioned. Thanks Midi for reading it...I know it's long, so I appreciate you taking your time...

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Chart Music

I read the announcement in full. The link in the thread I read was not even click able and perhaps I have this wrong, but I don't think it's in a place all members can see?. In my view the link should be at the top, with the rest of the announcement saying what the changes and not listing all rules. Could have a separate place to list latest forum rules if someone is that interested.

Nothing about the changes in part 1) about how it would be implemented. I imagine that all members signatures will be removed at some point, as can't see any working alternative to that. But it doesn't say when that cleaning of signatures will occur or indeed even if it will occur.

With a forum that gets a lot of newbies, which I think this forum does it's more about how you enforce the rules then what the rules are.
For example rule 8) about posting things in the right forum, well it's a good rule to have, but most time people intent to post in correct forum,, but they just don't know enough to know otherwise. So a nice way is just to move a thread and Pm them you've moved it, of course if this keeps re-occuring then either they are really stupid(most likely!) or it's deliberate and you warn them.

I disagree with 5a), 5b) and 5c) all of which are counter productive to having an enjoyable active forum.
5a) saying thank you, a particular counter productive measure.
A thanks you helps the forum because:
- A thank you confirms the communication
- it shows a happy member
- it also says that to everyone that reads the thread creating a nice atmosphere.
- It encourages more replies also, making the place more active
- it helps visitors see that the forum gets results. Especially important point I feel.
So there you have it one of the most useful types of posts you can have, yet it's against the rules.

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