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General discussionForum regulations discussion(155 posts)(155 posts)
(155 posts)
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This is my favourite topic
Posted January 17, 2020
low rated
I thought I would avoid derailing the other guys thread and start a new on about the new changes which appeared yesterday and to ask for further clarification on the vague rules presented. Original text:

So, seeing as that announcement (which completely passed me by, perhaps lack of communication?) is locked with no ability to respond, when will the list of Exact and Specific terms, phrases, attitudes, of which we are to conform? What one person thinks of as offensive is not to others and vice versa.

Just taking the list:
-Always treat others with kindness and respect, even if you don’t agree with them.
— why? Kindness has nothing whatsoever to do with a discussion. Respect for achievement or experience in a certain area sure, but just existing is not a reason for respect?
- Stay on topic, don’t intentionally derail threads, don’t troll, don’t spam.
— why, derailing of thought process and accepted viewpoints is key to changing opinions
- Use appropriate language.
— I have no clue as to what this means, what is appropriate language? English?
- Do not intentionally insult or offend others.
— why? I happily engage in insulting and offending those around me in the real world, have you never been to a football match? 30k people insulting the referee or the player in ire at that moment for example.
- We don’t tolerate hate speech, intimidation, harassment, sexual, racial, or ethnic slurs, and discrimination.
— accepted

So from our side as users of the new regime, will you be taking advice on:
Fixing the broken rep system
Fixing the broken search box
Fixing the ability to alter thread titles
Adding the standard functionalities of forum software to follow threads, get notifications of updates to the threads, ability to remove our threads
Adding to galaxy proper direction of posts to specific game areas rather than general.
Adding core forum areas for things such as galaxy and galaxy only threads

As I say, not targeted here, just want to understand the complete picture of this new change.
Posted January 17, 2020
In case you did not see that, the code of conduct that is linked in the post is more extensive:

https://support.gog.com/hc/en-us/articles/115001814049-Forum-Code-of-Conduct?product=gog

Otherwise, I would be very surprised to ever see anything resembling an exhaustive list of what is prohibited. This is more a form of "principle based" regulation were judgement lies with the owners of the platform. I mean, this somewhat illustrates the base ambivalence of the internet and how spaces that might feel public are in fact privately owned (like the GOG forums).

(Although I have to say, while I get that political debates are a pain to moderate in practice, prohibiting it entirely seems overly strict; especially for a stite that prides itself in taking a stand on the lasting political struggle over how we handle intellectual property...)
Post edited January 17, 2020 by Robette
Posted January 17, 2020
high rated
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nightcraw1er.488: Just taking the list:
-Always treat others with kindness and respect, even if you don’t agree with them.
— why? Kindness has nothing whatsoever to do with a discussion. Respect for achievement or experience in a certain area sure, but just existing is not a reason for respect?

- Stay on topic, don’t intentionally derail threads, don’t troll, don’t spam.
— why, derailing of thought process and accepted viewpoints is key to changing opinions

- Use appropriate language.
— I have no clue as to what this means, what is appropriate language? English?

- Do not intentionally insult or offend others.
— why? I happily engage in insulting and offending those around me in the real world, have you never been to a football match? 30k people insulting the referee or the player in ire at that moment for example.

- We don’t tolerate hate speech, intimidation, harassment, sexual, racial, or ethnic slurs, and discrimination.
— accepted
- Everyone deserves respect and basic human decency.

- Derailed topics, where posts no longer relate to the original subject will simply be closed. If you wish to discuss something off-topic, create a new thread or post in the existing one relating to the new topics you want to discuss.

- Swearing just for the sake of swearing is not okay. Topics in foreign language will also be moderated by either redirecting the author to the appropriate regional forum or simply be closed.

- You do not have to get along to keep a civil conversation going. If you are unable to express your opinions without insulting others, you should either ignore that person or get in trouble.
Post edited January 17, 2020 by PainOfSalvation
Posted January 17, 2020
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nightcraw1er.488: Adding to galaxy proper direction of posts to specific game areas rather than general.
LOL. There was another one of those almost the same time as you posted. Someone please help that guy with his sentinel problem in his unnamed game that Galaxy 'helpfully' dumped into the General Forum again...

Another one that needs fixing is URL formatting. You can post links like this:-
https://www.pcgamingwiki.com/wiki/System_Shock_2

But as soon as there's a : or () anywhere in the URL, they get borked like this:-
[url=https://www.pcgamingwiki.com/wiki/Doom_(1993]https://www.pcgamingwiki.com/wiki/Doom_(1993[/url])
[url=https://www.pcgamingwiki.com/wiki/Doom_II:_Hell_on_Earth]https://www.pcgamingwiki.com/wiki/Doom_II:_Hell_on_Earth[/url]
Post edited January 17, 2020 by AB2012
Posted January 17, 2020
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nightcraw1er.488: -Always treat others with kindness and respect, even if you don’t agree with them.
— why? Kindness has nothing whatsoever to do with a discussion. Respect for achievement or experience in a certain area sure, but just existing is not a reason for respect?
Just a personal opinion, but I think respect should be implicit. If I interact with somebody and it turns out he/she is a piece of shit, the I've lost all respect. If it turns out it was just a bad day, then I'll make an effort to maintain a civil interaction, but it will take a long time to regain my respect.
Post edited January 17, 2020 by MadalinStroe
Posted January 17, 2020
Lol just don't be an ass.
It's pretty obvious when a post is an actual response, or just something to fuel the fire.

That being said, threads here DO seem to go completely off topic really fast.
Posted January 17, 2020
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nightcraw1er.488: - Use appropriate language.
— I have no clue as to what this means, what is appropriate language? English?
I agree that this rule could use some clarification and re-wording. For example, perhaps it could say something like this: "Use the appropriate language for the forum (English for General Discussion and the game-specific forums).

Also, the "no politics unrelated to video games" rule should really be mentioned in the announcement.
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PainOfSalvation: - Swearing just for the sake of swearing is not okay. Topics in foreign language will also be moderated by either redirecting the author to appropriate regional forum or simply closed.
You're miss9ing a "the" there; your post should read "redirecting the author to the appropriate regional forum".

I mention this because the lack of "the" in the forum rule is itself a problem.

(Also, perhaps "swearing" should be separate from the "use English on English forums" rule.)
Post edited January 17, 2020 by dtgreene
Posted January 17, 2020
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nightcraw1er.488: - Stay on topic, don’t intentionally derail threads, don’t troll, don’t spam.
— why, derailing of thought process and accepted viewpoints is key to changing opinions
If just now I started talking about Trump, or Hitler, and more people joined in on my discussion, while abandoning your proposed topic, would that change anybodies opinion, about treating eachother with respect. or not?

EDIT: I unintentionally mentioned Trump and Hitler in the same sentence, as if there was a comparison between the two. That was not my intention, it was just a poorly thought out sentence.
Post edited January 17, 2020 by MadalinStroe
Posted January 17, 2020
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nightcraw1er.488: Just taking the list:
-Always treat others with kindness and respect, even if you don’t agree with them.
— why? Kindness has nothing whatsoever to do with a discussion. Respect for achievement or experience in a certain area sure, but just existing is not a reason for respect?
because if you're not respectful to other users then you don't get to use the forum. respect is a two way street and people would like to use the forum in a civil manner. this requires mutual respect.
and people do deserve a base level of respect for existing. they're people. until they prove themselves as unworthy of respect then at the very least they deserve to be recognized and treated as people.
this goes both ways and you're afforded respect simply for existing. no one automatically assumes you to be a baseless troglodyte. if they did then you would simply be banned from entering the forum before you even got to use it.
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nightcraw1er.488: - Stay on topic, don’t intentionally derail threads, don’t troll, don’t spam.
— why, derailing of thought process and accepted viewpoints is key to changing opinions
don't derail threads. stay on the topic of the thread. if you're trying to change someone's opinion then your post should still be further the topic of the thread. if you start talking about the colour of cheese in a thread about zombies and don't tie the sudden change of direction back to the thread by the end of your post then you're clearly off topic. this is especially bad when you start argument in a thread that has nothing to do with the topic. no one wants to get onto a thread about zombies and wade through a 5 page argument about cheese just to get a post in.
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nightcraw1er.488: - Use appropriate language.
— I have no clue as to what this means, what is appropriate language? English?
appropriate language basically means don't use excessive swearing, don't denigrate or condescend. basically imagine you're chatting to work colleagues in the pub after work. if your post would be offensive if said out loud for it's manner of delivery (not its content) then your language is not appropriate. or imagine you're having a meal at a decent restaurant with everyone else in the thread at the table with you. if you start swearing and throwing your chicken wings at another user then you're being inappropriate.
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nightcraw1er.488: - Do not intentionally insult or offend others.
— why? I happily engage in insulting and offending those around me in the real world, have you never been to a football match? 30k people insulting the referee or the player in ire at that moment for example.
because intentionally insulting and offending others drives them away from the forum. this is not your forum and if you're making it somewhere where people do not want to go then you get removed for the better of every other user. this isn't a football stadium. if you shout at the ref in a football stadium he probably doesn't even hear you, but would you do the same if sitting down in a restaurant with him at the table? if you did you'd probably get removed from the restaurant.
also remember that games have been stopped due to racial slurs being hurled at the players.
this forum is not the appropriate setting for intentionally being a douche. if you want to intentionally insult and offend others then i'm sure there are other forums out there that will accommodate you. this is not one of those forums. this is a forum about video games and related culture.
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nightcraw1er.488: - We don’t tolerate hate speech, intimidation, harassment, sexual, racial, or ethnic slurs, and discrimination.
— accepted
if you're OK with not tolerating intimidation then why do you advocate intentionally insulting and offending others. this is intimidating. your intent is to put them down and belittle them.

The whole point of all these rules is to make a welcoming and inclusive place where everyone can chat without fear of reprisal. sure some people can get heated and argue, but if they do it respectfully then it's all fine. and since we're all people and policing people isn't a black and white science, there needs to be some lee-way for context and interpretation in the rules.
Posted January 17, 2020
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AB2012: Another one that needs fixing is URL formatting. You can post links like this:-
https://www.pcgamingwiki.com/wiki/System_Shock_2

But as soon as there's a : or () anywhere in the URL, they get borked like this:-
[url=https://www.pcgamingwiki.com/wiki/Doom_(1993]https://www.pcgamingwiki.com/wiki/Doom_(1993[/url])
[url=https://www.pcgamingwiki.com/wiki/Doom_II:_Hell_on_Earth]https://www.pcgamingwiki.com/wiki/Doom_II:_Hell_on_Earth[/url]
Workaround: Replace the '(' with %28, and the ')' with %29; that should work for any web server that follows RFC 2616.
Posted January 17, 2020
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zenstar: ...
Basically what I was posting, but much more eloquent. +1 sir!
Posted January 17, 2020
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nightcraw1er.488: - Stay on topic, don’t intentionally derail threads, don’t troll, don’t spam.
— why, derailing of thought process and accepted viewpoints is key to changing opinions
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MadalinStroe: If just now I started talking about Trump, or Hitler, and more people joined in on my discussion, while abandoning your proposed topic, would that change anybodies opinion, about treating eachother with respect. or not?

EDIT: I unintentionally mentioned Trump and Hitler in the same sentence, as if there was a comparison between the two. That was not my intention, it was just a badly thought out sentence.
Such a post would likely violate the "no politics rule" (which is not mentioned in the announcement, but should be), and would therefore likely be deleted for that reason.
Posted January 17, 2020
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dtgreene: Workaround: Replace the '(' with %28, and the ')' with %29; that should work for any web server that follows RFC 2616.
https://www.pcgamingwiki.com/wiki/Doom_%281993%29

Well the link works, but formatting is still borked (at GOG's end). Looks the same in both Firefox & Chromium. Thanks anyway for the suggestion though.
Post edited January 17, 2020 by AB2012
Posted January 17, 2020
"Hate Speech"

There is objectively no such definable thing, only arbitrary, subjective definitions. This is something that can only be enforced on the whims and feelings of the observer. No one can be (or should be) the arbiter of a nebulous term like this.

I sure hope the mods can tell the difference between jokes/banter/differing points of view and insults/slander, a lot of what is perceived as offensive these days is ridiculous, more offense is being taken than given.
Posted January 17, 2020
low rated
avatar
ReynardFox: "Hate Speech"

There is objectively no such definable thing, only arbitrary, subjective definitions. This is something that can only be enforced on the whims and feelings of the observer. No one can be (or should be) the arbiter of a nebulous term like this.

I sure hope the mods can tell the difference between jokes/banter/differing points of view and insults/slander, a lot of what is perceived as offensive these days is ridiculous, more offense is being taken than given.
If one of the people involved is offended, then it wasn't friendly banter. Until now, the mods seem to have done a good job.
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This is my favourite topic
Community
General discussionForum regulations discussion(155 posts)(155 posts)
(155 posts)