I think it would be better if you delete (or un-sticky) this present thread and start a new sticky one (locked or not) with a title like "New forum rules starting from March 2017" as for casual readers, this update will probably go invisible as not a lot of people would go check the 477 messages (I didn't even bother to read everything) or go back to the OP (as by default it always go to the last page).

Thanks, Fables. A fairly good chunk of the new rules concern, as expected, things that should have been explicitly called unwanted long ago. The piracy paragraph especially.

The reputation system paragraph irked me a bit, on the one hand because we're still waiting our butts off for the removal of the rep system entirely, on the other hand because "abuse of the reputation system" isn't really defined. Systematic downvoting of an unpopular post, which is the norm and the actual problem here, can hardly be called "abusive" because that is what the mechanic is there for sadly. With the sole exception of alternate account voting, people are using the reputation system according to its concept (they only "abuse" the report button I guess). And as Tropes vs. Women have taught us, the rep mechanic will naturally be used to its full potential just because it's there, whatever the implications. Law of the playground. :)

The other part is naturally the language bullet. You've opted for a catch-all variant that can basically brand every even remotely negative post as rule breaking. Such a paragraph can work on more heavily moderated forums where mods apply a good bit of leniency and a sense of proportion. Not sure it'll work so great here. Especially it mixes targeted and non-targeted forms of aggressive expression. I personally have nothing against a good creative jolt of vulgarity, profanity and obscenity as long as it isn't hurled at a member, developer or GOG representative.

However, I respect the "non-negotiable" stance of course and hope it will indeed lead to a better debate climate on the forum.

I think the way I've treated you is enough to boot me, you don't need to go after my cursing. :P

Actually, going to the last page is a per-member forum setting. Though that might be the default setting, it can be set to "take me to the first page". It's named "When I enter the topic:", in the "My Settings" at the top of any forum page (next to "My Questions").

At first glance, the rules bother me a bit, especially the thing about derailing. Derailing is an essential part of the GoG culture, it shouldn`t be forbidden!!!
Oh, and there are a few more things:
Posting of cheats and spoilers is not allowed? In a gaming forum? What the...?
Humor is restricted to baby like humor? Really?

These rules sound pretty good! There's just one or two things I'd like to add: So... When I step into the "Known Scammers" thread, say something like "NES is still a scumbag" and get back on his list of users to downvote (I still don't know why he stopped downvoting me after eating away ~1000 rep)... Do I contact you to tell you that I'm losing 5 points of rep every day? oO

I don't think this is a good solution :/ But you'll have your reasons for adding this to the rules. Let's see how it'll work... I get that we shouldn't post spoilers without a spoiler warnning. But... Look at this for example. I wouldn't say that this was a spoiler. You understand what I wrote there when you finished the scene. If it was anything at all, it was a small hint. DaCostaBR answered my post with "...I tried to not go into spoilers... " though. So "spoiler" is quite a broad term. Especially if this can be the cause for a ban!

Posting cheats/hacks/exploits without a "warning", shouldn't be a reason for a moderator to "intervene" AT ALL!

up, up, down, down, left, right, left, right, B, A

Like... for real?



ps. That one's easy! We let GOG know about many offensive posts, bugs, issues and problems over the last couple of years. And they successfully ignored 99% of them! :D :D :D ;)




The problem is that a lot of users were complaining about the constant derailing of every single thread. This is especially problematic with newcomers who ask an innocent question, like "Where do I find my Steam key?", or anything about The Witcher 3 (without mentioning that they're talking about The Witcher 3).

Reposted in the new "Forum Code of Conduct" thread.

It's also the default setting for "lurkers", when you're not logged in. But hey, at least it reminded me I should check the "my settings" page to change that ;)

Yes, I hope I didn't sound like I was dismissing it. Another thing I noticed is that the topics in the forum listings will have a page range after the title when more than one page, f.e. [p: 1 – 10]. The numbers themselves are a link to the first page and a link to the last page. So regardless of the (hopefully chosen) setting, either the first or last page can be chosen when visiting a topic. Not that it's always obvious, I recall I didn't pick up on it right away.

I'm happy to see new rules up, and hope things will be kept civil from now on, and the place will feel the way it used to, at least as much as possible.

HOWEVER:

Yeah, that's the only thing I sort of have a problem with. I mean, I get why the rule exists, but I hope it will be enforced withsome leeway and understanding. By that I mean- ifsomeone intentionally repeatedly tries to derail a thread just to be a troll, he needs to be stopped. But if the conversation naturaly drifts in a new direction and everyone is obviously having a good time with it, there's no harm in that, quite the contrary, it's healthy and good for the community.

Or it can be just some jokes. I mean- I guess this could be seen as being off topic, but it would be a joyless place indeed if that could get one a warning.

But I trust Fables to be reasonable about that stuff.

That's all I ask.

Color me satisfied.

As for that bit about not impersonating other users or moderators, it might be worth creating a fabIes22 account (with an i instead of the L) to lock that up before someone even gets the idea. And one with a period on the end, too. That kind of thing doesn't seem to be as prevalent as it once was around here, but better safe than sorry.

Which is bizarre when you stop to think about it. Take the bell timing puzzle in Silver as an example; if someone shows up having problems with it because the game runs too fast for the puzzle to be completable, a helpful poster can't link to the player-created save anywhere tool that allows one to bypass it without first sounding the trumpets and declaring that thar be a cheat ahead.

Makes sense for spoilers since we don't have spoiler tags, but the other stuff is kind of arbitrary.

Oh, and one thing on multiple accounts:
There`s a guy who made funny forum games and for that purpose he made multiple accounts for impersonating fictive characters to add fun to the game.
Would he be banned for such harmless fun?