Community Standards or Lackthereof
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Ten, fifteen years ago when WORA was first created, it was meant to be the wild west, where outlaws rode in on their shining steeds and spewed truth along with every other curse word. At least that's what I imagine was in the head of JadedGamer, way back when.
It probably wasn't and he's looking up from his morning coffee wondering why he got chills just now.That said, we're all older now. Maybe hopefully a little wiser. Everyone here has been around the proverbial block enough to know that the wild west isn't always the best choice. It has its uses and I'm not suggesting we do away with it, but it isn't the only mode we have to operate-in.
So: I'd like to know what, if any, community standards the community thinks should apply here. @Glitch, @Thenomain and I aren't particularly inclined to be anyone's online parents. I certainly have no desire to walk up and down the threads smacking fingers with a ruler. But if there are 'rules' aka 'guidelines' aka 'shit folks should not do', then I'd like to hear what you think they are. I make no promises that we'll definitely take up every suggestion, but we can't discuss them if a) we didn't think of it; and b) we didn't ask you to think of it.
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The only one rattling around in my head at the moment is malicious sharing of RL information. I'm not even sure there's a way to draw a line between malicious and not -- it might be like any number of iffy things, "I know it when I see it."ES
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I think the dissemination of real life information about people should be a no-no, but I like to think everyone's on board with that without it having to become a rule or whatever.
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The only othee tthing I can think of is not promoting something like DDOS attacks on places? Not that I think I have ever seen anyone suggestion such a thing.
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Aye , no ToL style posting nudes of creepy Asian men please. Beyond the bare necessities though, this place should be as unregulated as possible. This is not a 'safe' zone.. this is where people should be slinging vitriol at each other. For the good of all mankind of course. RIGHT?
Seriously-I can't even.. please someone help me forget
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That's probably a good thing about pictures having to be anchored into links and not native to the boards. It keeps nWORA moderately safe for work, save for what's being written. After all, it's much easier to see a picture of a naked Asian man as opposed to someone reading a lengthy description of a naked Asian man over your shoulder.
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Emma,
I'm pretty sure Jaded started Wora as his playground of trolling PHB staffers on WoD games. Everything else was an accident.
History!
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I try to keep things constructive and helpful. I really missed the positive social aspects of WORA and had become moderately adept at ignoring the hateful nonsense. I was pointing out the existence of this place to various staff channels and... well, I got an earful. Or eyeful, or something.
Suffice it to say some people are still traumatized by mean things that were said on WORA. I'm not really certain where the fault lies there, or if I care, or if anything can be done about it-- but certainly keeping things as friendly and constructive as possible is usually a good step no matter what's going on.
That said, it's with some amusement that I note that the FINAL STRAW that made me forever abandon the old WORA was that argument about hosting problems. I remember stating very clearly that it was usually down and as a result, many people were leaving and WORA was effectively closed. Even Pedantic agreed with me, which is moderately unprecedented. HelloRaptor though-- he mocked the whole idea and stated something to the effect that people say that all the time.
Well. I was right, you bastard. So there! But please do come back because you said otherwise interesting things, usually.
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Some obvious things
-- Revealing RL stuff is bad
-- Suggesting attacks, even social attacks, on people/places is just pointlessFrom there? I liked WORA's line between a place where we could bitch, and a place where we were largely constructive. I didn't participate a lot, I'm a lurker, frankly, but I think there's nothing wrong with a place where someone can lay a log out and air grievances and say that This Guy over here, lets say Bob at JackassMUX, is a jackass par excellence and letting people know what you think.
Sometimes there's just no better channel; and you know, someone bitching has rarely mattered in any real way.
I like the balance between largely-unfiltered save for certain clear and outright violations of basic decency, and semi-constructive.
(Then again I joined many, many a game after wora pronounced it a horror show on many facets, but I joined being better informed then I would have otherwise. I consider this a service well done by the community)
Also lets establish right now up front that BigBad isn't gonna be a thing.
Please?
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I would, to be honest, like to make sure that someone knows where the line is and to say "this is the line". The line being: Spamming, too much beating of a dead horse, when the chance of any productivity concerning a topic has gone well beyond the pale.
All of these things are roughly the same thing: Keep things moving. Be hateful, be nice, but if you're repeating yourself then you're probably done. If people complain that you're repeating yourself, that's bordering on the spam.
That's my view of things.
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I think this is one of those cases where the fewer rules that exist the easier it is for the community to enforce it via culture rather than active administration.
Admins can take care of the Big Ones; spam, for example. RL threats or exposing RL information is another biggie. Stuff like that.
Otherwise let the chips fall where they may. If someone lacks the thick skin to take an occasional flame or two (and we all have) they should not be here.
