The Unknown Comic Posted:

I would like to read a formal statement from the Gimmick Alts and Role-Players Local Union #352:

Gimmick Alts and Role-Players Local Union #352 would like to see greater clemency for role-playing in Civil Discussion. Gimmick alts and role-players are creative force that make the boards a little more fun and are a change of pace from recycled post ideas and bland, predictable responses. It is our belief that if a good role-player wanders into Civil Discussion and posts in-character their post should not be viewed only on its merits as an individual post, but as a part of a whole. Obviously, if a post is a blatant troll, off-topic, or goes far beyond acceptable limits they should be punished. Furthermore, the original poster should be (if possible) contacted to see if the post in question has offended or betrayed the original purpose of the thread. Also, if a thread clearly has no forward momentum even greater clemency should be given. Naturally, at this stage the details are not set in stone, but we hear at Gimmick Alts and Role-Players Local Union #352 are striving to create a mutually beneficial world where well-crafted gimmick alts and role-players are safe from persecution.

Mien Herr, I am to be signed this petition!

Hey y’all, GFB here. I’d like to support my union leader for his bold and tasty suggestion exclamation point

We don’t want to start trouble frowny face sad cry but just want to make the board more fun to read. Get it, y’alls? It’s like when I watch ma hero Paula Deen on the tee vee I still learn new ways to make bacon even though she’s really a Jewish man from New Jersey.

Uh oh what was ma point question mark

Something about on topic posts in our own loverly voices being okay.

heart unions four ever exclamation point

Hobart Bliggity Posted:

I’m going to stop mid sentence because I just realized that forumwarz has become exactly what it started off parodying. A good number of the newer posters don’t see that we’re making fun of idiots and spammers and trolls that exist on other forums. They are the idiots and spammers and trolls we used to parody. I really can’t get past that right now but good work CZ I guess.

People role-played at first because of the novelty of it. That novelty has died down over time. I think this was inevitable. Incidentally, people were pointing this out a year ago, too.

I also sorely miss the early days when Flamebate was full of RPing, but people understandably got sick of it. You can only keep it up for some time.

There’s nothing CZ can do to force our early joiners to come back and role-play. There’s nothing we can do to force the current crop of players to role-play. There’s also nothing stopping anyone from using the boards to role-play. And there’s not much logic to the idea that, because someone might’ve joined Forumwarz through an ad they saw on 4chan or ED, that they’d be incapable of role-playing.

If you really think the fact that we advertised in a few strategic places to bring in new players was nothing a crbum, monetary decision made at the expense of the community, all I can say is, you should see what this place would look like if there were no newbies at all.

A lot of you also might want to consider getting over yourself. I will admit that some players have contributed more to the community than others, but none of the people outwardly claiming to be “the cool kids” or “good posters” — you know who you are, but if you don’t, then a lot of irony is being lost on you — strike me as so valuable that we should change all our policies overnight to suit their whims.

1337xxxxxxxxxlolololololololololxxxxxxxxx1337 Posted:

Let mods troll users in rp. But I think that it should be specific mods bumigned to rp, as well. If they ban people, it’s not a serious ban, like a few hours. They can edit posts if they want, etc. If they don’t abuse it, most people would just find it funny, and it could get people more inline with the intent of rp.

I think it’s a funny idea, but just envisioning some of the possible outcomes of allowing such a policy gives me a migraine. Go and take MCB’s poll, but the very idea is, IMO, doomed to epic failure.

Hobart Bliggity Posted:

Look at SA. You get banned (lose $10) if you post the word “lulz”. Yes, its a terrible policy, but it sets the tone wonderfully.

I speak for myself, but I’ve always despised SA’s approach to this. They ban people for the most minor things, and while a lot of them come back to buy another membership fee, a lot of them understandably leave forever with their dignity intact.

SG94 quit over a one-day ban where he was purposely trolling (and probably looking for an excuse to leave, if you think about it). Imagine the mbum exodus if we started acting heavy-handed like SA? We don’t have the numbers to excuse that kind of cavalier attitude. We’re already being accused of being all about the proverbial Benjamins because we had the audacity to try to attract new users.

1337xxxxxxxxxlolololololololololxxxxxxxxx1337 Posted:

E: We’re asking for rules to actually exist in rp. New rules. More rules. The people on page 1 of the ban leaderboard are requesting more forum rules.

Posts like these lead me to believe that, in the end, most people don’t know what they want. That includes myself most of the time, which is why I try to get advice from our mods and concerned players whenever possible, and then attempt to reach some sort of consensus.

I also find Flamebate a little dull these days, but I don’t think “more rules” are the answer. The reason why we tried to consolidate and define the rules better in the first place was twofold: To give the mods more direction and address accusations of selective modding, and to make things more clear-cut so that people didn’t find themselves banned by accident.

Yes, it’s true that some people have been posting on tenterhooks as a result. It makes it trickier to “toe the line.” But that was always the danger with trolling the CD boards, just like in any forum.

Hobart Bliggity Posted:

The consistently unfunny barrage in the RP forums, combined with the black-or-white enforcing of rules in CD leaves a lot of the intelligent-but-kind-of-an-bumhole type posters with literally nowhere to post.

I don’t see why you can’t post whatever you want in RP. If it’s worth reading, people will appreciate it and comment in kind. They might have to skim through a couple of spam posts along the way, but you can still have a decent rally.

If you’re saying you want to subtly troll GD…well, I don’t know what the solution is either. Not to sound like the “substitute teacher with a motorcycle” to paraphrase Celerysteve, but I personally don’ t think cracking jokes in GD should be bannable, for instance, or RPing if you’re not trolling (according to our definition thereof). And I’m often surprised at the amount of stuff that people get away with in GD — yes, I know it’s frustrating that mods don’t always have the perfect response for every post — so all I can say is, keep agitating for fair treatment. However, I personally think things have gotten a lot better since we added more mods, a few complaints notwithstanding.

People think we don’t read this stuff. I tend to only notice it much too late, and it’s only when a user calls it to my attention (for the record, it was Shii).

TUBSWEETIE Posted:

community bans are required

Signed (obviously) but let’s not delude ourselves into thinking this is the answer to all our problems.

It obviously isn’t a trivial thing to introduce all the community-ban trickery suggested by Tubs, or else ET would’ve done it. Making major changes like this, of course, would also slow down the development of important things like Episode 3 and gameplay improvement.

1337xxxxxxxxxlolololololololololxxxxxxxxx1337 Posted:

I want to reply to this little bit too to say it’s actually really annoying that you have to play as a male troll, even if you picked camwhore. It’s lazy writing that the clbum you pick has nothing to do with the game and it ruins any sense of immersion.

The oldfabulous persons in the audience will know that this has been addressed several times. Call it lazy writing (and to an extent, programming) if you want, but not only would it be an incredible pain in the bum to adapt a novel’s worth of story to five different clbumes, but it simply doesn’t fit in with our actual game mythology as we perceive it.

This is off-topic, but needless to say we have what we consider a satisfactory explanation for this quirk that isn’t strictly related to “laziness,” as you unfairly but rather characteristically bumert.

Hobart Bliggity Posted:

This brings up a good point. Why is it that only things that are annoying to the mods (fake contest spam) are banable, and things that are annoying to the community (who the mods are here to serve) like draginz and kaiser w/e isn’t? The mods are here to keep the forums enjoyable for the community, not themselves.

The mods and the community are one and the same. And mods are only capable of enforcing rules that they have helped define. If you don’t enjoy Kaiser spam, chances are, neither do they. If you think what Kaiser is doing should be a bannable offense, petition for it — but you’d better make sure it’s something you really want.

The Unknown Comic Posted:

I would like to read a formal statement from the Gimmick Alts and Role-Players Local Union #352:

mi invitasion mst’ve got losted n teh mail

halp et fix this ssoon thx

So this one time Randy Beaman was writing a report on ducks but he had a bandaid on his finger so he couldn’t really type well and he kept hitting “f” instead of “d” and then he got sent to detention.

‘k bye.

A strong and democratic alts’ union is essential to advance the cause of safety in the forumplace. Too long we’ve endured ****ty conditions at the hands of these administrators’ exploitative behavior.

There is power in the union. Gimmicks of the world, unite!

I’m Old Gregg!

Dunatis Posted:

If worst case scenario is not being able to post in Flamebate for a bit, I somehow doubt that too many people are going to have mbumive hernias over an unnecessary ban but it allows the few obvious and pointless disruptive spammers to get banned a bit more often that when tricked into a rule break.

This. Exactly this. Well said Dunatis.

Wos gebt’s, Englisch?

Mine schupport, I am giwing. Aye, gimmick altsch bring happiness to the forums, so they do.

meeeeeeeeee Posted:

A division between a flamebate ban and a game ban has been needed for a while. I’d say it’s a high priority that would do alot to please the posting community, and encourage a more lively and interesting flamebate. And a busier time for mods.

it’s not too bad really.

it becomes much easier if people report posts as well.

most of the time we’re just browsing flamebate and it takes all of a few seconds to click ban, type three letters to get autocomplete going, then click BAN.

worst case scenario we have to message another mod for their thoughts, or post ‘i say this is trolling, second opinion please’ on the ticket tracker