Just wanted to let everyone know that the board rules have been updated. We're still working out the kinks in them, I think, so don't be surprised if they might change a little here or there.

Allowing debate is something that we're still considering. For the moment, though, the old rules regarding that stand. The trading pets issue also needs to be discussed, but the rules we have for the moment (that can be found on the "Trading Post") seem to be working well enough. =)

Thanks muchly to the mod team for working on these!

If you have any questions or feel like we missed something, feel free to send a message my way, or post here.

...

Also, Drew and I have been discussing the idea of linking a chatroom to the main site. If we were to do this, would anyone be interested? It would be a java chat very similar to what Leopets had, hosted on IRC. Thoughts? Yay or nay?

My other idea, which I think I'm going to go ahead with if Drew agrees and it's not terribly complicated, is to link a twitter feed to the main site, to use as a replacement for cutenews. That way, the admin can easily keep everyone up to date on what we're working on (ie: updated forums rules and a chatroom).

We are still working on setting up an option for pet trading, in case any of you were wondering. Drew and I have both agreed that going ahead with it is a good idea, but he's a busy man, and I'm not a coder, so it's going to take a little while for us to get all of our ducks in a row.

Thanks much for your patience. =)

I do like the idea of a chatroom. We've never really had a general chat thread (that would have lasted, at least) so the Mini-Rants tends to get spammed up a lot as a result.

I break so many of these rules :'c (mostly double posting)

((also contentless posts))


(((aka every post I write)))






BUT YEAH IRC I'd be into it. I like those.

Geez. Why are you a mod again, Kat? D:

Yes, a chat room will benefit the community.

Regardless of what it was in the past, Neopound is now a small tight knit community of less than 30 actively contributing members. The population of this site is gradually decreasing.

Independent of set rules, acceptable behavior is largely dictated by the active community at large.

The members of the site largely keep a good balance with each other regarding what constitutes appropriate behavior and will largely keep each other in check.
Discouraging this through "mini-modding" rules seem counterproductive to the community at large.

A number of these rules seem to run counter to established practices of the forum.

Small text has been used for years to de-emphasize comments.

Image size has never been a problem in the artist alley, with members automatically warning other of board stretch.

Posting suspected art theft and recruiting help to locate the source is dependable and established practice and is generally alot more productive and efficient than simply contacting a mod.


People double post all the time in forum games and activities and this has never been a problem.

Language filter circumvention is generally common (even the rules page does it.)

Chat speak does occur but is generally frowned upon in non joking/game posts. While Chat speak does put non-english speaking members at a disadvantage, we really don't have anyone like that. Neopound is a small community that is shrinking monthly.

The general maturity of this forum allows a largely civil discussion of real world topics. The Prop 8 discussion, personal orientation discussion and political (election) discussion have in the past gone off without a hitch.

Neopound is a small but diverse group, and harbors the maturity to maintain civil discussions and agree to disagree.





While rules like "Do not beg for pets" and "do not post in spam bot threads" have always been in place and supported, the vast majority of these newer rules seem unnecessary, inapplicable, or simply not a good fit for a small self regulating community like neopound.

Sure... people have been banned in the past for grievous infractions.

However, Instituting punitive action such as banning, warning and suspension seems unnecessarily harsh and counter productive to a small shrinking community.





















Trust the community to self regulate, we've been doing it for years.

Also with these rules, we would all be banned.......even Blur (chat speak infraction)

QFE Yugi.

I'm feeling a 'neopets phenomenon' coming on.
Even though we're a neo themed site.
I think that a lot of members are really self-regulating.
But I think some rules should be left there, such as the spamming, etc, if a newer person comes in and doesn't know the rules.

And also I thought Blur didn't speak American English...?
(<3 You Blur.)

I also might add that some of the debates did cause some mini-drama, but maybe we can resolve this by having an actual moderator: someone fair who is unbiased to either side and can judge everyone fairly, so things don't get out of hand.

I THOUGHT THIS TOO xDDD

umm... idk, in my opinion the old rules are just like the new rules? xDDD
i don't really see a difference...
UNLESS this means you guys are going to come down with like an iron fist now and be super bent on enforcing them at all times
in which case, just ban me now? xD
/double posts in IF and mini mods, o noez

i will say i agree with yugi... i think most of the members here kind of keep each other in check.... but then again
i just too these new rules as like... guidelines for new members that may stroll by?
like i said before, they sound just like the old rules xD

ANYWAYS
i think a chat on neopound would be awsum 8'D
NEOPOUND SPAMMERS UNITE!

EDIT
ALSO
HEARTY VOTES BIG FAT NO ON DEBATE THREAD
cuz neopound is for fun
and i know someone will bring the abortion debate, or something about religion or some other touchy subjects
and while we all claim it's JUST A FRIENDLY DEBATE it's human nature to take things personally, then those feelings will carry outside the thread and interefere with SUPER SPECIAL AWSUM fun time normal threads and cause tension
then
neopound will explode
the end : D

Heartless is the resident minimod.

Im the resident troll.

Hey, you have something against creating a fortress of solitude ?

For new people that come by..... the community should be as welcoming as possible.....

People leave on their own accord if they're not comfortable here, but they shouldnt be intimidated to join.

A rules page with a bunch of ban and suspension infractions wont help that.

Eeehhh, er... what, exactly, would qualify as "controversial?"

Since uh... if that means, "Don't start heated discussions or make loaded comments about political standpoints/religious beliefs/whatever" then I'm all for preventing drama and hurt feelings. But I can think of a number of occasions where political/religious/"controversial" things have been consistently handled well in the community. I'm not talking debates, mind you-- I'm talking things like, oh... a number of members are very religious, and prone to posting religious art, designing religious characters, or casually mentioning religious events. I don't think there's anything wrong with that, as long as they don't start debates or shove their beliefs down anyone's throats (which is rarely an issue, in my experience). Similarly, a number of members here (and/or their characters) are gay/bi/don't claim a traditional gender identity-- this comes up in conversations (about forum members lives as well as their characters) fairly regularly. As long as it doesn't result in raging debates over gay marriage, I see no harm in discussing such things.

That being said, I think it might be possibly more wise to specify that it's not so much the subjects themselves that are "controversial"-- it's loaded comments that inevitably start debates which are really an issue.

And on THAT subject-- I really don't think debates should be allowed, because those DO tend to start drama, and just don't really fit with the community. While I think it seems silly to say, "Omigosh, don't say anything that could possibly be construed as relating to politics or religion!" I also think it would be equally unwise to allow debates on such subjects.



Other than that, I don't think I see anything especially noteworthy about the rules as compared to teh old rules? They seem essentially the same, to me. Not identical, but the same general ideas mostly, I think?

I'm assuming these are still going to be enforced on the same generally lenient basis they always have been, so I'm not too worried. I mean, if someone does something that technically breaks a rule, but isn't harming or bothering anyone, I'm pretty sure mods aren't going to jump all over them. Am I right?

I mean, writing a sentence in tiny text just for effect, as long as it doesn't contain something innapropriate and isn't the ENTIRE POST or whole paragraphs long... isn't likely to set of any alarms. And I'm pretty sure as long as someone's signature image isn't gigantically huge and unweildy and page-stretchy, no one is going to mind if the image is 300 pixels tall instead of 200.



Aaaaaand-- as for a chat. Uh. I guess I'm pretty indifferent? I mean, it would be a nice place for people to hang out. I... don't like using chats, so I probably wouldn't go there, but... eh. Chats are a good thing to have around, I guess? (They absorb too much of my time and attention, though-- I don't like having to respond instantly or lose track of the conversation. I prefer the slower forum atmosphere, because I'm usually all-over-the-place multitasking and instant messaging/chatting/etc. makes me really nervous unless it's with a veryvery close friend. But taht's just me being weird-- no reason to deprive everyone else of chatting abilities just because chatrooms give me the heebie jeebies.)

I actually vote no on the chatroom. I don't think it'd be a good idea; chatrooms breed cliques idk 'let's talk about this other person while they're not here'

or maybe I'm the only one who thinks this?

...actually, I kind of agree.

Not so much that they result in behind-people's-backs talking (though I don't know... it's possible? I don't use chatrooms much, so I dunno.)-- just that... I know I can't be the only one who spends a lot of time on the forums but would not be spending much (if any time) in a chatroom, and I kind of get this feeling that a piece of my ability to participate in the community/know what's going on would go away if a lot of the more petty/chatty conversations moved from the interactive fun boards onto a chatroom instead.

But I guess it doesn't feel fair of me to condemn a chatroom just because I don't personally like them. I'm assuming (hoping) there will still be a lot of chatting on the interactive fun boards and such and people like me won't be left entirely out of the loop, so it's not like a chat would be the end of the world.

I just... don't want some kind of a rift to arise between "chat regulars" and people who don't use the chatroom for one reason or another (lack of time, technology issues, just plain dislike for chatrooms). That's all. As long as that doesn't happen, I suppose I don't care one way or another about a chatroom.

anyone who talks about other people on a public chatroom is a moron
and will be dealt with appropriately ._.

as for cliques... all of neopound is bascially one big clique, with subdivisions...
i mean, everyone knows specks bff is akky
froggy, manta, jodie, and pirate make up our british division
and so on and so forth

i uhhh don't even use chatrooms that much
but i still like them, for the rare occasion where i want to drop in and talk for a few
i think it'd be good for our members who want to communicate more but can't because NO ONE IS ALDFJAD POSTING DESPITE 25 MEMBERS BEING ONLINE AT THE TIME
(with that in mind, maybe a chatroom wouldn't work so well....)

idk, i think as long as a few people are interested, we should at least give it a try? i think the point of it was to cut down on the spamming in IF xD;;
(though, without spam... WHAT WILL NEOPOUND BECOME? D8 )

Hmmm.

I didn't write these, but none of them seem to be - to me, anyway - overly harsh, and I don't think any of the mods are eager to run around and ban random people for straddling the line. While I never want our site rules to be as strict as the ones on Neopets again, I do want to keep things mostly somewhat kid-friendly, as that's how Zoey/Steph/Drew intended it to be.

I am - and always have been - open to change, but I do believe that we should have some guidelines on paper. This doesn't mean that I have any interest in being super strict of a meany about it, and it doesn't mean that I'm not open to suggestions as to what those guidelines should be.

And, lol, no one is going to be banned over using chatspeak and double posting. Even when Zoey was around, we always let people get away with crazy, usually dramatic, things for ages before banning them. And I think that we were much stricter then than we are now.

The tiny font issue, I think, was more referring to those who use the tiny font to make really rude remarks or insult people, not the people who just use it for silliness. I believe there was an issue with that in the past.

As for the chatroom... I don't think that it's going to encourage cliques any more than the forums would, and not adding a feature to the site because some members may not use it - or like it - would be a bit silly. That's why we went without having forums for so long to begin with.

I don't have issues with discussion (about religion, politics, whatever) as long as it stays civil. No one's going to get banned for mentioning religion or anything like that. It's heated discussion that I think most of us would like to avoid seeing here, as pointless drama is just that... pointless and annoying. I deal with enough drama in the real world to not want to have to deal with it here.

I think that's all that I have to say, at the moment, as I didn't write most of these. I haven't been active enough over the past year to know what exactly has been an issue, whereas the other mods have.

OH! As an afterthought, double posting has always been allowed in IF.

Is simple better?

I personally think the simplified version of the rules is MUCH better. I think with a short and simple rules page, people are less likely to be intimidated or confused by small details. They seem to address all the important stuff spot-on without seeming scary and nitpicky-- I approve. *thumbsup* |3

I think, just from glancing at it, that the noo roolz page looks thumbs-uppable.
A little cute and a little snarky. Yay for rules with personality?!

That's better......

And while I understand your intent, and agree with keeping things friendly.....

I'd like to bring up that the old order is gone. None of those people have been apart of this community in years.

Steph hardly anyone remembers. Zoey was already inactive by the time I registered in March 2007. I doubt Drew has ever been an active contributing members here.

The rules and actions that define this community should not cling to the intent of people long since gone..... Instead, they should reflect the needs of the current community.

That's why we decided to try to initiate the overhaul. That's why we went through the trouble of locating you (Sagira)..... so that the forum may be adjusted to better adhere to what the community is NOW...... not what it was back in the day.






With that being said.... the intent to keep it friendly and appropriate for all ages is a fine decision, and should be supported....... but not because Zoey/Steph/Drew's intentions.......but because we would like to keep our community friendly, open, and free from the filth that the worst of society can bring.





Thanks for your time and dedication.

Ah, loving the new rules page. I know that some people that I've tried to get to come to Neopound have been intimidated by rules and such. This page is way less intimidating than a giant Wall of Text :'D

I think instead of banning, a box filled with anthrax should be sent to the homes of undesirables. It would be more effective.