The Jackcat Forum Roolz

Introduction to the Roolz:

Below are the forum rules, written by my wonderful vassal, Ned Cleversun! I first met my vassal on a well known politics and culture forum where he was a moderator. He kept banning me until I managed to sweet-talk him into letting me stick around (not really)! From running BBSs and text based games in the early days, he's wrestled with some of the most gnarly and wretched denizens of the 'net! He brings his years of experience to these forums and shares his words of wisdom below!

The Roolz

* The moderators are supposed to moderate, and do it without much favoritism or much mercy. They are also supposed to avoid absurd posturing and barbaric attacks on the customers. Fortunately, review and oversight of moderator conduct is AUTOMATIC and ongoing. Do not complain about moderator conduct -- you will only piss off the mods, who will then persecute you. Maggie keeps an eye on the moderators, and if they drift too far from the center line she speaks to them and they change immediately or go away; fair enough?

So if the moderators are bugging you, just suck it up!

* Maggie enjoys the rough and tumble, thrust and parry and dirty fighting found on many gaming boards and on the web. She spends ample time slugging it out with potty mouthed fanatics and zealous gangs of enthusiastic participants. She loves it! But there are plenty of good places for flamers and trolls and screamers to go on the Internet. Maggie doesn't want to build another arena. So that sort of cut-throat gang-banging will not happen here.

Maggie's web site has always been different, in a good-sort-of way. People come to the site, and when they leave they feel good -- or at least no worse than when they arrived. Maggie wants that to apply here on the boards, also. In other words, if you're full of deep bitterness and looking for a place to vent your spleen, this is not the home for you. Get it?

For many years (since 1999) Maggie's site has enabled AC players to help each other. Players discover new info about the game and it gets organized and posted on the site for everyone. These boards are intended to do the same thing, in a more direct and informal way. The boards, however, are not a replacement of the site. Please continue to email your finds to Maggie to help keep the site updated and current.

So here are a few rules, to get us all started. More rules will follow, if needed. Before we begin, let's remind ourselves about The Great Rule: Maggie's site is not a public facility. It's a personal hobby, paid for out of Maggie's pocket and held together with Maggie's sweat. (Which is, of course, sweet smelling!) Many others have contributed. That means that nobody is entitled to anything. Don't make trouble! Don't piss off the staff. Don't be a jerk. Don't be mean, seriously. Ok, here are some rules...

1) Do not be mean. Or sarcastic in an unpleasant, snotty way. You can disagree. But if you are gonna dump on someone, you better be funny. And fun to read. If you choose to be nasty, our staff will rouse themselves, yawn, and unleash enough ferocious hatred to encourage everyone else to enjoy themselves peacefully.

2) Major rule: we don't talk about the boards on the boards. If you have a problem with someone, email a mod. If there's something you don't like, use email. If you want something, use email. Do not make comments on the board about the board. The only exception would be a forum set up for suggestions.

3) The boards are intended to be readable and engaging; a happy place. We'd like to have good info and suggestions and so forth. We'd like to answer people's questions and let players discuss new ideas. Please help the boards to be like the rest of Maggie's site -- fun and useful.

The boards should also be easy to read, and worth reading. Please do not clutter up the forums and threads with "I agree," "+1" "Your Momma" and various other types of non-content. That means no thread bumping. Write something worthwhile.

4) The moderators will delete or move or edit posts that are bad. All edits will be obvious -- we will never change what you write unless we make it clear that we have done so.

5) The moderators are not here to judge your worth as a person, but they are here to judge the worth of your post. They will kill your post if they don't like it, and they will block your ability to post if you make a lot of work for them. Think of the moderators as Old Testament Gods! They are arbitrary and capricious. Sometimes, they are not very nice.

6) You can be banned from the forums if you behave badly. Moderators make the recommendations for banning and either Maggie or Ned (the forum Admins) will make the final decision. A banning can be for a few hours or days or weeks or it can be forever. The world is unfair and cruel. But banning is tedious, and disheartening for everyone. Help us avoid the Black Art!

7) The moderators can also warn you. All warnings will be done privately, either by email or by the board's warning system. If you are given a warning on the board's warning system, be assured that only you (and the forum admins) are able to see it.

8) Mostly, the moderators would like to have an easy life. Our moderators are chosen in part because they (being experienced and battle-scarred warriors) no longer enjoy conflict for its own sake. They are accomplished, talented people, and do not need to exert power to feel important. What they mostly want is to be left alone, or allowed to participate in the boards like anyone else. Help them!!

These rules may be modified at any time by the forum admins.