Post by Felicity Banks on Dec 30, 2017 11:38:34 GMT 10
This is literally cut and pasted from the Code of Conduct of the intfiction.org board, with minor alterations.
Code of Conduct
This is a Civilized Place for Public Discussion
The Murder in the Mail forums are a place for all authors and players, long-time enthusiasts and newcomers to discuss Interactive Fiction, especially the Murder in the Mail tales and other Odyssey Books and Publisher Obscura titles.
Please treat this discussion forum with the same respect you would a public park. We, too, are a shared community resource — a place to share skills, knowledge and interests through ongoing conversation.
These are not hard and fast rules, merely aids to the human judgment of our community. Use these guidelines to keep this a clean, well-lighted place for civilized public discourse.
Strictly no murders permitted on or adjacent to this forum.
Improve the Discussion
Help us make this a great place for discussion by always working to improve the discussion in some way, however small. If you are not sure your post adds to the conversation, think over what you want to say and try again later.
The topics discussed here matter to us, and we want you to act as if they matter to you, too. Be respectful of the games, stories, topics, and the people discussing them, even if you disagree with some of what is being said.
One way to improve the discussion is by discovering ones that are already happening. Please spend some time browsing the topics here before replying or starting your own, and you’ll have a better chance of meeting others who share your interests.
Be Agreeable, Even When You Disagree
You may wish to respond to something by disagreeing with it. That’s fine. But, remember to criticize ideas, not people. Please avoid:
Name-calling.
Attacking the person rather than the argument.
Responding to a post’s tone instead of its actual content.
Knee-jerk contradiction.
Instead, provide reasoned counter-arguments that improve the conversation.
Your Participation Counts (Not Just Your Posts)
The conversations we have here set the tone for everyone. Help us influence the future of this community by choosing to engage in discussions that make this forum an interesting place to be — and avoiding those that do not.
Let’s try to leave our park better than we found it.
If You See a Problem, Tell Felicity Banks (if she doesn't respond, tell Michelle Lovi)
When you see bad behavior, don’t reply. It encourages the bad behavior by acknowledging it, consumes your energy, and wastes everyone’s time.
If you believe a person is violating this code of conduct and/or being a troll and/or only advertising their own work rather than engaging with the community... email Felicity Banks at fellissimo@hotmail.com or privately via the forum. She will give warnings, dire warnings, and final warnings—and/or block members at her own personal discretion. She has small children, and a paternalistic air that can be very annoying, and usually tends towards being over-protective (of all parties, as much as possible).
In order to maintain our community, moderators reserve the right to remove any content and any user account for any reason at any time. Moderators do not preview new posts before they are made public, except for new users' first post, as a means of catching spam. The moderators and board administrators take no responsibility for any content posted by the community.
Always Be Civil
Nothing sabotages a healthy conversation like rudeness:
Be civil. Don’t post anything that a reasonable person would consider offensive, abusive, hate speech, violence, and don't advocate for any of these things. By the same token, don't advertise/recruit for any group or movement involved in the same.
Keep it clean. Don’t post anything obscene or sexually explicit directly in a post. (See below about linking to adult content.) The "Murder in the Mail" story is as close to G-rated as a crime story can be. This forum will be a safe place for younger readers. If what you're saying isn't appropriate to say in front of a ten year-old child, don't say it.
Respect each other. Don’t harass or grief anyone, impersonate people, or expose their private information.
Murder in the Mail promotes a broad definition of Interactive Fiction. Don’t claim a type or style of game already accepted by the community doesn’t belong. If in doubt, ask questions or see if it has been previously discussed.
Respect game/story authors. When an author posts in a thread about their game, provide constructive feedback. If you dislike the game, be sure to explain why, or how it it might be improved.
When you disagree with a decision that someone has made in their game, feel free to express that disagreement. However, if they continue with their design choices, stop arguing.
If the author asks you to stop arguing about a design decision, please do so.
Don’t disrespect any group of people. Racism, sexism, homophobia, transphobia and other kinds of bias make others feel uncomfortable.
Avoid subtle -isms. These are small things that make others feel uncomfortable, things that we all sometimes do by mistake. For example, saying "It's so easy my grandmother could do it" is a subtle -ism.
Apologize. If you make other people uncomfortable on our forums, especially by mistake, apologize, or say nothing.
Don’t argue about civility on public channels. Don’t defend yourself, don’t defend others, and don’t pile on to someone who made a mistake. If you see a problem, flag it for Felicity Banks; don’t reply.
Respect our forum. Don’t post spam or otherwise vandalize the forum.
These are not concrete terms with precise definitions — avoid even the appearance of any of these things. If you’re unsure, ask yourself how you would feel if your post was featured on the front page of the New York Times.
This is a public forum, and search engines index these discussions. Keep the language and images safe for family and friends.
Content Warnings When Linking to Games/Books
We generally allow links to games that include adult content, though we recommend they are clearly marked as “adult” in some way. This includes games with intense horror themes, graphic descriptions of violence, explicit sexual content/erotica, or rape (explicit or implied). Use your best judgment.
We also recommend providing trigger warnings, which are designed to prevent people who have an extremely strong and damaging emotional response to certain subjects from encountering them unaware. An example could be “Warning: discussion of suicide and self-harm”. Again, use your best judgment.
If any discussion about adult-only games becomes offensive, the moderators reserve the right to censor the objectionable posts and close or remove the thread.
Minors: If you are a minor, you should not follow links that are explicitly marked as "adult". If you do follow those links, we take no responsibility for what you find there. Furthermore, if you are a minor, and you tell us that you are a minor, and you post in a thread explicitly marked as "adult", we will censor your posts.
Keep It Tidy
Make the effort to put things in the right place, so that we can spend more time discussing and less cleaning up. So:
Don’t start a topic in the wrong category.
Don’t cross-post the same thing in multiple topics.
Don’t post no-content replies. (This includes “BUMP”ing dead threads.)
Don’t divert a topic by changing it midstream. Having said that, Felicity Banks tends to ramble and loves an enjoyable diversion.
Post Only Your Own Stuff
You may not post anything digital that belongs to someone else without permission. You may not post descriptions of, links to, or methods for stealing someone’s intellectual property (software, video, audio, images), or for breaking any other law.
Code of Conduct
This is a Civilized Place for Public Discussion
The Murder in the Mail forums are a place for all authors and players, long-time enthusiasts and newcomers to discuss Interactive Fiction, especially the Murder in the Mail tales and other Odyssey Books and Publisher Obscura titles.
Please treat this discussion forum with the same respect you would a public park. We, too, are a shared community resource — a place to share skills, knowledge and interests through ongoing conversation.
These are not hard and fast rules, merely aids to the human judgment of our community. Use these guidelines to keep this a clean, well-lighted place for civilized public discourse.
Strictly no murders permitted on or adjacent to this forum.
Improve the Discussion
Help us make this a great place for discussion by always working to improve the discussion in some way, however small. If you are not sure your post adds to the conversation, think over what you want to say and try again later.
The topics discussed here matter to us, and we want you to act as if they matter to you, too. Be respectful of the games, stories, topics, and the people discussing them, even if you disagree with some of what is being said.
One way to improve the discussion is by discovering ones that are already happening. Please spend some time browsing the topics here before replying or starting your own, and you’ll have a better chance of meeting others who share your interests.
Be Agreeable, Even When You Disagree
You may wish to respond to something by disagreeing with it. That’s fine. But, remember to criticize ideas, not people. Please avoid:
Name-calling.
Attacking the person rather than the argument.
Responding to a post’s tone instead of its actual content.
Knee-jerk contradiction.
Instead, provide reasoned counter-arguments that improve the conversation.
Your Participation Counts (Not Just Your Posts)
The conversations we have here set the tone for everyone. Help us influence the future of this community by choosing to engage in discussions that make this forum an interesting place to be — and avoiding those that do not.
Let’s try to leave our park better than we found it.
If You See a Problem, Tell Felicity Banks (if she doesn't respond, tell Michelle Lovi)
When you see bad behavior, don’t reply. It encourages the bad behavior by acknowledging it, consumes your energy, and wastes everyone’s time.
If you believe a person is violating this code of conduct and/or being a troll and/or only advertising their own work rather than engaging with the community... email Felicity Banks at fellissimo@hotmail.com or privately via the forum. She will give warnings, dire warnings, and final warnings—and/or block members at her own personal discretion. She has small children, and a paternalistic air that can be very annoying, and usually tends towards being over-protective (of all parties, as much as possible).
In order to maintain our community, moderators reserve the right to remove any content and any user account for any reason at any time. Moderators do not preview new posts before they are made public, except for new users' first post, as a means of catching spam. The moderators and board administrators take no responsibility for any content posted by the community.
Always Be Civil
Nothing sabotages a healthy conversation like rudeness:
Be civil. Don’t post anything that a reasonable person would consider offensive, abusive, hate speech, violence, and don't advocate for any of these things. By the same token, don't advertise/recruit for any group or movement involved in the same.
Keep it clean. Don’t post anything obscene or sexually explicit directly in a post. (See below about linking to adult content.) The "Murder in the Mail" story is as close to G-rated as a crime story can be. This forum will be a safe place for younger readers. If what you're saying isn't appropriate to say in front of a ten year-old child, don't say it.
Respect each other. Don’t harass or grief anyone, impersonate people, or expose their private information.
Murder in the Mail promotes a broad definition of Interactive Fiction. Don’t claim a type or style of game already accepted by the community doesn’t belong. If in doubt, ask questions or see if it has been previously discussed.
Respect game/story authors. When an author posts in a thread about their game, provide constructive feedback. If you dislike the game, be sure to explain why, or how it it might be improved.
When you disagree with a decision that someone has made in their game, feel free to express that disagreement. However, if they continue with their design choices, stop arguing.
If the author asks you to stop arguing about a design decision, please do so.
Don’t disrespect any group of people. Racism, sexism, homophobia, transphobia and other kinds of bias make others feel uncomfortable.
Avoid subtle -isms. These are small things that make others feel uncomfortable, things that we all sometimes do by mistake. For example, saying "It's so easy my grandmother could do it" is a subtle -ism.
Apologize. If you make other people uncomfortable on our forums, especially by mistake, apologize, or say nothing.
Don’t argue about civility on public channels. Don’t defend yourself, don’t defend others, and don’t pile on to someone who made a mistake. If you see a problem, flag it for Felicity Banks; don’t reply.
Respect our forum. Don’t post spam or otherwise vandalize the forum.
These are not concrete terms with precise definitions — avoid even the appearance of any of these things. If you’re unsure, ask yourself how you would feel if your post was featured on the front page of the New York Times.
This is a public forum, and search engines index these discussions. Keep the language and images safe for family and friends.
Content Warnings When Linking to Games/Books
We generally allow links to games that include adult content, though we recommend they are clearly marked as “adult” in some way. This includes games with intense horror themes, graphic descriptions of violence, explicit sexual content/erotica, or rape (explicit or implied). Use your best judgment.
We also recommend providing trigger warnings, which are designed to prevent people who have an extremely strong and damaging emotional response to certain subjects from encountering them unaware. An example could be “Warning: discussion of suicide and self-harm”. Again, use your best judgment.
If any discussion about adult-only games becomes offensive, the moderators reserve the right to censor the objectionable posts and close or remove the thread.
Minors: If you are a minor, you should not follow links that are explicitly marked as "adult". If you do follow those links, we take no responsibility for what you find there. Furthermore, if you are a minor, and you tell us that you are a minor, and you post in a thread explicitly marked as "adult", we will censor your posts.
Keep It Tidy
Make the effort to put things in the right place, so that we can spend more time discussing and less cleaning up. So:
Don’t start a topic in the wrong category.
Don’t cross-post the same thing in multiple topics.
Don’t post no-content replies. (This includes “BUMP”ing dead threads.)
Don’t divert a topic by changing it midstream. Having said that, Felicity Banks tends to ramble and loves an enjoyable diversion.
Post Only Your Own Stuff
You may not post anything digital that belongs to someone else without permission. You may not post descriptions of, links to, or methods for stealing someone’s intellectual property (software, video, audio, images), or for breaking any other law.