Web Log Ettiquette
Hello everyone.
So, this blog doesn't really have its own rules yet. So far, the only one that has stuck is "no impersonating other people." That's cool with me. We will figure out the rules of the thing as we go along, and I can afford to do that, because I can essentially afford to be an autocratic tyrant about the place.
But I do link, to other blogs and to the Forge and maybe even other messageboards (like RPGnet.) And, when you do follow the links, like I hope you do, you have to understand it is a little like you are going to another country. You have to follow the rules of the place that you are going.
The Forge, in particular, is known for having a lot of rules, which is one of the reasons that I love it and it is such a good place to have discussions. If you're going to post there, you need to know the rules.
Here is the Forge ettiquette policy. It isn't long. Please read it.
So, this blog doesn't really have its own rules yet. So far, the only one that has stuck is "no impersonating other people." That's cool with me. We will figure out the rules of the thing as we go along, and I can afford to do that, because I can essentially afford to be an autocratic tyrant about the place.
But I do link, to other blogs and to the Forge and maybe even other messageboards (like RPGnet.) And, when you do follow the links, like I hope you do, you have to understand it is a little like you are going to another country. You have to follow the rules of the place that you are going.
The Forge, in particular, is known for having a lot of rules, which is one of the reasons that I love it and it is such a good place to have discussions. If you're going to post there, you need to know the rules.
Here is the Forge ettiquette policy. It isn't long. Please read it.
4 Comments:
I do indeed love the Forge, I surely do. Well, save the GNS Discussion and half of the Theory forum, but that's a discussion for another time.
I do have a question to throw by the Blogverse, regarding the only rule that I haven't quite taken to heart, because I don't understand its importance:
F. Thread "resurrection"
If you find an older thread (not on the first page of the forum) that you wish to discuss, we ask that you create a new thread and link to the old one instead of "resurrecting" the thread. This helps everyone in terms of researching threads, and seeing where a discussion started and stopped.
This is probably the most commonly violated policy (usually by newbies).
My question: Why is this important? Why not keep a previous discussion going? I can understand "point in time" and all that, but what about this:
1) I see a thread discussing die mods for Sorcerer on page 3 or so. I have a followup question. Why is it important that I create a new thread and refer to the old one rather than follow up to the old one. Does Point In Time *really* need preservation here?
2) I am often confounded by the importance placed upon doing research on the Forge, to see if your question has been asked before ("Hey- See threads X, Y, and Z"), yet also great importance on leaving those discussions dead and recreating the conversation in a new thread? Doesn't that just duplicated work?
I'd like to hear discussion on this.
For the purposes of my original post, it doesn't matter why the policy stands, you really just ought to obey it out of neighborliness.
However, the "don't post to old threads" policy has a really simple explanation, and I just wrote about it to Ed earlier today, so here's the repost of that:
"don't post to old threads" has a pretty simple explanation, really. It keeps people from dredging up very old discussions, and keeps the history in context. I can go back to the end of the RPG Theory forum and see what people were talking about in 2002. If people posted to old threads, I couldn't do that anymore. It would break the chronology.
It isn't that the old topics are closed to discussion. Just that the proper thing to do is to link the old discussion in a new thread, thus creating a proper context.
This chonology is useful because a lot of Forge threads tend to be, if not nonsensical, then not useful, if removed from the context of their contemporaries.
I'm sorry, but lack of time forces my hand to ask a second question/bring up another issue before the first is discussed. For sake of discussion simplicity, let's call THIS issue "TIMB FORMATTING CONCERN OMEGA":
Essentially, I am having a hard time reading through this blog as a serious gaming blog because of visual layout concerns. Essentially, this blogger template cuts the blog in half, saying "Discussion on the Left Side is as important as Links/Archive on the Right Side". As a result, both the long blog posts and lengthy comment discussion are crammed on the left side, cramped, and gives off kind of a clausterphobic vibe.
I just checked out Blogger's Default Template list. May I suggest the following templates to consider?
* Bluebird
* Split Pea
* Herbert
* A hybridization of this one, which I can help code for you (basically to push archives/links to the bottom, to a corner, etc to make far more room for the blog and followup discussion).
Thanks for your time. I think a better layout choice will greatly service the blog's intended function.
-Andy
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