User blog comment:Obi the LEGO Fan/Policy discussion/@comment-5381241-20140117150314

Well, some of the policy needs revising, other parts do not. I'm just going to list the specific parts that I personal believe should either be removed or changed.

General Policy

 * Using the same rules as the Message Boards. The following rules on the Message Board guidelines I do agree with and I believe should be implemented within our rule system:

"Treat Others With Respect, Use Your Imagination (No plagiarism), Keep It Clean (pertaining only to curse words, personal insults, extreme violence (minor Roleplay violence would be accepted, e.g. "he slashed him across his side"; descriptive gore, however, would not be acceptable), Play Fair (pertaining to roleplay), illegal activities, and romantic connections between users (minor "romantic connections" would be allowed e.g. KittyKat's blog. We all remember. )), Keep it spam free, Be Yourself (only the part where it states not to pretend to be another user), and Stand up for Yourself."

These I do not agree with or feel should be left out:

"Stay on topic". Obviously nobody here ever stays on topic about LEGO, so this is highly unnecessary. "Stay Safe". Having a community of users 13+ means that all of us should already have a developed common sense, thus the reason why 13 is the minimum age requirement to get an e-mail address. With that being said, I do believe some small personal details should be allowed, e.g. first name (not last name), age, using a picture of yourself as an avatar, the country/state/province/territory/ you live in, etc. Nothing too specific like, "Hey my name is Fried Cornbread and I live on 555 Bacon-lane drive, String Cheese City, New Fork," obviously.

That's it for the Message Boards guidelines; I'll move on to our own.


 * "All bad language is unacceptable. The bad language will be defined by the administrators/moderators, not by the user using the language. If you are unsure if a word is bad, then just do not use it."

This shouldn't be the case for all bad language. Crap, dang, darn, shoot (I don't even know if some people consider this to be a cuss word ), heck, and gosh should be allowed. The rest should not be allowed, including "Oh my God" for the sake of not offending others.


 * "Do not troll or tease other users. Trolling is when you make fun of other users, or do things just to get them upset. This is completely unacceptable, and will not be tolerated."

Agreed completely. This does, however, need to be enforced a lot more. I've seen examples of it not, e.g. Rys being teased by a select few.


 * "We do not allow personal information to be shared on this site. It is okay to say your first name, or your age, but we do not allow more specific info. This includes last names, addresses, birth dates, and any other specific personal information. You also may not give out any personal information whatsoever about another user; not even first names."

I talked about this above, and although I agree with it, it needs just a little fixing. It should be known that having simply an avatar of yourself (I would never do that, it just seems weird to use my face as an avatar when I could simply have an F-35 Lightni- er, you get the point. ) is not dangerous. Also, in terms of birthdate, month and day should be allowed since Wikia allows it anyway. However, that leads people to get your exact birthdate if you give them your age as well, which is allowed, obviously. So the entire section of the rule about birthdates should be removed.


 * "Spamming of any form is not permitted. If you have spammed, the spam will be removed, and you will be informed that it was considered spam."

Same as "Keep it spam free". Many, many user are guilty of breaking this rule. Myself included! This rule does need to be more heavily enforced, however.


 * "Any subjects that typically cause flame wars should be avoided. This includes subjects like politics and religion."

They shouldn't be entirely avoided. This needs a lot of fixing. Discussing politics should be allowed at least until the slightest hint of a heated debate comes up. Such as, a user using excessive caps, a user yelling, etc. Discussing religion, however, should not be tolerated as this really isn't the place for it and it could very easily offend others. There is a wiki specifically designed for discussing religion. That being said, a moderator should have the responsibility of linking another user to the CLFW (Christian LEGO Fans Wiki) in the case of a religious discussion.


 * "If a user requests that you stop doing something, then you are required to stop unless there is a good reason you should continue. Also, if a user continually makes unreasonable requests, then the situation will be resolved by an admin."

This ultimately comes down to what the user is doing that's irritating the other user. This should be decided by a chat moderator or admin depending on who is on chat or at the area of conflict. I have no idea why on earth it says "the situation will be resolved by an admin" when chat moderators are also fully capable of taking care of the situation themselves.


 * "Do not impersonate other users or use duplicate accounts or other IP addresses for the purposes of circumventing bans, or pretending to be a completely different user. You also may not vote twice on any poll or community discussion using any method, or use a duplicate account or IP address to promote or discredit either side of a community discussion or vote. Only administrators have the authority to enforce this rule, and moderators should contact an admin if there is evidence that a user on chat is a dupe."

This rule I agree with, but one thing needs to change. "Only administrators have the authority to enforce this rule, and moderators should contact an admin if there is evidence that a user on chat is a dupe." I believe that although an admin should take care of a situation, a chat moderator must first ban the user that they think is a dupe. Afterwards, an active admin can be notified and the user will then be tried. If guilty, the account stays banned forever. If not guilty, then the account is unbanned and we all live happily ever after.


 * "Chat logs of users breaking the rules or doing humiliating things should not be posted on blogs. They should be given to an admin in private, and should not be given to the community in any way. Humorous logs may be posted if they are not intended to humiliate anyone."

I agree completely. Controversial chat logs such as breaking the rules, an overly violent discussion, over-the-top romantic "connections", etc. should not be allowed.


 * "Everyone is responsible for his or her account. If the account is used to violate policy, appropriate measures will be taken, such as kicking, banning, or even blocking. All users have the responsibility to ensure that their account is not misused by hackers, siblings, friends, or anyone else who might use the account to violate policy. We strongly advise that everyone makes sure to use strong passwords and logs out when leaving the computer."

Agreed completely as well. No fixing needed.


 * "When creating blogs or forums, or when posting on blogs, forums, and message walls, there are a few rules to remember.

1. They must have a point: do not submit pointless, spammy content.

2. Keep them clean: do not post any content that is suggestive, graphically violent, or profane.

3. Be civil: do not insult people, start flame wars, be excessively negative or in any other way be uncivil.

4. The administrators reserve the right to delete content that they believe violate these rules. If your content was deleted, do not repost it."

1.) I agree, however, this topic can only really be defined by an opinion. One user might think it's spammy, the other user thinks it's fine. Who's right or wrong here?

2.) Agreed.

3.) Agreed.

4.) Agreed.

Chat Policy

 * "All YouTube links or videos from other hosting services must be approved by a moderator before being posted publicly in chat. Optionally, you can use ViewPure or YouTube Clean to bypass this policy. However, you are still held responsible if the content of the video is inappropriate."

I agree with this completely; no changes should be made.


 * "You should talk to all users in a respectful manner. This includes trolls, friends, people you suspect of being dupes, and even a moderator who is threatening to ban you. You can be banned, or have an extended ban time for not doing this."

This is a rule some of our moderators don't even follow. It should be more heavily enforced, but other than that, it needs no fixing.


 * "Do not use asterisks (*****) or other common forms of blocking bad language. If you use it in an offensive way, it is still considered bad language."

Agreed. It insinuates cuss words, which are obviously not allowed.


 * "Do not give away personal information on either public or private chat, even if both users agree on it. Personal information is considered to be any information that could be used to contact you, or personally identify or locate you. This includes real-life pictures of you, contact information, and your home address. You may not give any user a location that's more specific than your country or state."

Again, I believe that the real-life pictures are O-K, so long as they're not suggestive, graphic, or demeaning in any other way.


 * "Controversial issues such as politics and religion may be discussed in private and public chat to a limited extent, but if the discussion becomes hostile or creates a disturbance in chat, the discussion may be immediately stopped by a moderator."

Mentioned above, but I agree with this. I do think that it should now be a moderator's responsibility to link users in a religious debate to CLFW, however.


 * "Do not spam or flood chat. The chat moderators have the authority to determine what is spam and what is not."

Alemas, you missed this. I agree with this rule.


 * "The use of non-English languages in public chat, with the exception of widely known phrases (e.g., "hola", "danke"), is prohibited."

Agreed.


 * "If a user requests that you stop doing something, then you are required to stop unless there is a good reason you should continue. Also, if a user continually makes unreasonable requests, then the situation will be resolved by a moderator."

Covered above.

Well, that's it for me. As for the editing policy, I never edit, nor do I ever see editing issues, so I'll leave that be. Sorry for the ultra-long post.