New changes as of August 24th:

- Before posting (new threads or replying), you must acknowledge and aceept the message center rules. If we change them significantly in the future, you will have to re-accept as well to continue to be able to post.

- The General Discussion forum is back.

Have a great weekend,
Ben

Thanks Ben!

But I can't find any of the old threads...have they all been deleted?

RandomDuck said:

They archived under Old GD... but yea... it seems they've closed the forum off, so currently you can't open old threads.

"Forum closed
Sorry, this forum is currently closed."

Alright, I agreed to the rules cos I didn't have any choice and I have no problem with most of them.

The one that bothers me is this (rule 2):

"Don't be hateful or abusive or harass others. Do not start, engage in, or encourage 'flame wars'. A good general rule: "criticize ideas, not people." Personal/racial/ethnic/gender-based insults, slurs, or derisive comments will not be tolerated. Yes, you can talk about sex, but try not to be vulgar or obscene. Profanity (in moderation) is OK in general, but directed at someone in particular is generally NOT. Any language which encourages conduct that would constitute a criminal offense or violate the rights of others (in the moderator's opinion) is grounds for account deletion."

No frickin flame wars. Get real! This place was founded on flame wars. I'm going to be interested in how you are going to police this.

I feel like I'm being treated like an 8 year old.

bkw said:

Hey, who the fuck do you think you are buddy? How dare you criticize the rules. This means war!

Thanks for adding the changes.I am a faithful member of the ORG & Ive come here since 98.Hopefully this will lead to more serious discussions regarding Prince & his music.

muleFunkin in muleTown

That's fine with me!!!

How come we can't do Devote-a-threads anymore, and why are they categorized as useless?

Not attacking, I would just like to know your reasons...

No problem!

Ben could you org note me a list of words, phrases, and slang terms that I can`t use. Thanks FB.

funkbible said:

Such a rebel is Punkbible. Always pushing the boundaries of limp wristed, effeminate, left wing liberals' political correctness.

funkbible said:

Could we also get a list of the exact definition of what is considered "off topic" specific to each forum?

Natsume said:

I was wondering about this too... Devote-a-threads were often the only place you could find positivity on the site...

I'm confused as to why expressing some for our fellow orgers is a bad thing...

O well, whatevs...

About "devote-a-threads"...

The rules say:



The bit that says "useless messages" is pretty subjective so I'd say it depends on the moderator of the particular forum. If the thread has useful information, or is generating discussion etc then the chances of it being removed are very low. I'd say the intention was the reduce to number of frivolous threads being created (there really were too many!) but if you want to spend all day posting on a thread about how much you love everyone on the Org, I doubt that'd be a problem

ian said:

The Devote a Thread comment was flat out silly. Sorry Ben, but if you don't allow positive expressions about other posters, you're one hell of a . Maybe you need to bring in a woman for better interpersonal relationship management around here... For the time being, the rules look and read like they were written by a bunch of twenty-something males hell bent on asserting their authority and getting rid of what they feel is nonsense. But there are other views on this -- some people are more touchy feely and like gentle expressions of love and support... and why not?
[This message was edited Mon Aug 26 20:00:44 PDT 2002 by Aerogram]

Aerogram said:

Although I think you have a point in the case of the "devote a thread" issue, I must disagree with your comment that: "the rules look and read like they were written by a bunch of twenty-something males hell bent on asserting their authority" - I think that's an unfair comment.

The rules were created for the benefit of all, and if you really think they were created so we can get a thrill out of "asserting our authority" you can think again. No offence, but if I wanted to assert my authority I'd do it with people that matter in my life like my workmates or my wife. Most of the moderators are married, with full time jobs, with little free time - we don't need to feel all powerful over a bunch of anonymous Prince fans, believe me

The rules - the most important ones for me are the ones about removing racist material (I'd include sexist and homophobic material too), and about people spamming and abusing the site with adverts. Surely you'll agree those are helpful rules to have in place?