Suggestion: Minor Amendments to some rules and system

[Fox]

disclaimer: In any way am I saying the staff is doing a bad job, quite the opposite. The staff works very hard and we all appreciate that, but here are some modifications I would make, which are testified and have clarifications.

As we all know, it is stated on the rules for not to post inappropriate links, images, list goes on. However, there could be an amendment to how MCGamer manages the situation.

With the new forums, once you click any foreign link, you are prompt to decide whether you want to get out from the MCGamer Network or not—to check the destined URL, of course.

So, implementing all the system as a whole and with some amendments, here is the most feasible solution:
For a long time I have had disagreement with some of the ways MCGamer manages their things, specially as far as their enforcement of the rules, or how some rules be modified for a better use.

Implementing the way MCGamer is currently layout, here is a summary of what we could implement and edit;

Summary:
1. Rules Thread
1.1 Implementation.
1.2 Layout.
1.3 How does this benefit the community.

2. Link Re-director
2.1 Implementation.
2.3 How does this benefit the community.

3. Conversations box
3.1 Implementation.
3.1 How does this benefit the community.

1. Rules thread
Just as the staff who enforces the rules, the rules thread is the kernel of it all. It is the basis of all organization in this community and in any community. And just as it is of great importance, it should have a heavier weight on staff and how they perceive it.

1.1 Implementation
There are some ways of implementing the Rules Thread in other fields of MCGamer, which we will cover in other of the topics, however here we will discuss what is there to improve and in what ways.
I have suggested other times in a few comments for some threads on the forums, and I will suggest it here also. The idea consists of giving an emphasis abiding to, lets say, the ban guidelines of the community. Implementing the already public ban guidelines into the rules thread can make the rules thread more understandable and for players to consider reading it; even when each player agrees with the terms and conditions of the server once they log-in, not many are aware of this because on massive communities like Facebook, people have instilled on us to never care for them. So, if making the rules' emphasis into something players would appreciate, they would contemplate reading them. As said above, it's not just about having a Rules thread, but there should be publicity for it; having it like an ornament makes it harder for players to find the thread itself; on the old forums there used to be a menu for a direct link of the Rules Thread and now there isn't—making the thread harder to find. Regardless, rewriting the rules into a shorter context and emphasized on something which players will be appealed of benefits the community.

1.2 Layout
There are but too many ways to convey the layout of this thread. The layout could be kept conservative like it currently it, just focused on conveying a determined message, or it could be totally redesigned. A way I found great was within a flowchart: Make a situation, give an answer and the consequences to it.

1.3 How does this benefit the community
Rationally, the reasons were cleared above, but to make things clearer here are the keynotes:

• As the Rules are the kernel to all organization and regiments of the community, they should have a heavier weight.
  
• Upon advertising the rules, redesigning the Rules Thread layout from changing the emphasis, up to changing the format the layout will be, it raises awareness to the rules.
  
• If awareness is raised, more people will acknowledge the rules; this does not mean that they will follow them, but through statistics only time will tell.

2. Link Re-director
Recently implemented on the forums, like I said in the beginning, "With the new forums, once you click any foreign link, you are prompt to decide whether you want to get out from the MCGamer Network or not—to check the destined URL, of course." and that is what the Link Redirector's function is. It has become important, in a way, and could be improve.

2.1 Implementation
In here I will cover two ways to upgrade this system.

1.A way focused on de facto is asking in the rules to type "NSFW" if the link is inappropriate. This method is ambiguous and people can abuse it, but I am giving a more practical alternative. Abiding to the MCGamer rules, obviously not all links will be allowed like,videos of a adult nature sites, screamers, but other minor NSFW links in which the offense is minor, this amendment seems fit.

2.The second way which is de jure is for MCGamer to create a Link Abridger. A Link Abridger shortens links, however this feature goes beyond what it is. By MCGamer creating a Link Abridger, they can edit which links are used; what I mean here is that, once a website goes through this shortener, the link will be secure. MCGamer can block multiple websites from its Link Shortener, e.g Google Shortener, or any other link Shorternet (so NSFW links aren't looped), inappropriate websites, and any other website MCGamer wouldn't want for their players to see. Once a link goes through the shortener, it will be allowed to be posted anywhere within the MCGamer community, yet not spammed, of course. The Link Re-director will not trigger for these links.

2.3 How does this benefit the community
For system #1 MCGamer gives more freedom upon the subject, implementing but just one more rule to their Rules Thread, unlike #2 is a whole system itself. It is more practical and easy, but it does have some disadvantages—but in any case, if someone posted a NSFW link without mentioning it prior, he should be dealt with.
for system #2 MCGamer has more control of what links players share, as this is a certified system by them.

3. Conversations Box
The conversation box; we see it since we join the forums, yet no use for it but for private matters. The Conversation box could be implemented in multiple other ways, here I will mention a few:

3.1 Implementation
Getting back to a heavier implementation and to raise awareness of the rules, the conversation box becomes very useful:
1. Whenever a player joins the forums, he will sent an inbox upon a greetings and a copy of the rules thread —these way, players won't have an excuse regarding not reading the rules, as long as they have an active forums account.
2. The Conversation Box can also be used to inform the players of amendments to the rules or any major public updates that would be liked to be distributed amongst all forumers.

3.2 How does this benefit the community
Benefits the community for a couple reasons: transparency, practical statements upon amendments on the Rules Thread, major publicity for any important news, events and the very important Rules Thread. Upon those who could refute the idea by saying "It will spam out inboxes", it will not. This featured would have to be used wisely and for very important matters. So, even the 'disadvantage' is minor upon the benefits.

 

[Kellyys]

Great Suggestions c:

 

[Girls]

really well thought out. +1

 

[Fox]

Great Suggestions c:

really well thought out. +1

added a pole, guys. Make sure to vote c:

 

[Girls]

added a pole, guys. Make sure to vote c:

not to be the grammar nazi who cares about everything, but its poll*, not pole

 

[Ceroria]

This would be wonderful, and is an efficient way to eliminate 99% of bans and disputes where the user claims they didn't know of the rule. Fox strikes again!

 

[Fox]

not to be the grammar nazi who cares about everything, but its poll*, not pole

>.< a mishap of mine c:

 

[Vanicle | Vanessa]

Definitely a fan of the first and third suggestion!

 

[Vanth]

Congratulations you got a like! This would be really efficient way to eliminate a large %age of bans. Well done Fox

~Vanth

 

[MoLoToV]

I'll be the first to ask it, as I'm kinda in a hurry atm, but could you give me a TL;DR?

 

[le quack]

I can't read.

 

[Col_StaR]

I'm impressed by the proposals in question, and they're formatted in such a way that I personally think is most efficient. Well done, Fox .

That being said, I can't say I agree with all of them. Here's my breakdown of your suggestions (and the TL;DR for anyone who needs it), and my responses to each:

1. Implement the ban guidelines to the Rules page.
That honestly slipped our minds. I'll add that in after this response.

EDIT:
Actually, they're already on there. They're just under a Spoiler tag at the very top of the Rules page.

2. "giving an emphasis abiding to, lets say, the ban guidelines of the community"
This phrase absolutely confounds me, since it's so ambiguous that I'm hesitant to even call it a suggestion. But from the following statements, it seems as though you are suggesting that we give the ban guide more exposure in order to encourage players to be more mindful of our rules.

I think the underlying logic with the entire first section seems to be, "if players knew our rules, they would not break them. But since no one knows our rules, they break them anyways!"

This logic is valid, but unsound. The entire argument is not practical.

It is common sense not to abuse players and insult them; people do it anyways.
It is common sense not to spam incessantly to be annoying; people do it anyways.
It is common sense not to spread pornography across a game whose demographic is tweens and teens; people do it anyways.
People are aware of these common sense rules, but their intent is to break them anyways. Shoving a rules page in their face, or warning them of potential punishment, will do nothing; they have made up their minds that they are going to do something bad, and they don't care at all.

Secondly, just because people are shown the rules does not mean they will read or even abide by them. How many people actually read the Terms and Conditions statements that they're prompted with? A vast majority of people don't care and just hit, "I agree and accept". Especially amongst our demographic, who seem to avoid reading in general, that isn't going to fly. They will ignore that rules page as quickly as it appears.

Lastly, even if someone reads the rules, that doesn't guarantee that they will always abide by them. They will simply be aware of the rules they're breaking, and most people seem content to do just that.

Overall, this would not be effective at addressing rule breakers; it'd just make the rule breakers slightly more aware of the rules they'll be breaking.

3. Add a tab with a link to the Rules.
It's in the works. We need to hear back from our front end web developer for that.

4. Change the layout of the Rules page to a flowchart format.
Good idea, but utterly impractical. The flowchart is going to be so giant and bloated with information that it will be even harder to navigate than our current list of rules. A list is easy because it can list each individual entity without requiring contexts or introductions. Flowcharts require a logical progression of things paired with branches to address each rule, which is not great. Flowcharts are good for mapping progressions of things, but rules are static entities.

The MCGamer Problem Solver actually works on a flowchart-esque approach. I should update that.

5. New Rule: if a link is NSFW, the link must be tagged as NSFW in its text.
First of all, that rule is easily ignored by people who want to link people to malicious stuff.

Secondly, there really shouldn't even be any NSFW links on this site. We're supposed to be a family friendly community, and our age demographics are definitely not old enough to buy a Playboy in a store (or to be more current, legally create an account on Brazzers).

I just don't see what this would accomplish that shouldn't already be prohibited on this site. If you want to share such links, don't do it here.

6. Add a Link Shortener, and filter which websites can be seen on here.
A better idea, but I still don't see the point. Not only do the two above statements still apply, but the most popular tactic that we're seeing by trolls to lure people into viewing shocking content is to hide it in a commonly used site where the public can upload anything. I just watched a .gif of a man getting his head cut off, but it came from a seemingly-innocent imgur.com link. There are too many bad sites to filter from, and most trolls are using the previous tactic to begin with, so there isn't much of a point to a link shortener.

I just don't see much of a point to the link augmentation that can't be better addressed with regular reporting methods. NSFW links are already against the rules, and the link redirector has already done a good job at reducing the amount of malicious links being spread around.

7. Whenever a new player joins the forums, include a Welcome message that includes a link to the rules.
I like this idea, and will look into it.

But again, as my above statements have shown, just because someone is aware of the rules doesn't mean they will abide by them.

On top of that, not everyone who plays on our network visits our forums, so there's even less of a point to be had.

7. Add a conversation box to inform players of new amendments to rules and such
I like the idea of conversation boxes, but I definitely don't trust them not to be defaced on a near-constant level nowadays. Might not be worth the risk, especially if it seems like most people don't really care about reading any updates to rules anyways (unless it affects them directly, like that Multi-Logging prohibition announcement)

That being said, I do make a point to bump the Rules and FAQ pages if I change anything. It might not be a dedicated convo-box, but it accomplishes the same thing.
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Overall, these were some good suggestions, but I just don't think all of them will work as they're intended to.