I like the way these guidelines are written, which is in a positive manner. I especially love the little insert of humor (kitten pictures) that helped to get the point across in a way that was friendly but still made the intent obvious.

I agree with and 's points about rewards possibly becoming a bad thing. Although it's a nice thought to recognize and reward the users who are friendly and frequently help out the community, it could easily turn into a contest between users to see who can be "the most helpful" and end up being detrimental. 's idea of being able to positively flag helpful posts could be a great solution because it would turn the rewards into a community-selected award instead of a contest.

I can't really contribute to the discussion about negativity on the forums, as I don't tend to use them outside of the events. I have seen negativity in them (like when a ping group gets notified accidentally/wrongly), but I've also seen a lot of positive interactions.

I agree with the users who said that noting not all users may use English as their first language is probably a good thing to add into the guidelines.

In general though, I think these were well written, short enough to be read completely instead of skimmed, and positive!

I... can't help but wonder if we really needed this :/ It's not that it looks bad, it doesn't; although it's very open for interpretation, knowing our mods I don't really feel paranoid about it.

I actually really like this, even if I have no idea how it could be implemented. Most times, I don't think people have an idea they're being rude, and honestly, from personal experience, it also sucks to be the one person to point it out. But idk if a "thumbs down" or anything like that would be effective, unless it was only visible for the user in question and not the rest of the community. Can't be public shaming anyone...

But hell, I'd love a system that gave people a heads up. It does suck that people might get punished for things they don't realize and we, as users, can't point out without looking nosy and possibly stalkerish or rude ourselves.

I fear people might get competitive and "fake" happy reactions all the time if rewards for "good behavior" are a thing, though. Yet I absolutely think deserves a medal. XD

I like these guidelines. They all seem as though they should be "common sense" rules, but sometimes people need a reminder ;) But they are all worded very well and are all positive reminders of how we should be to keep the community cheerful and stress-free.

I have to say, I've never had any problems on the forums with people being rude or "mean". The shout box, however, uhg. I gave up on that well over a year ago. There was a small, select group of members that would roam there and more or less alienate anyone else who tried to join in the banter. It was a mess of drama and ridiculously rude individuals. I'm sure it's changed since then, but the events left a bad taste in my mouth and I haven't had a desire to add the SB back to my dashboard.

Based on what others have been saying about the SB, however, it seems as though most of those issues have been cleared up; which I'm glad to hear. :) I come to this site, like many others, to wind down from the real world. Having a drama-free zone to do that in is a ideal.

- I re-read what I wrote and realise how much it sounded like me being a sarcastic bitch and I swear to god that is not what I was trying to convey. I know that is working on a guide as well as she contacted me about it and I just figured with her guide coming mine would basically be obsolete at this point.

I am glad it has helped people and that its been useful to people, that was my original goal. If it continues to help or is somehow implemented into the new guide as well, great. If not at least it can be a sounding board for someone. :)

I also just saw you mention the debate forums possibly be removed and as much as I do not like the debate forums, the only problem I can foresee with them being gone is that the SB will become a more hostile environment. I know we have the SB Bans system at the moment and usually this is a subject brought up that everyone freaks out over the sb being shut down if it gets too bad, and lets face it, the SB isn't the most friendly aspect of the site but sometimes its a place people ask for help in as well. (I swear I'm getting to my point), I see a lot of people talk about different thing sin there and usually when something heated begins the suggestion of taking it to the debate forums is brought up and I've noticed lately that is actually advice being taken. If the debate forums are removed, where do they take their "debates"? Is there going to be a separate place to talk where its less debate-y and more "lets have an actual civil conversation without one or more persons wanting to rip heads off" or will it be more of "take it offsite"?

I just feel like it will be a ripple effect and make one aspect of the site less friendly in the process of trying to make the entire site more friendly by dispatching something the SB depends on more than they'd like to admit I think. :x

(Also, as a side note, aside from the first ping from , I have not gotten any notification of pings here nor any event to tell me there were staff posts on this forum since I posted last. Should this be reported to bugs or is this something normal-ish for this section?)

I was wondering if for the "NO HATE SPEECH" area, we could be both more vague (instead of listing every single kind of hate) while also being more inclusif as I noticed religion isn't mentioned in the current version. Perhaps something along the lines of:

Body would encompass everything from sexism to transphobia to physical illnesses & disabilities...

Mind: mental illness, opinions of any kind (politics for example)...

Faith: respectful talk of all beliefs; discussing not criticising; speaking of religion without belittling either the believer or the non-believer

Country: particularly in connection with events seen on the news, there can be strong even violent reactions against/generalisations of entire civilisations; xenophobia; and misunderstandings with non-native English speakers

Ethnicities: covers all "racial" prejudices

Or which ever words would be better. I dunno really - just a suggestion. :) And thanks for asking our opinion! [edit] Buuuut too vague and you'll probably just end up listing/explaining them all as I've just proved... ^^' Still, I do think that section needs some working on!

What if the debate forums were just renamed to "Serious Discussion"? That way there isn't the underlying feel of needing to argue or prove something (already making it a better environment), but it'd be a welcome environment for heavier topics like what are already addressed in there?

I like the new guidelines... I especially like the rule stating that not everyone knows everything and to give a hand.

I have seen the negativity in the forums and frankly it's deterred me from talking much as well, so I'm very hopeful that these guidelines will direct the forums in a more positive direction. Thanks for the new guidelines!

- Or just Discussion in general rather than having Serious in there as that still promotes, to me, a more hostile situation.

I'm weird in what I perceive as hostile, I think. :x

This is a cute idea. Even though I didn't encounter many nasty players in the past, I hope this helps with the few of them out there :)

I'd also love to see the "Not everyone speaks English" suggestion added. I can't remember how many times I saw people's opinions ignored because of their grammar, or people yelled at because they called Quentin a he, she or it, while in some languages gender-neutral pronouns don't even exist.

(I was going to edit my previous post, but since more people posted after me... xD)

Yeah I think a remarkable aspect of enforcing those rules will be the Debate area and the SB. Outside of them, I don't typically run into many issues at all, but those are the two places I hardly ever consider participating on.

If people will be given actual warnings and freezings might also be issued based on that, then I obviously support 's plea at the bottom of page 4.

Edit: I won't miss the Debate boards if they go, but that might make the SB or Chit Chat area a harder place to moderate. Essentially, the subjects won't cease existing (as much as they might be disincentivized), the threads will just move elsewhere.

Edit again: Also, what Andrea said on page 6. c:

I have always followed these guidelines before it was mentioned mainly because i was raised to be a good person and a good team player. I support this for we do have a few people who love to cause problems. However, Only concern is if your being polite,respectful but have a blunt opinion, I hope people don't get offended and start reporting haphazzardly. I hope staff can weed from the kind who is obvious against guidelines vs the person who has an honest and fair opinion. Sometimes people can get butthurt too much and go on the defensive. But I know generally we are a good community, so i have trust in my fellow peers and staff..just a little concern but overall, I support it as well

Terrific idea, but I have to say that I have only met wonderfully kind and helpful people on here.

The new rules are great. They are short and sweet. I don't post much in the forums just because there is so much to do here and my time is limited. But, i have never met anyone here i did not like or was not respectful.

I have never really met anyone on Subeta that didn't seem to follow the guidelines but hopefully the amount of rude people on the site will reduce even more.

I think the rules are short but get the point across. The humor is great too! Great idea.

These seem very reasonable and good and would like to specifically commend the phrase: "Remember, “freedom of speech” only applies to freedom from government persecution, it doesn’t mean everyone else has to put up with your gross behavior."

I would like to second Raichu's suggestion about making a note that not everyone on the site is a native English speaker. People shouldn't be alienated because they make a few mistakes. Also even if something is entirely unintelligible, request clarification politely.

A very nice set of rules -- short, easy to read, good tone, and the content is good too. I'd maybe include a disclaimer to the "Don't Be That Guy" section that mods/staff are allowed to use their discretion about what counts as breaking the code? As it stands now people can try and Rules Lawyer any warnings they get because "think of what a jerk would do then don't do it" is kind of vague and they could argue "what, any jerks I know wouldn't do that". Just to tie up any potential loose ends.

(Also I hope I don't get a bunch of warnings for my constant complaining under these guidelines, lol.)

I think it's all common sense stuff that everyone should be capable of doing without a rewards system. I understand the need to post rules and to punish people for not following the rules... but as a parent I would never give my kid a cookie for "playing nice". This is something that they know to do because they have morals and understand the consequences for misbehaving. Maybe I'm misunderstanding the concept?

Skimmed the pages, so gonna point out some things I've seen first then get to opinion of the guidelines.

First of all 's idea of replacing all the "-ism,-phobia,etc" with "body, mind, faith, country, or ethnicity" is fair, considering I've already seen someone on this thread use "retarded" to describe the site guidelines at Neo >.>

Getting rid of the Debate Forum Basically reiterating what said. The shoutbox gets heated a lot when some debate-type topics get mentioned, and it's so easy to say "Take it to the debate forum" especially since mods aren't always in the SB to handle things. What happens when you get rid of the forum and the lack of monitoring in the SB is still exists? Shit is gonna hit the fan.

In response to I thought we could only file an appeal 2 years after a warning was issued? Or maybe I just pulled that out of my ass. I literally have no idea. If not, and we can appeal right after, this needs to be addressed somewhere. If we can't, I really think we need to implement was said.

About the guidelines in general: -Super vague -Why are we going to reward people for doing good? I thought the point of doing good was... to do good? Like internal motivation, not external rewards? -Are staff members going to monitor behavior/posts and dish out warnings/bans accordingly, or is this going to be similar to how the SB is set up where you are mostly relying on tickets from users to report "bad" behavior? (I don't report things I see that "aren't appropriate" because I don't want to be that person, but I know people will /easily/ report me over someone else because I'm not well-liked.) -I'm a dick, sure, but I also try to be helpful with newbies in the shoutbox and answer questions in the Help&Questions and Profiles&Grahics forums. Does that mean I'll be rewarded, banned, or will it even out?

The only drawback I can see (as an elementary teacher) is that there is a lot of space for 'tattlers.' I have seen, not necessarily here, but in other situations online with adults and those who are hoping to be acting like adults, that if it's set up to be policed as a community, those "hate speech" rules can be enforced by sections of the community to actually drive people out instead of draw them in. "Teacher, he was calling me names!" (I've seen it that bad.)

I don't know what the prevention for that would be, but I know as tempers flare, it can backfire. I think as long as you've got moderately active mods who understand that certain people are more prone to sensitive reactions, you should be fine.

The guidelines themselves seem commonsense to me, but it's nice to see them written out like that. I like the "golden rule" one. That should cover a lot of things.

I think this is a great idea. loving a lot of the suggestions given.... most of what I had to say has already been said :)