Need Help New Forum Rules?

[Pieter Boelen]

For the longest of times, we have operated on the Notice - Welcome and Forum Rules! originally written by @Thagarr and updated by various staff members over the years.
It is a fantastic piece of writing; and has served us very well for many years.

It is also old.
Parts are outdated.
And it is so very long that people with today's attention spans are likely to not pay attention.

With this community now officially under new ownership, it is time to reconsider...
Well..
Everything.
And our rules are likely the best place to start.

It is my intention to have an open discussion together; before settling on the new rules.
In the meantime, of course the old ones will remain in effect.

As a starting point, here are the "rules" I whipped up for our 'new' Facebook Group a short while back:

1. Universal Declaration of Human Rights
Full details courtesy of the United Nations:
Universal Declaration of Human Rights | United Nations

2. We Really Rather You Didn't...
Courtesy of the Church of the Flying Spaghetti Monster Australia:
The ‘I’d Really Rather You Didn’ts’

3. Qualities of a Good Pirate Captain
Courtesy of Captain Python:
Qualities of a Good Pirate Captain | PiratesAhoy!

4. Code of the Brethren
They're more like guidelines anyway:
Code of the Pirate Brethren

5. The Ten Commandments
Courtesy of Moses and Jahweh:
Bible List Of The Ten Commandments


Thoughts?
Comments?
Questions...?
Suggestions...?

 

[Bartolomeu o Portugues]

Which parts are outdated?

 

[Pieter Boelen]

Which parts are outdated?

As far as I'm concerned? All of it.

But especially this bit here, I should hope:

Below is a list of topics that have been known to lead to inflammatory discussions on this forum:
- The circumstances as described in this Statement Regarding PiratesAhoy! Policy | PiratesAhoy!
- The Age of Pirates 2: Eras mod
- Pirates Odyssey: For Each His Own
- Naval Action!

I like to think that is all back in the past...

 

[The Nameless Pirate]

I like to think that is all back in the past...

From what I have seen that seems to be the case.
Especially for ERAS and TEHO. Which from memory at least haven't had pretty much any fighting lately.

 

[Grey Roger]

I agree that the list of specific topics should be removed. TEHO (anything to do with SD:TEHO?) and ERAS haven't been a source of trouble. Any discussion about ERAS which I've seen in the recent past has been polite, whether answering questions here or directing the poster to Buccaneers Reef. Leave the section about trolling or imflammatory content, just remove the now obsolete examples.

The rest of the page seems fair enough. Possibly change the bit about posting in English from a rule to an advice - folks who post in other languages won't be warned or banned, but probably won't be understood or answered either unless someone else knows the same language and also knows the answer to their question.

As for the suggested new rules, I'd advise against anything explicitly based on any religion. Two topics which can certainly stir up heated discussion are religion and politics, and some other forums ban them entirely. Maybe borrow some rules from religious sources but rephrase them to make it less obvious - for example, "Thou shalt not steal" probably only applies here to stealing IP, currently covered neatly by the part about "Original Content and Plagiarism".

 

[Pieter Boelen]

From what I have seen that seems to be the case.
Especially for ERAS and TEHO. Which from memory at least haven't had pretty much any fighting lately.

Last example for all of those were, I think, a good few years ago.

TEHO (anything to do with SD:TEHO?)

Yes; it is exactly the same game.
The release got delayed and delayed and people were complaining SOOOOO much.
It's was BEYOND tiresome.

The rest of the page seems fair enough. Possibly change the bit about posting in English from a rule to an advice - folks who post in other languages won't be warned or banned, but probably won't be understood or answered either unless someone else knows the same language and also knows the answer to their question.

Good point.

Are you able to edit the post yourself?
If so, feel free.

As for the suggested new rules, I'd advise against anything explicitly based on any religion. Two topics which can certainly stir up heated discussion are religion and politics, and some other forums ban them entirely. Maybe borrow some rules from religious sources but rephrase them to make it less obvious - for example, "Thou shalt not steal" probably only applies here to stealing IP, currently covered neatly by the part about "Original Content and Plagiarism".

That's kind-of the reason I AM thinking of these rules.
For starters, I very much want to make a statement to the outside world that from here on, PiratesAhoy! will NOT remain the same.
Because I have very little interest in repeating the past.
Give me future or give me death!

I've also been getting increasingly sick of the RIDICULOUS "opinions" of people I run across on, say, YouTube and Facebook and wherever.
But more than that, I am getting sick of people getting censored. And people not being allowed to voice certain opinions.
What kind of PIRATES are we if we do not promote FREEDOM here?!?

I am not afraid of discussing religion.
I happen to have QUITE a lot to say on the subject.
For very, VERY personal reasons.
And if my very own website is no place for that, then where??

I didn't actually think very long to come up with that new set of 'rules'.
But it is VERY definitely a political statement of mine.

The way I see it, people SERIOUSLY need reminding of basic Human Rights; as I see them being violated left, right and centre and I DO NOT approve!!
The ordering of those various 'rules' is also VERY deliberately by priority.
"Rule" 2 is already "I'd really rather you didn't" and while "The Ten Commandments" do get an honorary mention, they also get listed LAST.
On purpose.
Even after the thing that is clearly stated to be "more like guidelines anyway".

Why?
Because I started my life as a Roman Catholic.
I have seen and lived the hypocrisy and abuse that can result from "Christianity" first hand.
So much so that I officially got myself removed from their registers.
I do not want to go as far as going actively against all Christians; which is why it gets listed at all.
But at the same time, HOLY CRAP do I have VERY serious issues with it!!

Those issues of mine I know to be very very valid.
And they need to be addressed.
At a very large scale.

Christianity needs to be reminded of the person Jesus really was.
As does humanity at large need to be reminded of a whole bunch of big themes too.

This world is not healthy.
It needs a force for good.
I cannot afford to wait for other people to start doing right.
Which means I have no choice but to give it my best shot myself.
With all means available to me.

It doesn't take much figuring out which "means" are included in that.

The big question though is: how to do this in a way that it DOES work out for good?
I cannot do it alone. In fact, I am relying on all of you to hold me back wherever needed.
Because I myself am simply TOO strongly opinionated.
To my own personal frustration.