Changes to USMB Zone Layout and Rules.

[Kosh]

Changes to USMB Rules and Layout

Discussion boards are the oldest form of Social Media. In order for us to stay relevant and adhere to the principles of free discussion --- we have to PROMOTE good discussion. There’s no sense having a design that sounds like Twitter. And we definitely don’t want to pretend to be fair about boinking topics and opinions and content like the FaceBook current strategy. So we’re making a few minor tweaks to USMB content organization and moderation to encourage folks to more fully engage in discussion.

We’re going to be enforcing more demanding “specific topical content” in posts. For too long now, the standard has been getting more and more lax. Thread topics have to be respected. They are much more important than the personal squabbles and member flaming. So “specific topical content” will show up in the revised rules as MORE than a token or repeated reference to some key word related to the topic. You have to be CONTRIBUTING to the topical discussion in every post in Zone2 before you get to flame or snark. We can’t have threads that all sound the same. No one learns anything. No one wants to read them. It becomes the same useless skirmish in every thread.

Secondly – if you do flame or snark without sufficient topical content AND you escalate that to excessive levels by calling out members as Marxists or Nazis or racists or other improvable attributions – expect to get ejected from those threads.

Lastly, we are going to simplify the rules and moderation by collapsing from four moderation Zones to three. This will greatly simplify the map that folks have to keep in their heads , simplify moderation, and make the Zone method less intimidating to new members. Zone1 will stay essentially the same. So forums under the highest “civil conversation” moderation will not be affected. Zone3 will be wholly incorporated into Zone2 and the more stringent “sufficient and specific topic content” rule will apply to the vast majority of USMB forums. The World Famous USMB Taunting forums will stay the same rule wise, but they will move one floor up to Zone3. (Zone 4 will now be flame sanitized and renovated for Mod room expansion and recreation ).

Some of the forums in the current Zone3 are not as problematic for topic control as others. For instance, Gardening or Writing or Music or Canada will always have some leniency for being “on topic”. But Current Events, or Health/LifeStyle or Immigration, for instance demand more on-topic compliance. It’s common sense and courtesy that should prevail in the less contentious forums. You should not need moderation to figure it out for you.

The Zone “collapse” will require a clean-up of all those “sticky threads” at the top of each forum that refer to the Zones. Those stickies haven’t been culled or edited in a long time. So we’ll be working on that for perhaps 2 weeks. In the meantime – POST in the old Zone3 forums as though the tougher standards apply today.

Whatcha tryin' ta do??!! Hamstring my acerbic creativity????!!!!!! Geeze, some people........

No you can still be drunk and post..

 

[flacaltenn]

What is this recreation area going to consist of?

Don't know what you mean. You talking about the Taunting Forums or places like Coffee Shop and the Lounge?

No new forums are being considered. You can pillage or rape anything that appears in Zone3.

 

[Ringel05]

Changes to USMB Rules and Layout

Discussion boards are the oldest form of Social Media. In order for us to stay relevant and adhere to the principles of free discussion --- we have to PROMOTE good discussion. There’s no sense having a design that sounds like Twitter. And we definitely don’t want to pretend to be fair about boinking topics and opinions and content like the FaceBook current strategy. So we’re making a few minor tweaks to USMB content organization and moderation to encourage folks to more fully engage in discussion.

We’re going to be enforcing more demanding “specific topical content” in posts. For too long now, the standard has been getting more and more lax. Thread topics have to be respected. They are much more important than the personal squabbles and member flaming. So “specific topical content” will show up in the revised rules as MORE than a token or repeated reference to some key word related to the topic. You have to be CONTRIBUTING to the topical discussion in every post in Zone2 before you get to flame or snark. We can’t have threads that all sound the same. No one learns anything. No one wants to read them. It becomes the same useless skirmish in every thread.

Secondly – if you do flame or snark without sufficient topical content AND you escalate that to excessive levels by calling out members as Marxists or Nazis or racists or other improvable attributions – expect to get ejected from those threads.

Lastly, we are going to simplify the rules and moderation by collapsing from four moderation Zones to three. This will greatly simplify the map that folks have to keep in their heads , simplify moderation, and make the Zone method less intimidating to new members. Zone1 will stay essentially the same. So forums under the highest “civil conversation” moderation will not be affected. Zone3 will be wholly incorporated into Zone2 and the more stringent “sufficient and specific topic content” rule will apply to the vast majority of USMB forums. The World Famous USMB Taunting forums will stay the same rule wise, but they will move one floor up to Zone3. (Zone 4 will now be flame sanitized and renovated for Mod room expansion and recreation ).

Some of the forums in the current Zone3 are not as problematic for topic control as others. For instance, Gardening or Writing or Music or Canada will always have some leniency for being “on topic”. But Current Events, or Health/LifeStyle or Immigration, for instance demand more on-topic compliance. It’s common sense and courtesy that should prevail in the less contentious forums. You should not need moderation to figure it out for you.

The Zone “collapse” will require a clean-up of all those “sticky threads” at the top of each forum that refer to the Zones. Those stickies haven’t been culled or edited in a long time. So we’ll be working on that for perhaps 2 weeks. In the meantime – POST in the old Zone3 forums as though the tougher standards apply today.

Whatcha tryin' ta do??!! Hamstring my acerbic creativity????!!!!!! Geeze, some people........

No you can still be drunk and post..

That's awesome!!!!! Unfortunately I don't drink. Oh well, another good idea down the drain.

 

[Moonglow]

What is this recreation area going to consist of?

Don't know what you mean. You talking about the Taunting Forums or places like Coffee Shop and the Lounge?

No new forums are being considered. You can pillage or rape anything that appears in Zone3.

The World Famous USMB Taunting forums will stay the same rule wise, but they will move one floor up to Zone3. (Zone 4 will now be flame sanitized and renovated for Mod room expansion and recreation ).

 

[Moonglow]

Changes to USMB Rules and Layout

Discussion boards are the oldest form of Social Media. In order for us to stay relevant and adhere to the principles of free discussion --- we have to PROMOTE good discussion. There’s no sense having a design that sounds like Twitter. And we definitely don’t want to pretend to be fair about boinking topics and opinions and content like the FaceBook current strategy. So we’re making a few minor tweaks to USMB content organization and moderation to encourage folks to more fully engage in discussion.

We’re going to be enforcing more demanding “specific topical content” in posts. For too long now, the standard has been getting more and more lax. Thread topics have to be respected. They are much more important than the personal squabbles and member flaming. So “specific topical content” will show up in the revised rules as MORE than a token or repeated reference to some key word related to the topic. You have to be CONTRIBUTING to the topical discussion in every post in Zone2 before you get to flame or snark. We can’t have threads that all sound the same. No one learns anything. No one wants to read them. It becomes the same useless skirmish in every thread.

Secondly – if you do flame or snark without sufficient topical content AND you escalate that to excessive levels by calling out members as Marxists or Nazis or racists or other improvable attributions – expect to get ejected from those threads.

Lastly, we are going to simplify the rules and moderation by collapsing from four moderation Zones to three. This will greatly simplify the map that folks have to keep in their heads , simplify moderation, and make the Zone method less intimidating to new members. Zone1 will stay essentially the same. So forums under the highest “civil conversation” moderation will not be affected. Zone3 will be wholly incorporated into Zone2 and the more stringent “sufficient and specific topic content” rule will apply to the vast majority of USMB forums. The World Famous USMB Taunting forums will stay the same rule wise, but they will move one floor up to Zone3. (Zone 4 will now be flame sanitized and renovated for Mod room expansion and recreation ).

Some of the forums in the current Zone3 are not as problematic for topic control as others. For instance, Gardening or Writing or Music or Canada will always have some leniency for being “on topic”. But Current Events, or Health/LifeStyle or Immigration, for instance demand more on-topic compliance. It’s common sense and courtesy that should prevail in the less contentious forums. You should not need moderation to figure it out for you.

The Zone “collapse” will require a clean-up of all those “sticky threads” at the top of each forum that refer to the Zones. Those stickies haven’t been culled or edited in a long time. So we’ll be working on that for perhaps 2 weeks. In the meantime – POST in the old Zone3 forums as though the tougher standards apply today.

Whatcha tryin' ta do??!! Hamstring my acerbic creativity????!!!!!! Geeze, some people........

No you can still be drunk and post..

That's awesome!!!!! Unfortunately I don't drink. Oh well, another good idea down the drain.

Snort pills...to stay on topic..

 

[Kosh]

Changes to USMB Rules and Layout

Discussion boards are the oldest form of Social Media. In order for us to stay relevant and adhere to the principles of free discussion --- we have to PROMOTE good discussion. There’s no sense having a design that sounds like Twitter. And we definitely don’t want to pretend to be fair about boinking topics and opinions and content like the FaceBook current strategy. So we’re making a few minor tweaks to USMB content organization and moderation to encourage folks to more fully engage in discussion.

We’re going to be enforcing more demanding “specific topical content” in posts. For too long now, the standard has been getting more and more lax. Thread topics have to be respected. They are much more important than the personal squabbles and member flaming. So “specific topical content” will show up in the revised rules as MORE than a token or repeated reference to some key word related to the topic. You have to be CONTRIBUTING to the topical discussion in every post in Zone2 before you get to flame or snark. We can’t have threads that all sound the same. No one learns anything. No one wants to read them. It becomes the same useless skirmish in every thread.

Secondly – if you do flame or snark without sufficient topical content AND you escalate that to excessive levels by calling out members as Marxists or Nazis or racists or other improvable attributions – expect to get ejected from those threads.

Lastly, we are going to simplify the rules and moderation by collapsing from four moderation Zones to three. This will greatly simplify the map that folks have to keep in their heads , simplify moderation, and make the Zone method less intimidating to new members. Zone1 will stay essentially the same. So forums under the highest “civil conversation” moderation will not be affected. Zone3 will be wholly incorporated into Zone2 and the more stringent “sufficient and specific topic content” rule will apply to the vast majority of USMB forums. The World Famous USMB Taunting forums will stay the same rule wise, but they will move one floor up to Zone3. (Zone 4 will now be flame sanitized and renovated for Mod room expansion and recreation ).

Some of the forums in the current Zone3 are not as problematic for topic control as others. For instance, Gardening or Writing or Music or Canada will always have some leniency for being “on topic”. But Current Events, or Health/LifeStyle or Immigration, for instance demand more on-topic compliance. It’s common sense and courtesy that should prevail in the less contentious forums. You should not need moderation to figure it out for you.

The Zone “collapse” will require a clean-up of all those “sticky threads” at the top of each forum that refer to the Zones. Those stickies haven’t been culled or edited in a long time. So we’ll be working on that for perhaps 2 weeks. In the meantime – POST in the old Zone3 forums as though the tougher standards apply today.

Whatcha tryin' ta do??!! Hamstring my acerbic creativity????!!!!!! Geeze, some people........

No you can still be drunk and post..

That's awesome!!!!! Unfortunately I don't drink. Oh well, another good idea down the drain.

Good then you will not lead us to china town anymore!

 

[flacaltenn]

Well maybe you guys can write the rules so they apply to everyone, including your own.

Maybe you enforce these rules on your own (meaning the moderation team), it will go to a long way to being "civil"..

Then again will you be moving threads or banning threads that start off with a false premise? or start off with calling people Nazi's, Marxist, etc.?

If the OP is crap to begin with you can not expect the rest of the thread to smell like roses.

The assholes already have their two fucking zones of being nice fuck them...

Remember when the CDZ was where you went if you didn't want to converse like normal Americans? Gotta put our training wheels back on for everywhere.

Not true. All you have to do is contribute to the topics in you posts. If you do that -- you're free to spice it up. There's STILL no arbitrary word or opinion censorship. Only asking that EACH THREAD has a continuous unique convo that matches the title, the Opening Post, and the flow of discussion that mostly on-topic.

 

[Ringel05]

Changes to USMB Rules and Layout

Discussion boards are the oldest form of Social Media. In order for us to stay relevant and adhere to the principles of free discussion --- we have to PROMOTE good discussion. There’s no sense having a design that sounds like Twitter. And we definitely don’t want to pretend to be fair about boinking topics and opinions and content like the FaceBook current strategy. So we’re making a few minor tweaks to USMB content organization and moderation to encourage folks to more fully engage in discussion.

We’re going to be enforcing more demanding “specific topical content” in posts. For too long now, the standard has been getting more and more lax. Thread topics have to be respected. They are much more important than the personal squabbles and member flaming. So “specific topical content” will show up in the revised rules as MORE than a token or repeated reference to some key word related to the topic. You have to be CONTRIBUTING to the topical discussion in every post in Zone2 before you get to flame or snark. We can’t have threads that all sound the same. No one learns anything. No one wants to read them. It becomes the same useless skirmish in every thread.

Secondly – if you do flame or snark without sufficient topical content AND you escalate that to excessive levels by calling out members as Marxists or Nazis or racists or other improvable attributions – expect to get ejected from those threads.

Lastly, we are going to simplify the rules and moderation by collapsing from four moderation Zones to three. This will greatly simplify the map that folks have to keep in their heads , simplify moderation, and make the Zone method less intimidating to new members. Zone1 will stay essentially the same. So forums under the highest “civil conversation” moderation will not be affected. Zone3 will be wholly incorporated into Zone2 and the more stringent “sufficient and specific topic content” rule will apply to the vast majority of USMB forums. The World Famous USMB Taunting forums will stay the same rule wise, but they will move one floor up to Zone3. (Zone 4 will now be flame sanitized and renovated for Mod room expansion and recreation ).

Some of the forums in the current Zone3 are not as problematic for topic control as others. For instance, Gardening or Writing or Music or Canada will always have some leniency for being “on topic”. But Current Events, or Health/LifeStyle or Immigration, for instance demand more on-topic compliance. It’s common sense and courtesy that should prevail in the less contentious forums. You should not need moderation to figure it out for you.

The Zone “collapse” will require a clean-up of all those “sticky threads” at the top of each forum that refer to the Zones. Those stickies haven’t been culled or edited in a long time. So we’ll be working on that for perhaps 2 weeks. In the meantime – POST in the old Zone3 forums as though the tougher standards apply today.

Whatcha tryin' ta do??!! Hamstring my acerbic creativity????!!!!!! Geeze, some people........

No you can still be drunk and post..

That's awesome!!!!! Unfortunately I don't drink. Oh well, another good idea down the drain.

Good then you will not lead us to china town anymore!

Why were you following me? That was dumb........

 

[flacaltenn]

Al this zone talk is confusing. man....... guess I'll get hammered a few time until I figure it out

-Geaux

It's the same as ever was. We made it EASIER. Because now there's only 3 Zones with different moderation levels, not four. And actually -- the RULES haven't changed either. We're just enforcing the "topical content rule" that has ALWAYS existed.

 

[Sun Devil 92]

Al this zone talk is confusing. man....... guess I'll get hammered a few time until I figure it out

-Geaux

It's the same as ever was. We made it EASIER. Because now there's only 3 Zones with different moderation levels, not four. And actually -- the RULES haven't changed either. We're just enforcing the "topical rule" that has ALWAYS existed.

This means deanrd's threads are automatically toast.

 

[Kosh]

Changes to USMB Rules and Layout

Discussion boards are the oldest form of Social Media. In order for us to stay relevant and adhere to the principles of free discussion --- we have to PROMOTE good discussion. There’s no sense having a design that sounds like Twitter. And we definitely don’t want to pretend to be fair about boinking topics and opinions and content like the FaceBook current strategy. So we’re making a few minor tweaks to USMB content organization and moderation to encourage folks to more fully engage in discussion.

We’re going to be enforcing more demanding “specific topical content” in posts. For too long now, the standard has been getting more and more lax. Thread topics have to be respected. They are much more important than the personal squabbles and member flaming. So “specific topical content” will show up in the revised rules as MORE than a token or repeated reference to some key word related to the topic. You have to be CONTRIBUTING to the topical discussion in every post in Zone2 before you get to flame or snark. We can’t have threads that all sound the same. No one learns anything. No one wants to read them. It becomes the same useless skirmish in every thread.

Secondly – if you do flame or snark without sufficient topical content AND you escalate that to excessive levels by calling out members as Marxists or Nazis or racists or other improvable attributions – expect to get ejected from those threads.

Lastly, we are going to simplify the rules and moderation by collapsing from four moderation Zones to three. This will greatly simplify the map that folks have to keep in their heads , simplify moderation, and make the Zone method less intimidating to new members. Zone1 will stay essentially the same. So forums under the highest “civil conversation” moderation will not be affected. Zone3 will be wholly incorporated into Zone2 and the more stringent “sufficient and specific topic content” rule will apply to the vast majority of USMB forums. The World Famous USMB Taunting forums will stay the same rule wise, but they will move one floor up to Zone3. (Zone 4 will now be flame sanitized and renovated for Mod room expansion and recreation ).

Some of the forums in the current Zone3 are not as problematic for topic control as others. For instance, Gardening or Writing or Music or Canada will always have some leniency for being “on topic”. But Current Events, or Health/LifeStyle or Immigration, for instance demand more on-topic compliance. It’s common sense and courtesy that should prevail in the less contentious forums. You should not need moderation to figure it out for you.

The Zone “collapse” will require a clean-up of all those “sticky threads” at the top of each forum that refer to the Zones. Those stickies haven’t been culled or edited in a long time. So we’ll be working on that for perhaps 2 weeks. In the meantime – POST in the old Zone3 forums as though the tougher standards apply today.

Whatcha tryin' ta do??!! Hamstring my acerbic creativity????!!!!!! Geeze, some people........

No you can still be drunk and post..

That's awesome!!!!! Unfortunately I don't drink. Oh well, another good idea down the drain.

Good then you will not lead us to china town anymore!

Why were you following me? That was dumb........

Difference in following and responding to you, learn the difference!

Why would anyone follow you anyway?

I hear that they always wind up in strange places..

 

[Kosh]

Al this zone talk is confusing. man....... guess I'll get hammered a few time until I figure it out

-Geaux

It's the same as ever was. We made it EASIER. Because now there's only 3 Zones with different moderation levels, not four. And actually -- the RULES haven't changed either. We're just enforcing the "topical rule" that has ALWAYS existed.

This means deanrd's threads are automatically toast.

Nope! Just means anyone that does not agree with the content of rDeans threads will get thread banned.

 

[Ringel05]

Oh shoot, need to apply some topical content.

 

[Geaux4it]

Al this zone talk is confusing. man....... guess I'll get hammered a few time until I figure it out

-Geaux

It's the same as ever was. We made it EASIER. Because now there's only 3 Zones with different moderation levels, not four. And actually -- the RULES haven't changed either. We're just enforcing the "topical rule" that has ALWAYS existed.

This means deanrd's threads are automatically toast.

Nope! Just means anyone that does not agree with the content of rDeans threads will get thread banned.

That dude needs 10cc lithium twice a day

-Geaux

 

[Ringel05]

Whatcha tryin' ta do??!! Hamstring my acerbic creativity????!!!!!! Geeze, some people........

No you can still be drunk and post..

That's awesome!!!!! Unfortunately I don't drink. Oh well, another good idea down the drain.

Good then you will not lead us to china town anymore!

Why were you following me? That was dumb........

Difference in following and responding to you, learn the difference!

Why would anyone follow you anyway?

I hear that they always wind up in strange places..

You said lead besides, how would you know I wind up in strange places if you weren't following me?

 

[Kosh]

No you can still be drunk and post..

That's awesome!!!!! Unfortunately I don't drink. Oh well, another good idea down the drain.

Good then you will not lead us to china town anymore!

Why were you following me? That was dumb........

Difference in following and responding to you, learn the difference!

Why would anyone follow you anyway?

I hear that they always wind up in strange places..

You said lead besides, how would you know I wind up in strange places if you weren't following me?

I said it is something I hear! Maybe you need to take all that topical content out of your eyes so you can read better.

 

[Remodeling Maidiac]

I have never even read the forum rules. When redirected by a mod I just close the page and leave the site.

We're all adults here, no need for baby sitters to protect peoples feelings.

 

[Ringel05]

That's awesome!!!!! Unfortunately I don't drink. Oh well, another good idea down the drain.

Good then you will not lead us to china town anymore!

Why were you following me? That was dumb........

Difference in following and responding to you, learn the difference!

Why would anyone follow you anyway?

I hear that they always wind up in strange places..

You said lead besides, how would you know I wind up in strange places if you weren't following me?

I said it is something I hear! Maybe you need to take all that topical content out of your eyes so you can read better.

Good then you will not lead us to china town anymore!

Ya might wanna see someone about that short term memory issue.......

 

[Auld Phart]

Al this zone talk is confusing. man....... guess I'll get hammered a few time until I figure it out

-Geaux

It's the same as ever was. We made it EASIER. Because now there's only 3 Zones with different moderation levels, not four. And actually -- the RULES haven't changed either. We're just enforcing the "topical rule" that has ALWAYS existed.

This means deanrd's threads are automatically toast.

Not really

Just have to respond to the OP topic.

 

[flacaltenn]

Well maybe you guys can write the rules so they apply to everyone, including your own.

Maybe you enforce these rules on your own (meaning the moderation team), it will go to a long way to being "civil"..

Then again will you be moving threads or banning threads that start off with a false premise? or start off with calling people Nazi's, Marxist, etc.?

If the OP is crap to begin with you can not expect the rest of the thread to smell like roses.

If the OP is crap to begin with you can not expect the rest of the thread to smell like roses.

if the OP is crap to begin with, don't join the thread

If you do not want people to participate on a crap then either move or remove the thread.

After you want to enforce the rules and it must start at the OP..

If you do not want people to participate on a crap then either move or remove the thread.

If you don't like the thread, dont' join it.

We are NOT going to move/delete threads just because YOU have a problem with it.

Then do not expect to up hold the rules because the Op is crap to begin with.

That is stupid to try and enforce rules to crappy thread.

We move or close or trash about 12 "crappy threads" a day. If it's a brawl waiting to happen or extremely baiting and polarizing. NONE of that changes. We don't do that just because of it's opinion or content. Only because the chances of it promoting an actual rational discussion are extremely low or zero.