How often do you read the forum rules?
Sept 13, 2017 16:46:34 GMT
charlesuirdhein and tiny like this
Post by jasonward on Sept 13, 2017 16:46:34 GMT
Many moons ago, I was a what was an official called a Multihunter for the game Travian. I had to enforce the game rules that for whatever reason the game itself did not enforce, and I was in effect judge, jury and executioner, I could if I wanted I could destroy something a player had invested many hours over many months. Cheating of one form or another was quite common, and for a long time there were even commercial outfits selling cheats for the game, but the rules could also catch the unwary by surprise, even if truth be told it was not uncommon for edge cases to come up with experienced players or where players who had been playing for years on a server where the Multihunter there had allowed something, but now they came to my server and I thought it was against the rules.
The complexity of the game, the way the rules impacted game play, the way cheating impacted game play, the time and effort people put into the game all taught me to be very very clear myself on the rules, and the more clear I was about the rules, the more clear I was that I wasn't clear at all. I would read the rules in full at least once per day, and whenever something happened that I was in the least bit unclear about I would reread them again, there were days when I would end up reading the rules 5 or 6 times, and perhaps a specific section 20 times.
Now, when it comes to most things in life and the internet I am no where near as careful, but whilst I was an admin here on this forum, I got back into the habit of reading the rules each day, and would often refer to them after reading someone's post.
And the habit has not stopped since I left the moderation team, I keep reading the rules once a day.
There is an obvious benefit for me of this, which is that I am clear in my mind that my posts don't break the rules. But there is something else that it gives me, less obvious, it lets me know what I can expect from others posts, it tells me, makes clear to me, that not everything I read here will be comfortable for me to read, but in turn it also tells me that I will not be suppressed in replying, that so long as I obey the rules, I will be able to state my discomfort and not be shouted down or belittled, at least not by those obeying the rules, and those breaking them can be easily reported and then sanctioned.
So how often do you read the rules? And what does that leave you clear about?
My expectation is that less than 50% well have ever read the rules, and 49.9% will have read them once.
But take a look at the rules, don't just look at them as to guide as to what you can't do/say, look at the framework they provide for the forum, and then ask yourself what that grants you.
The complexity of the game, the way the rules impacted game play, the way cheating impacted game play, the time and effort people put into the game all taught me to be very very clear myself on the rules, and the more clear I was about the rules, the more clear I was that I wasn't clear at all. I would read the rules in full at least once per day, and whenever something happened that I was in the least bit unclear about I would reread them again, there were days when I would end up reading the rules 5 or 6 times, and perhaps a specific section 20 times.
Now, when it comes to most things in life and the internet I am no where near as careful, but whilst I was an admin here on this forum, I got back into the habit of reading the rules each day, and would often refer to them after reading someone's post.
And the habit has not stopped since I left the moderation team, I keep reading the rules once a day.
There is an obvious benefit for me of this, which is that I am clear in my mind that my posts don't break the rules. But there is something else that it gives me, less obvious, it lets me know what I can expect from others posts, it tells me, makes clear to me, that not everything I read here will be comfortable for me to read, but in turn it also tells me that I will not be suppressed in replying, that so long as I obey the rules, I will be able to state my discomfort and not be shouted down or belittled, at least not by those obeying the rules, and those breaking them can be easily reported and then sanctioned.
So how often do you read the rules? And what does that leave you clear about?
My expectation is that less than 50% well have ever read the rules, and 49.9% will have read them once.
But take a look at the rules, don't just look at them as to guide as to what you can't do/say, look at the framework they provide for the forum, and then ask yourself what that grants you.
