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[LadyLyzar]

For those concerned about the warning system - consider the meaning of the term "warn". It's a strong recommendation that you don't do something again, or there will be consequences.

 

That's pretty much how our system works.

 

For normal users (not ad spammers, for example) the first couple of warns don't normally affect your posting abilities in ANY way. It is simply a reminder of the forum rules and a request to please not continue breaking them. If you keep doing it, consequences are enforced.

 

When I warn a user (which isn't exactly fun for me, especially if it's someone I consider a friend) I try to explain specifically what the warn is for, give a link to the forum rules, and quote the one in question.

 

If you disagree with your warn, you can always talk to the mod who warned you. Yes, I have seen warns reversed based on mutual (mis)understanding of the situation. If that doesn't work, you can always talk to a Global Moderator or TJ himself, or ask another mod for that section for their opinion.

[Thuban]

I just got a warn for asking a question [actually it was 'being rude], with no verbal warning or anything. now im afraid to post anywhere if i can get warned for having an opinion/question.watch, ill get a warn for this post!

Things like this are a perfect example of the whole reason why your forum mods dont like warns being brought out in the open. (this quote has been edited to keep the gist of my point while keeping it more.. anon)

 

There are much better ways to discuss warns that do not open the door for drama.Lets do some more examples:

 

Good examples:

"Hey I once got a warn for something similar because my statement came off a bit rude. Try to be a bit more careful on how you word things."

 

 

Bad examples:

The mods just warned me for being rude because i did (whatever)... its so unfair, put this in your sig if you agree (random message designed for generating an uproar)

 

 

I generally dont post on the forum, mainy because of the other users, NOT because of the mods. Its really really difficult to define a specific line of what is ok and what is not, especially when dealing with an age difference, and maturity difference as large as our user base. I know of people between 6 and 75 who play this game on a regular basis. I will not (now or ever) allow my kids on THIS forum. There are many topics that we have here that I do not believe have a place in a game forum. I come from a forum where discussing warns, or bans is an instant one week ban. You are also warned publically in your post so that everyone who bothers to look can see exactly what you got into trouble for.

 

Theres a few things we used to do there though to sort of minimalize that: if a post was derailing the topic, we would edit a comment onto the post that stated "This post has been considered spam, any further posting regarding *this* topic will be warned for as spam". That way it was a verbal warning BUT every single poster after that was warned as well. Verbally. We also did tend to pm our trouble makers to fully explain the verbal warns we gave out, for clarification purposes. We had a bit of a weird warn system though.. you only got one verbal warning on each type of warn we gave.. but if you got verbal warns for 3 different things we immediately started handing out official warns.

 

Overall... the rules here really arent that hard to learn and follow. If you think that something might get you into trouble.. then poke a mod and ask. For the most part, the forum mods here are a rather laid back easy going crowd. If they dont have an answer, they will do the best they can to find it for you. Dont like a warn you got, pick a different mod and ask them about it.. or poke me. I really dont mind finding out the details of why a warn was given to help clarify.

Edited August 19, 2011 by Thuban

[Princess Artemis]

I will not (now or ever) allow my kids on THIS forum. There are many topics that we have here that I do not believe have a place in a game forum.

I know this is only one sentence in your very good post, but I had to respond to it.

 

If I had kids I wouldn't let them on here either. I know I participate in some of the topics I wouldn't allow any hypothetical children I won't have in, mostly because they're there and this board does allow them to be there, but yeah. You're absolutely right.

[~!~]

I know this is only one sentence in your very good post, but I had to respond to it.

 

If I had kids I wouldn't let them on here either. I know I participate in some of the topics I wouldn't allow any hypothetical children I won't have in, mostly because they're there and this board does allow them to be there, but yeah. You're absolutely right.

Really? o.0 Maybe it's because I never leave S&R, but I've never seen anything a kid couldn't handle. Of course, I plan on keeping my kids away from the internet in general at least until they see The Empire Strikes Back, but of all the places on the internet, I think this is one of the more tame.

 

Now, it may be that GD is full of non-family-oriented stuff, but if people aren't allowed to, you know, mention the existence of you-know-what-ography... what could they say that's objectionable?

[Thuban]

~!~: Just opening the GD area, first post is a post asking about what drugs people have taken. As most drugs are rather illegal, or are misused to simulate the illegal ones.. it has no place being on the forum. The nookie topics in general dont belong here. Hot button topics, such as previous abuse and other situations like that... im very touchy about.

 

(note because concern has been brought up: I'm not passing any judgement on the topic i pointed out, but rather am using it as an example for why I have a problem with the idea of my kids coming here.)

 

 

On one hand, its nice that theres a central place for topics such as those.. but its one of those things where I would rather teach my kids on those topics on my terms rather than have them reading them and getting misinformation. My kids arent old enough to be on any forum to be honest, but even when they do hit the age where I will allow it, it will be under very specific terms.

 

I think of this game as a kids game that adults also like. I dont think that the more adult topics need to be in the same reachable area as the younger... more innocent ones. Ours users may be mature enough to handle the topics, however, even just having one or two who arent ready to deal with those topics opens the door for drama and dangerous activities. You can never be fully sure that the people behind the posts are who they put themselves up to be. Because i know the darker side of things way to well, I stay very very far from topics like those because of the risks involved.

Edited August 19, 2011 by Thuban

[olympe]

you-know-what-ography

Love that expression. Next thing I know, it will be changed to "Voldemort-ography".

 

Sorry for derailing.

 

Like other people said, I wouldn't allow my daughter in any forums or chats, either. (She's 8 right now.) And I do monitor her online activity. (She likes certain game sites, and I'm usually right beside her if she goes there.) Then again, I don't have to worry about her joining this forum anytime soon because it will take her several years to learn enough English to understand what's going on in the first place.

[Banuk]

If I had kids I wouldn't let them on ANY forums. Forums in general are very sucky places. I've seen many worse than this and few better.

 

BUT!

 

This forum seems to favor older members, and the input of newer members doesn't seem to be valued nearly as much. Just go check the suggestions sections and you'll see older members continually and brutally shooting down the ideas of newer members because they can pretty much get away with telling newer people that their ideas suck (because people who have been around longer are obviously always right, I guess).

 

I wouldn't suggest any of my other DC-playing friends to join here because of that alone. A lot of people say this forum is a friendly community, but I haven't seen it yet.

[Thuban]

I wouldn't suggest any of my other DC-playing friends to join here because of that alone. A lot of people say this forum is a friendly community, but I haven't seen it yet.

This forum can only get better if people make an effort to make it that way. If you see someone shooting down an idea, but *you* think it could work, then say so. If you agree the reasoning for shooting the idea down has merit, then say so, but suggest ways to make things better.

 

"this idea could work but has (these problems). What if instead of (this) we tried (this) instead?"

 

Tact is a good skill to have, but sadly not everyone possesses the skills for it

[Kila]

If I had kids I wouldn't let them on ANY forums. Forums in general are very sucky places. I've seen many worse than this and few better.

 

BUT!

 

This forum seems to favor older members, and the input of newer members doesn't seem to be valued nearly as much. Just go check the suggestions sections and you'll see older members continually and brutally shooting down the ideas of newer members because they can pretty much get away with telling newer people that their ideas suck (because people who have been around longer are obviously always right, I guess).

 

I wouldn't suggest any of my other DC-playing friends to join here because of that alone. A lot of people say this forum is a friendly community, but I haven't seen it yet.

You also have to take into consideration that older members often know how the game works and new members often want to make suggestions that would "break the game".

 

I saw it all the time back when I was a mod.

 

But there are ways to shoot down a suggestion without being a jerk, I'll agree. And you don't know if those who were jerks were warned or not, because you're not a mod and can't see warns.

 

Never assume that someone has or has not been warned.

[Banuk]

This forum can only get better if people make an effort to make it that way. If you see someone shooting down an idea, but *you* think it could work, then say so. If you agree the reasoning for shooting the idea down has merit, then say so, but suggest ways to make things better.

 

"this idea could work but has (these problems). What if instead of (this) we tried (this) instead?"

 

Tact is a good skill to have, but sadly not everyone possesses the skills for it

 

Tell me about it.

 

I've seen a lot of fairly good suggestions get outright shot down because of people who use reasoning like, "This won't work." and, "This is the way it's always been and nothing needs to change." Those types of things are the reason no progress gets made, both here and in real life.

 

I used to try and give my opinions on things more often, but one voice doesn't really make a difference against a wall of "NO." I am seriously terrified of suggesting anything for the site, and have reservations on sharing my opinions unless someone says something that really ticks me off. (Guess what? I'm here now because someone said something that ticked me off--go figure! haha)

 

You also have to take into consideration that older members often know how the game works...

 

That doesn't mean that older members are perfect. Newer members can have good ideas as well (I, for one, have only been around since April, and I've thought of some new ideas for the site and would love to submit a few dragon requests, but none of those are likely to ever be seen here because I don't take, "No, you're an idiot, go crawl in a hole and die" very well).

 

I guess I just wish people around here knew how to actually give criticism. (No, criticism does not mean you tell someone, "This won't work." and that's it...at least, that's not how it worked in school.) But I guess that's not really the forum's fault...I blame the Internet in general for giving people a false assumption of what it means to critique something.

 

Never assume that someone has or has not been warned.

 

Wasn't really talking about warns.

 

But it's kinda hard to assume anything about warns when the same people are being jerks in every single thread they come across.

Edited August 19, 2011 by Derranged

[Kila]

Some people are just jerks, and will keep being warned for that until they are banned.

[~!~]

This forum seems to favor older members, and the input of newer members doesn't seem to be valued nearly as much. Just go check the suggestions sections and you'll see older members continually and brutally shooting down the ideas of newer members because they can pretty much get away with telling newer people that their ideas suck (because people who have been around longer are obviously always right, I guess).

I think this is kind of skewed. What happens is there are 10 or so members who do all the shooting down. I've had plenty of suggestions shot down by the same rifle crew that shoots down new members' suggestions. (Also, don't forget that your opinion that something should change is just as important as someone else's opinion that it should stay the same. (And yes, I know I'm guilty of forgetting that.) Keep in mind that people on this forum, despite how they may seem sometimes, are not merely standing in the way of progress because they fear change.

 

It may be that older members' suggestions don't get shot down because they've seen the reasons why lots of suggestions get shot down, and avoid them. For instance, a lot of threads get shot down because they would restrict people's ability to breed their dragons. Lots of members like the amount of freedom they currently have, and any less would take away some of the fun of DC. So, as an older member, I'd probably make sure to avoid that in a suggestion I make.

 

I guess I just wish people around here knew how to actually give criticism. (No, criticism does not mean you tell someone, "This won't work." and that's it...at least, that's not how it worked in school.) But I guess that's not really the forum's fault...I blame the Internet in general for giving people a false assumption of what it means to critique something.

This, so much. We've got such a good system regarding concrit in the DR department, why not for S&R too? Although, I have some doubts that it's the internet that's causing this forum's problems. You ever read YouTube comments? See any similarity between them and DCF? I don't.

Edited August 19, 2011 by ~!~

[TJ09]

This, so much. We've got such a good system regarding concrit in the DR department, why not for S&R too? Although, I have some doubts that it's the internet that's causing this forum's problems. You ever read YouTube comments? See any similarity between them and DCF? I don't.

FIRST.

[~!~]

FIRST.

I ought to report you for that.

[Dr. Paine]

I ought to report you for that.

You know, sometimes I wonder how TJ expects us to behave when he does things like this

[olympe]

I made a couple of suggestions when I was a new member, and discussed several other suggestions then. What I learned pretty quickly is that there will always be someone quite vocal who is against what you want.

 

But along the lines, you also learn a lot about how the game works, what kinds of limits there are and so on, and you also learn from discussions. For example, the current discussion on migration is not quite original, it popped up once before. During that discussion (that I'm sure Kila knows about, too) there was an outcry of "But I want to be able to breed my dragons whenever I please! Don't stop my dragons from breeding!". Now, look at the OP in the current migration thread... There is a definite exception for breedings.

 

At the same time, you learn quite thoroughly what is not possible, will always be shot down by a large part of the user-base or by TJ himself (because you were there when it happened the last time). If you read TJ's comment that he won't make rares any easier to get, and someone comes around in three months, suggesting to make rares easier to get - well, you can tell that person that it won't work. Or wait for TJ to step in.

[~!~]

You know, sometimes I wonder how TJ expects us to behave when he does things like this

Perhaps less serious?

 

I wouldn't mind less seriousness in this forum. Everybody could take a chillaxitive when someone posts a duplicate, or suggests something that would interfere with their style of gameplay. Or, for that matter, when the thread gets slightly off topic. (If I were allowed to call out mods, I would say that I am talking to one in particular here, but I'm not, so I won't.)

 

Speaking of which, look, I'm on topic again.

[HeatherMarie]

That doesn't mean that older members are perfect. Newer members can have good ideas as well (I, for one, have only been around since April, and I've thought of some new ideas for the site and would love to submit a few dragon requests, but none of those are likely to ever be seen here because I don't take, "No, you're an idiot, go crawl in a hole and die" very well).

 

I guess I just wish people around here knew how to actually give criticism. (No, criticism does not mean you tell someone, "This won't work." and that's it...at least, that's not how it worked in school.) But I guess that's not really the forum's fault...I blame the Internet in general for giving people a false assumption of what it means to critique something.

Anyone who says "no, you're an idiot" etc, will get warned. The mods can't *stop* people from breaking the rules, but it is dealt with when it happens.

 

I admit that I've shot down a *lot* of Suggestion ideas/requests, and I've been chastized (fairly rudely) by other members for being too harsh about it. I now try very hard to be very polite when shooting down ideas, especially when the member is newer...

 

However, *a lot* of newer members are going to get mad/upset when someone shoots down their idea, no matter how politely it's done. Reading "I'm sorry, but that goes against the way the game is supposed to be played" or "That goes against the dragon's breed-description" is going to upset a lot of people, no matter how nicely you try to word it. That's just the way things are.

 

I do take the time to always quote the dragon's description, or a rule/Spriter-post/etc, that shows why I'm shooting down the idea.

[~!~]

However, *a lot* of newer members are going to get mad/upset when someone shoots down their idea, no matter how politely it's done. Reading "I'm sorry, but that goes against the way the game is supposed to be played" or "That goes against the dragon's breed-description" is going to upset a lot of people, no matter how nicely you try to word it. That's just the way things are.

I must say, I've seen plenty of this myself. Especially when people put emoticons and stuff in their posts, and the OP just interprets that as sarcasm or, for some reason, trying to make it look as if the post was not meant to be hurtful to, like, other members and the mods, so only the poster and the OP will ever know that it was the poster's intent to be rude. I have actually seen that happen. It boggles my mind.

 

Just as there are plenty of people on this forum who could stand to be less rude, there are people who should learn that disagreement is not considered rude.

 

While on this subject, I think that users who disagree with suggestions should keep in mind that the person who made the post is not attacking them or their playstyle. They are either ignorant of it, or didn't realize it would be affected so much by their suggestion. It is important not to get defensive in S&R. Most drama and flaming is caused by people feeling like they are being attacked, because then, when the original poster comes back and reads your defensive response, and doesn't know you saw his post as aggressive, he will think he is being attacked, and be defensive back at you. I've seen a lot of threads go down that route.

[Alexiel Dragoness]

If I had kids I wouldn't let them on ANY forums. Forums in general are very sucky places. I've seen many worse than this and few better.

 

BUT!

 

This forum seems to favor older members, and the input of newer members doesn't seem to be valued nearly as much. Just go check the suggestions sections and you'll see older members continually and brutally shooting down the ideas of newer members because they can pretty much get away with telling newer people that their ideas suck (because people who have been around longer are obviously always right, I guess).

 

I wouldn't suggest any of my other DC-playing friends to join here because of that alone. A lot of people say this forum is a friendly community, but I haven't seen it yet.

I totally agree.

I received a lot of warns that I think my member title's should be "miss warns"

Now,talking serious,I received a warn that costed me 7 days without posting and...the warn was WRONG.I've received the mods apologies.And though I still feel attacked,like if I was a prey in the jungle and did something to catch the eye of the lion...

 

And something that I really want to say about Dragon requests:

It is allowed to plagiarize someone else's ideas and make a dragon almost the same,and even joke with that?

I have a Dragon Request named "dark pinks",and very recently that happened to me.

Someone made a dragon request that was clearly taken from mine(ideas) and if that was not enough the topic starter joked with me in the title: "snapdragons aka dark pinks aka spartans".

I believe that only spriters and their artwork are protected here,and the creators/drawers have no protection against plagiarism,that's is very wrong.

Edited August 24, 2011 by Alexiel Dragoness

[olympe]

It is allowed to plagiarize someone else's ideas and make a dragon almost the same,and even joke with that?

I have a Dragon Request named "dark pinks",and very recently that happened to me.

Someone made a dragon request that was clearly taken from mine(ideas) and if that was not enough the topic starter joked with me in the title: "snapdragons aka dark pinks aka spartans".

I believe that only spriters and their artwork are protected here,and the creators/drawers have no protection against plagiarism,that's is very wrong.

I doubt it was intentional. The concept of the snapdragons is very different from the dark pink dragons (form, genders, alternate colors all differ). Plus, you cannot expect anyone to look through all the hundreds of suggestions for something that might be similar to what they have in mind.

[dragon_mando]

Agreed, it's very difficult to look for every concept that might be similar, and a single color cannot be copyrighted. Dark pink might be a breed name to you and just a colour reference to someone else, so they thought they were just stating the general colour idea behind the dragon.

 

I'd hate to think what would happen if using certain colours was off limits because someone else used it...there are so many blue dragons already, how could someone make a new, amazing blue sprite without coming close to one of the copyrighted ones?

[LadyLyzar]

From the Dragon Requests FAQ:

 

Q: I had an idea, but I did some searching and saw that it’s taken. Should I just give up on it?

A: TJ himself has told us that he doesn’t mind duplicates. It can inspire competition and give some choices for TJ to pick what the best for DC is. However, if your idea is for a dragon in cave it’s a different story. Dragons in cave are already in cave, creating an idea based off of one of them won’t inspire any competition and won’t get into cave because it’s already in cave, so also won’t be accepted. Names, however, are on a first come, first serve basis, simply because it's better for the progress and completed list.

 

There used to be a no-duplicates "rule" that was enforced, but it is not as much now as you can see here.

[Alexiel Dragoness]

From the Dragon Requests FAQ:

 

 

 

There used to be a no-duplicates "rule" that was enforced, but it is not as much now as you can see here.

That is really a shame

Creators should have some protection as the spriters.

 

it was intentional for sure olympe,even a friend of mine commented on that topic and the topic starter changed the title some minutes after.

And I doubt that "dark pink" was a color intention on that thread,Since I guess the snapdragons are not pink I believe.

 

I'm just pointing that because I see this happen a LOT on dragon requests,and I think it should not be allowed.Plagiarism is an ugly crime and only shows that people who commit it don't have any creativity of their own.

And I'm not saying to forbid colors or other aspects,I'm just saying that should be forbidden create dragon requests that are CLEARLY a copy of your own.

I've seen for example a dragon request that is a fusion of two dragon requests.

The point is not using your own creativity and make something good on your own for the cave?

 

this is just my opinion.

 

[RheaZen]

That is really a shame

Creators should have some protection as the spriters.

 

it was intentional for sure olympe,even a friend of mine commented on that topic and the topic starter changed the title some minutes after.

And I doubt that "dark pink" was a color intention on that thread,Since I guess the snapdragons are not pink I believe.

 

I'm just pointing that because I see this happen a LOT on dragon requests,and I think it should not be allowed.Plagiarism is an ugly crime and only shows that people who commit it don't have any creativity of their own.

And I'm not saying to forbid colors or other aspects,I'm just saying that should be forbidden create dragon requests that are CLEARLY a copy of your own.

I've seen for example a dragon request that is a fusion of two dragon requests.

The point is not using your own creativity and make something good on your own for the cave?

 

this is just my opinion.

 

peeeeeenk