The Lake Austin Forum - What is it for?

[EnigmaMaitreya]

Ok, I had a "Community" issue and apparently others had issues with guilds and other people etc.

That thread was deleted because there was an approximation of a characters name (and presumably the nameing of a Guild) as a personal attack. (Does this mean that if I say Nixon is a Crook that the thread will be deleted as a personal attack?)

I would think that a Shard Specific Forum would be a useful tool to discuss Shard Specific Issues.

How does a community effectively communicate a community issue if they can NOT actually discuss the issue in a context that allows the Community Knowledge/Awareness to express it collective wisdom?

Can there really be Issue Resolution in the following scenario?

Ok, a member of an unspecified guild (abiding by the Rules and NOT using names) did this action. I and others in my guild will NOT be rezing members of the unspecified guild because of that action.

How on earth can the Community apply its collective wisdom to actually resolve the issue and allow things to return to normal for everyone involved?

Perhaps I just had greater expectations of this forum than were realistic.

 

[Desolation87]

Welcome to the Stratics boards. I think it's disgusting that you can't warn people of scammers/dupers on the boards. But it all boils down to the simple fact that everyone is innocent untill proven guilty, and as there arn't any judges around here, everyone stays innocent.

 

[EnigmaMaitreya]

I do not specifically have any issues with the policy, in general forums.

On a Shard specific forum, I am not certain that a hit and miss, whimsical adherence to the rule is very constructive.

Given the stated reasons for the deletion and some of the threads in this forum, one might end up scratching ones head and saying wtf?

I am really loath to point these threads out as I consider them totally appropriate and a means for all members of LA to express their individual experiences. Allowing any and all a means to determine the individuals/guilds value based on all sides. This is not acting as a Court system, it is simply an information distribution system were the community can contribute to the conversation, in a meaningful context.

This is what, in my opinion, a Community does.

How if those same threads were in UOHall etc then yeah I could see the relevance of removing them as what value is it to drag people and guilds through a process, were any Joe can comment on them regardless of them having any knowledge of the individual/guild.

Ultimately this is a privately owned board providing a public service and as such they can do what ever they want. This is beyond questioning. The Admin's/Mod's are empowered to act in a manner consistent with the board owners wish's and intentions. I do some what assume they are always open to revising their perception of how and when the rules should be applied. I assume the mechanism for change is dialog, such as this thread.

 

[Tycolby]

I elect EnigmaMaitreya to start a new LA forum on a different website where we the ppl of LA can voice our concerns about stuff for the community!!!!!!

 

[EnigmaMaitreya]

I elect EnigmaMaitreya to start a new LA forum on a different website where we the ppl of LA can voice our concerns about stuff for the community!!!!!!

He he, If there were any doubt, then let me make this perfectly clear. I am NOT bashing stratics or any admin/mod.

I am trying to advocate a relaxing of the Name rule to allow Shard Specific Forums to discuss actions with Guilds and Characters. I am NOT advocating mindless/pointless bashing Guilds/Characters.

In the deleted message there were assertions about a Guild and rebuttals by a CoLeader of the Guild and others that had experience with the Guild, myself included. To do this is to violate the Board rules because the Guild was named and hence the thread would be deleted.

So while you can certainly nominate me I will certainly decline to make the expendeture of time and money.

Now then, perhaps you do not believe this forum could be used to discuss Community Issues. If that were the case then that would be good to know

 

[Basara]

The problem is that, despite all attempts to keep it so, someone WILL eventually step in and start mindlessly bashing people and guilds.

It's the nature of the beast (and one of the reasons that PvP threads have such difficulty with mods).

 

[EnigmaMaitreya]

The problem is that, despite all attempts to keep it so, someone WILL eventually step in and start mindlessly bashing people and guilds.

It's the nature of the beast (and one of the reasons that PvP threads have such difficulty with mods).

Yes, I agree, it has become an truth for me, "The very very very few will ruin it for everyone else".

BUT

One must choose, who is driving the bus ....

With the several threads here that are in violation of the .... Rule used to delete the other thread, I have not really seen any tendency to have people run crazy. It is one of the reasons I have chosen LA.

 

[Orvago]

First, let me note that Enigma got my expressed permission to post this thread.

Welcome to the Stratics boards. I think it's disgusting that you can't warn people of scammers/dupers on the boards. But it all boils down to the simple fact that everyone is innocent untill proven guilty, and as there arn't any judges around here, everyone stays innocent.

There is nothing that prohibits Stratics Users from posting general warnings about Scams, Duper, Scripts, and General Cheating. The only times this becomes a problem is when:

1. The "warning" specifically names a person, persons, or guilds as Scammers, Dupers, Cheaters, Scripters, etc.
2. The "warning" goes into too much detail on a Scam, Dupe, Script, or Cheat that would allow readers to repeat said illegal activity.

The reason we do not allow Named Accusations on Stratics is actually quite simple. In today's technological era, images can be fakes, videos can be faked, chat logs and can be fakes. There is no real way for us, Stratics, to prove or disprove such Allegations. That is why Real World Courts of Law exist, to take such Allegations to Court and prove or disprove them. We are not a Court of Law.

If we were to allow Accusations, the forums would be come overrun with Strife and Tyranny from users falsely accusing good people of illegal activities. Just look at how many people go out of their way to make personal attacks and trolls as it is. Now imagine that, but instead of Trolls and Attacks they would be accusations, ruining people's reputations.

As well, in Ultima Online, character names are not unique. So by naming someone as cheater or something else illegal, you could be inadvertently ruining the reputation of someone else with the same or a similar name.

This is the reasoning that we do not allow any Named Accusations what-so-ever.

User who do post warnings of such illegal activities without breaking our Rules are allowed to post a "contact me privately for more details" message in their post so they can then take any details we can't allow here to private messaging services like email, pms, icq, irc, etc.

Hope this helps to shed some light on this.