Fun Stuff > CHATTER
Photos can be pretty cool
pwhodges:
The forum rules don't mention it (I'll think about that). However, your memory is correct: unfortunately, when I split this thread down to a practical size, that left behind the introductory post which says:
--- Quote from: est on 29 Jun 2008, 08:53 ---Some guidelines for newer people/reminders for regulars:
- Photos have to include you in it. No posting random funny pictures; that's what the Pointless thread is for. (Thanks to Joe for reminding me about this one)
- If the first thing you do when you join the forum is post in here a lot (ie: more than one photo-post per page) then people might get annoyed with you. Let us get to know you a little first!
- Also, while photodumps are kind of cool if they are about you doing something interesting, please keep it to one or two pics per post.
- Please don't be creepy in this thread. Giving someone a well-intentioned compliment is one thing, but generally bar posting porn being a total sleaze in this thread is the quickest way to get yourself banned.
- No posting of violence-related material such as guns, knives etc in here please.
--- End quote ---
I have edited the photo above to remove any emphasis on the gun; but as the picture also hides and distorts the subject's features, it could be considered not to be a picture of them either. I will think on it, and still may remove the picture completely.
Wraith11B:
Meh, my bad.... I cover the face in that picture for OPSEC/PERSEC.
Barmymoo:
I guess the question is, why do we have that rule? Is it because Jeph doesn't like guns, full stop? Is it because we're worried about glorifying weaponary on a forum that could be accessed by children? Is it because of some American law I don't know about? Personally I find guns disturbing, but I think that's because I'm from the UK and we don't really have them here in the same way so to me, a gun is something alien and terrifying. But that isn't really a reason not to allow someone to post a photo of themselves doing something that is part of their identity.
I'm quite glad I'm not a moderator!
Carl-E:
Nothing about laws, but I think you've hit on the reson - most of the other rules have to do with the annoyance of the viewers, and certainly there's a sector of the population that find weapons of violence disturbing, hence no weapons.
(Personally, I don't like guns either, but seeing other people's guns (in a non-violent setting) doesn't disturb me. In fact, I participate in a forum for a zombie comic where talking about one's guns is the norm (the artist is a collector of sorts, and many of the readers are "survivalists" - it's an interesting place...))
pwhodges:
Well, the no guns thing is not in Jeph's rules, but it is in est's.
In some respects I'm still sorting out in my mind what this forum actually is! When it was first set up, the people who are now on PocketJury moved in en block from another forum (this is perhaps simplifying things, but is broadly accurate, I think). I understand (from messages in the mods-only forum, and from early comic newsposts like #79) that est (perhaps) and another admin who's no longer around, called Heather, actually helped Jeph with some of the server setup. However, when the rest of that group started using this forum as their home for general socialising, the mods' and admins' extensions of Jeph's rules became necessary to control some of their behaviour, and also to control their interaction with people who actually wanted to discuss the comic. Now those people have moved on (including all the previously active admin and mods), feeling that after seven years they've outstayed their welcome, the forum is in some ways a blank slate; and so it seems to be up to me, with the aid of any moderators I appoint (only "Is it cold in here?" at present), to define the ethos of this place (Jeph has not yet decided to contribute to this though he must by now be aware of the changes, but obviously I would defer to him if he does).
Three years ago, one mod (Inlander) raised the matter of incomplete rules in the mods' forum, but no one picked it up and nothing was done. He had received a query about guns, in fact, and had replied:
--- Quote from: Inlander ---Yeah, there are a few informal "rules" that have sprung up in response to certain unforeseen problems or situations that weren't foreseen when the original rules were written. Not posting pictures of (real) guns in the picture thread is one, because somebody did just that once and a lot people got a bit freaked out by it.
--- End quote ---
Since then, there has been one poster who started and drove discussions of guns in the Discuss! forum, and again annoyed a lot of people (he got banned in the end).
My notes on the rules is intended to be the necessary extension of Jeph's rules, gathered into one place, and I have added a sentence about guns to it, alongside the prohibition on religion and politics (another thing that people ask about because it's not in Jeph's rules), and worded it so as not to prohibit photos in which the gun is incidental. In the end, though, it comes down to the discretion of me and the mods - we try to be reasonable, while also maintaining standards.
@Wraith11B: Don't worry about the face thing - what you say makes sense.
Navigation
[0] Message Index
[#] Next page
[*] Previous page
Go to full version