New Changes to our TOS, Public Forums, and Moderating. RE

So if you check out the latest community pulse podcast with LB and I you will see that we plan on changing a bit of the forum policy within the public forums. I wont spend too much time here talking about how or why so you can check out the cast for more info.

As for the changes...

1) The first thing we really want is even more mods. We originally only wanted a select few, but with the size of the site and spam issues I'd much rather have more people on deck to watch threads as they pop up. The idea is to eventually assign a mod to a certain forum that they can basically admin. The reason behind this comes from the second policy change.

2) To many assholes. The vocal minority run good people out of the forums. The douche bag 10% of the public forums find ways to silence good posts with non-sense that takes away from new/old members looking to just talk about games. This is where the TOS change comes in.

3) Being a dick will no longer be allowed on 2o2p public forums. If your purpose is to cut down, derail, or troll a post your post will be removed. Period. You will be given a warning via PM and your second infraction will result in a 1 week ban from posting. Your third, 2 weeks. Finally your 4thd will be reviewed by all mods and you may or may not be banned. So don't be a dick.

4) Putting a smiley face at the end of your post does not absolve you from acting like an asshole. We as mods do not have time to decode whether members are serious or not. We don't know if you're friends or if you just met and its not our job to. Sarcasm is fine, especially online, but prepare for a PM if we don't get your joke. Our goal isn't to stifle discussion or police everything members do, but we do have to assume the worst in order to make things better.

Mod Specific Changes.

1) Don't get involved. It's not your job to be a dick back to members who are acting like assholes. We see some mods who get way to involved in the issue and let threads get taken over which only helps to derail threads even faster. PM the offending members, wait for a response, let them know if they don't respond the post will be deleted, and work out the issues there. Posting in the forum only helps to spark a complete derailment of the original post. The goal is to have threads were issues are not even noticed. Don't give trolls the platform to shine.

2) Since things wont be as transparent on the main forums you want to make sure all mods know what you're up to. You can also make a post in the mod forum simply stating what the issue is and the actions you took. If its a repeat offense you can post it there and I or another admin can set up a ban. Transparency and communication are paramount!

3) Be vigilant. When 2old2play started our goal was to have as little rules as possible in our forums. This idea was fine in 2005 when the sites forums consisted of 34 people all from the same clan. In fact the public forums worked exactly how most clan forums do now. We all knew each other and so any issue that came up were handle almost instantaneously. This simply isn't possible anymore and our 6 year old TOS just doesn't apply. For this we need to take a much harder look at the forums and the people around them.

Member Changes.

1) Let us know! We really need the authors of threads to warn us of people derailing their posts. This only works if the community lets it. Warn us of issues ASAP!

2) More tools! What can we do better? How can we make it easier to create a better forums experience? These ideas only help us to make the community a better place. We have already heard that most people want an ignore feature and this is a main goal of V3. Reporting, self modding, and ignoring people you don't get along with is a main focus of our new forums!

3) Become a mod! If you are not a part of the problem then why not become a part of the solution. We want members from all clans and all walks of life on 2o2p to be mods. We try to select people with a thicker skin who realize that their chances of being liked after becoming a mod are slim. Its a tough, thankless job, but at the end of the day it needs to be done to make 2o2p a better place.

We know these changes will take time so please stick with us as we work out the kinks. There are sure to be issues escecially with members who have been used to doing things 1 way for so many years. Just remember, we're not trying to be forums nazi's for the sake of it. What people forget is 2old2play is a place where older gamers find other older gamers to play with. If clans continue to sit in their clan forums then how will they meet new people? How will new members find a great clan just as you did when you signed up? We think everyone should have that chance. Thanks

P.S. We want to give these changes some time to digest and trickle around the community before we post up our new TOS. Use this thread as a place to post concerns, questions, and ideas. As soon as the new TOS goes up we will be sure to let everyone know. Thanks