Tuesday, May 21, 2013

Site Rules

Hello people of Mark Spoils! Recently this community has grown a lot - which is great! It also means that the site and the way it's used has evolved. Given that there's been confusion over what's acceptable and what isn't, here are some ground rules:

1. Plain-text spoilers for a series are only permissible if they are not the first comment of a thread. Spoilers in parent comments must be in rot13.

2. If someone starts a reads/watches thread, spoilers are fair game in that thread up to the point the person is posting about. Everything else needs to be in rot13, including comments about source material and/or casting spoilers in the case of TV shows.

3. If it's a thread about a currently airing show, plain-text spoilers for any aired episode of the show are fair game in the thread unless specified as being safe for people new to the show. If it's a thread about the latest episode, there are going to be spoilers/speculation within in plain-text. The first rule about no un-cyphered spoilers in the parent comment of the thread stands - the plain-text spoilers must be contained to replies.

4. If it's a major plot point from any media anywhere else on the site or from media Mark has already covered on Reads/Watches, it must be cyphered with rot13 - and let people know what series it spoils so they know if they can un-cypher it!

5. The language policy concerning slurs applies here as well. Use of slurs when not discussing the harm they cause is prohibited. It follows that jokes at the expense of the groups these slurs target are also unacceptable. Racist/Sexist/Ableist/Cissexist/other oppressive comments and language will not be tolerated.

Hopefully these rules have cleared a few things up! I know we've gotten lax about enforcing the last one but we will be giving warnings again for use of slurs. Please be considerate of your fellow posters. Cool? Cool.

*this post has been set a few weeks ahead date-wise so that it will stay at the top of the site for a bit

Comments (16)

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Thank you for this, should be helpful.

Right, before I run afoul of the rules, I'd better ask about anything I'm unsure about.

"Everything else needs to be in rot13, including comments about source material and/or casting spoilers in the case of TV shows."

Does that include comparing things between various source materials? An example... er... like, with FMA Brotherhood, talking about something that the person has watched, but maybe commenting something like "this bit played out differently in anime 1", or would that need to be in rot13? Or would that be okay, but explaining -how- it was different would be in rot13?

Also good to know the rule about currently airing shows - I'm in the UK, so we're very often behind from the US, since it's good to know when to avoid things about shows that will be weeks ahead there.

Good to know about the slurs too.

Uh, sorry to confuse things a bit, but I get a bit muddled sometimes so like to get things straightened in my head -before- I make a glaring error, haha (especially as I can't edit my posts...).
7 replies · active 619 weeks ago
Re: the source material thing, I personally think that's the best way to go about it? It's okay to say that something was different in (to follow your example) FMA's manga or first anime, but saying HOW should definitely be cyphered. At least that's how I've been trying to do it, so that people can see what I'm referring to but be able to avoid specifics.

But I'm not a mod, so their answer may differ somewhat.
Speaking for myself, I too think it's fine to say that it played out differently in x version of the story, but leave it at that in plain text and cipher anything about HOW it played out differently. For example, let's say there is a scene with Armstrong and Winry going shopping together in FMA:B, and I could say that I prefer how Brotherhood handled that plot point compared to the 2003 anime. I would then put my thoughts on why in rot13.
abj V jnag gurz fubccvat gb or vgf bja GI fubj.
gung jbhyq or snagnfgvp.
Super! Seems clear enough to me. Thanks!
Oh God please let there be a scene with Armstrong and Winry going shopping together.

Please.
In that case of source material wouldn't it make more sense to just ask the person who made the thread instead of having a general rule for everyone? I mean as common sense, don't say anything untill you're told it's okay of course but I know people here have wildly varying opinions on this stuff.
How many comments are required before IntenseDebate auto-collapses threads? I've almost been accidentally spoiled for The West Wing by reading the weekly post before there were enough comments, so everything was expanded.

I don't think it's likely to be a huge issue since the place tends to fill up pretty fast, but there's definitely a brief window where we need to be a little bit extra careful. Unless IntenseDebate has some setting to always collapse threads?
7 replies · active 620 weeks ago
ID always collapses threads for me o_O
Usually if the post goes up early on Sunday for the first several hours the threads are not collapsed. Usually by the time noon comes around everything is collapsed by then.
ooo, I get it. I don't know what I was thinking about. Yeah, that would be a bit of a problem.
Yeah, I know that's a problem, and it's why I try to get a lot of discussion going soon after I post my Verbs posts so that the damn things aren't hanging out in the open. And I collapse threads manually to avoid being spoiled myself.
This is what I do as well.
Just scroll down veeeeeery slowly?
Or veeeeery quickly, so you don't read anything. (That's why I like that the title of a lot of first comments are in bold, so I can know what to scroll past.)

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