Let me get a few things out of the way.
-This is going in General, not the Venting Anger thread, because this concerns our community (see description about the ‘General’ forum.)
-I’m posting this without checking in with Renko. So on that note; two more things.
- Sorry to Renko if this is out of line
- This is from ME, not Renko; take issue with me if you become offended. (Seriously, that’s the point of this thread)
-I’m not trying to call anyone out directly and shit on them, I’m trying to make a point.
-I’m not trying to brown-nose, but someone (Renko) has been putting up with a lot of shit because people are being immature and abusive.
-If you take issue with me posting this, I encourage you to direct any hatred to my inbox. I welcome feedback in any form. The last thing I want is a misunderstanding or for this thread to make more work for the staff.
First topic, tags.
Tags are a way to help sort and organize stories and other threads. We have a discussion about it here, and if you don’t understand already; educate yourself.
-You should tag stories by genre (horror, suspense, vignette, comedy, etc)
-You can tag threads by topic (discussion, links, writing, etc)
But when you find that you can tag someone else’s thread, DO NOT use it to abuse that user. I don’t give a shit if you think it’s the dumbest thread or the worst story. This ain’t youtube, you can’t just call other people cunts, or fags, or tell them that they need to die. Grow up! Now, I don’t know who has been leaving such tags, and frankly, I don’t care to know.
What I do know is that Renko has had to take the time out to remove a bunch of them, (most of them it seems) and the list of what they were is appalling and embarrassing.
When you add tags, you may be anonymous to the rest of the forum, but the staff knows who you are.
The only thing you’re doing when you add shitty, irrelevant tags, is make more work for the staff. (From what I hear, it’s mostly Renko who has to clean it up)
Second; reputation.
The reputation feature is great. Don’t ruin it for the rest of us! We have a thread that pretty much details how it works here.
It’s a good way to let someone know you appreciate their post, without replying in the thread and derailing things.
For example:
If you think someone said something funny, just hit that “Add reputation” button, and put ‘funny’ in the comment. They’ll be able to see that someone thought their post was funny. The same goes for things that are informative. It’s a great idea to thank people for posting useful info (for example, writing advice), but we don’t necessarily need to clutter up a thread with a dozen single-word replies.
The same goes for stories. If you like the story, and are happy to see an update, then go ahead an give the author some rep. You can even put “thanks for the update” in the comment. This works better than just posting “More please” as a reply. I think we should reserve a full reply for significant feedback on a story, but hey, that’s just me.
Alternatively, let’s use me as an example. Let’s say someone posts a story that’s riddled with errors and has a thin or non-existent plot. If I reply and point out all the errors, that’s acceptable. It may be kinda mean, but giving accurate feedback is what sets us apart from other forums. However, if I come in and say the story is shit, then I’m out of line. At that point, feel free – no, encouraged – to lower my rep, and tell me that I shouldn’t insult someone’s work.
Remember, your rep comment is anonymous to the everyone except the admins. So if I insult someone, and you give negative rep for that post, I’ll know I screwed up. I won’t know who gave that rep, so I won’t start sending hate-mail to you. It’s a good way to give someone a reminder that they’ve stepped out of line, but not start an open feud in someone’s thread.
You can also use negative rep, and the comments, to let someone know that they’ve stepped out of line in some other way. For example, if someone is becoming annoying for a reason you can politely inform them that you’d like them to “Slow down on making so many random threads” for example, or “replying with ‘lol’ to every post is annoying.”
But using the rep system to tell people to “fuck off” or “go kill yourself” is outright abuse. As I said, you’re anonymous to the user you left the rep for, but the admins know who the fuck you are. When you start abusing people like that, you’re making more work for Renko, just 'cause you want to be a dick.
I get it, I really do. Our forum isn’t a safe space for people. We give harsh feedback on flawed stories, and have little patience for people who act like total fools. But we must maintain some level of civility if we don’t want to drive people away. Feedback is our strong suit. But if it’s not informative, it’s fucking useless. It doesn’t have to be nice, it should never be sugar-coated or watered down; but feedback should always be informative. We encourage honesty here, but the idea is to help people become better.
We’ve driven away countless writers, and I’m we’ll keep driving them away. Plenty of people just don’t want to hear that what they’ve posted is flawed. But… BUT!
No one should be driven away because we’ve been abusive. Telling someone that they suck is completely pointless. Unless you highlight what the actual issue is, no one can learn. If a story has clumsy dialogue, but we tell them “it’s shit,” how can we expect them to figure it out? The same goes for new users. We don’t want people shitting up the forums, but even if they do, that doesn’t make it open season for abuse.
So in conclusion, please stop being abusive.
If something bothers you for a legitimate reason, don’t hesitate to explain why.
If something is against the rules, don’t hesitate to report it.
The tag system, and the rep system are not platforms for you to abuse other users, no matter what you think of them.
Pardon the joke, but as an ABDL community, we can enjoy the idea of acting like children. However, roleplaying isn’t part of what we do here, so don’t act like children on the forums!
This goes out to whomever is abusing the tags and/or the rep system. As I’ve said above, I don’t know who you are, and I don’t care to know. Stop fucking around! Conduct yourself with some semblance of maturity and civility. You’re taking a good thing, and ruining it for the rest of us! We don’t want that type of behavior here.
If I could make a forum-wide announcement that linked to this thread, it’d say the following:
Grow the fuck up!
