General Question About Rules.

[Advertise4you]

I have being years now in lot's of forums registering and saw rules and rules.

Why administrators when they are creating the Rule they are always making a huge list of Not - Do.

In my point of view it would be ,when the reader is seeing the rule so huge why would it bother to read the rules at all?

I actually i never was the guy who would read the rules i learned through warning, bans and so on , i just learned because in most forums they are kind the same rules but still there are times that i am still getting warnings.

However i think it would be better if the rules was small lines without taking a lot of time to read them.

What is your opinion about this?

 

[Mikaya]

I think they should be kept short and to the point, personally. No one wants to read a huge post of rules, I know I wouldn't.

They don't need to be too descriptive, only understandable for others to follow them. But you shouldn't have too less rules, either. Make sure you cover all aspects and not miss any important ones out.

 

[Atrox]

I think that they should have basic bullet pointed rules, then more in depth rules so that if the Moderators sanction someone for something and the member is like "It's not exactly in the bullet point rules!" the Moderators can use the in depth rules as back up. 🙂

 

[Sam Fischer]

I agree with you completely.Most of the users don't read the rules ,they learn as you have mentioned by warnings and bans. Moderators can lay down the rule book in the form of do's and don't but should give descriptive text regarding a particular rule In a read more link.

 

[Reverie]

As I'm going to be a teacher, I've been taught when making classroom rules generally have 5 rules, worded very simple. For a forum of course you might need a few extra rules added but really....

Respect people, don't double post, have fun, and no, depending on what host you're using, 14+ or whatever the age limit is on your forum.

That's generally the idea. Make a small list. Should be a sentence at most - post an example of the bad things as well in a decent manner.

People like to get wordy, and I think that is great for a RP forum though, but for just general rules that apply to a forum while posting, yeah it needs to be simple.

 

[Migi]

It is a popular secret that members normally do not read rules, short or long. Maybe only certain bunch do, but very small in number. Yet it is still necessary to have one. As far as I know it is usually to avoid members trying to get around the warning or ban, saying the rules are not clear enough or whatever reason they can come up with.

To be brutally honest, there is only one general rule for every website: use common sense. This includes not to act like a troll, not to spam threads with short or unnecessary replies, and to check if there is a special requirement to post in specific section or to use certain feature. Some people are too ignorant to even remember these, so we eventually need to write them down as justifications.

For me, personally, by writing it down I also have hopes that I won't have to resort to warning or ban to make someone remember the website's rules. I personally think that it is very ignorant, because it is natural to respect the nature and know the flow of the website before actually using it.

 

[VirusZero]

"Use common sense" I don't think works as a rule because who knows what that actually means. Is your version of common sense different from mine? Am I going to get punished according to your common sense? How am I to know what you mean when you say common sense?

So because of that, I'd rather just take the extra time/space and have the rules all typed out.

Plus there are some people who are also entirely new to forums and may have no idea what common courtesies are. (So saying "No Spam" might not mean much to them because they don't know what 'spam' is. Don't presume that everyone is always going to have the same level of knowledge you are.)

Sure there may be people who don't read our rules, but that doesn't matter because by clicking the "I agree" button when they registered they have accepted our rules and are expected to follow them. And that they accept any/all risks if they have no idea what they're agreeing to.

 

[Chadook]

It is a popular secret that members normally do not read rules, short or long. Maybe only certain bunch do, but very small in number. Yet it is still necessary to have one. As far as I know it is usually to avoid members trying to get around the warning or ban, saying the rules are not clear enough or whatever reason they can come up with.

To be brutally honest, there is only one general rule for every website: use common sense. This includes not to act like a troll, not to spam threads with short or unnecessary replies, and to check if there is a special requirement to post in specific section or to use certain feature. Some people are too ignorant to even remember these, so we eventually need to write them down as justifications.

For me, personally, by writing it down I also have hopes that I won't have to resort to warning or ban to make someone remember the website's rules. I personally think that it is very ignorant, because it is natural to respect the nature and know the flow of the website before actually using it.

Come to think of it, we're all newbies when registering to Forums, no Wonder that some of new member fails in reaching the Rules, some of them know about the Rules, but they don't read them because sometimes, Rules can be too long to be read, Some Admins tolerate not being aware of rules since Registration, some Don't, even issuing board warnings to new members.
My Personal Opinion: i hate getting in Details, that's why my rules are short and Clear enough to be read.

 

[hadee41]

I think, Admin can better guide to you. Contact with him.

 

[Migi]

"Use common sense" I don't think works as a rule because who knows what that actually means. Is your version of common sense different from mine? Am I going to get punished according to your common sense? How am I to know what you mean when you say common sense?

So because of that, I'd rather just take the extra time/space and have the rules all typed out.

Exactly that is actually why we have the rules. In my head, I was talking about the most basic common sense, which are like to be careful when writing a post, not using cursing words or similar words, not talking bad about people in offending ways, and so on. But then again, as you said, it may differ. With culture, cursing words may be tolerable to some people, but not to others. But because online communities are aiming to accommodate various people, there must be limitations put in place. And that's what the rules are. Making the rules deeper and more wordy is not to show how limiting a community is trying to be, but to show how far it's trying to form a solid ground for a lovely stay for everyone.

And because details can also be helpful to those who are new, as said above.