Some clarification on the PSA please

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    Since the thread i'm quoting is locked and stickied, i'm gonna just indirectly quote it here. My buddy Pholopalus wrote it by the way. Hi Pholo!
    Posting in a faction's thread for the sole purpose of flame or flame baiting, regardless of whether you're in a faction or not, will not be tolerated.
    This includes:
    • Spreading rumors
    • Posting threats
    • Direct or indirect defamation

    Thank you and happy posting,
    Stardock Moderation Team.
    First of all, I have no doubt this sticky was made in relation to EpicFailLord's sarcastic hate thread he made about the USSR. So let me say that since that is probably the case, the intent behind making that sticky may be misguided and based on bias rather than fact.

    Second of all, please define for us exactly what constitutes "spreading rumors", "posting threats" and "defamation". Understand that such faction smack-talk is a perfectly normal, healthy and essential part of faction relations, interactions and warfare. I personally don't like having to censor and regulate every thing I say when I post in another faction's thread or my own just because it may potentially "offend" others in some abstract or otherwise not-basically-blatant way.

    Factions spread rumors all the time. For example, rumors have been spreading lately that MichaelSeph's Galaxy Rangers faction is returning to the game. That's a rumor. By the guidelines posted in that sticky, anyone who "spreads" this rumor in a faction thread where said faction is an arch-enemy of Galaxy Rangers (like my faction, Arstotzkan Federation), is liable to be punished in the form of a ban or some other way. That is absolutely unfair.

    Threats are one of the biggest things factions do to both protect their interests and ward off potential war. For example, if one faction feels threatened by another, they may post in that other faction's thread and warn them "If you come to our base, we WILL shoot you down and kill you". According to this sticky, giving warnings or threats to another faction like that will result in people getting banned. Again, absolutely ridiculous. We are people in factions that make war on each other. If war talk is not allowed, we might as well not have wars, or factions for that matter, at all.

    Defamation... What is defamation? That big fancy word means "The act of damaging the good reputation of someone; slander or libel". So what does this mean? It means warring factions are not able to turn a few heads by getting the other faction's members to doubt their leadership or to attack their faction's morale. This is detrimental to faction warfare on many levels. Lies and slander are a part of what makes faction warfare FUN. Besides the fact that in most cases it's very easy to deny and dissassemble such rumors and lies when they show up, plus being able to polarize the faction parties on both sides of the argument, so they become even more angry and eager to go to war, resulting in better and more intense battles and great StarMade memories. I remember arguing and smack-talking MichaelSeph with Comr4de's help in the Galaxy Rangers thread last year when we warred with them, and those were some of the best moments of my gameplay and forum experience here.

    All in all, please lighten up with these ridiculous restrictions. I can understand basic no-thinking-needed type rules like factions not spamming the board with multiple hate threads or excessive profanity or drawing genitals on an enemy faction's ship screenshots then posting it in their thread, but these rules are simply so ambiguous that a wide wide WIDE variety of things people say in faction threads logically follow as now being forbidden, and my fear is that these rules are bound to get a good deal of passionate faction people banned unfairly, while also driving down even further the activity on the faction board as people are discouraged to post for the sake not "not flaming". I encourage the mods to reconsider this.
     
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    Silly planr, looks like someone forgot to take their happy happy joy pills today!


    It's okay, just set your cuddle lasers to "glomp" and share the care inside each bear! Don't forget to have a box full of hugs for any grumpy bears you meet! :)
     
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    Word. The community is already at dedgaem levels, having additional NO FUN ALLOWED rules could be the bouquet on the grave.
     
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    I'd say:
    As long as a post doesn't bluntly break the rules, AND is never reported, it shouldn't be considered as badly, since everyone who read it apperas to be perfectly fine about it.​

    However, in the end it all is up to the mods.
     

    DukeofRealms

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    We're actually refining this rule, it is meant to be on a request based function. So a thread must state that it doesn't want the general faction banter.

    This is all new, and we must test first to come up with the best solution. It will be clarified in the new rules and update on the post.
     

    MrFURB

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    Thanks for your consideration. This in fact doesn't have much of anything to do with the down with the USSR thread. While we are careful with potentially troublesome posts and make sure to let our presence be known (when several mods post on a thread but don't necessarily point anyone out in particular) so people are reminded that the eye of mod is ever watchful, we are also aware of the (sometimes rather fuzzy) line between friendly competition and hateful messages.

    Our efforts have more to do with the ongoing child-like behavior of many of the leaders and members of PvP-oriented factions. There has been a reduction in these unwanted activities lately and we'd like to push a little further to make these disrespectful comment the exception instead of the rule. Improving people's awareness that some of what entails forum 'drama' is in fact against this site's terms of service is that push. The PSA is meant to improve that awareness.
     

    Pholopalus

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    Issue has be looked into again. PSA thread has been updated to reflect changes.

    Thread locked and discussion can resume in the PSA.
     
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