Tightening the reigns for a few months (Please Read ASAP)

[Millennium]

We are just under two months out from Madden, and less than a month from NCAA. As is customary, I am telling the mod crew to be more aggressive and less forgiving with infractions. What this means to you, the user, is hopefully cleaner boards, but possibly more disagreement with the methods. To make this time as clear of trouble as possible, I suggest everyone do the following:

1. Take this time to re-read the TOS. You can find it HERE. Whether you agree with some of the rules stated there or not, please abide by them.
2. Make yourself aware of our "Search" function on the forums. In the top right of every forum and thread is a "Search this forum/thread" drop down menu. You can use this to search for specific terms BEFORE you start a brand new thread. If you are looking for extremely specific information (i.e. specific ratings on a player), click the "Show Posts" option in the search feature to show individual posts instead of entire threads.
3. Think before you hit "Submit". We don't allow flaming or bashing here. That is a finality, and will not change. We encourage opinions, both negative and positive, but if you do so blindly and without explanation, you are going to have your thread locked and more than likely receive an infraction. "Rosters suck" is not a valid point. "QB12 on Navy is much faster in real life than I feel he is represented in the game" is much closer to valid. Think about what you are posting, especially if you are upset. Reactionary posts never go well.
4. DO NOT ENGAGE OTHER POSTERS LOOKING FOR A REACTION. If someone breaks a rule, do not reply to them trying to correct them yourself. Everyone knows in football that the "second guy always gets caught", meaning the guy who is responding to a late hit always gets the penalty. It rings very true here, and if you are responding to someone who has decided to take the low road, you will more than likely be punished as well as he is.
5. I will reiterate one part of the TOS - Two infractions and you spend a week away from our entire forums and a month away from the specific forum you received the infractions in. That means two infractions in the NCAA forum, and you won't see release. Two in Madden and you will be very, very close to not seeing it. You want rosters from NCAA? You can't access the rosters forum in the cell. Think before you post.

That's it, folks. Please try to stay calm and as professional as you can be around here. None of the mods enjoy banning people, but we do it on a necessity basis. Don't be the next one we need to do it to.

Chris Gunter
Forum Administrator

[Boucher]

So you'll be more leaniant around October? Or is this the way the Madden and NCAA board will be like forever?

[Jackdog]

Quote: Originally Posted by Boucher

So you'll be more leaniant around October? Or is this the way the Madden and NCAA board will be like forever?

I think all boards should be held to this standard from now on out. OS is a pretty special place. We have developer interaction. As a "Gamer" what more could you ask for? All we ask is you be respectful in your criticism of any game. Don't flame or troll.There is absolutely no reason to insult the developers that our members of our forum. They are here to get impressions from us. They ask for ideas and try to implement them if possible. That's a huge compliment to our forum and it's members.

[SoxFan01605]

Noted...

and I think it's excellent!

[gilgamesh348]

Quote: Originally Posted by Jackdog

I think all boards should be held to this standard from now on out. OS is a pretty special place. We have developer interaction. As a "Gamer" what more could you ask for? All we ask is you be respectful in your criticism of any game. Don't flame or troll.There is absolutely no reason to insult the developers that our members of our forum. They are here to get impressions from us. They ask for ideas and try to implement them if possible. That's a huge compliment to our forum and it's members.

yeah i agree wit dat but i disagree wit da fact dat you lock every new tread and say to use da search function then when we use the search function u get mad at ppl 4 bumpin old topics so i guess dis means we can't post at all??????

[Dynamite]

Quote: Originally Posted by Jackdog

I think all boards should be held to this standard from now on out. OS is a pretty special place. We have developer interaction. As a "Gamer" what more could you ask for? All we ask is you be respectful in your criticism of any game. Don't flame or troll.There is absolutely no reason to insult the developers that our members of our forum. They are here to get impressions from us. They ask for ideas and try to implement them if possible. That's a huge compliment to our forum and it's members.

On the other side of that coin though, we obviously were special before they came here, or they wouldn't have come. It's only since that we seem to have jumped off a cliff, and I think some of that is "acting out" since they've got here, and some of it is the normal increase in pure trolls that happens when a site gets bigger.

Some of the reactions from mods and the bewildered users...it's kind of a knee-jerk thing, because we had so long where things were kind of loose, but not too loose, and now it seems there is no room to actually discuss things, because one sentence can be read in so many different ways that even the mildest of inflammatory statements ("I think progression is broken because of x, y, and z") could be considered bashing by one person and harmless by another.

I guess what I'm saying is that I hope this is not a band-aid for a gunshot wound, because honestly when a community grows past a certain size, there's no way for it to be the same as when it was a few thousand members strong.

[DickDalewood]

Good. I hope it stays like this for good.

[Majoniak]

Quote: Originally Posted by dickdalewood

Good. I hope it stays like this for good.

Seconded. Some of the nonsense that has been posted in past few months around here deserves this kind of treatment.

[bang911]

Communicating on this board is a privilege, and if posters don't understand that, they do not deserve to be here.

[bowdown2shadi]

Thank you boss.