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This is a set of guidelines that will be presented in all of the Anime Central forums, and will be locked. This is taken from the Megatokyo Forums Anime FAQ (it's pretty much the whole thing) because I thought they applied here and thus saving me time, and you since I tend to ramble. So here it is:GENERAL GUIDELINES:
| QUOTE | * Use common sense and basic civility.
- This forum often seems like a harsh place, particularly to a new member who's just made a new member kind of mistake. People are not shy about sharing their opinions, either on the topic at hand or about the person they're addressing. It's very nearly certain that someone on the forum thinks that your favorite anime or manga or character sucks, and will cheerfully say so when the subject comes up.
- On the whole, though, the forum can be quite civil once you know the way things work. If you are knowledgeable and have an opinion and take the time and trouble to write it well, your posts will be well regarded; be polite and people will be polite in return.
- It is definitely far from safe to assume (and even less safe to sound like you believe) that you know more about a subject than the rest of the forum; we have some very knowledgeable people here, and superiority isn't a tone that folks are prone to appreciate.
- While forum etiquette is covered elsewhere, I'll restate a few of the key points here: Don't troll, don't spam, don't start a whole bunch of new threads at the same time. The topic of flaming is discussed below.
* Some other general points:
- To the best of your ability, use clear English; strive for correct spelling and good grammar. You will find that people will tend to respond to your writing much more positively when you do. Resist the temptation to post using "fanboy Japanese" (mixing words such as "baka" and "kawaii" in with your English text); it's not going to impress anyone, particularly as a number of the forum regulars are fluent in Japanese.
- And speaking of misused Japanese: "otaku" means someone who is unhealthily obsessed with their chosen area of interest; an anime otaku is someone who spends all of their free waking hours watching anime, and considers doing that more important than such trivialities as maintaining a healthy diet or performing personal hygiene. While many fans outside Japan have come to use the term to mean "anime fan," calling yourself an otaku here on this forum will get you chuckled at, and calling someone else an otaku could be perceived as an insult.
- To reiterate something found in the FAQ: "Jap" is a racial slur. Please do not use it, even as an abbreviation for "Japan" or "Japanese."
- Most people find colored text (particularly whole posts in colored text) to be unpleasant to look at, and in some cases it is unreadable. Please resist the temptation to use it.
POSTING GUIDELINES:
* Before starting a new thread...
- ...search for relevant threads. I can't emphasize this one enough, because we get this a lot. Nobody likes taking the time and effort to compose a thoughtful comment on a certain subject, only to have someone else ask about the exact same subject again a short time later. It's aggravating. If you do want to reopen a discussion on an old thread, the best way to do it is to start a new thread with your new angle on the subject, and include a link to the old thread to indicate that you've already read it. The search link is near the top of the page, just below the site banner.
* When starting a new thread...
- ...use an informative subject line. Too often we get threads with titles like "A question," or "I need help." Please be specific about what you want to talk about, at least enough so that people who aren't interested in your topic won't open your thread.
- ...state your own opinion. We frequently get posts that do nothing but ask, "What do you think of <topic>?" Posts like these will sometimes get a decent number of responses, but not as many as the subject might warrant. We would much prefer that you state your own opinion as well as asking for ours; it's more equitable, and gives us a starting point for the discussion. If you don't have enough information to form an opinion, by all means find some before posting.
* Before replying to a thread...
- ...read the whole thread. If you fail to do so, you're likely to say something that has already been said in the thread. This makes you sound like you're more interested in talking than having a conversation, which tends to put people off.
- ...check the date on the thread. One of the most hated events on this forum is necromancy; the revival of the dead. If no new posts have been made for a number of days on a thread, its dead; no one wants to talk about the topic anymore. As stated before: if you do want to reopen a discussion on an old thread, the best way to do it is to start a new thread with your new angle on the subject, and include a link to the old thread to indicate that you've already read it. If you don't have anything to contribute to an old topic, don't respond to it.
* When asking for recommendations...
- ...read this first. We're enthusiastic about anime and manga here, and we want to help you enjoy the hobby that we like so much. Unfortunately, most of the requests we get read something like, "I really like anime! Can you recommend some shows?" This is approximately equivalent to saying, "I really like books! Can you recommend some?" In order for us to make recommendations that are meaningful for you, we need to know what you like. If you've already seen some anime, list your favorites. Other methods include listing genres that you enjoy (romantic comedy, action, science fiction, whatever) or listing favorite stories in other media that you like. If you fail to give us this sort of information, we'll either ignore your request entirely, or we'll list what we like.
- note: Everyone has their own likes and dislikes. When responding to a thread asking for recommendation: read the poster's stated preferences, respond with anime that you've seen that he or she might like, and explain why you think those shows would be enjoyable for them. And there's little need to mention an anime that's already been listed once or twice in the thread unless you have an additional point to make about it. (Or to drive it into the mind of the poster that they need to see this anime).
* Before talking about a specific anime...
- ...search for relevant threads. We discuss specific anime/manga series on this forum a lot; it's one of the main types of topics we see on the forum. However, as previously indicated, discussing the same series over and over tends to get tiresome after a while. Generally, the older, the more popular, the more controversial, and the more open to interpretation a series is, the more likely it is that it has been discussed in detail in the past. Indeed, the series "Neon Genesis Evangelion," which is all of these things, has been thrashed out in such great detail that forum members are encouraged to repost previous discussions.
- ...be sure to read old posts. Your questions may have already been answered and your opinions have already been addressed. If not, or if the last thread is over a year old (opinions do evolve over time; perhaps new insights will present themselves), feel free to start your thread. The point that needs to be made here is that it's particularly important to do a search when you're thinking about starting a new thread about an anime or manga. We get reviews on some shows within hours of their initial broadcast in Japan, so it's never safe to assume that you're first.
TABOO TOPICS:
* "I just saw this great anime show on TV! Have you seen it?"
- The answer to this question is, "Yes." Allow me to explain where we're coming from: A few of us live in Japan and watch these programs as they originally come out. Others watch raw (untranslated) anime imported from Japan. Still others watch fansubs (imported anime with fan-made subtitles included). And others buy DVD's of anime that they are interested in, often literally the day that they become available. By the time a show appears on TV outside of Japan, it's likely that we've already seen the show and discussed its merits in considerable detail. Again, search the forum, and try to have something new to say about the show if you do post.
* "Where do I find fansubs/scanlations?"
- Due to copyright issues, this forum is not a resource for locating fansubs or scanlations (fan-translated scanned manga). Look elsewhere. Requests for fansubs of shows that have already been licensed will get you flamed; requests for fansubs of shows that have already been commercially released will make you even less popular.
* "I'm interested in information on <anime show/manga series>."
- Google is your God; there's a great deal of information available on the web for all but the newest series. If you do have problems finding a specific piece of information after using Google, please do feel free to ask and please do comment that you already googled the topic and were unable to find any information on it.
* "What character should I cosplay as?"
- Many on the forum believe that you should only cosplay a character because you really like that character, and all other cosplays are simply attempts at get attention cheaply, so you can expect some negative response to this question if you post it. If you wish to do so anyway, you'll need to describe yourself in some detail (posting a photo wouldn't hurt). More specific questions (choosing one of two or three characters, for example) are better tolerated.
DISCUSSED TO DEATH:
* English Subbed VS English Dubbed
- This is anime fandom's oldest debate, and if you think we haven't thrashed this one out several times on the forum, you would be badly mistaken. Many would say that the discussion is also fairly moot, as nearly all anime DVD's sold these days have both English dubs and English subtitles, so you can watch it any way you like.
* Versus/Battle Threads
- We've done a bunch of these. At least nine times out of ten, it devolves into a fanboyish argument with supporters on either side using baseless comparisons to proclaim their favorite's superiority. Remember that these are fictional characters; the correct answer to "How strong is X?" is "Exactly as strong as the writer wants him/her/it to be."
* How much anime/manga do you have?
- Variants: "I have (X) gigs of fansubs, how about you?" "I own (X) DVD's/manga volumes! Impressive, huh?" "Here's all the anime I've watched!" Various permutations of this have popped up from time to time; the response these days is a dull yawn. We're always eager to have another person who likes anime/manga a lot and is willing to offer his or her thoughts on these subjects, but we'll take our opinion of you from the quality of your posts, not from how much you've watched/read.
* Best/worst/favorite (X)
- This isn't as absolute as the others, but generally, if your topic is fundamentally asking "What is (the best/the worst/your favorite) (X)," you're going to have to go pretty far afield (within the realm of the forum's subject matter) to hit a thread topic that hasn't already been done. As should be obvious, general subjects such as "favorite anime," "favorite manga," and "favorite character" have been done to death. Favorite anime can be found at this stickied thread.
FLAMING: (This is an observation of how things work, not official policy)
* A quote from the Megatokyo Central FAQ and Rules: "Do NOT flame."
- In actuality, the situation is far more complex. The moderators have a difficult balancing act; one person's flame is another person's strongly worded opinion. Not enough moderation and the forum devolves into a flamefest, too much moderation and the energy is sucked out of the forum. While opinions may vary on the subject, the fact that neither of these circumstances are currently occurring in the forum is evidence that the moderators are at least in the right ballpark.
- Thus, flames can and do happen, and posts that are considered to be redundant, thoughtless, unsubstantiated, or poorly written are treated as flamebait. It is unfortunate; at the same time, there seems to be a general sense of tolerance of this among the forum participants, perhaps due to the belief that such posts detract from the level of discussion that we are trying to maintain here and a certain level of deterrence is desirable.
* How things presently work:
- Threads that devolve into flamewars will be locked by the moderators. Posters who flame too much or too capriciously can be and are banned, though moderators can and do give warnings to all but the most obnoxious of flamers (and a word to the wise: Flaming Piro or the moderators is a bad idea).
* One more important point:
- It is true that a new member is more likely to be flamed than an established veteran for making a poor post. This is again unfortunate, particularly as there are people here who seem to have a hard time differentiating between honest mistakes (which are forgivable) and stupidity or malevolence (which is not). Attention has been brought to this subject, and hopefully this tendency will decrease as the forum continues to mature. In any case, memories tend to be short. Prove yourself to be a valuable contributor and early mistakes will be quickly forgotten. |
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