Reminders

But this is a forum, this should be a place for fun, not be like school. I understand that, I believe you but my point it why was this place made in the first place? It was made to talk about Beyblade and have fun wasn't it? I know rules must be made or it's total chaos, which is why I agree with the rest of the rules. And I know that maybe you don't understand why using a smilie kills any fun, using one don't amuse me or anything. But the point is, with too many rules it's doesn't have the fun feel to it. When I came here this was a place for fun, like an escape from all the offline crud. But with too many rules, things lose it.

Ugh I'm probably repeating myself or not making any sense here. Just .. well I think the rule is about as dumb as Bush making a law where if you annoy someone online it's a serious problem. And just because we use a smiley doesn't mean we can't use a word, it's just .. more fun than typing happy, or whatever it is. o-o I just mean I find the sudden rule being added dumb because people used it since the first mood topic was made.

I'm not trying to argue or change your mind though, I mearly replied to give my opinion on the new rule for it.

I understand your point.

A lot of people seem quite unhappy, so I shall consider what to do next in this matter. Speak up if you're unhappy, so I can get some vague idea of numbers.

(Sorry if this sounds like an angry post or something. It's 3am and I'm tired and stressed is all ^^; )

I, quite frankly, don't understand the rule either. It makes no sense to me. I've used plenty of emoticons/smileys/etc. in the past on this very forum, and no one had anything against it or had anything to say about it, so why start now?

I don't see any difference between the two, to be honest. It is your own opinion and how you think of it when it comes to what words can express as opposed to what emoticons/smilies express.

Before anyone jumps down Elisa's, RPR's, or whoever all else (mods) has posted here, I was the one who suggested the rule. My fault and mine alone.

I'm going to put forth a suggestion.

How strongly would people protest if the "What's Your Mood?" topic were moved to the "Fun & Games" section? If it were there, rather than in the "Chit-Chat" forum, which is where it is now (I believe), then I would see no problems with keeping the emoticons, simply because "Fun & Games" is the... SPAMy section I try to avoid. But before anyone goes "Well how would that make a different, Ethe you idiot?" or whatever, let me explain. The "Chit-Chat" is supposed to be a discussion forum, but lately it's been overrun by the same sort of topics you find in the "Fun & Games" section. "What's Your Mood?", "What Song Are You Listening To?", "What's the Most Recent Thing You've Downloaded?"; all of those are topics which require short answers, right? There is hardly ever, if any, discussion going on in those threads. Therefore, they don't really belong in a forum specifically for discussion. The reason I suggested that rule was in a half-hearted attempt to try to bring some actual words back to "Chit-Chat", rather than short posts of the same length of those found in the "Fun & Games" section.

There is, I will admit, a fine line between discussion-provoking posts and random "I'm feeling this way..." or "I'm listening to this song..." type things. And just think, it could've been worse. We could've made the rule be like this:

Or something similar to that, anyways.

Also, to clear up any confusion; the reason this was never put forth before was probably because we never thought about it. It was never really a "problem", just a minor annoyance at the back of my mind. I don't know if any of the other admins or mods thought about it, but I know I did and I thought something ought to be done about it. Emoticons are not banned completely. You can still use them, you know. There are some good examples in the "What's Your Mood?" thread already. Just type, "Happy! ^^" instead of just "^^" or whatever. It's not like we're telling you, "ZOMG@?#!?@#!@!!! U CAN NUVER USE SMILEIES EVUR AGAIN! BWUAHAHAHA!" or anything. Just don't use only smilies.

Wasn't it moved there before and than moved back because if anyone wanted to go suicidal it was important? Or something like that.

And really, what is there to discuss? If you move those topics to Fun and Games than Chit-Chat will basically be dead.

Besides Whats Your Mood isn't a game, it's random chat which is what Chit-Chat is for. Fun and Games is for the kiss the person above you, Disco, What you're listening to, ect, forum games that have no real meaning and could be classified as SPAM if rules were that strict.

And what's the difference if you put 'Happy ^^' or just ^^ or ^_^ . It's all the same thing, so why not allow it? I know they aren't totally banned, I'm just saying it's a dumb rule because it's all the same thing so I don't see why it matters if you use a word or not, so they mize as well be allowed too.

If someone wanted to go suicidal I doubt they would post it on a forum "What's Your Mood?" topic, unless they were just attention-seeking morons with nothing better to do. And I highly doubt that was the reason... people were probably just upset about a minor change.

Discussions. Start one. A discussion on abortion, on animal cruelty, on your favorite books, on mini sharpies for all I care, but a discussion. Not just making a post and then bopping back to make another one without hardly any regard for any other post. A discussion is where people talk about something. That's kind of what the "Chit-Chat" should be, don't you think? Considering we have the "Fun & Games" forum, now.

And really, what's the difference between "What Song are You Listening to?" and "What's Your Mood?". There isn't one. It's the same thing. You make a post about what you're doing right then and there, and then make another one when whatever you're feeling/doing/listening to changes. The "What's Your Mood?" topic, along with "Happy Birthday", "Recent Thing You Downloaded", "Recent Purchases", "What Are You Reading"; they're all pretty much the same thing as "What Are You Eating/Drinking", "The Disco", "What Was the Last Music Video You Saw?", and so on and so forth. If you can tell me the differences between all of those, then my point is obviously void, but whatever.

My last post has my arguement for this point, I believe.

I was pretty sure that was the reason, because one of the members .. might have been Sesshomaru I'm thinking, posted about killing himself or something. I don't remember, it's been awhile.

I don't care about any of that, so I have desire to discuss it or start topics on it.

You do realize that's like the whole page of Chit-Chat, right? Why not just get rid of it or combine the two together than, because if you take them topics out Chit-Chat will be dead.

And the difference you post maybe 3 or 4 words for a song, and I don't know about anyone else but my mood post usually have over 10 words. So What Song are You Listening to would be considered SPAM in Chit-Chat, where the mood topic wouldn't because most people don't put a few words. Besides it's real, your mood is real, your thoughts are real, the weather is real, almost all the topics on the Chit-Chat main page have meaning, or are real. Kiss the person above you or thinking you're in a disco isn't real. You're not really is a disco or really kissing the person above you, so it's a game. What you think or what you download isn't, because it's really there. That's the difference, game and real. Tell me how your mood, weather, thing you downloaded, or anything is fun or is a forum game? It's not.

yeah, in my opinion 'Whats Your Mood', 'What Song are you listening too?' and other topics like that, your talking about things, is chit chat just another word for talking?

i beg to differ, iv seen people saying/meaning this before..

I'm probably going to be the only person who agrees with Ethe, but i'm going to speak up.

I fully agree with what she's saying here, because the last time we had a chit-chat with more than one decent discussion on the front page was um...Never. I think it is about time all these topics were moved to fun and games, since it would give Chit-chat the opportunity to have some meaningful discussion in it. Perhaps, to solve the issue of the suicidal stuff, there is an advice thread, post there. There is random thoughts, for which you need only post a small amount more. I'm a member that always reads those threads and would be willing to help if such a situation rose up, and i'm sure plenty of others would as well. ^^

Ah, but some of us do. Some of us may wish to discuss such issues every once in a while. And if there is one member on this forum that wants to discuss it, then I will discuss it with them. Even if it's just us two that want to discuss it for a little while. As there's so many of us, there will be people that view things differently and want to discuss different things. Nobody makes you read the topics, just ignore them if you don't like them.

It wouldn't be a big change if a couple of topics were moved...Just as this emoticon-rule-thing isn't a huge deal. Either way not a lot changes.

I'm curious. I've read people saying there are already too many rules here as it is. Just what would those be then?

So, I have read through all the comments on this matter and I think I will just leave my opinion as well.

I don't quite see the problem with the new rule. I accept the new rule and I think it is a good idea it was established. Some of you already stated why smileys in Moods had to be prohibited when they weren't prohibited with the beginning of this forum. I think that is because Ty Kamara changed since the beginning and a lot of people joined since then so this matter grew bigger. There occured a lot of problems since then and I think some people know very well what problems Iam talking about.

Also, why complain about this matter when most people got adjusted to it already? And Ethe already mentioned that some people found their own solutions by typing their mood and adding a smiley afterwards. It is not really a problem for any of us, right?

Elisa, you give a very good point on this matter too ^^ It may be easier for most people, especially non-native English people, to just put a smiley. However, this rule gives them the opportunity to learn a bit more. Even I myself have problems finding an accurate description for some of my moods but I hardly ever used smileys to describe my mood, perhaps '...' once or twice. I would just use a dictionary to find a word that fits my mood. At least I know one or two words more afterwards, right? The same would go for many other people here.

Alright...I'm going to try and answer for most of what was said here since I have a response to it, so this will be long, but all of it will have a point to it.

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When TK first opened, people were using fan art and ripped graphics from sites in their sets, the policies didn't come along until years afterwards. If I had not pushed the idea of a graphics policy perhaps there wouldn't be one now. Things can be changed at any time, just because they aren't in place now doesn't mean they shouldn't be to make it a better place.

Are you really claiming the use of an ellipsis in general here is due to people trying to 'act' like the characters this message board is based upon? Nearly everyone who posts in the What's Your Mood topic has used "..." at one point and I doubt most of them even like 'Kai'.

I agree with the fact "..." isn't really a mood, but I don't believe that last sentence explains anything. And "..." has been disallowed.

I happen to be someone who used the ellipsis in the mood topic. My reason? The English language doesn't really account for many 'moods' that people may feel. I'm not talking about 'Happy', 'Sad', 'Irritated', whatever, I mean more specific moods that are hard to explain.

However, the rules changed so I thought I could at least try to make use of a thesaurus if I really wanted to, who knows, even though English is my first language I might just learn a new word to express something I didn't know it could express. And, if I can't think of anything that could put that mood into words, I don't have to post at all. Simple.

There is a big difference but only the poster who uses the emoticon will understand exactly why they used it. It's a public topic on a public message board. With the fact there are a lot of people on this board who have English as a second language, just using smilies on their own doesn't really give a good example for people who are trying to learn. Also, because the topic is so active, the use of emoticons there leads it to look more like SPAM.

People still can use emoticons if they want, what's the big deal over disallowing them on their own? If you want to use one, just stick a word next to it as an explanation.

As Raineth stated here:

There are places where people can write whatever they want, in journals/blogs, MSN Messenger, comment boards. It's not like it's taking emoticon use away from everywhere online. It's just a simple extra control for a popular topic.


Personally, I don't have a problem with the rules in place. What I would have a problem with is, a message board with next to no rules, and 'untidy' one with no real sense of organisation. For all those who believe the more rules that are added here, the less 'fun' it becomes: What's to stop it being 'fun', if the rules are followed there won't be a problem.

You can wear fan art in your sets and use emoticons still. All you have to make sure is that you have permission to use that fan art and that you use an emoticon with a word in the What's Your Mood thread. That is all. Nothing much has changed if you look at it that way.

Are the rules really that constricting? It's not a lot that's been asked for to keep this place decent.

I can see why some people would think of this as more as a big deal than others. Think about it. The Mood topic has become a main artery, maybe even the heart of this message board. When something with so much interest 'changes', changes are something that people won't agree with. Some people just don't like change in general.

If anything, maybe there should be an exception if people find it too much of a problem. Something like: You can use one single emoticon or "..." if your other moods e.g Mood1/Mood2/Mood3, contain words. Whatever happens, the rules shouldn't be too complex or people will find it hard to follow.

Yes, people come from and will come from other message boards expecting to be allowed to use single emoticons, but the rules are all there already for what has been decided here and they aren't hard to follow. Members sometimes post to remind other members about the rule change. The system works.

There are 'singular' threads and there are 'open' threads.
Singulars are like What Song Are You Listening To? and What's your Mood? because it's not responding to anyone.
Open topics are like what the Picture Thread because people actually discuss the pictures.

I do though, understand what you're saying and, by my logic, why not throw half the Chit Chat section into Fun and Games?

But, I just believe there should be an exception for that one topic, because the point is, it's taken over too much when it shouldn't in order for the Chit Chat section to be used for what it should be; discussion.


Concerning the Mood topic moving to Fun and Games:

- Fun and Games has All the People and The What Song Are You Listening To? threads while the Chit Chat section has the What's your Mood? thread. If it were to move, maybe it would cause more 'unrest' or kill the whole section.

Or:

-If people wouldn't have a problem with it moving, and doing so actually helps the Chit Chat forum, maybe, to make up for the loss of that topic, the section could be extended to have a Serious Discussion sub forum. It would help focus it off the Mood topic and allow discussion to extend. People can feel free to start discussions, if they see one made on another message board that is suitable for everyone they could consider starting one here.

And, I don't know, some people seem 'afraid' to start threads because they think it might get locked. Well, so what? that's the worst that will happen. It will get locked. No big deal, the thread starter should just take away the information that those type of topics already exist/aren't suitable and learn from it. You never learn until you try.

If this is the problem for many members, maybe there could be a scheme whereby, if the staff didn't mind, people who are reluctant to post new topics because they don't want them locked, could PM a member of staff first to ask if it would be alright to post it.

If someone is mentally dysfunctionnal, blind, stupid, will-less, deadly ill, unable to move their fingers/hands/arms, paralysed from neck to toe, missing one/two finger(s)/hand(s)/arm(s), has no muscles, is too fat to move, or was proven too weak by professionals, OK, you are exempted from the rule.

But what the burodi heru is the problem if your as healthy as anybody ?

Thats the thing, there wasnt a problem with the smiley's until now, everyone lives care free using whatever they wanted in that topic, now the new rule came alot of arguing has started, i know iv said before that im not arguing for myself because i dont use smiley's myself but, why im saying this is because this rule has started the arguments..

We actually had an idea about making a serious discussion subforum once. We dismissed the idea because there wasn't a whole lot of discussion going on anyway ^^;