Hello girls!
We've recently had a lot of trouble round-abouts these parts which has resulted in a lot of negative feelings on all sides. I'd like to take this opportunity to stick a note with some important things on the top forum and thank you all for taking the time to read through. Hopefully this will make the future brighter for all of us.
Some of these things may seem like no-brainers, buuuut we're gonna run 'em off anyway.
We've recently had a lot of trouble round-abouts these parts which has resulted in a lot of negative feelings on all sides. I'd like to take this opportunity to stick a note with some important things on the top forum and thank you all for taking the time to read through. Hopefully this will make the future brighter for all of us.
Some of these things may seem like no-brainers, buuuut we're gonna run 'em off anyway.
1. The rules and Terms of Service which apply to greater Gaia apply here too. That means
~ No Flaming: this means no name calling (t**t, c**t, b***h, slut, whore- all of this negative CRAP that we sling at each other) it drags us all down. You don't have to agree with everyone, or with anyone, but you need to be civil doing it. You can disagree with what a person says without attacking them as a person. There is a real and tangible difference between being "honest" and being straight up CRUEL to those around you, and taking pleasure in that cruelty.
~ No Trolling: this means no posting JUST to make other individuals upset. Again, this is NOT telling you not have an opinion about something, far from it, but if someone posts a thread which is all happy and positive about something, don't go out of your way to piss on their parade if they're just trying to share their good news with their friends here.
~ No Harassment: if you have a problem with someone in a debate or just a conversation, along with keeping with the above, you need to NOT be harassing them about it. Sending someone a PM or a comment to cuss them out is harassment. You're going out of your way to make them feel bad for whatever reason. If you don't think you can say it on a public forum, rethink if you should be saying it to that person at all.
~ Keep it PG13: Should be enough said- no cybering, no soliciting sexual hijinks, no posting pictures where you're in your skivvies or less unless it's your avatar art in skivvies.
There are of course, more aspects to the ToS than that, but I feel like those are the MOST important ones to highlight here and now.
2. You don't have to LIKE everyone, or everyone's opinions, you do have to respect their rights as a person, though. You can be diametrically opposed and still work together (look at the US and Russia during the Second World War!).
3. If you feel like someone's trolling you or flaming you, speak out about it. Don't flame them back because that's just going to bring more hate and anger and it won't solve ANYTHING. What you SHOULD do is contact one of the Guild's crew members about it. We're here to mediate peace and see what kind of agreements and arrangements we can come to.
Something we want to emphasise is that we're not trying to take away anyone's voices here- we want EVERYONE to be comfortable posting. If someone's going to come down on you like a bloodhound and chase you back to your profile, how much are you going to want to be posting in our guild and how comfortable will you feel here? Not very unless you've got a lust for adrenaline and the hunt! This is about making the most people possible comfortable and happy.
If you have any questions or concerns, comments about this, toss 'em out.
