Rules To Read Before You Post For The First Time! NEW RULE ADDED 8/19!

[Brian Cronin]

Here are some rules for the X-Books Forum (with future rules to be added as needed):

1. BE CIVIL
This should be self explanatory, but just in case, on this board, we do not tolerate people acting like jerks for no reason. Treat everyone with civility. This goes for posters as WELL as creators of the titles. If you want to complain about Chris Claremont, go ahead, but do it civilly, or else I will delete. NO flame-baiting, either! Finally, posts that I deem as being extremely crass will also go beyond our standards of civility.

2. PROFANITY
Don't use profanity. In addition, I would REALLY appreciate it if people made it a point to avoid referring to women (fictional or not) as "skanks" or "whores" or "hos."

3. LOOK BEFORE YOU LEAP
It will occasionally happen that you will want to start a thread that someone else already started. Do a search before you post to make sure that someone else has not already posted your topic. In addition, we have a FAQ section you should first check to see if your question is addressed there.

4. DISCUSS X-BOOKS
This may also seem to be a basic idea, but just for clarification's sake, please keep all topics related to the X-Books. If you want to talk about a movie you saw or what you had for dinner, we have X-Crescence for that.

5. DISCUSSION THREADS
Discussion threads are for DISCUSSIONS. Therefore, there will be no "stakeclaiming" threads like, "Uncanny X-Men #444 - Discuss!" In fact, I would like to go further than that and ask that you at least write a paragraph if you are going to start a discussion thread. Otherwise, just let someone else start the thread.

6. WHEN TO START A DISCUSSION THREAD
If you read an advance copy of an issue, and you want to start a thread, please keep in mind that all discussion threads for comics have to be posted no earlier than 12:00 AM on the day the book is released in the United States.

7. SIGH AND UHMMM BAN
No posts shall open with the noises "sigh" and/or "uhmmmm." Neither of them add anything to discourse, and they basically work as the internet equivalent of "Screw you!" For example, one person says, "Magneto made his first appearance in X-Men #2." Next person says, "Uhmmm...Magneto made his first appearance in X-Men #1" or "Sigh...Magneto made his first appearance in X-MEn #1." Take away the opening stuff, and the point of the sentence is not changed. So what's the point of saying Sigh or Uhmmm? To me, it is no more than saying, "You might think that, but you're a moron, as the ACTUAL answer is ____" or "I have to pause here to fully grasp how dumb you are." Occasionally, the word actually is used the same way as uhmmm and sigh. I reserve the right to omit "actually" and the :rolleyes: emoticon when I think it is being used like uhmmm or sigh.

8. KEEP SURPRISES SURPRISES!
Don't give away information that would be classified as a "spoiler" IN the thread title. And if the thread has a spoiler in it, put spoilers in the thread title.

9. YOUR OPINION ABOUT SOMETHING IS NOT, IN AND OF ITSELF, WORTHY OF ITS OWN THREAD
I understand that you have opinions, and that you think your opinion is interesting, but we have so many discussions where you can express your opinion. You do not need to (and should not) form your own thread to do so.

10. DON'T POST FULL ARTICLES FROM OTHER SITES, JUST POST THE LINKS
We get into sketchy copyright issues when someone posts an article or column fully in a thread. Just post a link, and cite the parts of the article you want to emphasis.

11. "YOU LACK READING COMPREHENSION" IS AN INSULT
It is against rule #1. Just in case you were curious.

-Brian

[Brian Cronin]

Just dropping a line to note that people are seriously not following Rule #3.

Please try to follow it.

-Brian

[Brian Cronin]

Okay, I'm now willing to let you guys post threads just to discuss the four page previews places like Comics Continuum post.

The only condition is that the threads are ONLY to discuss the four page previews.

There is now a spoiler thread where all spoilers garnered from reading an advance copy are to go.

-Brian

[Brian Cronin]

It's funny, the same problems seem to be popping up, over and over.

The whole creator conflict thing.

And while I am loathe to do something so sweeping (especially as it means more work for me ;)), here it goes:

For the next month, from April 5th until May 5th....no creator comparisons.

You can continue to knock/praise whichever creator whose work you hate/love, but what you cannot do for the next month is to express your disapproval/approval in the form of a comparison to another creator.

So basically, if I suddenly see Chris Claremont being debated in an Astonishing X-Men thread, or Grant Morrison in an Excalibur thread, those posts are getting deleted.

This is harsh, I will admit, but the last time I tried an experiment like this (the Claremont thread awhile back), I think we would all agree that the discussion was aided by the strictness of the rules.

This experiment will see if it works beyond just one thread.

[Brian Cronin]

Okay, the experiment went well, I think.

And a DAY after it ended - we go right back into silly bickering over creators!!

So I figure we'll extend it again...let's say....2 more months.

So July 5th will be your independence from my tyrannical "no creator comparison" rule!

-Brian

[Brian Cronin]

Just to be clear....some modes of discussion that are inappropriate for this forum:

1. Saying stuff like "Why does everyone hate Character X?" Don't do that - just say, "I think Character X is cool." Then if people disagree, simply debate the point using facts and observations rather than resorting to"You're just being negative!"

2. Telling people that "you're just being negative!"

3. Telling people "Why do you read the comic, then?" So long as they are being civil about it, people can criticize a comic over and over and over and over if they want to. You can feel free to ignore them, let their incessant complaining be like white noise to you...but you cannot personally attack them for their pursuits. Tell them that their positions are unfounded. Tell them that they are not backing up their points with any facts at all. Just do not personally rip them.

4. The ol' "Opinion Back and Forth," as in "This is just MY opinion!" "That's just YOUR opinion!" We get it. If you are saying something, it should be understood by everyone that it is your opinion. No need to discuss it further.

5. I will allow a lot of hyberbole go, stuff like "This is the worst comic that I ever read," stuff like that...but let us be reasonable, people. Simply stating "Book X sucks" just is not all that helpful of a contribution to the overall discussion.

SUPER GOLDEN RULE. Keep the discussions about the COMICS, not your fellow posters. If you need to just vent, go do so in X-crescence, that is its reason for existing.

[Brian Cronin]

So yeah, after seeing the Astonishing X-Men #11 preview (not even the actual ISSUE) get into the whole Whedon/Claremont thing...this experiment is now just gonna go on indefinitely.

-Brian

[Brian Cronin]

NEW RULE!

I start all New Excalibur and Exiles discussion threads from now on.

-Brian