Spider-Man Forum Rules and Regulations- Updated 5/15/2008

[Sean Whitmore]

Well, it's been over a year, so I've run out of excuses to put this off. On the upside, I've been able to determine which rules require stressing. It may seem like there's a lot of them, but it's all pretty common-sense stuff.

I know they're a bore to read, but it's in everyone's interest. "I didn't know" will not be considered an excuse.


SEAN

[Sean Whitmore]

1. BE POLITE.
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, and by "everyone" I mean posters as well as creators. If you want to complain about Joe Quesada, 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. "You lack reading comprehension" is an insult. Just in case you were curious.

Keep the discussions about the comics, not your fellow posters. Debate is welcome, but again, critique each other's arguments, not each other.

This is the biggie. Break it and you get a warning. Break it again, your name goes in the book. Third time, you're banned from CBR for a duration of my choosing. There will be no warnings, no appeals. Personal attacks and insults of any form will not be tolerated on this board from here on in.

2. PUT SOME THOUGHT INTO IT.
Starting up a thread with a one-or-two-sentence summation of a thought isn't good enough. You're not supposed to just give a topic and then say, "Discuss". If you want to talk about something, talk about it. Put some effort into it, make it a springboard for future conversation. This also applies to "stake claiming" threads.

3. YOUR OPINION ABOUT SOMETHING IS NOT, IN AND OF ITSELF, WORTHY OF ITS OWN THREAD
Please search the forum. You may think your opinion is interesting, but we have many discussions and some might already exists that cover the topic you wish to speak about. If so, post it there, because it's either going to end up being merged into the other thread, closed, or deleted.

4. ISSUE THREADS
For people who get advance copies of comics, all discussion threads for issues have to be posted no earlier than the day the book is released in the United States.

Threads discussing preview pages from places like Comics Continuum are fine, but the threads are ONLY to discuss the pages in the preview.

5. SPOILERS
No spoilers in thread titles, please. And if the thread has spoilers in it, put the word "spoilers" in the thread title.

6. PROFANITY
Keep language at a PG13 level. The odd shit, hell, damn, and what not is acceptable. Even an f bomb here or there. But not in the thread titles. And not excessively.

And don't refer to women (fictional or not) as "skanks" or "whores" or "hos." Not cause it's dirty, just because it makes you sound extremely sad and makes me ashamed of my gender.

7. ABOUT THIS: :rolleyes:
I don't like it. But, for reasons past understanding, it's an option here at CBR, so I won't ban it. Just keep in mind that I reserve the right to delete it any time I feel it makes the user sound particularly like a 2-year-old girl.

8. NO "WHAT'S THIS WORTH" THREADS
(Thanks to ED for this one)
Since it's come up a few times recently . . . a comic book is only worth what you can get for it. Thus, eBay is probably your best resource for the price other people are actually getting for the same comic, assuming you don't have access to a local comic shop. This site is also good.

So if I close your "what's this worth" thread with a mention of eBay, that's the reason.

[Sean Whitmore]

A note about merging threads

With the recent influx of posters and all the discussion of OMD, you may have noticed that many threads are being merged in an effort to avoid redundancies. If this upsets anyone, I'm sorry about that, but there are reasons for the things we do.

If you find your thread has been merged, it means the course of the conversation has become too similar to other conversations going on at the same time. This isn't always the thread starter's fault. Sometimes a thread is begun with a unique topic, and it just goes off-course through no fault of the OP. And frankly, with things as busy as they are around here lately, I just don't have the time to weed those posts out, especially when there are so many of them that they've basically taken over the thread.

So that's all there is to it. We don't need multiple threads covering the BND preview, discussing Mephisto, or taking wild shots in the dark as to what Spider-Man's life is like in this new history. But enjoy the ones we have!


SEAN

[Mister Mets]

Not much to add to the previous rules, except....

9. No challenging whether or not someone else is a fan. I don’t like the “You aren't as real a fan as I am, because you disagree with me" argument. Don’t claim that readers who disagree with you regarding the significance of continuity, the direction of the Spider-Man books, whether it’s worth boycotting the books or any other subject are not true Spider-Man fans, or real Spider-Man fans, or any derivative of that. It’s not our place to say whether someone else cares about a character, or make blanket statements to that effect. The sole exception to this rule will be a thread meant to discuss this topic.

10. Try to Keep threads on-topic. A discussion thread about "Amazing Spider-Man #554" should be limited to your opinions on that issue, and comments relevant to it. It's not the place to say why you dropped the Spider-Man titles, or what you thought about the artist in ASM #551 (unless you're comparing his work to the work in ASM 554). There may be small non sequiturs (IE- one poster asks when a villain last appeared, and another answers) but these should not be allowed to dominate a discussion thread.

If a topic comes up that you believe is worth discussing, see if there's a more appropriate pre-existing thread for it. If not, start a new one.

11. Don't Reference Off-Forum Disputes: Some of you guys know each other from other forums, and that's cool. There's no need to continue disputes from other forums here, or reference incidents from there in posts on this forum. Whether someone was banned, had a reputation as a troll or obviously lost every argument he had with you has no relevance to discussions here. It is something which shouldn't be brought up in this forum, especially given the difficulties in verifying this stuff. If you are concerned about a poster based on his or her behavior on another message board, send me a private message explaining why, but otherwise don't continue personal rivalries here.

12. If someone asks for information, Give Serious Answers: Every now and then we have new readers asking questions about all sorts of things. That isn't the time or place to give a sarcastic or factually incorrect answer. You're free to give your opinion on the subject, but not to confuse someone.

13. Don't do anything illegal. Please do not ask for or provide links to anything illegal (IE- comics downloading services, or places with unauthorized streaming video of the Spectacular Spider-Man cartoon.) Do not say you'd like to kill a comic book creator/ poster, and do not provide the address to guy who makes that boast.

Some notes on the first rule: No one's under a moral obligation to reply to a post, so bumping threads explicitly to get someone's attention is frowned upon. And it often looks pathetic.

Harassing/ insulting someone VIA private message is an offense for which you can be banned without warning.

If someone's obviously breaking the first rule, and you voice your approval (unless you parse your words very carefully) you can be considered as an accessory, and treated the same way as the other guy.

[Mister Mets]

If you refer to the post-Brand New Day universe as the 666 universe, the analogy is not going to work, because a fragment from the oldest surviving copy of the New Testament, dating to the Third century and deciphered in 2005 reveals that the number of the Beast isn’t 666.
It’s actually 616.

If you're quoting a long post, it does make sense to use the passages relevant to your response. Just be careful to make sure that you're not pulling anything out of context. If you feel that something you've said has been taken out of context for another's response, don't assume an ulterior motive. It may have just been an innocent mistake, in which case taking it personally would be paranoid. Point out how the other guy is mistaken regarding what you said, or how the proper context changes your response, and move on.

I'm not going to do a moratorium against using the term rape to describe what comic book writers or editors do to characters, but it does make it seem as if you don't have a proper sense of perspective.

Feel free to discuss the new rules at the Frequently Asked Questions thread. If you have any concerns, feel free to send me a private message.

[Mister Mets]

Many of the rules I've thought of adding (and some I chose) are already covered by the crucial parts of first rule: "Be polite" and "critique each other's arguments, not each other."

If someone says something clever (or moronic or whatever) in response to someone you disagree with and you want to express your approval, do so in a civil manner. Posting some picture you found to ridicule the guy you disagree with does not accomplish this. Neither does a one word response (like "Burned" "Fail!", and "Win!" (or a sentence variation like "You got PWND.") You can and should take the time to write thoughtful responses, even if you think the guy you're responding to (and especially if it's the guy someone else was responding to) is an idiot.

In addition, discussing my job as moderator violates the "Keep the discussions about the comics, not your fellow posters." part of the first rule. If you have objections with anything I do, let me know. Or discuss it yourselves VIA private messages. Or even take your concerns to the Supermoderators or Administrators. But don't do it on a thread devoted to another subject.

Related to this: if someone makes a post that you believe breaks the other rules, don't comment on what I or another moderator could do to them. Report the post, or send me a private message about the specific post.