Board FAQ, Rules, & Neat Links

[Matt]

WELCOME

Welcome to the Comic Book Rumbles forum! Here, we hold and debate over versus fights and other forms of competition between fictional (and sometimes non-fictional) characters, teams, creatures, and places. We also indulge in various What If scenarios featuring various characters, or roleplaying scenarios that have become quite popular among our regulars.

Newcomers are always welcome here on CBR, but be advised that some posters do take their debating very seriously. People who want to try their hand at debating the various fights and scenarios here are advised to look over the Rules and Frequently Asked Questions of the board first, right here in this thread.

But most of all, this board is here to entertain. So have fun!

[Matt]

FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS


Board Related Questions

Why was my post deleted?
According to Jonah himself, content-less posts are not wanted on these boards. So don't do things like post "bump" threads or post meaningless statements.
Posts that contain inappropriate content are also fair game for the moderators to delete. So please refrain from starting flamewars on the board.

Why was my poll closed?
Generally, it is perferred that polls not be used for fights because they tend to lower the quality and quantity of participation on a thread, and generally turn the fight into a popularity contest instead of a proper versus debate.

Are there any topics I can't or shouldn't post?
While there aren't any topics that are considered verboten here, there are some topics that have been argued to death many times over which people have become sick of. These topics should be avoided since they no longer generate much meaningful responses anymore. Examples of such topics include Batman vs. Spiderman, Superman vs. Thor, and generally most fights involving Dragonball Z.
Also, any topic that can potentially turn into a flamewar, or includes content that is inflammatory or baiting another poster, is also fair game for being closed or deleted.

What's the policy on Off Topic threads?
Some topics are generally unsuited for the Rumbles board in general, and may be moved to a more appropriate board on the CBR Forums. Examples of these might be discussions on the latest episode of Buffy or a review of the latest popular film. Sometimes, the moderators will allow off topic threads to remain on the board until interest on them have waned.
OT threads are tolerated within reason on Rumbles, but over-abuse of OT threads on the Rumbles board may result in immediate removal or deletion.

What's the language rating for this board?
In general, profanity should be kept to a minimum. However, the Rumbles board is not strict about language issues in itself. As long as profanity are not used in overly excessive amounts in lieu of content, or in the context of insulting another poster, it is generally tolerated. Excessive use of profanity may warrant a moderator notice to tone things down. Edit-the use of profanity in thread titles should also be avoided.

This is not to be confused with offensive post content, such as needless profanity with no other content, or vulgarity, which are not tolerated on this forum.

I was banned but I have changed my ways. How do I get myself unbanned?
A banning is a serious step to be taken for any individual. A banned poster who tries to sneak back onto the board with a new handle has committed an automatically-bannable offense, and can be banned again once caught by the moderators.
If you wish to return through official channels, you must appeal to the administrator of CBR, Jonah and Matt (Parallax). You can contact them through email and make your case to them, and they will decide if you can be allowed another chance.

What's the policy regarding other boards?
Board-wars are strictly against Rumbles policy here, whether it's with another board here at CBR or another messageboard altogether. We don't want to see Rumbles posters planning or launching attacks on other boards; nor do we tolerate invasions onto Rumbles.
Sometimes posters here who also post on other boards come across posts regarding Rumbles or planning something against Rumbles. If this happens, please do NOT post about it here. We do not need to see a ruckus being raised regarding another board. It is enough, and much prefered, that these be PM'ed to the mods.


Fight Related Questions

How shouldn't I debate?
"Batman can beat Thor because he's cooler!" That's an example of how not to debate. We would like to see the rationale behind any claims that one character can beat the other rather than a claim based on popularity and subjective bias.
Also, we insist that all claims be backed up by evidence from canon sources. If you claim that Spiderman is stronger than Superman, then you have to prove it.

What can't be taken for evidence in debate?
Non-canon sources are invalid for evidence. With rare exceptions, comics not in continuity such as Elseworlds, What Ifs, or alternate universes are not used for evidence in debates of a particular mainstream character.
Narrative hyperbole or speech hyperbole are also not considered valid evidence for a character's feats. As well, instances of PIS (plot induce stupidity - see below) and SvFL (Spiderman vs. Firelord - see below) are generally removed from consideration in standard versus debates.

What's a canon source?
A canon source is one that is regarded as being 'in continuity'. In the example of Star Trek; instances from the series and movies can be used, but books are definitely out. Comic book crossovers are generally unusable as they ignore common sense most of the time (DC vs. Marvel is certainly unusable in our debates!).

What is narrative hyperbole?
Narrative hyperbole is when the narrator of a comic book says one thing while the action drawn on the pages clearly show something else. Sometimes, in the case of speech hyperbole, it is a character who says one thing, while the pages show differently. This does not mean the narrator or the character is always wrong. It only means that in the case of such conflict, the actual scenes overrule the narrator or character text. An example of this would be the Ten-Eyed Man, who Batman and the narrator called "the most dangerous man alive", and who was actually a very lame and low-powered character.

What is PIS?
Plot Induced Stupidity, or PIS, is when characters don't use their abilities or skills to the fullest extent as shown before, even within their personality ranges, for the sake of the story plotline. It makes lesser powered characters an actual challenge against higher powered characters in the comics. Examples of PIS include Flash stories lasting longer than three panels, or Toy Man as a threat to Superman. Standard CBR fights exempt the contestants from PIS unless otherwise specified. Edit: PIS is always off on the Rumbles board.

What is CIS?
Character Induced Stupidity, or CIS, refers to any natural mental limitations that characters impose upon themselves and reduce their ability to use their own skills and powers effectively. Unlike PIS, CIS does not occur because the plot requires it, but because the character is genuinely that dumb. Examples of the CIS-afflicted include characters such as Rhino or Jar Jar Binks. Standard CBR fights do not exempt the contestants from CIS.

What is the Spiderman vs. Firelord exemption?
Spiderman vs. Firelord, or SvFL, is a shorthand that refers to any time when a character performs a feat that their powers and skills should be blatantly insufficient for, and is not repeated or is rarely repeated again relative to the character's overall established career, as well as the character's opponents' established showings. In statistical terms, it is an outlier, something that is radically beyond the character's established capabilities. For example, Spiderman defeating a herald of Galactus is a case of the SvFL exemption; Val Armorr redirecting a blitzing Daximite (accurately) into another solar system is not, given his established capabilities.
For standard CBR fights, feats considered to fall under the SvFL exemption are not valid. Likewise, examples of writing which go against firmly set canon are also ignored. For example, in Larry Hama's run of Batman and Grell's run of Iron Man, both characters were out of character and did things very much against established canon; therefore those runs are disregarded.

Regarding Superspeed
By convention, we say that the speed of thought is about 30 m/s. Note that is meters per second, not miles.
Reference: http://hypertextbook.com/facts/2002/DavidParizh.shtml

[Tanith]

Before we start delineating the details of how things go on this board, please check out this simple public service message about general online etiquette in message forums.



RULES/STANDARD FIGHT SETTINGS


In most cases, the poster who originally set up the versus fight determines the conditions of the fight itself. However, in the cases where the original poster did not set down any contraints or conditions for the fight, then the match would default to the standard rules below.


01. Prep time: Neither side receives any notable prep time before the starting bell. Neither side may take any offensive or defensive actions before the starting bell. Planning is allowed and powers that are automatic or 'always on' can be up, but actions such as setting up forcefields, taking flight, or consciously activating powers is not. For example, Batman cannot shove together an 'anti-Avengers ray' before the fight.

02. Standard Equipment: Each side starts out with the equipment that they normally and have been shown to consistently carry on them. For example, Daredevil would have his billy-club, but Reed Richards would not have the Ultimate Nullifier.
In a scenario fight, the contestants in whose city/reality the fight takes place are allowed access to any material resources they usually have there or of any team they're active members of, as long as they can reasonably get to them. For example, in a scenario set in the DCU, Green Lantern would have access to equipment in the JLA Watchtower, but not the Titans headquarters.

03. Basic knowledge: Each side receives basic knowledge of the other. A good measure of this would be what the general population of the character's homeworld knows. For example, that Superman has a weakness to Kryptonite is general knowledge, but that he's Clark Kent is not.

04. Bloodlust: It is assumed that each contestant in the arena will fight to his/her best ability. That means they will use any powers at their disposal. For example, even though The Flash doesn't clock each of his own opponents in the first picosecond in his own comic, it is assumed that is a viable tactic on this board since it is a proven fact that he possesses that level of speed.
It is also assumed that the characters fight at their optimum levels of ability - not explicitly weakened or unusually powered up for those who have variable power levels.

05. Setting: The default battle area is the Arena of Khazan, a colossal arena that looks somewhat like a Roman Amphitheatre. It is typically a 250 feet by 200 feet ellipse, though the size is adjustable in accordance to the size of the contestants; the opposing sides start out about 100 feet from one another. The Arena of Khazan is itself next to completely indestructable. The audience are protected from stray energy blasts/debis/body parts by a godly powered forcefield. The ground of the arena itself does not have this protection, nor is the skydome covered by it (Edit: Khazan has no dome - space-tosses are a perfectly acceptable means to end a fight, given sufficient strength). Somewhere in the arena is located a commentators box (location seems to vary).

06. No outside help: Unless specified otherwise, no contestant may call for outside assistance, even in scenario matches. For example, Captain America cannot call in the Avengers during a fight with Batman.

07. Leaving the field: Combatants who leave the field of combat on purpose forfeit the match. If they are removed from the arena against their will (being punched, thrown, teleported, etc.) and can make it back under their own power, then they are still in the fight. Obviously, if a combatant leaves the field and cannot return under their own power, then they have lost.

[Tanith]

NEAT LINKS


Rumbles Roleplaying Reference Links

The Official YvtW Roleplaying Archives
YvtW Thread Archive - download the old RP threads from the first vBulletin board system
YvtW Mainstream Continuation
NationStates (Be sure to check out the Rumbles Land region)
Rumbles Land EZboard
(More to come...)


Notable Threads
Soap Operus
Poster Sound-off
AIM Handles
Children of the Red Sun


CBR and Rumbles Related Links

Comic Book Resources Main Page
Comic Book Universe Battles (CBUB) Main Page
CBUB Featured Fight Page
History and Reference Site for CBR

Create-A-Universe
Official CBR Respect Thread Archive
The Encyclopedia Weilandica
The Arena of Khazan
The NEB Gallery and Omnipedia
The J-Street Task Force Homepage
The Infinites Homepage
Soap Operus: Off Topic Chatting and Wackiness From Rumbles Denizens
The Rumbles Wikipedia Entry


Miscellaneous References Links

Anime Avatar Shop (AIM-sized)
Animated Avatars
The Thunderdome
Flame Warriors
The Evil Overlord List
Seanbaby's Super Friends Page (Warning: Language)
Seanbaby.com - The Hostess Page
Starship Size Comparisons site
Cheeks the Toy Wonder archive site\
Marvel's Cosmic Host - The Entities, Gods, Demons and etc.

Show Specific Links

Titans Tower/Animated Teen Titans
Stardestroyer.net
The Encyclopedia of Arda
Buffy Episode Transcripts
Macross Mecha Designs
Macross World
Babylon 5 Tech Manual
Official Dr. Who site
Gallifreyone.com - Dr Who
Knights of the Dinner Table
Knights of the Web (KODT)
Hoody Hoo Cartoon (KODT)
Honorpedia Version 1.2
Honor Harrington E-Novels
The Honor Harrington Timeline

[Tanith]

FORUM LEADERS


Here are the moderators of Comic Book Rumbles, who took upon the great task of overseeing one of the busiest forums on the CBR Forums.


Serge. 1995/6 - 1998. The man who started it all.

Parallax. 1998 - February 2003. Admired leader and diligent administrator.

Tanith. August 2002 - September 2005.

The Watcher. March 2003 - Present.

Gordon Smith. September 2005-September 2010

Sharpandpointies. February 2009-Present

Siriel. October 2011-Present

[The Watcher]

Policy Regarding Posting Pages:

It's come to my attention that a limit on the number of pages one is allowed to post on the Boards has been adopted. I had missed it when it was first adopted, and probably many who don't visit the other boards much weren't aware of it as well.

Hence this post to inform and remind everyone that the limit is in effect.

* Please be aware of copyright laws. The unlawful reproduction/posting of copyrighted materials is unacceptable. As a general guideline, no more than 3 pages of any one comic should be posted.

[Gordon Smith]

Please do not post images on this forum which denigrate, mock or insult other posters. I regard this as a bannable offense and will treat it accordingly. Your co-operation in this matter will be greatly appreciated. Thank you.

Edit: naturally, images displaying explicit sexual content are prohibited and shall also be treated as grounds for banning.

Clarifications to the policy:

1) Please do not post images directly, links to images off-site or attachments which display apparent explicit sexual content, or which contains material of a soft-porn nature.

2) It doesn't matter if the image being posted or linked to is a live-action shot, an animated GIF of cartoon characters or some photoshopped work of art; if that material depicts someone (or something) commiting an apparent sexual act, it is against the rules to post it here.

3) The posting of same is potential grounds for temporary banning.

4) Not everyone is gonna bother opening up this thread to find out what's going on, so posters who fall afoul of this policy will get a private warning to remind them of what the rules are.

5) Repeat offenders who have already received their private warning may get their temporary banning without further warning.

6) Please feel free to PM or email me (at gaherfindahl@gmail.com) if you have any questions about these rules.

~~Gordon

[Gordon Smith]

Here's the policy in a nutshell, folks.

This is over.

If you have a problem with how the Rumbles board has been run, take it to PM or email.

If you have a problem with how we chose to deal with Peter or Chuck or any other poster, take it to PM or email.

If you wanna leave, that's fine, go ahead and walk away.

Just don't bother starting up one of them good-by threads in the hopes it'll stir up a shit-storm.

This is gonna earn you a ban without further warning.

The Rumbles "Downtown Khazan' chat-thread will be re-opened for business shortly.

Don't bother to go in there and start back on on Peter or Chuck or Slayven or how sucky you think the modding has been.

This is gonna earn you a ban without further warning.

For that matter, don't bother starting back on Peter or Chuck or Slayven or how sucky you think the modding's been in any other thread. Don't waste your time starting up a thread dedicated to those purposes.

This is gonna earn you a ban without further warning.

This is THE END OF THE LINE.

We are done with this nonsense. You guys had your chance-a million-chances-to state your grievances publicly in a civil fashion. We all know how that turned out. Well, now you'll have to discuss them privately because we are done with this crap.

~~Gordon

[Gordon Smith]

Please refrain from using your signature and/or your profile to attack or insult other members of CBR. Doing this may be considered as potential grounds for banning without further notice so please don't do this. This thread is your warning. Thank you.

~~Gordon

[Gordon Smith]

As in I'm talkin' about threads that get started in the hopes that another poster will respond, usually a poster that has a hot-button issue, or has experienced trouble on the board. I don't cotton to these threads, because they keep quarrels going, and really, they amount to little more than an attempt to bait another member. That's not good form and I'm getting tired of seeing them. Much better, really, just to report a problem poster, or just not reply to him or her, rather than just baiting the poster concerned. So, please don't post them, since they'll be treated as potential grounds for temp-banning.

~~Gordon

[Sharpandpointies]

- Announcing that someone is on your ignore list is flame-baiting. Please don't do it.

- Please don't announce that you're reporting a post. It further brings conversation to a halt, you may look ineffective if nothing is ever done with the original post, and it may honk off the other guy, inspiring things to really get out of hand. Just quietly report and wait for results.

[Sharpandpointies]

Just so nobody has any excuse in the future, I'll run through this again, all official-like.

We do not complain about other boards here.

We do not discuss the results of fights argued out on other boards here.

We do not discuss how other boards determine characters' capabilities here.

We do not discuss specific posters from other boards here.

We certainly don't start up holy crusades and incite other people to join us in a board invasion.

I don't care if they hate us.

I don't care if they say mean things about us.

I don't care if their methodology for debating is different than ours.

No talking about other boards or their posters, be they other websites or simply different areas of CBR.

Addendum to the Rules:

Posting on Rumbles while inciting people on another board (CBR or otherwise) to come and cause trouble, or posting on Rumbles while simply badmouthing the Rumbles board on another board (CBR or otherwise) is considered to be a violation of the Rumbles Board rules.

Obviously badmouthing the Rumbles Board on another board (CBR or otherwise) while not posting on Rumbles cannot be considered a violation of Rumbles Rules. However, it may result in a Board-ban from the Rumbles board to spare the poster the agony of having to read and/or post on a board they dislike so much.

[Sharpandpointies]

On Prep-Time.

Just a brief note here:

Not being a big fan of prep-time scenarios turning on which character has access to the biggest friends' list on his Super-heroic Facebook account, I think the issue should be decided like this.

Characters, by default, on solo matches, prep or no prep, don't get access to team resources unless there is a prima facia case that they are the inventors or defacto owners of those resources. Batman can't use the JLA teleporter or other advanced tech as part of his personal arsenal, and he can't call in favors from his pal Superman to bail his ass out of a scenario going sour. Beast doesn't get to use the Blackbird or any advanced tech that might be laying around the X-Mansion this week.

[Sharpandpointies]

First person to call dibs in the newest Black Hole thread gets the next one. There will be no running list where people say 'but three Black Hole Threads ago I called dibs on the one three Black Hole Threads later...'

That way lies madness. For me.

Despite what one might think, this is not a good thing.

Edit: Thanks to an incapacity to play nice, we will now be going to the list method. Names will be taken in, randomized, and this will form the base of the list. Further people joining the list will be added to the bottom.

In the event that we work our way through the list before I leave this board, or we switch to some kind of holographic chat system in fifteen years, the list will be randomized a second time.

I doubt there will be a need for a third randomization in my time.