Treatment of new members
Posted by: Abwayax
Date: 2009-03-03 22:41:46
I can think of two specific instances where this happens
1) Members with poor grammar - yes, grammar is part of our rules but to call someone an idiot based on grammar is pretty idiotic in and of itself. Let the Staff remind them kindly that they are required to type correctly; if they lash out and insult us because of that, then they prove their idiocy.
2) Members who use the term "MissingNo." to refer to any glitch - this is one of the community's unwritten rules which is sometimes enforced even more strongly than written ones and I've seen many instances of people being called idiots because they say "MissingNo. is in Diamond/Pearl" (for example) when referring to "D/P box" or some other similar glitch. This sort of thing was perpetuated by sites like trsrockin and probably also by Serebii Forums, Pokecommunity etc. way back in '03-'05. Now that trsrockin is fading away it's happening less but it still appears every once in a while. I'd like to request that members and Staff do not insult anyone who refers to some other glitch as a MissingNo. Instead, please just tell them kindly that we use MissingNo. to refer to the glitch in Red/Blue/Yellow with Pokedex number zero (and is not named 'M) and then answer the question/post as if they were talking about the actual glitch (i.e. a question about "MissingNo. in Gold" should be answered with respect to ?????, not a dozen posts saying "MISSINGNO ISN'T IN GOLD YOU NOOB")
I honestly think we need some special clause in the rules to deal with these instances, but I don't want to restrict the powers of experienced members and staff to "tell it like it is" without sugarcoating. But there is a line between "Please remember to type with proper grammar" and "YOU HAVE BAD GRAMMAR YOU IDIOT", or "MissingNo. isn't in Gold, but you can find ????? (000) with the cheat code 0100EDD0" and "MISSINGNO ISN'T IN GOLD YOU MORON DO YOUR RESEARCH"