Over in the now-locked proposal thread, I pointed out post padding was in fact not allowed by the rules of the Game Room. When Idle Thoughts realized this, he unilaterally removed the rule, 1984-style.
It shouldn’t be a surprise for me or for you
If this thread gets close like the last one did too.
Because these talks have become crass and lost all decorum.
But perhaps they should be moved to The Game Room sub-forum.
Things might improve and be less filled with bile,
If the only post allowed were in Dr. Seuss style.
Beware the rats!
Seriously, although I do think there are some excellent proposals being offered, and though I genuinely hope the moderators will consider them (if possible considering them apart from rancor at posters), I think we need to keep in mind that this is a messageboard, not a police state. We, unlike Winston, can leave.
And the rules change in question, whether you agree with it or not, was not especially outrageous. Idle saw that the Game Room had a rule in place that hadn’t been enforced literally in years and removed it. That’s a totally legitimate approach to an unenforced rule. Of course I’d rather the rule be enforced, but Ministry of Truth it ain’t.
I will not post in rhyme or verse.
I will not make this matter worse.
I would not, could not, irk the mods
I would not, could not, mock the gods
Not in this thread, not in MPSIMS,
Not anywhere to meet your whims.
I’m sorry–don’t mean to offend ya–
But nix that plan, Aquadementia.
If the personal testimony of the Dopers in these various threads is any indication, I think a lot of the Game Room denizens have already left.
We’ve been considering those ideas, and we’ll continue to do so. I admit these threads changed my mind on the issue, and at this point I think the idea of dividing The Game Room has more merit than I thought. We owe it to you guys and ourselves to consider every option and make what we think is the best decision for the board.
Right. That rule was clearly not being enforced in the sense it was originally written, and by letting those threads continue for a long time we’d given the thumbs-up to those games even though they would have been banned as post-padding parties in other forums. So it made no sense to leave it as it was. He was removing a rule that was not being enforced, not rewriting history. Banning these kinds of game threads is one option, although I don’t think we’ll do that because despite occasional appearances we don’t like being killjoys. We could think of a way to restrict them somewhat and not let too many of them run at a time. I think we’re aware of all the options, anyway. With that, I’m going to close this thread like I closed the other one. We will get back to everyone shortly and let you know what we plan to do. Until then, please sit tight. We heard you.