We’ve consolidated and slightly revised the Rules for Cafe Society. If you want to comment, please do so in Comment on New Forum Rules.
NOTE ADDED 11/05/05: We’ve revised this slightly, basically it’s the same info but in a better format. It’s here: Forum Rules: PLEASE READ
I’m leaving this post up, because there are lots of old links to it.
**On posting song lyrics, poems, etc **
Our sponsor, the Chicago READER, has a strict policy on respecting copyrights and copyrighted material. They don’t want their stuff used by others without permission, and so we don’t use stuff created by others without permission. Basically, The policy is : don’t do it.
It is okay to post a small snippet of song lyrics or poems or whatever, and include a link to another site which contains the complete text. But posting any material completely and verbatim is a violation of our rules and a potential violation of copyright laws.
This policy applies throughout the Straight Dope Message Boards, but it’s especially relevant in Café Society.
On Spoilers
If you wish to discuss or ask a question about a story, and you are unable to do so without revealing a ***vital piece of information ** * which might ruin a surprise for those experiencing it anew, please use a spoiler warning.
We can’t really set forth exact rules for when to use spoilers. It’s mostly common
sense and being considerate of others, but we do have some guidelines.
When do you need to warn of spoilers? [ul]
[li]Obviously, if the material is new, some people will want to experience it for themselves without knowing the ending or the secrets or whatever. Remember that the TV show you see on the east coast will not be seen for three to four hours later on the west coast. And perhaps not for weeks or months in a different country.[/li][li]Although a work may have been well known for quite a while, some folks may still be unaware of particular plot points of various works. Agatha Christie has been dead a long time, but there are still new students and others coming to her mysteries for the first time, who don’t want to know that the butler did it. On the other hand, anyone who doesn’t know that Dorothy could have gone home anytime by clicking her heels, well, the hell with ‘em. [/li][/ul]
It should be evident from these examples that we can’t give hard-and-fast rules about when to use spoilers. The guidelines must be common sense and courtesy: if you’re revealing a major plot element that could ruin the first-timer’s experience, then DON’T. If it’s a brand new work, be careful about revealing minor plot elements, as well.
Also, please don’t put a spoiler in a thread title. “New mystery by Lawrence Block: the wife did it!” is NOT a nice thing to do.
While there are obviously grey areas here, there’s also black-and-white. Deliberately revealing a major plot element of a new TV show in the title of a thread is being a jerk, and a violation of our rules.
Now, how to do spoilers:
When starting a new thread, the easiest (and probably the best) way to warn for spoilers is simply putting the word “spoilers” in the title of your thread, like so:
*Question about “Smarmy Tucklas” (warning: Spoilers!) *
This approach means that no one will stumble into the thread by accident, who doesn’t want to see spoilers. It’s therefore the recommended approach when you’re starting a thread. (You can also ask a Moderator to change the thread title by adding “warning: Spoilers!” later, but that’s already ex post facto.
Within a thread, use the spoiler tag that allows you to put spoilers within darkened boxes that must be manually highlighted to be read. To use spoiler tags, enclose the text you want to conceal between a tag, and a tag. Here is an example of how to do this:
Here’s what I want to know about “Smarmy Tucklas”:
It’s all Ganoush.
This will appear like this:
Here’s what I want to know about “Smarmy Tucklas”:
It’s all Ganoush.
Note that within a thread, anything that might be a spoiler from some other work should be hidden with spoiler tags, even if the thread title says “Spoilers.” Someone seeing thread about the movie PSYCHO, even with a Spoiler Warning, might be upset to find information about the surprise twist in this week’s West Wing, for example. So, be especially sensitive if you are revealing plot information about one work in a thread devoted to a different work.
Similarly, in threads not about a specific work, use spoiler boxes when you think it necessary, and all boxes should be labeled outside the spoiler box.
Incorrect usage: :
Correct usage:
Resurrecting Old Threads
Each forum has its own rules. Generally speaking, we don’t like resurrecting very old threads because the posters may no longer be members. How old is “very old”? As a guideline, more than six months old.
However, there are times when new information or new ideas come to light, or a movie appears on DVD, or a U.S. TV show is seen in the U.K., or even a new member wants to talk about something in an old thread.
So, we permit people to respond to old threads and to resurrect them, with some constraints:[ul]
[li]Don’t resurrect an old thread unless you’ve really got something to add. Just putting an “I just heard this album, and I agree with you!” on a two-year old thread does not accomplish anything at all.[/li][li]If you start a thread and get no (or few) responses, you may re-post to it once (ONCE!) to put it back on the front page. After that, let nature take its course. You may not continue to resurrect your own threads, hoping for a response THIS time.[/li][li]If you’re really starting a new discussion, but think that a reference to an old thread might be of interest, then start a new thread and provide a link to the old thread. [/ul][/li]
On good manners and common courtesy
Personal insults are not permitted in this forum. You can insult an artistic work, you can say what you’d like about an awful movie or poem or TV show or concert. Within reasonable limits, you can insult the artist/creator/writer. But you may not insult the posters. (Note: If a member posts their own poem, for instance, then the rule about “Not Insulting Posters” takes precedence over the permission to insult the writer. “Reasonable limits” for insulting the artist mean that if the artist is also the poster, no personal insults permitted.)
This forum is about entertainment and arts, and there’s rarely a “correct” answer. Multiple viewpoints about entertainment and art are to be expected.
Violations of good manners and common courtesy constitute jerkhood, and are a bannable offense.