Well, sad news for anyone interested in the ability to speak freely on public forums. The long rumored changes to the official EverQuest forums will be taking effect tomorrow according to the following posting that Verant Internet Relations Manager, Gordon "Abashi" Wrinn put up earlier this evening....
Abashi Station Member posted 07-31-2000 08:33 PM
Hello everyone,
We are pleased to announce that tomorrow we will be implementing some major changes here on the boards. While everyone will remain able to read all of the forums, they will be restricted so that only active EverQuest account holders will have the right to post. It's important that we mention that though we respect the opinion of those who no longer play EverQuest, these forums are provided as a service for active customers. The change will allow us to service existing subscribers to a greater extent.
At the same time that these changes are made, we will begin strict moderation of the boards. The flames and personal attacks that are now so common on these boards will no longer be allowed to continue. As posters will have to log in with their active EverQuest account info, we will have all the tools necessary to track down and take action upon posters who choose to engage in some of the less-than-courteous banter that takes place here. We will also be posting a FAQ that not only explains the new rules that will be observed and enforced on the boards, but also goes into verbose explanation of some of the issues that come up here quite regularly (e.g. melee binding, experience requirements, etc.)
As a symbol of our renewed committment to return the boards to a standard of acceptability, we will be completely wiping the boards at the time of the change.
Below is a subset of the FAQ that will be made available tomorrow regarding the new rules on the board:
---snip---
General Rules for EverQuest Forums
As the Official EverQuest Forums are part of The Station, posting to these forums is bound by The Station's Terms of Service that can be found in their entirety at http://www.station.sony.com/services/tos.jhtml. In addition to these terms of service, we have a few supplemental rules that apply to the EverQuest Forums.
In general, you may post any material, written in a courteous and mature manner, providing that it is on-topic for the forum to which you are posting. This includes material that disagrees with the way that we, the developers, operate the game. We will not interfere with the communication of thoughts and ideas as long as the presentation is appropriate for all those capable of reading the forum.
You may not, however, post any material that:
· Attacks or insults others on the board. Feel free to debate the idea, but do not turn your disagreement into an attack upon the poster.
· Engages in name-calling, harassment, or threats. See above.
· Contains obscenity, vulgarity, or profanity. Though we do have a filter in place to catch the unintentional obscenity from time to time, this is not a license to abuse it.
· Disparages any religion, race, nation, gender, or sexual orientation.
· Is considered inappropriate for children 13 or over as governed by general standards of decency in the United States.
· Infringes on anyone's privacy rights.
Furthermore, you may not:
· Make multiple posts on the same subject for the purpose of getting attention paid to your issue.
· Post off-topic comments in threads for the purpose of drawing attention to another thread on a different subject.
· Monopolize the front page of any forum by "bumping" threads of the same or similar content to the front. We may intervene by closing threads any time that this occurs.
· Use the official forums as a staging-ground for creating general unrest within the game (e.g. Sit-ins).
· Use the official forums as a place to advertise the sale of EverQuest characters or items in exchange for real-world money.
· Advertise web-sites with content that violates these rules, the EverQuest EULA, or the Station Terms of Service.
· Advertise products or websites that are not related to EverQuest or other Verant/Sony Online Entertainment products.
Actions Taken For Violation
Action that we might take in regards to a post in violation of these rules on the Official EverQuest Forums will vary depending upon the transgression. It could include any number of the following:
· Editing of the post.
· Deletion of the post/thread.
· Closing of the thread.
· Suspension (results in user being unable to play EverQuest for the duration of the suspension).
· Banishment (results in the user's station account being canceled. User will no longer be able to access EverQuest, or any Official EverQuest Forum).
· Legal Action (i.e. Contacting law enforcement personnel in regard to a threat.)
People who violate the rules of the boards may or may not receive any warning before any action is taken. In the event that a warning is given, the warning will be recorded upon the game account and may result in further action should the player show a pattern of engaging in prohibited conduct. Philosophically and administratively, there is no difference between conduct in game, and conduct in the Official EverQuest Forums.
---snip---
As a note, we will begin strictly enforcing these rules as soon as the changes are made. We would like to ask for everyone's cooperation in following and enforcing these rules at that time.
Thank you,
Gordon Wrinn
I normally don't have any strong words to say about what happens in EQ, at least nothing I want to subject our visitors to on this site, but I have to say I am extremely disappointed in Verant for making this sort of change. Because they can't deal with the problems of people abusing the boards on an individual level, they instead make a sweeping blanket change that effects everyone, good or bad.
Also, like many others who are still running EQ sites, I no longer play the game due to time constraints and lack of interest after so long a time. Yet with this change, I will no longer be able to actively participate in discussion on the Sony boards. Despite my involvement in Verant games for almost 3 years (Tanarus, EverQuest and Sovereign) and the fact that Sorontar and myself have run this website for absolutely no money, donating literally thousands of hours of our time so people could learn more about this game... we are still going to be shut out. You can imagine my disappointment.
I will affirm though, that despite whatever changes Verant throws our way, we will continue to support the growth of Loreseekers.com. The success of this site is its own reward, and I fully intend to help it keep going.
MadWand |
