Forum Policy Changes

[Shonumi]

(06-07-2016, 08:22 PM)DolphinGCWii Wrote: OK. If anyone wants to get back here how can he/she ask for restoration of account if permanently banned?

There are plenty of ways to contact forum staff outside of these forums. Most of us have e-mail addresses publicly available (especially me) and banned accounts can still use the PM feature. Additionally, there is the Dolphin IRC channel.

[leolam]

Please, just search for a minute and you'll find the answer. It's right there in the FAQ, in some threads on the forum and the first result when you search for "Dolphin IRC channel" on Google.

A lot of your posts are questions that can be easily answered by a quick search, or by common sense.

[Shonumi]

Just to be clear, it's #dolphin-emu @ irc.freenode.net

[AnyOldName3]

I think the main reason is that sometimes users think it's helpful to find an ancient and outdated thread when they have an issue, even though what they're talking about is almost entirely unrelated.

[Shonumi]

(06-16-2016, 08:54 AM)AnyOldName3 Wrote: I think the main reason is that sometimes users think it's helpful to find an ancient and outdated thread when they have an issue, even though what they're talking about is almost entirely unrelated.

Exactly this.

You'd be surprised how many people find threads from 3-5 years ago, and then they post questions like "Hey, I fixed this by using the latest version of Dolphin." Not only is everyone involved in that old discussion most likely not around anymore (and why would they care about such an old thread?), but information like that really isn't helpful to anyone.

[Shonumi]

We don't allow necroposting anywhere, not even Delfino Plaza. Not unless a post adds something interesting, new, or worthwhile to the discussion.

[Shonumi]

We've added a bit for the Forum Etiquette:

Quote:No crossposting. Posting the same message to multiple threads will clutter the forum and is not allowed. Duplicate threads will be closed.

This has been our de facto policy since forever, but as always, it's best to have things explicitly in writing. Somehow we've glossed over this for a long time, but it's pretty simple. You only need one thread/post to ask a question or talk about an issue/problem with Dolphin. There's no need to make the same message in different posts or different threads.

[JosJuice]

(07-17-2016, 01:52 PM)DolphinGCWii Wrote: That's a good idea but i think rules about spamming already covers this. All time-wasting ,meaning-less and useless posts are spamming posts.

You could argue that, but it's not really obvious. It's better to have an explicit rule for clarity.

[Shonumi]

@DolphinGCWii - One of the problems is that "spamming" can either mean posting the same message over and over again, or it can mean advertising irrelevant stuff on the forums (spam bots). Some people may get confused if we mean one or the other or both. As JosJuice said, it's best to be clear about the rules and leave no ambiguity.

[Admentus]

I don't think that is going to work out well very well... Aren't we all allowed to provide our own insights and ideas, even if a question is answered? I don't think it is the goal here to restrict everything with rules constantly. It is actually common sense what is appropriate and what it is not. Yet, without having a set of standard rules, communities tend to get off track. Rules are simply required to maintain a moral standard. You seem to speak of that replying in a thread always automatically implies spam. There is a difference between bad etiquettes such as spam and trying to have a decent discussion.

Then again, what you might consider "useless" may not imply the same for everyone else. When you say that "the thread was answered", who actually decided that the thread was answered? You, on your own? How would you define terms such as "useless" and "answered" in the rules? I am not trying to harm you in any way, I just want to illustrate that it is a matter of perspective. Rules must, as Shonumi has stated, have no room for ambiguity. The rule for cross-posting did exist in some way (it was always a part of what was called common sense), but if the rules are not stated as clearly as possible the community is going to play Whack-a-Mole. And we don't want that...