AnandTech Forum Guidelines

[allisolm]

Originally posted by: Perry404

In an effort to make our management of the forums as transparent as possible,

And yet MODs are still secretly closing threads and not being held accountable. The first line in the paragraph.

I'm failing to find anything secretive or nontransparent about a locked thread with a signed mod note in the first post.

 

[HeXploiT]

Originally posted by: allisolm

Originally posted by: Perry404

In an effort to make our management of the forums as transparent as possible,

And yet MODs are still secretly closing threads and not being held accountable. The first line in the paragraph.

I'm failing to find anything secretive or nontransparent about a locked thread with a signed mod note in the first post.

Sorry I didn't see that.

 

[olds]

Originally posted by: Perry404

Originally posted by: allisolm

Originally posted by: Perry404

In an effort to make our management of the forums as transparent as possible,

And yet MODs are still secretly closing threads and not being held accountable. The first line in the paragraph.

I'm failing to find anything secretive or nontransparent about a locked thread with a signed mod note in the first post.

Sorry I didn't see that.

Honest mistake. The Mod edit was only about 2.5 hours before you made the accusation.

 

[ranmaniac]

Originally posted by: Perry404

In an effort to make our management of the forums as transparent as possible,

And yet MODs are still secretly closing threads and not being held accountable. The first line in the paragraph.

It appears anything regarding 9/11 is censored on P&N, and the mod doesn't even bother moving the topic to OT yet "suggests" it. This appears to be deliberate policy of the senior moderators, and there is a history of this documented on other websites concerning atot.



http://forums.anandtech.com/me...=2173803&enterthread=y

Your accusation is as ridiculous as it is against our rules. No mod call outs. Please take your next week off to adjust your tinfoil chapeau.

Perknose
AnandTech Moderator

 

[noto12ious]

Originally posted by: ranmaniac

Originally posted by: Perry404

In an effort to make our management of the forums as transparent as possible,

And yet MODs are still secretly closing threads and not being held accountable. The first line in the paragraph.

It appears anything regarding 9/11 is censored on P&N, and the mod doesn't even bother moving the topic to OT yet "suggests" it. This appears to be deliberate policy of the senior moderators, and there is a history of this documented on other websites concerning atot.



http://forums.anandtech.com/me...=2173803&enterthread=y

oh look, it's moderator "common courtesy" locking threads he disagrees with. again. he also allows certain members to personally attack those who are on the side of 9/11 truth, while deleting posts that are made in response to the instigators. double standard, eh?

This is a mod call out, which is strictly against the rules. You have earned yourself a one week vacation.

Perknose'
AnandTech Moderator

 

[IHateMyJob2004]

Can a moderator PM me..... I want to use the wonderful forum rules here as a basis for another smaller forum's rules. It's an investing site if that matters so we are not in direct competition. Not sur what the anandtech rules are though. The short of it is that we are starting to have a problem with personal attacks and the wording used in your rules regarding this matter are perfectly stated.

 

[esquared]

Originally posted by: IHateMyJob2004
Can a moderator PM me..... I want to use the wonderful forum rules here as a basis for another smaller forum's rules. It's an investing site if that matters so we are not in direct competition. Not sur what the anandtech rules are though. The short of it is that we are starting to have a problem with personal attacks and the wording used in your rules regarding this matter are perfectly stated.

Why don't you PM the mod account here

 

[IHateMyJob2004]

I contacted per your advice. Did't know about that one .... thanks.

 

[n3xu5]

how do I post a new thread? I just signed up, and cannot see any thread about new members or any type of information regarding the process of posting. I see no new thread button on every forum and this is the other forum I can reply to ... very strange.

 

[olds]

Originally posted by: n3xu5
how do I post a new thread? I just signed up, and cannot see any thread about new members or any type of information regarding the process of posting. I see no new thread button on every forum and this is the other forum I can reply to ... very strange.

http://pics.bbzzdd.com/users/oldsmoboat/newtopic.jpg

 

[n3xu5]

Originally posted by: oldsmoboat

Originally posted by: n3xu5
how do I post a new thread? I just signed up, and cannot see any thread about new members or any type of information regarding the process of posting. I see no new thread button on every forum and this is the other forum I can reply to ... very strange.

http://pics.bbzzdd.com/users/oldsmoboat/newtopic.jpg

thanks!

 

[Frodolives]

I am visiting this Personal Forum Issues forum for the first time in ages because of a concern over the increased use of foul language I'm seeing recently.

Because it's mostly in the PC Gaming forum, I realize that a different standard applies than to technical forums, but I still find it regrettable that anandtech is becoming less the place of civil discussion that brought me here many years ago.

 

[KLin]

Originally posted by: n3xu5

Originally posted by: oldsmoboat

Originally posted by: n3xu5
how do I post a new thread? I just signed up, and cannot see any thread about new members or any type of information regarding the process of posting. I see no new thread button on every forum and this is the other forum I can reply to ... very strange.

http://pics.bbzzdd.com/users/oldsmoboat/newtopic.jpg

thanks!

Please watch before clicking that button...

It pertains to these forums too, not just the steam forums.

 

[Nik]

I have a big problem with "mod call outs" and how they're defined. If someone has a problem with a mod, they're not allowed to talk about it at all without a mod jumping on them and banning them. You see a mod, posting as a moderator, completely ripping the shit out of someone, crossing far beyond any line that should have been drawn for decent and respectful moderation. However, if someone speaks up and goes "hey, whether that ban was understandable or not, there's no need to treat the member like that" but they get banned for saying it.

Oh sure, you can send a PM or a mail, but what if the mod you have a problem with is the one receiving the email? What if other mods don't have the authority (or the balls, by some of their own admission to me in private) to do anything about that mod's rampant rule breaking and getting away with it?

We can't even talk about some of the problems that frustrate us, the root of the issue, without someone bashing us over the head with the ban stick for simply raising the question. While giving mods titles and allowing them to moderate under their real username and requiring them to sign their mod edits is awesome, there have been "things" (lets just say that for now) put in place that completely circumvent the whole point of moderator identities being public.

I'd love to be able to discuss issues that members perceive to be problems, but what do we do when any time someone brings up the problem, it's quickly swept under the rug and that person banned? Who do we talk to when there's nobody else to talk to about it?

These rules are great, but there's still some holes in them being taken advantage of and I'd really like to be able to have a frank, open discussion like 1 thread in Forum Issues where members can be free to respectfully express what they feel are real hindrances to these forums without the threat of being banned just for trying to better the forums. There still are serious issues which these rules do not address but we can't talk about them? Why even bother working so hard on these awesome guidelines and yet leave a gaping hole right in the middle?

 

[olds]

Originally posted by: Nik
blah, blah, blah...

What did Derek say when you sent him a PM or emailed him?

 

[Nik]

Originally posted by: oldsmoboat

Originally posted by: Nik
blah, blah, blah...

What did Derek say when you sent him a PM or emailed him?

Is Derek the only admin and the only one who can read mod email?

 

[Gillbot]

Originally posted by: oldsmoboat

Originally posted by: Nik
blah, blah, blah...

What did Derek say when you sent him a PM or emailed him?

You can PM the mail mod account, it will be discussed amongst all of us. Don't worry, we give each other as much crap as you guys give us and we'll definitely call a mod out if they are in the wrong.

 

[SlickSnake]

Wikipedia - PARODY

Definition
A parody (in the UK, also called send-up), in contemporary usage, is a work created to mock, comment on, or poke fun at an original work, its subject, or author, or some other target, by means of humorous, satiric or ironic imitation. As the literary theorist Linda Hutcheon (2000: 7) puts it, "parody ? is imitation with a critical difference, not always at the expense of the parodied text." Another critic, Simon Dentith (2000: 9), defines parody as "any cultural practice which provides a relatively polemical allusive imitation of another cultural production or practice."

Parody may be found in art or culture, including literature, music (although "parody" in music has a rather wider meaning than for other art forms), and cinema. Parodies are sometimes colloquially referred to as spoofs or lampoons.

Origins
According to Aristotle, Hegemon of Thasos was the inventor of a kind of parody; by slightly altering the wording in well-known poems he transformed the sublime into the ridiculous. In ancient Greek literature, a parodia was a narrative poem imitating the style and prosody of epics "but treating light, satirical or mock-heroic subjects". The Oxford English Dictionary, for example, defines parody as imitation "turned as to produce a ridiculous effect". Roman writers explained parody as an imitation of one poet by another for humorous effect. In French Neoclassical literature, parody was also a type of poem where one work imitates the style of another for humorous effect.

Modernist and post-modernist parody
In the broader sense of Greek parodia, parody can occur when whole elements of one work are lifted out of their context and reused, not necessarily to be ridiculed.

Blank parody, in which an artist takes the skeletal form of an art work and places it in a new context without ridiculing it, is common. Pastiche is a closely related genre, and parody can also occur when characters or settings belonging to one work are used in a humorous or ironic way in another. This combination of established and identifiable characters in a new setting is not the same as the post-modernist habit of using historical characters in fiction out of context to provide a metaphoric element.

Reputation
Some artists carve out careers by making parodies. One of the best-known examples is that of "Weird Al" Yankovic. His career of parodying other musical acts and their songs has outlasted many of the artists or bands he has parodied. It is worth mentioning that while he is not required under law to get permission to parody, as a personal rule, however, he does seek permission to parody a person's song before recording it.

The point that in most cases a parody of a work constitutes fair use was upheld in the case of Rick Dees, who decided to use 29 seconds of the music from the song When Sonny Gets Blue to parody Johnny Mathis' singing style even after being refused permission. An appeals court upheld the trial court's decision that this type of parody represents fair use. Fisher v. Dees 794 F.2d 432 (9th Cir. 1986)

Film parodies
Some genre theorists, following Bakhtin, see parody as a natural development in the life cycle of any genre; this idea has proven especially fruitful for genre film theorists. Such theorists note that Western movies, for example, after the classic stage defined the conventions of the genre, underwent a parody stage, in which those same conventions were ridiculed and critiqued. Because audiences had seen these classic Westerns, they had expectations for any new Westerns, and when these expectations were inverted, the audience laughed.

Self-parody
A subset of parody is self-parody in which artists parody their own work (as in Ricky Gervais's Extras) or their work (such as Antonio Banderas's Puss in Boots in Shrek 2), or an artist or genre repeats elements of earlier works to the point that originality is lost.

Social and political uses
Parody is a frequent ingredient in satire and is often used to make social and political points.

Parody is by no means necessarilly satirical, and may sometimes be done with respect and appreciation of the subject involved, while not being a heedless sarcastic attack.

Parody has also been used to facilitate dialogue between cultures or subcultures. Sociolinguist Mary Louise Pratt identifies parody as one of the "arts of the contact zone," through which marginalized or oppressed groups "selectively appropriate," or imitate and take over, aspects of more empowered cultures.

Then there is this definition of PARODY from Dictionary.com
PARODY

Parody
-noun
1. a humorous or satirical imitation of a serious piece of literature or writing: his hilarious parody of Hamlet's soliloquy.
2. the genre of literary composition represented by such imitations.
3. a burlesque imitation of a musical composition.
4. any humorous, satirical, or burlesque imitation, as of a person, event, etc.
5. the use in the 16th century of borrowed material in a musical setting of the Mass (parody Mass).
6. a poor or feeble imitation or semblance; travesty: His acting is a parody of his past greatness.
?verb (used with object)
7. to imitate (a composition, author, etc.) for purposes of ridicule or satire.
8. to imitate poorly or feebly; travesty.

Parodies
1. a. A literary or artistic work that imitates the characteristic style of an author or a work for comic effect or ridicule.
b. The genre of literature comprising such works.
2. a. Something so bad as to be equivalent to intentional mockery; a travesty: The trial was a parody of justice.

Parody
-noun
1. a composition that imitates or misrepresents somebody's style, usually in a humorous way.
2. humorous or satirical mimicry
-verb
1. make a spoof of or make fun of
2. make a parody of

parody
In art, music, or literature, a satire that mimics the style of its object.

Parody
1. A writing in which the language or sentiment of an author is mimicked; especially, a kind of literary pleasantry, in which what is written on one subject is altered, and applied to another by way of burlesque; travesty.
2. A popular maxim, adage, or proverb. [Obs.]

Obviously with such an extremely broad definition of the word PARODY and its use in comedy trying to pin down one use of the word to arbitrarily enforce a lock or a ban on one person over another is sheer futility and folly. I would certainly hope that the mods here have better things to do with their freely given time than trying to ascertain what is funny, what is a parody and what is not from one thread or post to another.

The fact of the matter is that a huge portion of funny topics or posts fall into the broad parody zone and trying to police comedy or what someone else thinks is funny is a fools errand and not worth the grief or aggravation in doing it.

From the ToS or TaC :

You agree that you will not use our Forums to post any material, or links to any material, which is knowingly false and/or defamatory, inaccurate, abusive, vulgar, hateful, harassing, obscene, profane, sexually oriented, threatening, invasive of a person's privacy, or otherwise violative of any law.

Also, you may not modify any of the materials found in the Forums or Site, nor attempt to pass off any of the materials found therein as your own.

Huh, don't see the word PARODY listed anywhere. But there is a vauge reference to it, that I have bolded, which don't really apply. Is a posted text message a material? If so then by this shakey definition NOBODY even has the right to post on this site! Because then posting anything at all here is "modifying" it.

I also do not see any mention of parodies being verboten in the AT Forum Guidelines either.

I do see this, though:

Micromanaging every member, thread, post, or word is not something we are interested in. Every situation is unique, and we don't feel we can provide the type of forum we want by strictly defining the subject matter and content we allow here.

and this:

2) Locking threads ? Threads that violate user or posting guidelines or degrade into flame wars or are full of nef posts will be locked. Locking will always be preferred to editing or deletion where possible. If a thread is meandering off topic and could still be saved, moderators may issues a warning in the thread that it is in danger of being locked. Otherwise, when locking a thread, the moderator will post a reason before the lock.

but somehow, I still can't find the NO PARODIES rule anywhere.

This is interesting though:

Any intentional use of any tool available to a moderator for anything other than appropriate moderation will result in the immediate demotion of that moderator.

So someone please steer me to the NO PARODIES rule, because quite frankly,
many of the funniest posts seem to end up arbitrarily locked and/or posters banned because of this loosly enforced arbitrary forum rule.

And in case you were wondering these are what has spawned this topic here.

The Gulf Of Mexico is awesome (locked because of a parody violation)

The Atlantic Ocean is awesome (unlocked and a clear parody thread based on the definitions of the word)

$0.00 (unlocked and defended as a legitimate thread when it is also clearly a parody of the other $ threads. This is merely a prime example of how arbitrarily a parody lock is placed from one thread to another.)

And I could post countless other parody threads also locked. If a parody thread is not funny it will quickly die and get buried without a MODs help. So I fail to see the reason for enforcing this rule. And NO, these posts are not SPAM or NEFFING, either anymore so than any other stupid post in OT about "what are you listening to RIGHT NOW" or "what are you drinking RIGHT NOW" is. Posts like these are reposted and recycled as new constantly on these forums. Meanwhile "neffing" posts where users are literally posting nothing but spam just to boost post counts are left completely alone and even MODs participate in the spam.

I was divided on what forum to even post this in Technical, Personal or Suggestion Box but decided this was a broad enough subject that it needed to be posted in here. If a MOD thinks it needs to be moved to another area to be properly addressed, then please feel free to move it.

Thanks.

 

[olds]

My $.02
Generally it seems that a thread is a parody if it mimics another thread and has no new or relevant info.
Of the first two examples you listed:
The titles are strikingly similar. The info contained in the posts are striking similar and the comments in the second thread are word for word the same as the first thread. Clearly a parody.

In your third example, the only similarity between that one and the previously locked posts was the title. I don't believe the Mods have ever locked posts for the title unless is was abusive or vulgar. As far as the content, it wasn't similar to any of the previously locked posts, didn't quote any of those posts word for word (as your first two examples did) and was relevant to the topic title.

I really don't see the confusion.

 

[SlickSnake]

Originally posted by: oldsmoboat
My $.02
Generally it seems that a thread is a parody if it mimics another thread and has no new or relevant info.
Of the first two examples you listed:
The titles are strikingly similar. The info contained in the posts are striking similar and the comments in the second thread are word for word the same as the first thread. Clearly a parody.

In your third example, the only similarity between that one and the previously locked posts was the title. I don't believe the Mods have ever locked posts for the title unless is was abusive or vulgar. As far as the content, it wasn't similar to any of the previously locked posts, didn't quote any of those posts word for word (as your first two examples did) and was relevant to the topic title.

I really don't see the confusion.

So show me the money. Where is it verboten to post a parody thread in OFF TOPIC. Or is this one of those arbitrary touchy feely secret rules we are all expected to adhere to.

 

[olds]

Originally posted by: SlickSnake

Originally posted by: oldsmoboat
My $.02
Generally it seems that a thread is a parody if it mimics another thread and has no new or relevant info.
Of the first two examples you listed:
The titles are strikingly similar. The info contained in the posts are striking similar and the comments in the second thread are word for word the same as the first thread. Clearly a parody.

In your third example, the only similarity between that one and the previously locked posts was the title. I don't believe the Mods have ever locked posts for the title unless is was abusive or vulgar. As far as the content, it wasn't similar to any of the previously locked posts, didn't quote any of those posts word for word (as your first two examples did) and was relevant to the topic title.

I really don't see the confusion.

So show me the money. Where is it verboten to post a parody thread. Or is this one of those arbitrary touchy feely secret rules we are all expected to adhere to.

When I asked this, I was told that parodies fell into the neffing category.

 

[SlickSnake]

Originally posted by: oldsmoboat

Originally posted by: SlickSnake

Originally posted by: oldsmoboat
My $.02
Generally it seems that a thread is a parody if it mimics another thread and has no new or relevant info.
Of the first two examples you listed:
The titles are strikingly similar. The info contained in the posts are striking similar and the comments in the second thread are word for word the same as the first thread. Clearly a parody.

In your third example, the only similarity between that one and the previously locked posts was the title. I don't believe the Mods have ever locked posts for the title unless is was abusive or vulgar. As far as the content, it wasn't similar to any of the previously locked posts, didn't quote any of those posts word for word (as your first two examples did) and was relevant to the topic title.

I really don't see the confusion.

So show me the money. Where is it verboten to post a parody thread. Or is this one of those arbitrary touchy feely secret rules we are all expected to adhere to.

When I asked this, I was told that parodies fell into the neffing category.

And yet a 16613 post neffing thread in OT remains unlocked with active MOD participation. According to some sources, a neffing post is a post about nothing used to drive up post counts on a user or view counts for a thread. My recent locked thread was clearly not about nothing. Unless you consider the Gulf of Mexico nothing. And that one locked post was just as informative as the other NEFFING PARODY post that included a stupid poll with only one answer in it.

 

[olds]

Originally posted by: SlickSnake
...
And yet a 16613 post neffing thread in OT remains unlocked with active MOD participation. According to some sources, a neffing post is a post about nothing used to drive up post counts on a user or view counts for a thread. My recent locked thread was clearly not about nothing. Unless you consider the Gulf of Mexico nothing. And that one locked post was just as informative as the other NEFFING PARODY post that included a stupid poll with only one answer in it.

The Nef thread you mention is approved by the Mods to (I assume) cut down on nef threads in the rest of the forums.
http://forums.anandtech.com/me...id=38&threadid=2247915

Your locked thread quoted the OP of the first thread word for word. It is clearly a parody and apparently by association, a nef.

My personal opinion is that these are our forums and the content should be driven by what we want. Who does it hurt if people post parodies or nef in Off Topic? That's where it should be. If it drives up bandwidth costs, that's a different matter and I can see a crack down. But, the hammer should come down on someone who does it in the tech forums.

Off Topic should be a place to blow off steam and have some fun. A serious answer in OT should be the exception, not the rule. If you really need help with something, use the appropriate tech forum. If AT doesn't have it, google it and find one that does.
Keep the forum separate so that tech help is easier to get.

 

[DeadlySushi]

HELLLLP!!!! Why cant I post a new thread???? I just joined and need to ask a question

---

It looks like you already succeeded here.

Harvey
Senior AnandTech Moderator

 

[Nik]

Originally posted by: Gillbot

Originally posted by: oldsmoboat

Originally posted by: Nik
blah, blah, blah...

What did Derek say when you sent him a PM or emailed him?

You can PM the mail mod account, it will be discussed amongst all of us. Don't worry, we give each other as much crap as you guys give us and we'll definitely call a mod out if they are in the wrong.

Considering past circumstances, I have absolutely no faith that an issue I raise via PM or email or anything other than a direct PM to Derek will actually be intercepted by someone other than the mod I may be having an issue with. However, we can't email Derek per rule #12. This just completely defeats the purpose.

If members have a problem with senior moderators, there's no real way we can go to someone without them getting involved. There's no guarantee that the issue will be resolved.

Will we get banned if we PM Derek with issues that would otherwise get us banned for posting in PFI about it? I hate the idea that we can't really even talk about the real issues at hand in PFI even though that's what it's for without the risk of someone sweeping the issue under the rug and banning us for "mod callout" which is the biggest undefined all-encompansing ban card ever.

This is my biggest and only real concern.