User blog:Bond em7/Inappropriate Roleplaying and Chat

Alright guys, as you know, I often blog when something big or great is going on on the wiki. Well, this time something big IS going on, but it's not great. I have been informed of certain things going on both in the chat room, and being roleplayed out on the wiki which are inappropriate. So, the administration team has put together a new policy trying to spell out exactly what is and isn't appropriate. As the Head of the OOC Department, it's my job to look over, write/rewrite and approve all policies on this wiki. Of course I get other inputs for the other B-crats and the admin team, but really this falls to me. For those curious, the discussion is here, and the new policy is here. However, I also wanted to clear up a few things, since no policy can be written to cover everything, which is why I'm writing this blog. I understand that everyone has an oppinion, and that this is just mine, but I'm asking that as you read this, you think about what I'm saying, and hopefully will see the need for it, even if you don't agree with me. This may actually turn into more of a rant than I intend, but I'll do what I can to keep it as short as possible, and get my point across in a clear way. Alright, without further ado, here we go. Basically, language and cartain roleplayed situations have been brought to my attention as inappropriate. I will be using the situations as examples in this blog, without naming character names or usernames, however some or most of you probably already know, or have seen this. As that may be the case, understand that those who were involved did not do anything wrong, or break any policy, as it was written after the fact. The situations have been discussed by the admin team, and changed or allowed as the case may be, and things have already been settled with the users. Basically, I'm saying that the matter of these situations have already been addressed, and there's no reason to bring them back up, or cause issues with the users since they have already been laid to rest. So, first of all is the matter of censoring our chat, which was championed and implemented by one of our B-crats. They were doing some extra reading, which happened to include a way to censor certain words in the chat room. Now, in my experience I haven't seen too much cursing in the chat room, but as everyone know I'm really not on chat a whole lot. I don't think this was especially needed, but when the B-crat say it, they decided it would be a great idea to implement, as it will take certain words, and put a picture over them, and censor them. It is a great idea, and was well implemented, however this caused a lot of people in chat to decide they wanted to test this new system. It's understandable, however it caused an outbreak of cursing in the chat room. Please understand that though the words are censored, they still show up for the admins, and you still may be kicked or banned for using them. It was an unforseen effect or a good policy change. I ask that in the future, you remember that cursing is not allowed in the chat room, with a little wiggle room for occasional outburst due to a bad day etc. Admins and chat mods, as always, still have the ability to give a warning or to boot someone based on their own discression. Alright, so here's a bit of a rant/opinion. I know the wiki was set up with a PG-13 Rating, when the original policy was written by HoR, as that's what the movies/books are. However, I usually enfore or try to hold up a PG standard. With reguards to cursing, this is because I feel the in general cursing in unnecessary by the majority of people, and those who curse all the time, I generally see as having a very poor vocabulary, as they only seem to know a couple adjectives, and use them to describe everything. I know everyone here has a good vocab, or at least has access to a thesaurus or dictionary online. This is a roleplaying wiki, and we use word here to create a whole world. We have no reason to resort to cursing, unless the situation or roleplay calls of it. We do have characters that curse on here, which I am ok with, as long as it's within the personality of that character. However, when it comes to chat, I honestly see no reason for it, as there are much classier way to express frustration and such. Alright, next topic. IC marriage, sex, babies etc. I'm going to assume everyone knows where babies come from...if you don't you probably aren't old enough to be on this wiki, so go ask your parents. I wnt to begin by saying that I think forming strong relationships, such as boyfriend/girlfriend, and then marriage should be encouraged on this wiki. As it's a roleplaying wiki, our characters should be realistic, and those are realistic things that people want and need. Then, of course, comes the part where it gets PG rated, such as holding hands, kissing etc. Great, encouraged, fine. Next, we get PG-13 rated, such as french kissing, making out, snogging (in HP terms), running your handss over the other person etc. This is still ok, but red flags should be sprouting up in your mind, as they are in mine as I write this. This is the limit on this wiki. Anything further needs to take place "Off-screen". In movie terms, it's fading to a black screen. It's fine to understand what your character is doing, but we don't want the play-by-play on the wiki. Alright, it's rant/opinion time again. I understand that having relationships in an important part of this wiki. However, we do have roleplayers who are as young as 13 on here, and I honestly feel that we should try to keep the wiki clear of this stuff for their sake. I know that they won't appriciate it, and probably would rather we didn't, but I want to try to protect them form all the garbage out on the net. Yes, if they wanted to, I have no doubt they could find much worse easily/ However, it's my personal opinion that I would feel like we were corrupting them, or exposing them to things they're not ready for if we don't enforce this sort of policy. Maybe I'm being old-fashioned, but I would much rather edge on the side of caution about this thing, and be too strict, than the other way around. Also, I want this wiki to be a friendly place where people want to come, and parents don't mind letting their kids be. I know if I was a parent, and I saw even a hint of heavy sexual activity roleplayed out, I wouldn't let me kids be there, even if it was a single incident. that's why I feel we need to strictly enforce this. Alright, so continuing on, with marriage and babies. Characters should, hopefully, get married eventually. This is the culmination of a relationship, and marriage is a whole lot of fun. You can't really replicate how enjoyable it is on a wiki, because marriage is about getting to spend lots of time with your best friend. It's about sitting on the couch together, enjoying a movie. It's hard to replicate that, but it can be fun to try here on the wiki. ...and of course, kids come out of that. Again, we don't need to see that on the screen, but we all know babies are cute. Besides, it makes our wiki more realistic, having to care for a baby, balance work, spouse etc. I'm all for it. Alright, now for the rant...what I don't like is people getting married or having kids at the drop of a hat. I think building a relationship to the point of marriage takes time, usually years. I know some people in real life do it very quickly, and sometimes it even lasts...but not usually. I feel that marriage is something sacred and holy. Yes, I'm getting a bit religious in this blog, and while people may not agree with my religious beliefs, and I won't even force them on anyone, I don't think anyone can disagree marriage shouldn't be something special. I also believe marriage should be for life. As it's an important life decision, I think it should be considered carefully, and you should know the person you'll be with pretty well. Kids is another issue. Firstly it takes at least 7 months for a kid to be developed and born, and usually about 9 months. That's approximately 6.5-8.3 weeks on this wiki. If you can't wait that long, and roleplay being pregnant etc, then please don't have imaginary kids. Another topic is that I know in realy life people have kids all the time, then get divorced, and kids only have 1 parent. In fact, a lot of our characters came from families with 1 or even no parents. However, when bringing a baby into the wiki, I feel it should be between two characters who are married, and will stay togehter, even if it's only because studies have shown kids who have 2 parents do better in school/life than those without. I'm not saying there aren't exceptional people who had a single parent or no parents and haven't done well. I'm saying that the majority don't do AS well as they could have. ...and since we live in a fantasy land of magic, is it really too much to ask that a kid would grow up having a mom and a dad? Alright, final situation. I was informed that there was a romantic relationship formed on the wiki between a student and a teacher. The users were both careful, and both of the characters are above the legal age, however, it poses an ethical problem for the admin team. See, in our world these sorts of relationships are very frowned upon, because the teacher has power over the student, and the student can influence the teacher in unfair ways when in a relationship. At most plaes, if this sort of relationship is discovered, even if they are both consenting legal adults, the teacher will probably be fired. Relationships should be on equal terms, so I ask that in the future any relationships like this wait until the student graduates, or the teacher does run the risk of being fired from Hogwarts. This is one of those lines that's hard to draw in a situation which technically has nothing wrong in it...but realistically would be handled harshly in our world. As an administration team ,we cannot spell out every scenario and if it's ok or not. This was just an example of a situation which needed to be addressed, and I'm sure in the future there will be others. I just ask that you think about how your characters actions might affect them, and if you ever have a question, ask an admin. Don't worry, I'm almost done. I think I have just two more things to say. First, I want to apologise to the wiki. I feel like I had a hand in starting all these issues, as I was the one who allowed the first situation (underage sex at Hogwarts, baby, etc), and was even part of it suggesting the resulting pregnancy. I thought it would be a fun little storyline that would add to the realism of the wiki, and be interesting for those involved. I was wrong. I should have put a stop to it from the start, and then none of this would have happened. Again, I want to say I'm sorry to all the users on the wiki, that I made a mistake allowing it, and it won't happen again. One big reason I wrote up our new policy is so that we're all held to the same standards, including me. I do feel bad, but hopefully the measures taken by myself and the admin team will keep this sort of thing from occuring again. Final thing. This is a message to all those on the admin team, all the B-crats, Admins, Rollbacks, regular users in leadership positions, and mostly to myself. You have been placed in a position of power and leadership. Please remember this and use it wisely. In the bible, James 3:1 says "Not many of you should presume to be teachers, my brothers, because you know that we who teach will be judged more strictly." This is because as leaders, we influence everyone here with our actions and words. the policies we create, and the world we make has an impact on everyone here. I want to ask you all, and myself to remember this. Our actions matter. People are watching what we do, and how we act. If we are on the chat, bickering with each other, people see that and think it's ok, or that our wiki has admins who fight, which they don't want to be a part of. We are watched by those we lead, so we need to lead well, and remember that responsibility. As everyone knows, our new policy (see link above) will be enforced strictly, but I ask every leader on this wiki to read back over the policies, and remember that they apply to you. As leadership, It's easy to forget that, and create characters that are overpowered, even slightly. It's easy to cheat, and metagame a bit. It's easy to think that the rules don't apply to us, since we write them. I disagree...I believe the rules should apply to us even more stringly, as we have the roleplaying skills to overcome even having an underpowered character. If we obey the rules, people will see that, and stay within them as well. If every leader on this wiki were to follow all the rules, any normal user wouldn't even need to see the rules to know what they were, because we would all be following them. So, as leaders, I ask that you remember that the rules apply to us, doubly so, and that you try your best to play within them. As always, Myself and the OOC Department will be looking for major violations, and try to help correct those, but I ask everyone on the wiki to watch for the minor infractions we seem to often commit, and try to dial it back. Well, I think that's all for now, except that I do want to say I love this wiki, and everyone on it. I have greatly enjoyed roleplaying here, and hope to continue for a good while into the future. I can't imagin finding a better wiki with better people, and I feel that you should all recieve praise for how great you are. Bond_em7 (Owl Me ) 14:49, August 29, 2012 (UTC)