Creation of Forum Rules

[Artemis]

Forum rules vary depending on what time of forum you come across, from roleplays to discussion boards to general talk forums, but overall the rules are the core of the forum. What you should and should not do, image requirements, post length requirements and all sorts of helpful information can be found there.

However, what are the best ways of formatting it? Often times if rules are too long they can turn people away, but one needs to make sure all the information is there. How should it be separated and organized? For a new admin especially, creating rules can be a daunting task, and they can be either too elaborate or not specific enough, written much too long or not containing enough information.

So what are the best ways to create your rules so they contain everything they need to without putting off new members or being too overbearing?

Idea credit goes to Destiny

[Nacku]

I think it really depends on the person. If someone is overbearing, it won't matter what rules they post...they'll get angry at anything and ban away. If the person is too nice, they'll get walked all over. An owner that's well balanced and won't let overbearing people run their sites is off on a good start.

My two cents.

*waves to Artemis!*

[Tini♥]

I have 16 basic rules on my site concerning Roleplaying and general attitude around the site, like respect the other members, no racist or offensive comments, no criticizing other members, posting an absence note in case they'll be gone and finally for the size of signatures etc.

I divided the rules in two categories. General Rules and Roleplay Rules, which I find it's easier for the member to read since I' sure that the general rules are rules that everyone uses and of course the roleplay rules are also globally used rules, like NO godmoding, no Mary Sues and Gary Stus etc...

They are not too many to the point where the member gets tired of reading them and as I said some of them are rules that are used at ALL the sites...

[ToriJ]

I wasn't aware being too long can turn a guest off, I never had that problem, rules need to be at least a decent length if you want all that helpful information. I usually posted my rules in four posts.

The first post listed the TOS and linked to the Term of Service to make sure guests read that first. The second post had the general forum rules which really wasn't all that long. It listed things about respect, sig sizes, spam, swearing, staying on topic when posting and I think that was it. If it was an RP the post after that would have things such as God Modding, (explaining the three types of god modding) Auto kills, Character Creation information, races and I can't remember the rest. -_- The last post just listed what would happen if you broke these rules with a thank you for reading at the bottom.

[Artemis]

May 11, 2009 16:14:05 GMT -8 ToriJ said:

I wasn't aware being too long can turn a guest off, I never had that problem, rules need to be at least a decent length if you want all that helpful information. I usually posted my rules in four posts.

It's very possible. I know that, at the very least, if I do stick around I won't want to read through pages and pages of rules. It's intimidating, it can be boring, and for people who might be new to forums in general it might seem like an overly strict environment, something they might not want to get mixed up in.

In my view, rules should be there to guide members on what's best to do and not to do. When it starts turning into a thread where members use it as a checklist for every post to make sure they aren't doing anything wrong, it's gone a bit too far. Of course this can also be related to how your staff enforce the rules, but often times I know that if I join and have a novella to read before posting, odds are I won't stick around very long unless it's an utterly fantastic community.

[RL International Scores]

Currently, I don't have any written down rules . The people who grace my forum are generally all reasonable and have never done anything unacceptable. I think, if people behave in what is accepted by society than there is never an issue.

However, I have thought about creating some forum rules because sooner or later I'm going to have issues. I think importantly you need to have people look at the Proboards ToS before anything. And then for forum rules you have a brief, summarised version first, for those people who aren't willing to read through details, and then you can have links to more detailed areas after the summary, that way, if they do find something that might confuse them or they don't agree with they can read the full rules and it might clear stuff up.

[Des]

It has been my experience that rules should be reasonable, but not too long. I will read the rules even if they are pages and pages long, and sometimes that is the first thing I will do on joining the forum, but I am put-off by rules that are too strict and abhor all creativity, especially if I feel that the enforcements of the rules is also this strict. And I am especially put off by the hiding of passwords or whatever in size one text in the rules. Also, I don't know if anyone else has noticed this..but some people use such rude language in their rules! As the first thing I'm going to see about your forum, I don't want to be practically scolded when I'm reading your forum rules. Even unintentionally a lot of the rules I read end up sounding extremely rude, and it really puts me off.

Also, I do not join forums without rules. That is too lax, I cannot live with a forum where no one feels it at all essential to have rules. I am also put off when the admin posts some very silly rules, I would generally stick to a few very important rules (like the fact that you can't be under 13) and leaving the rest to a TOS. Things that you should mention are things which you feel may be different, or which you feel your members will not know. Any sensible person knows that you can't troll on a forum. Trolls are hardly even going to read your rules, and they are not going to be deterred by "No trolling allowed." At least, I don't think so. However, putting rules like minimum word count, characters allowed etc. is a good thing since I'm not going to know that otherwise.

Another thing - readability. So many forums have rules that are in small text, span over pages and make my eyes hurt just seeing them. I would recommend breaking them down into two or three sub-headings or even posts. And one thing I do on my forums and which I believe works is to first explain the rule in one-line and put it in bold, then follow up with an explanation in normal text, for someone who just wants to skim through the rules for a quick reference. (For eg. No Flaming: Flaming is defined as posting in ALL CAPS. It is rude and offensive and is literally taken as an internet shout. It can also be defined as deliberately insulting, humiliating or being rude to someone. This is not allowed.) An in-depth explanation is fine for newbies who might not know about flaming, but for people who have been on a hundred forums with the same rules, they might benefit from a quick skim through of the important points, and with a more in-depth reading of things which they feel differ from other things.

All in all, rules are important. Often, they are the first stop for someone new coming into your forum. I would say, make them short, polite, important and interesting as well as readable, and I'm sure that should suffice. Try dividing them into parts. This is my opinion.

[Kami]

I'm iffy on rules. Personally, I like having 4 'rules' threads - basic forum rules, basic rp rules, image rules, and a warning system. I also like having an FAQ, because a lot of questions [especially from those new to rping] have been answered time and time again.

For a while, the site i co-admin had a lot of common-sense rules, making our rules seem longer. also, it was formatted in such a way they all just kind of ran together. when i revamped for our fifth version, I removed all the common-sense rules, because, truth be told, we're not there to cater to people who decide to act like idiots, then claim 'well, it wasn't in the rules, so i did it'. those sort of people aren't going to be positive productive members, so yeah. i also re-formatted the rules to be sectioned off into topics, with shorter explanations.

Oh, one thing I hate - extremely stylized rules threads/posts. I make my rules kind of styled, but in an organized way. I hate seeing stuff like:


INSERT MULTI-COLORED SONG LYRIC TEXT HERE
----- rulesOFroleplaying


or something like that. >.<

[Android 17]

My advice is - Put a woman in charge. XD Every great forum that has done well that I've seen has had a female admin. They're just better at keeping everyone in line.

[Artemis]

May 13, 2009 0:55:53 GMT -8 Android 17 said:

My advice is - Put a woman in charge. XD Every great forum that has done well that I've seen has had a female admin. They're just better at keeping everyone in line.

That's not exactly relevant, nor does it really qualify as a post here in this board. Please read the rules. ;]

[Android 17]

See? Point proven. XD - I'm done now. -shot-

[HoudiniDerek]

On the forum I took over, I put it in maintenance mode so I could work on it. We only had a couple of active members who were informed of the situation and they were quite understanding.

When I was revamping rules, I split it up as appropriate:

I thought of rules that would apply to the whole forum, such as being considerate of the views of others. I worded it in such a way that made everyone responsible. I made other simple rules denoting that the rules were subject to change, etc. I gave a punishment list as well.

Then, for special sections, I made different rules. Since each aspect of the forum covers a different concept, it makes sense to have rules that pertain directly to that area. Having done so has saved me a lot of grief because it is on the member to remember the rules change in each place...and having them stickied really helps since they are the first thing seen every time they go to that section.

I think rules being too long can detract, but so can being too short or vague. It's nice when they read easily, especially if there are a lot; or if they are slightly more detailed when they are short. It's more trial and error, but that is the best part about letting members interact and give feedback. It helps make it better because the members help decide the boundaries of the forum.

[Sic In Principio]

May 13, 2009 0:23:24 GMT -8 Kami said:

INSERT MULTI-COLORED SONG LYRIC TEXT HERE
----- rulesOFroleplaying

i hate those too... especially when weird thread titles are used.

to point:

I keep a few threads for Rules: General Rules, Special Rules for RP, and Staff Rules.

One thing i hate about some members is, they don't read the rules, which a lot of times piss me off, because i stuff some good info that they need to know.

[R e k a n i♥]

I think rules are important to have, no matter what kind of site you have. It’s important to let others know that you mean your rules – so they don’t try to walk over you do whatever you want. Though I do believe too many rules is too much. I own a roleplaying site and I try to make my rules simple enough where people don’t get fed up with reading the rules but long enough to where they understand that there is stuff you cannot do as well as stuff you can do.

I think you should just think about what rules you really need. I’ve seen some really pointless rules as well as people who take 10 sentences to state one rule which could easily been stated in one sentence.

Some people like a lot of rules for structure.
Some do not like a lot of rules because it makes the admin seem overbearing

I guess it all depends, really. So yeah, that’s my input xD

[CrimsonNightWind]

My site is divided into 3 different factions, so there naturally needs to be rules for each faction to keep everyone on the same page. However, all the rules together probably don't run much longer than a page and a half and many of them are directed at specific areas that will (rather obviously) apply or not apply to the player. When the site was first created, it was very active despite the large amount of rules. I think it is best to keep rules rather simple, however. Being too complicated just ruins the fun.