Moving the Discovery Forums closer to the light

[beander2]

0.0 Be excellent to one another. Consider the people around you. Keep fair play in mind. It's a game and nothing is gained, or lost, save the experience. Credits can be re-earned. Ammunition replenished. If you become infuriated step away. If you make a mistake apologize. If you wish to remain in system after you die, or after someone has moved away, simply ask.

Fair play, a level head and consideration for others.

I think this is part of what you're looking for, Sass, and the problem isn't limited to the forums. Too many people skip over this in the rules section, missing the fact that it provides the context for all that follows. So rules become legalisms - let's stay clear of blatant violations even though much of our behavior, when all is said and done, ends up subverting this first principle. So people are able to continue to be abusive in various ways by skirting around the specific prohibitions and directions (e.g., on Skype).

As Sass knows (so this isn't directed at him), there's no way to establish rules to safeguard against all abuse - that would be impossible, and to attempt it would be to establish a bureaucracy so large that nobody would participate here anymore. So the solution is simply for those players with integrity, with regard for this fundamental principle, and with regard for their fellow players, to simply stop paying heed to the abusive ones. Stop interacting with them. Stop playing with them. Stop giving them any form of satisfaction by either bending to their actions or flailing against them. Just make it clear by your own behavior that their actions simply aren't that important, that their ranting and raving doesn't have the power over this community they think it does.

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Sir Alisdair Buchanan, KBE ~ Gateway)Trafalgar