(04-22-2015, 03:38 PM)Warren Castille Wrote: My concern with that: There's already an existing attitude towards anyone with a certain number of reputation bumps. I won't invoke the off-topic "P" word but a week won't change any single person's opinion that's already on this board: The red names and green numbers are already noted by the people who will take umbrage with them.if people are staring to suggest removing the rep mods or hiding them, then maybe they should hide the red text on names too. sure it started as a great idea; let's all help fund the rpc because we love this site...but now even something done with the best intentions is possibly under fire of being "toxic" to newer players or those that haven't donated for one reason or another.
.....i'm sure a few of you noticed my sig is in a spoiler tag. shortly after i changed it to it's current one i was asked polity to change it or hide it due to the content being possibly considered "unsafe" for work computers and there was comment of it possibly causing crashes with some peoples phones even though i was told it wasn't too mature or out of bounds content for the rpc's tos itself.
i'm sure i could have raised hell over it and started pointing fingers about other sigs that are past the size guidelines or other art posted that has a risque look to them, but nope. stuffed it in a spoiler and carried on without an issue. why? because where as i like my sig and i dont think it's a problem....it made some people feel uncomfortable while trying to browse the rpc at work or on their phone. both were valid reasons to me and it didn't hurt for me to be a little accommodating for them overall if it was just a minor change i had to make.
my point (i have one i promise) is this is quickly heading into everyone talking about various ways to censer posts, comments, likes rep mods and people wanting to show that they support this site with a red flavor to their text. yes things have gotten a bit crazy in here and yeah i did post earlier that i did notice it myself in regards to new players not getting as much attention but as it was also pointed out; that's a bit of a two way street and some connections don't work out while others do. the point is that both need to make an effort. (as i can attest i have one i'm working with through pm to get some sort of connection and another i plan to meet up with later tonight....once i finish making dinner actually, this is also how i met a few of you in game was posting here either in your thread when you started or mine i posted shortly after joining.)
..but getting back to the topic of removing or censoring the rep mods; why do we need to hide them for new members to feel more at ease? if the community is open and welcoming (which i know it can be and has been many many times in and off game) why should they feel that it's intimidating? a lot of these were handed out for good posts that were helpful to one person or another.
as i mentioned earlier, warren helped me with my initial planning on my shots contest ("rolz....what's that? .__." i believe was the reply when he suggested it) i had no idea how to go about it and when i first found his profile on here, i looked at the post count and the amount of rep mods...both are pretty fricken big numbers, but i shot of a pm saying hi, i was new, had an idea for an event and was wondering if i could get some help figuring it out. got a reply shortly after and we were on our way. he was open, nice and giving suggestions for me to gnaw on and work with. shortly after i forgot the big numbers and instead of them being viewed as "better than me" they looked like points proving how dedicated he was to this site and rp.
yes i realize that some rep mods given to users were gained through hostile means but if you look at mine and i'm sure a whole ton of others; you'll see a lot were given for saying nice, thoughtful, funny and encouraging things. not every plus1 is given over something negative....but as warren also stated in his post; i don't always have time to stop and say "hey that gif really made me lul" or "i agree" and i'll be honest it does make me smile when i get one because i know it made that person happy for a minute. please don't take away things that were meant to be good and encouraging in attempts to cut out the bad parts that are starting to form.
as far as hostile posts go; proofreading is a wonderful thing....i think if people take a moment to really read their replies and think how it sounds to others and not just how it sounds to themselves could really make a change in some of the more heated debates. the lack of body language and verbal tone/inflection does make things a bit more difficult (not to mention some having english as their second language that can sometimes cause miscommunications) i feel are valid enough reasons to be a bit more careful when posting your reply in a more "touchy" thread.
everyone should be able to discuses their feels on something even if it's conflicting to someone else. but if we take the time to make sure it's presented while trying to keep our cool; we don't need the mods to clean up spill after spill...or at least quite as much. i'm sure there will still be a flair up here and there, but if you try to talk to someone as you would in person instead of not...i think it goes a bit better. even if both parties decide to agree to disagree in the end. (as stated before; we all pay our own sub and have our own ideas about our rp and best way to do things.) sometimes the opinions mesh sometimes they don't. but instead of trying to force the other party; its okay to say "i tried and they're really set but i still don't agree" and take a step back.
i've seen more than one say that their posting as of late and everyone being hyper aware of it lately has been making them self conscious to post and are debating on posting less now....the ones that feel they're in the wrong i'm sure are going to make an effort to change for the better...and if overall tension can go down...i'm sure this will help everyone feel more at ease when loggin in.
i really do love this site and consider it an online home. i have right now five tabs open and i check it on my phone most times when im out,though i don't post in all of them, i read a lot of the threads across most the boards. (even if the more gif heavy threads cause it to crash sometimes....
) but i worry if so many are feeling the need to post less for fear of either enforced censorship or self censorship to avoid the former; how open and welcoming will a barely used forum be? i know we as a community can get over this bump, we just gotta work together....old and new members. how's the song go? look to those who walked before to lead those who walk after
too sexy to keep unhidden 
![[Image: smomentsig2_zpsz0ccrfpc.png]](http://i1379.photobucket.com/albums/ah124/cliodhna_eoghan/art/smomentsig2_zpsz0ccrfpc.png)
