An assignment: write the rules

I’m going to have to rewrite our standard rules page thanks to changes in circumstance (there is no dungeon anymore) and to accommodate new suggestions. It would also be nice to fold in Chris Clarke’s ideas. So I’m asking you regular readers to do the job for me!

Here’s the goal: a short document with a list of rules/guidelines, each one no more than a sentence or two. Keep it simple and clear so there’s no excuse for anybody to not read it before posting. Heck, maybe I should just adopt Chris’s Civility Pledge wholesale.

Each of you don’t have to write the whole thing. If there’s just one point you think is really important, just make a comment spelling it out. I’ll assemble the suggestions myself later.

Once I’ve got the new condensed, simplified, easy rules in order, I’ll create a page with them and put it in a tab right up top.

(Man, this is what I do every day: tell a group of people that they have an assignment, get writing, do the work.)

New commenting rules

What are they?

The ongoing meltdown in Thunderdome and the departure of Chris tell me we’ve got something that needs to be fixed. I don’t quite know how to fix everything, so let’s crowdsource it — you people leave comments here telling me what rules you think might work to get the knifey-bitey-smashy atmosphere to lighten up a little. Just a little.

Comments screwed up

Hang tight, everyone, you aren’t banned (well, some of you are. Go away). We’re having some strange technical problems right now, where everyone’s comments are being automatically tossed into moderation. The masters of the machines are working on it now.

Meanwhile, I’m manually approving comments as fast as I can, but I’ve got all these teaching obligations, you know…if your comment is held up, I’ll get to it eventually.