Spam, Chatspeak and Joke Adoptables

[winkatuck]

I run a "joke" species with a few close friends of mine, called Windazas. We started it up purely for the sake of having something more light-hearted and hassle free, since running an adoptable species can be a lot of work. Recently, we were hounded by cs staff stating that there was "too much spam". I've looked over the recently updated rules. Here's what it says about spam.

"Spam" is not allowed.
Spam is the term used to describe repetitive, off-topic or pointless posts. For example, it is considered "spam" if you create multiple topics asking for trades, when one topic will do. And it would be spam if you visit a topic about homework and post about trading - when you should only post about homework there. Please be careful to only post things that relate to the topic you're in. If you want to create a topic about something then make sure to find the right board for that type of topic. Don't create extra topics or spread your topics around the forum to try and get more attention, this creates a mess. Posts breaking this rule will be deleted, and you may get in trouble if you don't listen to staff advice about the matter.

We were first accused of purposely trying to go out of our way to make more work for cs staff. That is not what our species is about, nor what it was intended to do. It's just supposed to be fun. If it was taken that way, we're truly sorry about that. I asked the moderator what we could do to lessen this spam from our species. We were told our joke species NEEDS to be more serious. That we couldn't chatspeak. Even if it is on topic.

For us, it's what makes these adopts fun. Not just us, but the small community that's began to grow from it.

I understand 10-20 posts from the same person on one topic in a row is unnecessary. But as long as it's on-topic and pertains to the loose competitions, most of which are puzzles and guessing games in themselves, I'm really unsure how silly typing is considered spam. I feel like, just because more people have gotten interested in the less serious aspect of the species, it goes faster. More adopts are put out and more people tryout. That's just like any other adoptable species.

We're even going to try and limit posts on adopts, in hopes to keep the spam down to minimum if that's the concern. But I guess the question to be asked here is: If we can pick certain aspects of our species like sexuality, shouldn't we then be allowed for a less serious species? Maybe a rule that requires chatspeak to tryout or post on anything related to the species?

This is a kids website, it's an adoptable pet website. It's mostly supposed to be fun and games.

I'd love to hear other's opinions on this.

[| Aloy |]

This would be better as a ticket. If you want to question what a mod has said, you should ask other mods. Regular users can't really help with this since at the end of the day it will come down to mods decisions on the topic.

[scissors]

This would be better as a ticket. If you want to question what a mod has said, you should ask other mods. Regular users can't really help with this since at the end of the day it will come down to mods decisions on the topic.

That doesn't mean you should silence the regular users opinions. The normal users are the people who make up the majority of this this website. If you don't take into consideration the voice of the people, cs will quickly turn into a place where no one feels comfortable being here. I know for me personally, when I come onto cs, I just want a break from the everyday stresses of this life. To maybe pretend, even for a moment, that the world isn't that bad, and that there are people who truly value me and my opinion. I don't think I only speak for myself here when I say that Windaza, are a joke yes. But they are also something more. They are a place to feel welcome. A place to feel a certain amount of freedom. A reminder that everyone can let go once and a while and not have to take every little thing so seriously.. I honestly don't believe Windaza are spamming. I think that people just enjoy them, and the concept behind them, so they are active artists and people in the community.

[DoctorDraca]

Orchid Sprig is correct. If you want to discuss this matter it would be better to send in a help ticket directed to the Oekaki mods. If you feel that moderators are treating you unfairly then you can also send in a help ticket about that.

To offer a quick reply on the topic of joke species needing to be serious: It's okay to have a joke species and have funny contests as long as the replies relate to the content (the art and species). When the replies start going off-topic is when there's an issue.

Of course, everything needs to be kept CS appropriate and posts still need to be readable. Here's a link to the spam guide.

Spamming also includes adding unnecessary things to an otherwise-acceptable post, such as:

Intentionally making your post hard to read - If you use excessive chatspeak or anything else that makes your post very hard to read or understand, it does not add anything useful to a discussion.

But as I said before it's best to send in a help ticket about this if you want to discuss it. I'll bring this up with other staff regardless.