RE: THIS AFFECTS YOU - PLEASE READ AND DISCUSS!!!!!
Hahvoc The Decepticon said:
So because it supposedly "won't change a thing," we should just give up and let the users do whatever the fuck they want because "I wanna be creative, dammit! You can't hinder me!"? Seriously?
That kind of defeatist attitude would have let this site go to shit ages ago.
If we want a change, we have to work for it, and changing an age limit, an age limit doesn't do any hindering whatsoever except to weed out those creepers who are into kiddies. We aren't saying don't write whatever you want, we're saying be goddamn reasonable about the ages of your characters because as adults, you should know better than to just bitch and moan like children.
As I said, if this offends you, I don't care. I want this site to be better and upping age limits can do that. This is a writing site, as has been stated so many goddamn times, if you're looking for smutty/pornographic crap, use Google. I don't care how badly you write, what you write, or who you write with so long as you have fun, enjoy yourself, and follow the rules. If an age limit suddenly ruins all that for you, then this site possibly isn't for you if you're gonna tweak over a small change as two years. Two years, not five, not seven but potentially two.
That's my side of it so there you go.
And Karen: No shit. A percentage of people will always try to break/skirt the rules. That in no means hinders what we try to do here or stop us from trying to enforce the rules. We don't just give up because "Oh shit, more people broke the rules. Fuck." We go, "Well, we need to find a better way to make sure people have no room to break rules."
And if they break the really important ones? Done. Gone. End of story.
I've watched this site grow and change and it has always been for the better since DA became admin. If you have a problem with the age change, speak your piece as some of you have done, but don't bitch because "You've hindered my creativity!" If you can't work around an age limit, you have no room to bitch if you can't be creative enough to work with it.
The above thread can be summarized as "Deal with it."
There's nothing else there besides profanity and a complete disrespect for the opposing opinion.
Expected better from a green, but I guess everything can't be perfect.
Firstly, it's not about a defeatist attitude, or twiddling thumbs. It's a matter of whether the suggested change would actually lead to the desired objectives. While it may not affect the majority of players, I don't see that as a valid reason to disregard the preferences and kinks of certain minorities simply because you think they're 'creepers' that need to be 'weeded' out. If anyone's bitching and moaning here without point my finger would immediately point towards you before all others. While improper behavior may be a common trait (supposedly) for the people that play young characters, it's certainly not an exclusive one. And my opinion is that the issue needs to be dealt with in a manner which provides the most benefit, with the least sacrifice.
Your third paragraph isn't only rude, but lacks any relevance to the topic whatsoever. "I don't care" is an obnoxious comment to use in any proper debate, and the quality and matters addressed above in your post clearly display the lack of understanding or concern over the matter. Writing as 13 year old girl may be disturbing, but it's no more smutty/pornographic than a 18 year old having sex. It involves different aspects, but the smut levels remain largely unchanged. Unless you're saying that a 13 year old is somehow more sexual than an 18 year old? @_@ Also it'd be great if you learned basic math, 16-13 is not "two" it's three. Hopefully that was either a typo, or you're referring to DA's proposal of 15. Since that's a pretty embarrassing error to make. (15 is a compromise, I still think the issue at hand is 16 as DA pointed out that would be preferred)
"I don't care how badly you write, what you write, or who you write with so long as you have fun, enjoy yourself, and follow the rules."
Seeing as how there are players who play 'underaged' character within the current boundary, it shouldn't be a concern for you what the age limit is if this is the case. You seem to be under the false impression that those not-completely supportive of the change are telling you to roll over and ignore it. Reading your post, I get the same impression, while I admit that BMR is a great community, and that a significant part of that can be credited to DA. But you're post in a nutshell is "DA thinks it should be changed, shut up and deal with it." I'm not even sure who you're directing the "You hindered my creativity!" comment at, since I can't recall anyone 'bitching' that their creativity would be significantly hampered. Someone might have mentioned that it'd impact their enjoyment, but in all honesty, what affects someone's enjoyment is a personal thing, and if they feel it would diminish their interests, by all means they should voice their opinion, even if certain people consider it 'bitch' about it. If anything there's been more 'bitching' for the change then against.
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The only valuable point I gleaned from the above post was;
"Well, we need to find a better way to make sure people have no room to break rules."
Quite possibly the only sentence with any value.
It's been expressed that underage characters are one of the sites biggest problems. Hence, if the problem were to be addressed logically, wouldn't it be better to police the current 13 limit more vigorously, than to increase the age limitation and add an extra THREE years to that minimum? I know this'd be a burden on current staff, so creating a new usergroup for
snitches Reporters to pick up on these characters would be more effective wouldn't it? I mean there's a lot of people who feel strongly about it, so I doubt there'd be a shortage in volunteers.
If it makes it any easier, even creating a tribunal system where a reported post can be viewed by fellow Reporters and voted upon would make it easier. Especially if a bit of simple coding could be done so that enough votes could lead to the topic being locked and reported to a higher staff member. Seeing as how the reported post has several people condemning it, numbers could be cited to demand a change/removal. And the offender could appropriately be punished.
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Bit of a rant, but it just illustrates an alternative angle this could be approached from. Karen's right, there'll always be people who try to slip beneath the rules, and simply upping the age probably won't do much to deter the troublemaker from staying here. If they were neglecting the rules before, what makes you think they'll start respecting them when you increase the conditions of the rules? My stance as I've stated isn't supportive or against the increase in age limit, but I hate seeing unnecessary rules, and the current approach makes me think that the only people who will be punished with the age change will be those playing characters 13~15 tastefully.
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