Rules Are Coming

[neitherday.livejournal.com]

The number of advertisements in serious need of being <lj-cut> is getting out of hand in this community. I'm considering making a rule that all ads for anything must be <lj-cut>, just to make administration easier. This community never really has had the rules spelled out, I have just relied on people understanding etiquette. However, as with offline etiquette, online etiquette seems to be a thing of the past. So it is about time that the rules be spelt out. Sometime later today, probably this evening, I will post a list of rules for the community and add them to the profile.

Comments

[oakenguy.livejournal.com]

You rock. :)

[easy-wind.livejournal.com]

*golf clap*

[talonvaki.livejournal.com]

Seriously.
It should be the rule for all huge photos/graphics.

[ellf.livejournal.com]

Finally.

Personally, I wish advertisements weren't allowed here, but instead in a "Davis Square Nonsense" community, created for people to hawk their events.

[komos.livejournal.com]

Where would you draw the line, then? Clearly with shows, but what about casting calls? Moving sales? Available apartments? Hops giveaways?

Take away all "advertisement" and we'd remove easily 60% of the community traffic. Heck, if you threw in a prohibition on politics as well, we'd be down to "I <3 DAVIS SO MUCH" posts.

[ellf.livejournal.com]

I agree. Which is why I didn't say that I did not wish to see politics, casting calls, apartments, or giveaways. I said advertisements, and I was referring to public annoucements of servies or events that cost money to attend.

I did not say that those didn't have a place. I do not believe that place is here.

[komos.livejournal.com]

So, by that logic, announcements for community theater productions should be prohibited here unless the show is offered for free?

My point is simply this - there will always be something else that someone finds annoying. Frankly, I find the (often repeated) apartment/roommates wanted posts far more annoying than "adverstisements" about events or entertainment. They are, however, useful to some members of the community. If we're allowing those, I see no reason not to allow other things of interest to the community to be posted.

[ellf.livejournal.com]

Point taken, and agreed with. However, personal preference and adherence to a particular guideline are not exclusive principles -- most human systems are rife with conflict, but few react to that by assuming that conflict is an impossible barrier that should result in the abandonment of all rules.

My position is that the infiltration of advertisements into a community forum changes its nature, be that for good or ill. I find a LJ community centered on a physical space -- be it a college campus or neighborhood -- to be a virtual discussion, one where people can discuss the content and spirit of the tangible location. My assumption is that dialectic is our communal foundation -- that is, that we're here because we want to engage with each other.

Advertisements, while informative, do not inspire discussion. Perhaps meta-discussion, such as ours, but rarely do people debate and offer insight into the event itself. That is why I am arguing for a separate space for that sort of post: a place where discussion is not expected.

To offer a metaphor, one does not walk into a coffee shop and plaster the walls with fliers, nor does one stand by a bulletin board with the expectation that people are there to do more than simply read what is hanging there. Both are equally valuable, but attempting one in the space reserved for the other will generally annoy people.

I concede that apartment listings should probably sit on an announcement board. However, I would rather that the rule be "a post is valid -here- if it is intended to generate discussion", which would exclude posts intended to gain attendance at something. Discretion of interpretation would have to be left to the moderator, of course.

[komos.livejournal.com]

Let's limit your metaphor to a single coffee shop... let's call it The Someday Cafe. The Someday has room to buy stuff, to sit down and talk, and to post flyers about anything and everything. You even get a little bit of anti-corporate propaganda and music that you may or not groove to. All of this happens within the same space, and the fact that all of those options are available makes The Someday an appealing place to be because there's a little something for everyone. Don't want to sit and talk? You can still buy coffee and read the flyers. Don't want to read band listings? You just skip over them while searching for aparments and grousing with your mates. All of these things are part of the same space and it's up to the visitors to pick and choose amongst them to define their experience.

I like plumtreeblossom's stance. So long as it's relevant to the community, both real and virtual, it has a place here.

'Course, while I'd argue against compartmentalization, it's really up to the mods what happens. Just have to say what the rules set says...

[ellf.livejournal.com]

I'd attribute the Someday's approach to the high cost of real estate in Boston, and rather low-revenue production of a community bulletin board. Metaphors are only good for so much -- in a virtual space like the 'net, there's no need to suffer from people talking excitedly about the government when you're trying to find an apartment, or crowding your favorite chair when you want to sit and read because they're peering at a bulletin board.

That said, it seems like we do understand each other, and still differ in position. No sweat -- that's why we have moderators -and- the ability to create our own communities.

[plumtreeblossom.livejournal.com]

I don't mind the apartment ads, or the local events promo (without big graphics). That's part of what the community is for. But I don't like the large graphic posters when they aren't under a cut. It's irksome because they cross post them and so I get 4 of the same poster in different local communities. I also don't like non-local promo here. I'll look elsewhere if I want to know what bands are playing in RI.

[wisdom-seeker.livejournal.com]

I agree :-) And I would include yard sales and give-aways as allowed events, too.

[sophiaserpentia.livejournal.com]

I agree with this.