Enaento, I agree new people will make mistakes. The best thing about making mistakes is that they are the best way to learn. You keep bringing up that what goes on in your head quarters is your business. That’s fair. No one is asking for more information, but you keep giving it. 

So, at this point I know that Tony is indeed a new player. I said this in my initial post, that I assumed he was a new player and that he needed to be taught what is acceptable and what is not. You provided the information that Just Vent was discussed in your head quarters. The next day, Tony comes to the streets giving away puppies to good homes. This isn’t exactly in character. Sure, it is a guy, sitting outside his head quarters giving away puppies. That’s exactly what a mobster would be doing between knocking over a post office and beating a man to death with a baseball bat.

A better way for Tony to give puppies away and still be in character would be to make a business out of it. A pet store. In character, selling puppies, BAM! Magic. Or maybe a simple RP for your head quarter forums. Unless, you’re after forum VIP. Why not support the new player with his unacceptable threads. The community won’t care, the streets are littered with shit threads and shit replies. So, you encourage your members to post (whatever they want) so your district can stay on top of VIP forum. Dat mapping. 

I've always felt like if you need to resort to giving a dictionary definition to make a point, you suck at debating. It's like when 14-15 year olds right their title about 'subject' by opening with 'The Oxford Dictionary defines subject as blah blah blah'

That said, Enaento, you might want to open your dictionary again because Tina was not trolling - she was raising a valid point and using one person to illustrate her point; an example. If you wish to take offense to that, then that's entirely your right but when it comes to your in-game strategy I must say I'm impressed that you are a 145 day old Crewleader if you are so thin skinned.

It's easy to point out what is OOC, but what is in character? I feel like helpdesk struggles with answering this. \

 Really, Tina?

Why is it you need Helpdesk to define whats "In Character" when you feel perfectly capable of already judging such things for yourself?

Tyrion, it was a question to the masses. Not one I was asking myself. I have an opinion, you have an opinion, but knowledge is still power. What's your point?

Somebody got a little too offended.

Take a drink, smoke a cigarette, spank your inner moppet, whatever. Realize you overreacted, Enaeto, and come back when you can actually discuss the fact that someone had to use TonyMontana's thread as an example for two reasons:

1. It was a terrible thread and OOC in every conceivable way. It should never have been put into the streets in the first place.

2. You, obviously, weren't going to do so. 

If you don't want your members called out for their extreme OOCitis, teach them how to make proper street threads. That's part of being a leader too. Not just sitting back and collecting money.

Why is it you need Helpdesk to define whats "In Character" when you feel perfectly capable of already judging such things for yourself?

Because Helpdesk are the ones that can move/delete out of character posts? I don't understand why that's a difficult concept to understand.

Tyrion, it was a question to the masses. Not one I was asking myself. I have an opinion, you have an opinion, but knowledge is still power. What's your point?

No, it wasn't. It was a statement;

I feel like helpdesk struggles with answering this.

 Hence why I asked, as per the actual basis of the thread, you already are able to see for yourself what is and isn't in character, why would helpdesk then be required to answer the definition of what is and isn't in character when clearly you have a grasp on the concept already?

Because Helpdesk are the ones that can move/delete out of character posts? I don't understand why that's a difficult concept to understand.

Thank you for the pointless retort on Tina's behalf. Perhaps though if you don't understand something its best not to try and answer on behalf of someone.

Oh and on that note, had it simply been left at a question, like Tina claims it was, then I wouldn't have even bothered to reply.

But since she decided to add in that Helpdesk struggles to define something that she has proven she understands the concept of, I felt it only right to question why she needed Helpdesk to define it in the first place when she knows so well what the difference is as she has created a thread based on the fact she was able to spot the OOC in the streets already.

So essentially, it was just a pointless and needless reference to Helpdesk that I saw issue with. Hope that helps you understand a little better, Vodquila.

Oh, okay, so it was just because you like to see yourself speak then.

Got it.

I like that Tina brought up this.

I am a culprit of one liners from time to time. Why do I specifically do this? Because it drives the point home without a big sugar fested ass licking way. I typically like to get to the point but I realize SO MANY people take offense to blunt honesty. It has taken me years to speak in the streets decently (at least in topics of opinions).

But if I can say what I mean in less words, I prefer it to blustering on with nonsense.

Like Vodquila said, Helpdesk/administration are the only ones that can move/delete threads. I’m sure they go off what the users do, but if the users aren’t doing anything in game about ooc threads in the streets or iffy in character threads they are left with a grey area. 

This is why I said that help desk struggles determining what is in character and what is not. Eneanto said that the street police are out there. They are, but help desk is there to help out, not to scour the streets and look for every single out of character thread/post. It’s up to the players in character to uphold the streets. 

Tyrion, I’m having a hard time grasping why this is something that must be picked apart. I was not asking help desk to tell me what they view in character and what they do not. I’m asking the players of this game. I personally view the thread TepidDelucci started by TheSorryJew as not in character and asked a member of help desk why it is in the streets. It’s in the grey area for help desk. It doesn’t have any blatant ooc words like in Tony’s post, but it’s also just a poem with no explanation or reason. TheSorryJew is a fan of TepidDelucci and now his poem is floating around in the streets. I consider that spam. I would like help desk to either delete it or move it to OOC. Is the TepidDelucci thread in character? Or is it OOC? Or should it just be deleted? 

Do you see where “It’s easy to point out what is OOC, but what is in character? I feel like help desk struggles with answering this.” came from? Now that I’ve rewritten it, it’s a poorly worded question. Confusing. It is easy to point out what is OOC. It’s not as easy to say what is and isn’t in character. Using the example of the TepidDelucci thread, is that something that is in character for you? If Yes, why? If no, why? 

These are questions that are not just directed towards Tyrion. I’m interested to hear what anyone reading this has to say. 

With that being said, I’d like to point out that as players, we cannot fall back on whatever street police Eneanto was talking about. We have to govern the streets ourselves and this will leave less grey area for Helpdesk to sift through. I was not calling Helpdesk out, saying they are not doing a good enough job or anything as the streets are the players responsibility. Like I said originally, where crew leaders have to govern their members. Was this still a pointless and needless reference? 

Thank you Zephyra for giving your opinion. I think we all are guilty of a one liner reply. Take a protection thread. Are crew leaders suppose to give out a long winded response just to state that they have told their crew about the order? Sure, that’d be cool, but it’s not realistic. Getting to the point over word count or description is better at times. Also, people are lazy. 

I agree with you on being blunt. Some people just can’t separate the facts and feels. 

I don't remember spam being this salty. I'd rather not have it for dinner if that's OK. 

I personally view the thread TepidDelucci started by TheSorryJew as not in character and asked a member of help desk why it is in the streets

It is the TheSorryJew speaking. So it is In Character. Is it a good thread? Not in my view. Personally like yourself I feel such things are Spam. But at the end of the day, it's light hearted and isn't doing any harm and is indeed in character, so essentially its OK to be placed in the streets as far as the IC/OOC rules go. 

Whether the street should be filled with such things is, like you said, down to the users to determine really, so for highlighting such things I do applaud your efforts. Don't get me wrong, I wasn't having a go at you before, I just took your comment as a pointless swipe at Helpdesk so I'm glad you clarified that it wasn't your intention.

Take a protection thread

I cannot stand them. Hate them with a passion if im honest.

The replies are the most pointless I've seen in my life and if you ever see me posting a reply to acknowledge that I've informed anyone, then you have permission to shoot me.

However, they CAN be useful when done properly. If there is a full crew list and specifics of the order such as length of the order or even time and date it finishes, then its useful at least. But if it just says "X has been shot and now all his peeps are homeless, pls no shooterino" then it really aids no-one as you can be damn sure every single person has a mail in their inbox, too. - but still these are IC and can be placed in streets I guess.

Personally, I like a bit of fluidity in what is allowed in the streets and what isn't. I don't think you can judge the quality or realism of a contribution by the volume of words being used. I've made posts that contained one or two words, some that didn't contain any just a description of my expression or feelings and others that have extended to several thousand. I meant them all to come from my character and they all expressed the point which I wanted them to and therefore I feel they belong in the streets. 

The only responses/threads I would like to see removed from the streets are those which cannot conceivably be made in character. I don't just mean subtle references to OOC or brief explanations in brackets that explain a point, I mean things that make the whole response implausible coming from a mobster. This requires judgement and discretion from street cleaners, but is for the best.

I don't think much more needs to be said on this. Simply reporting threads considered 'spam' to the right people is probably the most effective way of preserving the integrity of the streets forum.

I pose another question - "Is spam acceptable in OOC?"

Great question Desmand. I immediately thought of Blu_Blank's Favorite Ice cream flavor for my new business thread when I started to think up a reply. Such a terrible, terrible spam thread. For those that can't remember (want to block it out) or were not around, a quick summary.

Blu_Blank made a thread in the OOC saying that he planned on making an ice cream shop in the Chicago business district and needed ideas for flavors. I had just started playing the game again after a break around that time, so correct me if I am wrong, but this is when exp was increased in OOC threads. For the first four pages, the thread is filled with one liners coming from the then south side team under Godfather Princess - who as a leader in character (I feel at the point of Godfather you are not just a leader of in character, but also have a responsibility for the game) she was more than happy to encourage the spam of this thread. Eventually people caught on that a thread was not going up (I don't remember exactly, but from what I do I don't think there was ever a plan to get one up) and that the thread was just an easy breading ground for stupidity and XP. 

People such as Jono, Achilles, @IronSight, @Ox and even @Segretezza (for a little bit) made great points on why this ice cream thread was...distasteful. The attempts from Princess, Blu_Blank, and a few other names, to defend the thread were pathetic, possibly worse than the thread itself. I'd like to make a few quotes from the spammers and why I feel like OOC spamming, spamming in general is bad for the game when you are reaping xp benefits from it.

The simple fact that we did it as a family thing for laughs was all that it was.

-Princess

There are proper forums for threads. If this is something she wanted to do for laughs with her family then I personally think she should have kept the thread in her headquarters. I believe when the thread was started she was still acting GF and all her crew members with in the same walls, sharing the same HQ forum. Two characters ago and Princess is dead so I don't feel like I'm betraying anything by saying this. I was in Princess crew, her HQ forum was a ghost town. I forgot it existed 99% of the time. Many people suggested that her family/friends talk about ideas in irc. If she really wanted to keep this in a forum, HQ would have been a great place. She could have used the ice cream things as a way to bond her crew, but then again she would have had to know what she was actually doing. No one to spoon feed her an HQ forum/ideas. 

Let us have our fun, Jono. It's harmless and you seem to be a party pooper.

-Princess

I believe spam threads encourage others that it is okay to be lazy. To yuck up the forums. What's to keep a new player from seeing someone posting spam in the ooc and thinking it's also acceptable to spam the streets. Vice versa. With the TonyMontana threads, it's obvious crew leaders are looking past their members spamming and may encourage it like Princess had.

 Why is it that people like you troll such reasonable threads with your negative bullshit?

-Blu_Blank

Bringing up concern for people exploiting xp/vip in certain forums with spam/ooc is not trolling. Disagreeing and/or having a different out look on something is not trolling. I feel like people these days blanket any hurt feelings they have with trolling. 

As I mentioned before, there were many people who contributed excellent points against the ice cream spam and I think that can be extended to ooc spam in general. Both Jono and IronSight mentioned that a one liner will probably not get a you a ton of XP. (Has this been clarified?) I don't think it's okay for obvious spam threads and replies to extort XP and VIP mapping.

This may or may not help what is acceptable in OOC and what is not.

We will be increasing the XP received on OOC posts by end of day.  As a reminder, OOC is for talk about the game itself, mafia, irc, or things direcrtly related to the game.  It is not for Coke versus Pepsi, Battle Raps, or OMG JUSTIN BEIBER IS DREAMY type posts. 

-Squishy

Honestly, at this point, TonyMontana's Just Vent thread should have been moved to outside aka spam heaven. 

Desmand, I know you were not a fan of the ice cream flavors thread, I'd like to hear your opinion on spam in the OOC.

*If you would like to see all the ice cream flavors for yourself please click.

I had noticed that kid's thread too but eh I am not one to tell or ask what people are taught within the walls of there own HQ's I personally have a thread within my HQ which explains the different posting situations, the manner you should present yourself and it outlines what each forum is for and how to use them correctly.

Anyone with a brain who takes a look at the threads on the front page of the streets at the moment could work out that the vast majority are there to try and get VIP mapping for there district. The very person who started this thread is involved in one of them.

TonyMontana might be posting a load of crap but he isn't the only one guilty of it. All VIP mapping has achieved based on the evidence is increase the amount of complete and utter shite posted on the streets. At the end of the day the same people are posting decent content who were doing it before VIP was introduced and I can't see that changing.

Welcome to the new world of posts about nonsense I am just surprised weddings haven't made a comeback yet.

Achilles is single...