NationStates Jolt Archive

It has recently come to my attention that while it has been ruled illegal to post recruitment spam in regional forums and telegrams in non-feeder regions, this rule is not yet listed in the FAQ.

I would respectfully request that it be added and assist in reducing the amount of recruitment spam I have to deal with whenever my name pops up on the top ten list. I have a list of telegrams in my inbox discussing the issue, and when I went to the FAQ to point out the ruling under discussion, it wasn't there. I suspect the spammer knows the rules as well as I (in spite of the newness of the nation), but since I can't point to an official non-forum source I can't claim flagrant disregard for written rules.

The forums are, unfortunately, a confusing place for people who are new or at least claiming to be new.

Treznor's player

From Fris's One-Stop Rules Shop (http://forums.jolt.co.uk/showpost.php?p=8784627&postcount=2):AdSpam: Spamming other people's regional messageboards (RMB) with adverts for your region. The only places where you are allowed to put advertisements are:
-the Gameplay Forum (they will be deleted if posted elsewhere, as being polite hasn't worked),
-The regional messageboards of the game-created regions
-Feeder regions, defined as The Pacific, The North Pacific, The East Pacific, The South Pacific, and The West Pacific. Note that it is not legal to advertise in copycat regions like "West Pacific",
-The Rejected Realms and Lazarus,
-Official Warzones.
-And even then, don't over-do it. One ad per advertised region (NOT per posting nation) in any 24-hour period is the rule. Don't post if an ad for your region is still visible, even if it's been more than 24 hours.
-Recruitment telegrams may be sent to residents of game-created regions. No 24-hour rule here - one per nation, period.
-Sending unsolicited recruitment telegrams to nations outside of game-created regions is not permitted.
-RMB Ads are allowed in player-created regions if and only if the World Factbook Entry says they're allowed. Whomever controls the WFE may set regional policy towards ads.{Emph mine}

Nice emphasis. And your point?

Trez,

While I understand your frustration at not being able to point to the FAQ in regards to recruitment telegrams, I think including the recruitment rules in the FAQ would be the beginning of a very long FAQ that nobody is going to read anyway.

Once you add the recruitment rules, people are going to want to add the rules for invasions/defenses and a whole myriad of other rules that have been officiated on the forums.

It has been said, and I can look for this later I'm just tired right now, that if a person can't be bothered to read the FAQ or the rules on the forums - regardless of circumstances - they are still held accountable for their actions. People claiming that they can't access the forums or this or that prevents them from reading the rules are still held accountable to them, whether they know about them or not.

The problem I see with adding recruitment rules to the FAQ is that you might as well begin adding every other rule in the book to them to if you want to point to an "official" source other than on the forums. If a moderator or administrator would want to take the time to do that, I wouldn't be opposed to it at all, I just think it's a lot of work that doesn't need to be done when an official ruling on the forums has the same legal-weight as a ruling in the FAQ.

Having said that, maybe adding a link to Fris' One-Stop Rules Shop thread in the FAQ might be an easier solution or at least a compromise to your suggestion. This way, when you point somebody to the FAQ for a rule violation, linking to the forum thread essentially gives credence to its officiality by the moderation staff.

Just my thoughts, sorry if they're incoherent, it's late/early... and I haven't slept, and I also <3 Trez and his ideas.

I would not object to a link being added to the FAQ for the rules thread. So long as the rules are a little more easily accessible, and people have less of an excuse to claim ignorance. The FAQ should be the first place everyone goes before they leap into NationStates, so the FAQ should contain a relatively friendly list of Things Everyone Needs to Know. Whether it's spelled out there or merely a link to a forum thread, I don't much care so long as it's there.

My point is that I dont think you are in a game created region. If you aren't, people cannot send you recruitment telegrams. If you are, they are allowed to send you exactly one.

What may be a good idea is to have the OSRS get linked to the game in an obvious place, maybe linked on the FAQ, as well as get linked to the ToS IMO...

Anyway, until (if) the FAQ gets updated, you can at least zap that link and quote to your spammer, and report though the GHP.

EDIT: Here is an idea for which ever mod helps on this thread. Since some people never step foot in moderation, perhaps instead of hosting the One-Stop Rules Shop there, it should be made like the MaxChat announcements. 1) It would be auto-stickified, 2) It would be auto-locked, and 3) You could see it on top of every thread-list page on the forum... so there can be no-excuse of ignorance for anyone who has at least 1 post!

No matter where we put such topics, now matter how we publicize them, no matter how clearly we indicate that they ought to read them (even to the point of putting the content IN the topic title (http://forums.jolt.co.uk/showthread.php?t=416470)), there is no known way to FORCE anyone to read the fricking instructions. We deal with this daily, and no amount of posting will cause people to stop posting stuff in the wrong place or sending it to the wrong people.

[violet] said she would add a link in the FAQ to the One Stop Rules Shop, but I guess she got distracted. We've still got the old link to the UN rules, too. We'll keep on her and Salusa to change it. Promise.

It's on the burner, so I'll be content with that, thanks.

I know that folk will manage to miss important detail and claim innocence. However, if I have access to a convenient resource to point to (like a handy FAQ page) then I can help puncture their claims of ignorance.

Just more ammunition against the obnoxious spammers that frequent NS.

Thank you.