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	Subtopic	Started By	Posts
	Archive through Dec 05, 2004 Last Post: Dec 06, 2004, 11:30 am		20

Posted By: Bmat Dec 05, 2004 - 02:18 pm

We have a mixed up conversation here. We should probably have taken it to the chat room.

I have to check with the owner of SV about trading links. I believe that he would not mind about there being an SV link on your site, but whether he has the time to reciprocate I don't know.

edited to add: Thank you.

Posted By: Kevin Dec 05, 2004 - 05:25 pm

Oh. Haha, my mistake there, but if he wants me to take the button down, I will. If anyone was wondering, this was why I haven't been posting much lately, I've been too pre-occupied trying to launch the board. It takes a lot of hard work, take it from me.

PS. Thanks for joining Magus, I appreciate it.

Posted By: Magus Dec 05, 2004 - 06:01 pm

My pleasure.

Posted By: Kevin Dec 06, 2004 - 06:47 am

Here is my list of rules. Any suggestions?

"Here at Literary Magazine we have many rules. Most of our rules can be sumarized in just two words:

Be Responsible

This means you should always use proper grammar, spelling, (as it is good for you) and also, no quarrels, quaffles, squables, or otherwise anything you would be considered wrong-doing. If I catch anyone being disrespectful to the rules, they will be given a warning. I will keep record, and if you reach three official warnings, then you're suspended and will not be permitted to post for at least two weeks. Continued disrespect will result in a firing. Three suspensions = Banned. Remember, I don't want to ban anyone, so let's all just follow the rules.

Posting a Review

When posting a review, make sure to use proper spelling and grammar. Keep your reviews as informational as possible, without giving away plot or any other key elements to the story. At the end, give a rating of the book on a ten point scale.

0.00: Buy it and Burn it
1.00: How could they publish this?
2.00: What a terrible book!
3.00: It makes no sense!
4.00: It was poorly written
5.00: It was okay, but definately not good
6.00: It was fine, though I wouldn't recommend it to anyone.
7.00: It was good, worth reading if you're into the genre
8.00: A great book. I'd recommend it to my friends
9.00: This book is awesome. You should read it right now!
10.00: Surely this book has been written by god himself. I'd stop you on the street and tell you to read it!

Forum Format

Some of the forums on Literary Magazine have their own personal format. Please follow these guidelines.

Release of Personal Information

At no time should you or anyone be pressured into releasing your personal information. If you are feeling pestered by another member for such information, please contact an Administrator or a Moderator and they will deal with them accordingly."

Posted By: Bmat Dec 06, 2004 - 11:30 am

The only thing I don't know if you address is age disclosure. You may want to check out the laws about protection of minors.

Posted By: Sindatur Dec 06, 2004 - 12:11 pm

I personally would qualify the "quarrels, squabbles..." bit a little more. Afterall, healthy debate is arguing.

And as Bmat indicated, the age disclosure thing is really important. I visit Mugglenet.com (and the Harry Potter Forums there), and there are 12 year old girls there freely advertising their age, and it makes me really nervous to think of what could happen, if they run across the wrong person

Posted By: Magus Dec 06, 2004 - 01:07 pm

Yeah, mayve that should be included. But other then that I don't see anything really amiss. And things seem to run smoothly enough there.

Posted By: Kevin Dec 06, 2004 - 03:02 pm

Introductions require no personal information what-so-ever. I try to make that clear, though I don't mind giving out a small sample of personal information (name, city where I live etc). However, people get to know you off the internet, not from your background. Sure, such information could provoke intelligent discussion, but I like to make users feel as welcome as possible. Of course, if someone releases what I would consider valuable personal information, I would edit it out in an instant and privately message them on why I did so.

I forgot to add, also, a rule that says that there is to be no Political/Religious debates, as I feel they always create tension among otherwise healthy user relationships. I feel by stopping the fire by preventing its existence is always the best and most efficient policy.

Posted By: Magus Dec 06, 2004 - 06:39 pm

True, but in a community such as the one here those religeous and political debates help to broaden horizons and infirm individuals. They can be very intillectual and insightful, if done respectfully and impersonally. I know that I have learned a lot by the debates and discussions held here.

But I can see where you would have such a policy. Better safe then sorry, at any rate.

Posted By: Kevin Dec 06, 2004 - 07:08 pm

Hehehe. What do you think about a "No chewing gum" policy?

Sindatur, sorry I didn't answer this beforehand, brings up a valid point concerning age disclosure. I personally have nothing against it, as long as the poster is aware of the possibility of something unwanted happening. In such a case, the poster would be vigilant, and careful of what is then posted on his/her behalf. It's a very tough question, but I'm afraid I will have to fall back on my commitment of sensoring any dangerous personal information. For example, if the poster is only 11. I think 15 years and up is a fairly responsible age group, and I wouldn't make any such sensorship on their part, though all other sensorship issues would remain the same. All I can is that, as of now, I read every single post personally. If there comes a time where I can't do such a thing and it becomes an issue, I will outright ban giving out age and other release of personal information.

As for Sindatur's other point, I suppose I should clear that up. What I meant was on-line fighting, which I assume you guessed. There is a "no-spamming" policy also in effect, though it would be pointless to add it to the rules for joining, as spammers would not look there before spamming. I have, instead, added a forum for ANNOUNCEMENTS/SPAM. I actually added it quite a while back, and have stated in the forum's rules that you don't need to be registered to post, but the advertising needs to be relevant to my board's theme, which is literature. So far I have had one author post information about a new book she published, and a link to a Harry Potter RPG, so I haven't had any trouble with irrelevant spam yet.

Posted By: Bmat Dec 07, 2004 - 04:20 am

The thing about age disclosure, quite apart from wanting to protect younger members, is that it is a legal issue, in the US anyway. This is why I suggested that you check into legal implications.

Posted By: Kevin Dec 07, 2004 - 07:12 am

Well, the restrictions I impliment, believe it or not, would be considered quite strict, especially on ezboard, where I see people posting their information quite carelessly, and moderators do nothing. I'm not sure we have any legal issues here in Canada, not like that would matter. I think what is important is the international law, which is clear in pointing out that all children under the age of 13 are not supposed to join on-line conversation, but I don't believe, nor see anywhere, that there is a strict guideline for release of age on the web. I admit that of all the other policies I have created, this one remains the haziest. Personally, I feel that age is only a small piece of the pie required to some actual damage to a person.

Posted By: Sindatur Dec 07, 2004 - 08:40 am

True, the age disclosure doesn't do anything by itself. However, it does act as a magnet for unsavory types to pick targets. Once a target is picked, it is a relatively easy task to engage the child in chats and such, and build their confidence to a point where something dangerous is possible to happen. Not to belabor the point, it just scares me, because on the internet it is very easy to become anyone you want to be. Most people know several things about me through my posts, but, I could just as easily be a 90 year old man in a wheelchair, pretending to be someone else, or I could be an 11 year old girl. You never know positively for sure, who (or what) is on the other end of the keyboard.

Unfortunately, Age restriction dedicated to just the youngest, isn't sufficient because if you can disclose after the age of 16, (for example) that means anyone not allowed to disclose age, is under 16. Being a literary site in general, rather than a Harry Potter or Eragon, etc site in specific, makes it less likely to be a problem, however.

Posted By: Magus Dec 08, 2004 - 03:49 am

True. What is needed is the mindset of all members to follow that guideline to help everyone out as a whole.

Posted By: Talon Sinnah Dec 08, 2004 - 05:35 am

Kevin I looked at the sight a bit but during finals it is hard to really explore. I will get around to looking at it more closely and may become a member, you never know. What i saw was really nice and impressive though. Good luck on the sight and all of its nine member. * Pulls out long piece of paper and quill* (Mumbles) There is the good deed for the day. Now on with the bad.

Posted By: Kevin Dec 08, 2004 - 07:15 am

It's VERY hard to control the release of personal information, as you can release such information on your own profile by clicking on the username. In the end, it's all up to them on the matter of releasing personal information, as Ezboard even has a section to enter your age into, though you can make it only available to certain users. Administrating can really go only so far in such a case, so I can only give suggestions.

Thanks everyone for the feedback

Posted By: Magus Dec 20, 2004 - 09:47 am

Hey, Kevin. What's up with the site? I just tried to go on it and there was some error. I then tried from the link posted here and got the same thing. Is it a problem with my computer or the site?

Posted By: Kevin Dec 20, 2004 - 10:58 am

It's been doing that more and more lately. I'll have to go and report it. Just try back later.

PS. Was it an EZboard error?

PPS. I finally got new graphics!

Posted By: Magus Dec 20, 2004 - 12:06 pm

Yes, I believe it was. I'll try it again now.

YAY! GRAPHICS!

Posted By: Kevin Jan 02, 2005 - 11:39 am

So, Magus. Ever done any Moderating now?

It's funny because almost the exact same time he became a moderator here, he became a moderator on my board. We've been laughing about that for a while, that all of a sudden he became a moderator in two places.

Posted By: Magus Jan 02, 2005 - 05:37 pm

Yes, actually. I have done some moderating, now that you mention it.

Posted By: Mogget1 Mar 16, 2005 - 08:29 pm

Cool. I just got another moderating post at a place called 1000Dragons.(http://p071.ezboard.com/b1000dragons) I am now the official critiquer for themes and graphics, as well as the official greeter. Also, I got a moderator post at another forum called Amaranthe(http://www.freebb.com/index.php?freebb=amaranthe). It's a Garth Nix Discussionary board. What happened to Magus is now happening to me, as I will soon become an administrator/Technical Support person at a Lord of the Rings RPG site. Really this is no real extra burden, as I already frequent these places, but it is neat that they all want my help.