Regarding the past few days - Message from the moderators

[OkitaMakoto]

As any forum goer is bound to have noticed, the past few days have been exceptionally rocky. We've seen roughly 1 of every two threads locked, a user banned for posting others' models as his/her own, and a flame war spanning several threads concerning an Iraqi on the forums.

What I, and some of the other MOD's out there, would like to share is a small warning and just a heads up.

1. Don't EVER try to pass off work as your own. These forums are a community of people with the same goal. Realism. Stealing other people's models/skins/code, etc is a disgrace to yourself and disrespects the reality forums. This is not the place. The user in question has been section 6 Perm Banned. DON'T follow him. Please.

2. Locked threads. What can I say, we had a bad weekend of especially unnecessary threads and plenty of reposts. This is a time for everyone, and I meaneveryone, to work on making better use of the Search function. It's not that hard to do and you probably WILL find a thread that's already discussing something you want to talk about. IF that thread has been locked and you are unsure of why, and you still would like to discuss it. Send a MOD a PM and politely ask why the thread is locked, and if it can be either reopened or if you can be allowed to make a new thread on the same subject.

Most threads are locked for a reason. Flame wars, Off Topicness, and reposts are among the most common reasons.

In mentioning reposts, I must say this: Check the already suggested suggestions thread BEFORE you make any "new" suggestion. Please. PR has been around long enough so that most new ideas have already been brought up and discussed. Some are hardcoded, others are just not the direction the DEV's want to go.

There was even a thread asking about "why all the locked threads?" I would hope you all dont think of the MOD's as lock happy people who don't leave their computers except to pee. Thats not the case. We're all [generally] nice people and would LOVE to discuss things on the forums with you all. We were all like you at one point. Not that we're any better now, either. We're all, ultimately, member of the same forum and players of the same game.

If threads were to stay on topic, if people were to be respectful to one another, and if people would use search, the MODs would do a lot more posting and discussing, and less locking and warning.

Which brings me to another point: Thread Titles. It is NOT acceptable to title a thread "Cool idea" or "PR should do this" These are not descriptive at all and we will be doing a better job of warning the posters of threads with these titles. Your threads title should be clean, concise, and state the purpose of the thread.

3. Respect. There's been a serious lack of it on the forums lately and it's driving me insane. These forums are a place where we can all voice our thoughts in a respectable manner and expect respectful answers in return. If someone is from a different background fro you and you are uneasy with it, don't flame them in the forums, don't even flame them via PM. Just don't talk to them. Whether its a kid at a Quaker School in farmland Indiana, a Soldier in the British forces, or an Iraqi attending school elsewhere, respect your fellow human beings. You don't have to agree with them, but you WILL respect them on these forums. Or suffer the consequences.

I bounced around a bit, I hope you all understand me, however. Stay respectful, don't steal work, research and search threads, and have a good time.

I hope you don't see this as a teacher reprimanding a child. I love these forums. I spend WAY too much time here and that's ok with me. But, I have found in realitymod.com a community I can relate to. I learn something new everyday from someone I've never met before on these forums. That's something special. We should all take the time to think about what we expect out of these forums and the community that makes it up. Respect one another and have fun playing a game we've all come to love and need.

/signed
[R-CON]OkitaMakoto

[Bob_Marley]

/signed
[R-MOD]Bob_Marley

[Gaz]

very good post.

[Dylan]

/signed
[R-MOD]Dylan

[Dunehunter]

/signed
[R-MOD]Dunehunter

[A.J.Sawyer]

/Signed
[R-MOD]A.J.Sawyer