User blog:LionHeartKIng/Why I think Pojo rules are stupid

I don't care about that site. I want to rant.

List: http://www.pojo.biz/board/showthread.php?t=521837

...skipping walls of text...

DO NOT start a second account (aka a Sock Puppet) - each person is allowed ONE account: Why shouldn't they? I mean, a handful of YouTubers, famous or not, have a lot of alternative channels, which they use either for Vlogging or backstage coverage, etc. For example, ERB, the channel for Epic Rap Battles of History, has 2 channels; the main channel and the channel they use for behind the scenes. Why not doing with the forums? I mean, what's the main difference?

'We at Pojo are strict, and our moderators are vigilant. We are this way because we are a VERY popular message board (65,000 users as of this writing) and we get thousands of messages and have thousands of users.' This is a sorry excuse. I mean, must a website be strict depending on the number of users they use said site to express their opinion? I know it first-hand that a website, to survive, needs a lot of dedication to promote users and expand said website, be it a forum or not. Plus, you have to persuade said audience to keep the site alive. There is NO reason to change a site's policy ONLY because of an increasing number of users. You have the danger of the users not wanting these rules, and they call it quits. What should you act? Like "I don't mind, he is an imbecile not knowing our rules" or "Well, what should we do?" I choose the latter, as a site needs work to be promoted to an extent, and said work is put to waste because of that.

'List threads do not generate conversation, they just fill space. We don't need threads to fill space.' Another thing that I want to criticize. It is called "organization", people. "the act or process of putting the different parts of something in a certain order so that they can be found or used easily" --Merriam-Webster Dictionary. What happens if one's signature is too big (according to YOUR rules) and wants to list his threads or his threads on a specific topic (for example, Yugioh Create a Card Forum), do you want to say "No son, keep this unlisted, because the site covers up space?" It is both unprofessional and that imposes a policy no other forum, to date, has.

While we do not grade you for improper spelling, grammatical errors can make posts very difficult to read. What's the point of posting, folks? To make you understand or for the post to make some kind of sense? For example, if you say "this deck needs 3 terraforming instead of 2 coz u have a lot of field spells in your deck", it makes some sense, though they have some grammatical and punctuation errors, such as no capital t in "this" or the line break at the end of the sentence. But it makes sense, it is a MEANINGFUL post, and as long as it is not a "spam" message, I see no point at it. It is not difficult to read either, so long as the poster uses things such as bold, italics or underlines. I mean, what counts it the most? The post to be proper grammatically AND punctuational correct, or the post to make SENSE and NOT being spam? In this context, you approve of "This Deck needs 3 "Terraforming" instead of 2, because you have a lot of Field Spell Cards in your Main Deck", which uses "proper" punctuation and grammatical structure, but "this deck needs 3 terraforming instead of 2 coz u have a lot of field spells in your deck" is a no-no by your standards, as it doesn't use punctuation and proper grammar. And, another thing; what happens if someone does a typo and he didn't notice it? Or he is from another country (like me) who doesn't speak English as a native language and didn't know that we do not use "hurted" anymore? At least, make rules that MAKE SENSE.

Use some decent punctuation and spelling ESPECIALLY when you are requesting assistance from the staff. Heh, you are saying that when requesting assistance from YOUR staff you have to use impeccable grammar and punctuation? In all seriousness, there are people that are posting on that forum using their cell phone, tablet, or something that is NOT called a computer. Typing on these appliances is more difficult than typing on a PC, so show them some forgiveness. This, or do not allow posting on those appliances. Either way, this doesn't make sense.

If someone on the Pojo Trading Committee has to spend more than 10 seconds trying to figure out what you wrote, they're not going to bother. You think that 10 seconds are more than enough? What about the message to be 6 paragraphs long, does the user HAVE to spend less than 10 seconds to figure out what another user wrote? This, or that these people are lazy enough to understand what a person's typing unless he uses professional typing.

Don't treat our forums like a chat room: Since when a forum is the same as a chat room? Plus, take a look at other forums and see how forums can easily become chat rooms. Like I said, a post must NOT be looked at its punctuation and grammar, but at whether it MAKES SENSE or not. This being said, it is not much of a problem if a post says "4" instead of "four" or "coz" instead of "cause" or "because", and the only thing it minds me, as a user of the Internet, is the post I see to be MEANINGFUL.

Don't just post random things in there, because, well, frankly it's dumb. What do you want to call "random"? A thread based off Formula 1 or Moto GP, or anything racing, is NOT called "random" by your context, but a thread based off WWE is called "random" by your standards? Specify "random", and I will be here to talk.

'We know we have a lot of rules. We like it that way.' You like it that way, do the users like it that way? I mean, does a user like having a lot of rules, so that it is discouraging for them to post on that site, or he wants to do whatever he pleases? I choose the latter, as there are less chances of a mod to abuse their own rules. I, personally, work better on a more freestyle place, like the site I just created, and beautifulforums (which uses much more lenient rules), instead of an "orderly" place, like Pojo.

But we don’t like it to be full of snotty brats who are constantly breaking the rules. Don't make rules, then. Simple as that. A prime example of a site that works perfectly even without them is this one website.

Also, your constitutional right to freedom of speech does not apply here. You are now trying to say that my right to express my thoughts freely does not apply there? This will lead to an anarchic and out-of-order, class-driven site, in which the mods' words are laws and they are absolute, and other users' words are powerless against the mods' words. While, on the other hand, in sites with lenient rules, such as this site and beautiful forums, we, as the mods, use our advanced abilities WHEN NEEDED. When we see a troll saying "gtfo", we instantly ban him.

That's my 2 cents on WHY I think Pojo rules do NOT make sense. It's LHK, and I am signing out.