Ahem

[Ashe]

I'd maybe set it as [Question - Staff Only] and [Question - Anyone] if I did it. I really like the suggestion though.

My opinion is that people should not be warned for helping. However, that's not what they are being warned for. Its the deliberate ignorance of what we've asked that is causing it.

1- We initially allowed members to answer questions. People began getting conflicting answers, being told things that were a part of the show but not this site, etc. Example: "hey guy, if we need to use a ship for a saga, do we have to pay?" The guy has asked a question that is devoid of some crucial information to most of the readers. This question doesn't state that he is meaning for his own personal saga, and that he plans on riding around in the ship from one planet to another without paying. So a member, thinking that he's referring to being in a staff saga and being pushed onto a transport ship would go "No, you don't have to pay if you have to use one for a saga". The member goes and makes a roleplay that involves them doing that, and then we appear going "Um... holy hell."

2- So we tried a few methods of dealing with that, namely the "If you must answer, please quote from the rules where you are getting your information from to prevent confusion." That didn't work. People just stopped doing it.

3- So we asked that only staff respond in the QSU board period. People still posted; we still had to deal with situations like question 1, leaving a massive headache when the member is like "wait, i dont understand i was told it was ok" type deal.

4- So we implemented the "[Question] tag rule". People STILL ignored it, always going "Staff is gonna kill me for this but..." and "Sorry staff..." and "Hope staff doesn't mind me answering this..." That's like going "Hey guys, I don't feel you have good reason, so I'm posting regardless of you asking me 9999 times not to off the record, because you are a nazi if you warn me for helping."

That's my point. If everyone goes posting, the person will always see the most confusing arrangement of information. 3 people can post a perfectly clear diagnosis of the situation, and a 4th make a post about some exception... What happens? The new player ALWAYS starts posting and double posting because he doesn't understand what that fourth guy meant, which really only that fourth guy can explain accurately. But then someone else responds, trying to translate what he feels the fourth guy meant, which leaves the new member overwhelmed.

We give the members the option of establishing whether or not they want just staff to answer. We aren't running around warning people just for posting on the board; we are enforcing the desire of the topic originator.

All of that said, I still probably won't be enforcing the rule from a personal level in the near future. I like KC's the best. For those that want to paraphrase this novellette, this is the paragraph to use.