Welcome to the Teahouse of the Maple Moon, our new message board for Anime North. We hope this will be a fun, interesting way for our con-goers to find out more about the upcoming convention, as well as the world of anime cons, clubs and online fandom. And for us to hear back about the sorts of things you like to see and do at Anime North. So with that in mind, we've come up with a few suggestions to keep this board a good place for everyone who hangs here.
This is a moderated board. We'd like it better if we didn't have to do that, but experience has shown us that no matter how many people play nice on a board, sooner or later, someone will come along to spoil the party.
Let's get this one out of the way right now - It doesn't exist here. Freedom of Speech only says governments can't stop citizens from talking about what they want in public. Well, this board is a private place. It has nothing to do with being prudes, it's just a matter of making sure we don't have to put up with the garbage that shows up in a usenet group. We're allowed, even expected by the provider to set the terms for what people can and can't say here. We could even add "anime" to the profanity filter and there's nothing you can do about it. Except laugh at us for doing that when we're an anime con, I guess.
It sounds tough, but we want everyone who uses this board to be comfortable, and for it to be a place people can get useful info about the con. In reality, we know things don't always go 100% perfect at a con, and people have gripes. They sometimes want to ask tough, even embarrassing questions. You're welcome to ask those questions politely. And we'll answer. If it involves sensitive issues, we'll answer in private. We will not delete posts or ban users just for asking those questions.
If on the other hand, you're one of those people who enjoys getting themselves banned from message boards, here's a handy checklist of what it'll take to get booted from this one:
1] Posts that are grossly racist, sexist, homophobic or bigoted. Anime North is about the diversity of fandom and we just won't tolerate this sort of crap. Trashing fans of yaoi or shoujo ai is still homophobia as far as we're concerned. This applies to user names and sigs as well.
2] Spam, spam, spam, spam, sushi, eggs and spam
3] Pretending to be an Anime North staff member when you aren't or posting negative info about the con when you know it's false. This is an important one to us, because it's is our board, so whenever someone claims to have inside knowledge of our plans, folks are probably going to take them seriously, even if they're claiming something ridiculous.
4] Refusing to get on the clue train when the moderator hands you a ticket. Really, we won't be jumping on people for every little thing, but if a user has to be told over and over that what they're doing is a problem and they still don't Get It, then they're just not worth the trouble.
If you see a topic for an anime you really, really hate - stay out of it. Posting whiny, negative comments just to bug the people who do like it rates very high on our nuisance meter.
5] Don't even think about trying to sell bootlegs - offering them here, posting links to sites that sell them, or Ebay auctions of them.
Anime North is a family-oriented convention and we want to to reflect that, especially since this is a public board and we never know who is and isn't reading it. Which is why the profanity filter is turned on. That doesn't mean you can't talk about the more grown-up aspects of anime in the right topics, but just keep the language clean. And you won't get away with doing cute things with spelling just to get around the profanity filter for long, so forget it.
No flames allowed. Opinions are like belly buttons, everybody's got 'em. And they're entitled to show them off. Disagreeing is fine, insults and personal attacks are not, and will be dealt with. If a flame war breaks out in a topic, those directly involved will be temporarily banned and/or the thread closed for 48 hours, so everyone can cool off. Then we'll lift the ban. If it keeps up, then we'll ban/close for another 48 hours. If people still don't get the point, we'll just keep doing it until they do, or we get fed up and ban them from the board, period. Inflammatory posts will be deleted to stop them causing more problems in future. If the original post is bad enough, we'll skip the cooling off period and go straight to a permanent ban.
Anime North is run by fans, and we support other cons that are run by fans, even when we have concerns about the way they sometimes do things. That's why we won't put up with anyone using our board to bash them. Criticize, complain about things that did or didn't happen, but be polite, and honest, and praise them for what went right as well. In the end, we all win when the not-for-profit fan events are a success.
The same goes for pro-run shows, anime clubs and the anime companies. Trolling, flaming and bashing anyone in the anime industry just for the fun of it would only get this board a bad name, so we won't let you do it.
Just to help you get the most out of being a part of this community, here are a few things to keep in mind when you're reading or posting here.
The great thing about a BBS is you can talk to a lot of different people about anything you want. The bad thing about a public BBS is they can tell you anything they want and you don't know if they're telling the truth or lying. And you never know who may be lurking. Use a little common sense when you post here - never put your personal details in a post. If the moderators see a home address or phone number, they'll edit it out of the post, just to be safe. Be careful about e.mail addresses, ICQ numbers or other online identities as well.
Right. And not so right. This board was started by some of the staff of Anime North and it's linked to our webpage, so I guess you could say it's official. But this is a place for fans to talk to each other, and to the con staff, not for official con business and since it's a public page we can't guarantee the accuracy of everything that people happen to post.
If you really need the official word on something about the con, check out the Announcements forum at the top of the board, only moderators are allowed to post there. We'll use it to pass on any news about guests, special events and such.
Or you can contact us through the email addresses that are in the contact section of the webpage and the Who's Who topic.
Before you start a new topic, doublecheck that you're putting it in the right forum. If you don't know for sure, there's a topic in the Suggestions forum to ask. You can also use it to suggest new forums you'd like to see on the board.
If you are a staff member of another fan-run con, you're more than welcome to start a thread in the Other Conventions forum and use it to promote your con. Club execs can do the same in the Clubs & Showings forum. Conventions that are run by companies belong in Pro Shows. If you have another anime-related event you'd like to share news about, post to the Suggestions forum and we'll figure out where the topic belongs.
Anyone is welcome to post links and there will be topics for them, but deliberately posting links to sites that promote porn, bootlegs or other offensive material will get you booted.
We also have polls on this website, some serious, some just for fun, everything from the videos you'd like to see to what flavours of bubble tea you think we should serve in the con suite. You can suggest new polls in the same topic as the new forums and other board changes.
How long or short you make your post is up to you. But short and to the point impresses people more than long and rambling. And lousy spelling takes attention away from what you're trying to say. This board has a built-in spellchecker, there's no reason not to take a couple of minutes to use it on your post.
That's about it for now. Just remember to mind your manners and be considerate of the other users while you're having fun.
