Necromancy as a result of the 30 post limit

[teffy]

The reason being written rules can often cause more problems than they prevent thanks to people trying to find loopholes. Some think they have diplomatic immunity or something because they're not breaking a written rule, which forces us to invoke the "Undefined" clause, i.e. a rule that lets us do anything.

Didn´t we have a "rule" like this, to cover unwritten rules ?

Undefined: Obviously we can't anticipate every situation. For that reason, We reserve the right to remove any user at any time for any reason. If we think you're trying to manipulate the system, you'll be removed.

I have no idea why you guys are accusing people in public when we specifically have a report function

Perhaps, because mods say quite seldom, how the report button should be used. Only for the hard cases ? As a way to sneak somebody to the mods ?
Or also for "move thread" , "could be important please stick it " , or all other cases where a mod could be needed.

a. Recreate the formal Rules thread/list, and update the link in the welcome message.

A dead link in the welcome message looks somehow unprofessional.

SG has said several times she'll recreate the rules page when she has time.

I know one public place where she said that - maybe she has forgotten that. How shall a normal user know it?

[Higurashi]

...yes, you're listing the rule I'm talking about. Not sure what else to say.

There's no point in explaining the report button because it explains itself. You click and get to input a reason. Done.
Even if you lack the common sense to understand that there is NO reason to accuse people in public. Whether you know what to do or not has NOTHING to do with being that inconsiderate and stupid, in any situation, online or offline. It's just wrong social behaviour everywhere.

A normal user would know if he's interested, because he'd do a search for it and find it. That's why the information is public. I didn't say anyone should know, and that's why I mentioned it here to inform. We don't actually need the rules either; moderating is even a bit easier without them. I might, however, make a thread that refers people to me if they have queries, because as a Global Mod I don't think I have any good way of increasing my own visibility.

[Naesala]

Even if you lack the common sense to understand that there is NO reason to accuse people in public. Whether you know what to do or not has NOTHING to do with being that inconsiderate and stupid, in any situation, online or offline. It's just wrong social behaviour everywhere..

For risk of upsetting a moderator, you've just become kind of a hypocrite. Sure you haven't accused someone of spamming, but you've done something just as bad if not worse by insulting many of the posters in this thread who were just trying to be productive. I, for one, was unaware of the report function and so I thought the functions suggested might help out. And since the thread did not exist, I mentioned a particular case I had seen to support my point. I don't appreciate being called inconsiderate and stupid or being of "wrong social behavior".

[Aves]

So... to summarize:
We've been waiting for a 'rules list' for some time, but it's still debatable whether or not we need one.
We do have a report button, so there is no need for a report thread.
It has been determined that most threads can have new stuff added on that's still relevant.

On the matter of why we should/shouldn't have a rules list- I agree with patch. It looks rather unprofessional, and, as Absol says, without a rules list we do have the excuse of not knowing the rules because none have been posted. Using common sense works, but spelling out what is and is not against the rules should be common sense. Also, in what ways does not having rules make moderating easier?

Edit: And, as evidenced by the case of Naesala's lastest post, not having a set list of rules can cause misunderstandings. I do believe that 'hypocrite' is going too far, Naesala. Calm down, please. I believe that the direction you're going in will detract from the issue at hand.

[Higurashi]

As I've mentioned, written rules make people intent on causing trouble reading through them, quoting them, and thinking they're right because they think they've found a loophole. Communities are made up of people, who are social animals. If they're going to make mistakes, some text won't change that. If they're going to cause trouble, they'll use anything they can. The social game on the internet is so based on personal freedom that rules are almost always ignored and/or used wrong.

Furthermore, if users want a rule page so they can just link it to new people who ask for it, we would decrease the amount of real interaction that goes on when you have to explain how an organism like a community works. It caters to laziness, and most don't read it anyway when linked up.

@Naesala: One mistake does not a moron make. I've seen much worse cases of public accusations, and I don't think it's a personal issue that some of you did. In fact, when someone's already done it, it's easier for other people to do the same. That does not change the nature of the mistake, but a stupid mistake does not equal a stupid person.