Over the years, Mayberry has served as the flip side to the "General Discussion" coin in relation to the Off-Topic sub-forum. The OT and Mayberry have always been two separate entities, with different posting concerns and different posting styles. In recent years, however, especially since the "old" OT was dumped and the General Discussion area got shuffled around, the lines separating the various sub-forums have been blurred to a problematic degree. In response, the currently active moderators have gotten together to outline a uniform policy in an effort to return Mayberry to its previous position of providing a haven for respectful and intelligent discussion.
THINGS TO AVOID WHEN POSTING IN MAYBERRY
- Flaming
This has always been the #1 rule of Mayberry and nothing has changed here.
- When Starting a Thread
1) Do not post multiple threads in one day, especially when it's addressing the same subject. Posting two or three threads can sometimes be okay, particularly when they are on different subjects, but that is the exception, not the rule. If you are a relatively new poster in this forum, it is particularly important not to begin by spamming lots of new threads.
2) Don't post a thread that contains little to no content in it. A thread containing just a YouTube video, meme, or link is likely going to be deleted/dumped.
3) Any crazy conspiracy thread will be moved to the Great Beyond, as will threads on Religion, as they do not fit the light hearted nature of Mayberry.
4) Please refrain from making threads with a news headline that does nothing other than to upset and depress readers, ex: "Child Gangraped" or "Local Girl beheaded by Father" these topics will be deleted.
- Empty Posting (including meme pics)
One of our goals is to have posting in Mayberry actually contribute to discussion. In the spirit of the Mayberry masthead's promise of "intelligent discussion," we would like to see posters who come into Mayberry do so with the intention of furthering discussions on various topics rather than posting frivolous garbage that only stalls or, at worst, tanks a thread. Empty Posting also refers to hijacking threads in order to conduct personal chats with another member or members while a legitimate discussion is going on around you. Take that to PMs.
- Political Threads
Threads that are political in nature belong in the War Room and do not fit with the light hearted environment of the Mayberry.
- Graphic or Inappropriate Sexual Posting
A comparatively recent development and a problem all across the board that we take very seriously. Don't do it.
- Call-Out Threads
Always been against the rules and nothing has changed here, either.
- Nothing Threads
No frivolous garbage like "What should I eat for lunch?" or crap like that. Again: Intelligent discussion.
- Joke Threads
If a certain thread or kind of thread becomes popular, don't start making similar threads just to be "funny." For example: Thread A, "Some girl slapped me today"; Thread B, "I slapped some guy today." Don't do crap like that. If you plan on starting a thread in Mayberry, do so with thought and care and with the intention of starting real discussion.
Why are threads being moved to the Great Beyond lately?
The Mayberry has steered away from what originally made the sub-forum a place where intelligent and/or light-hearted discussions could take place. Influx of political topics (including constant political derailments in non-political threads) as well as increased posting of frivolous threads with no effort being put into encouraging discussion of the topic but rather posting one word or one sentence OP has changed the Mayberry and not for the better. There is an increased effort to move these types of threads to the appropriate sub-forum, whether it be The Great Beyond, the War Room or The Off-Topic Discussion. In addition, the content of these posts has resulted in increased hostility amongst users which has been noted, the Mayberry is not the OT and as such, flaming is not allowed just like the other sub-forums across the site. Flaming in the Mayberry will be met with thread bans or infractions depending on the severity of the posts.
FINAL WORD
Lastly, a helpful rule of thumb for all Mayberry posters: If your post took you less than five seconds to come up with, put a little more thought into it before hitting "Submit Reply." In addition to intelligent discussion, the Mayberry masthead also promotes "light-hearted humor." However, "light-hearted" is not the same thing as stupid. Mayberry isn't the place to drop empty one-liners that don't further discussion and serve only to encourage other people to ignore thread topics and take to posting other silly shit that causes a thread to devolve into garbage humor with nothing to do with the original topic.
Of course, as with all of the rules here on Sherdog, this is all subject to the individual interpretation of the moderator in question, but in an effort to eliminate confusion, these are the main problem areas we have diagnosed in Mayberry and it's what we are going to be cracking down on in the future, and we hope you all will take this as seriously as we do.
Thank you to the Mayberry community for your cooperation in creating a more suitable environment for intelligent discussion.
