Alright this is becoming a hot topic so I might as well say something.
This new topic, ‘targeting’ meme replies- it’s nothing new. Spam has been against the rules since the day the site opened. All I feel happened here was one rule was clarified by a cast member.
Meme topics have also always been against the rules- something a lot of young members do and forget about (or just didn’t read) rule. But that doesn’t make it ok. See?[quote=“Jon, post:1, topic:9196”]
Joke Topics are not allowed anywhere on the boards.The exception to this is the Master-exclusive Highly Suspect Hideout.
[/quote]
And as Ranaki said,[quote=“Ranaki_Pakewa, post:68, topic:28389”]
The definition of a meme: “An element of a culture or system of behavior that may be considered to be passed from one individual to another by nongenetic means, especially imitation. A humorous image, video, piece of text, etc. that is copied (often with slight variations) and spread rapidly by Internet users.”
[/quote]
Meme = joke. Therefore, let’s compare this to an IRL situation. If all I did was be annoying to people and say nothing but jokes, with no intellectual discussion or conversation, no one would like me. And in real situations, you can’t just turn everything into a joke. Like, I can’t just go to school and make “dank memes” everywhere, I need to put thought into it. There’s a time and a place for everything. And like I said before, this is nothing new.[quote=“Jon, post:1, topic:9196”]
Spam
Use common sense.
Do not post stuff that is unreadable or off topic.
Do not post useless content, such as only hashtags.
The staff retain discretion to decide what is and is not allowed.
[/quote]
If it’s off topic, you can’t post it. In order to keep a civil discussion place with no hostility, rules must be set in place. Same reason with political and NSFW discussion. And double posts might as well be the same thing.
AND I think another worthy thing to note would be Eljay said you can be suspended for doing so. For the third time, nothing new. This is in the rules.
Again, see? It’s not like this is something new that just got implemented today. All I did was cite the rules, just like this topic.
But that doesn’t mean I don’t feel that can’t implement my own opinion on this rule while this topic is still up. Simply put, if it’s done on an intellectual way, it should be allowed. For example, Ranaki used the perfect example on this very topic.
It was used in a good way. After all, memes are dirivite of a certain situation that becomes popularized and used across the Internet (or World Wide Web for us old timers). And this isn’t some copy and pasted Google Definition, it’s how I perceive things. After all, I am not exactly new to these boards.
Like, I have seen this site grown, and I’m really active. I come on here almost everyday. I really love this site. But some rules just need to be made. Like for example, the leak policy. That rule worked out perfectly.
So all in all, I don’t think anyone was completely wrong. In fact, no one really did anything. All this topic was was a clarification of the rules. Again, just restating the rules. A friendly reminder was what this was.
It’s just saying add to discussion. For example in the Bionicle 2016 topic I have used a few memes and gifs myself but not without adding a paragraph around them. (I’m sure someone has seen these posts) And I know people are starting to be affected by this ordeal:
But I get it. The reason we got this ‘friendly reminder’ (again my words) is because of the recent 502 and 403 surge. This was the reason Project MESSAGE was moved to Discord and why this is happening. And it does take up server space. So did what Ranaki did.
Use photo sharing websites instead of using precious space and wasting website space. In fact, this really even shouldn’t just go for memes- I feel all images, if possible, should be linked, such MOC images.
And that’s it. Spam is nothing new, and there wasn’t even really a reason for this too be as big as a problem as its becoming. And yeah I’m usually the type of guy to make a meme and say something like “MEMEZ R OUR LYFE BLOOD” but I feel this needed actually discussion. Like what we are trying to achieve. I really tried to be on everyone’s side with this one. And everyone else probably made better posts then me anyway. Ranaki, Scar, Eljay, Takuma, and King all had great points.
TL;DR?
Just read the rules.