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Universal Board Rules Update

ModThe Djinn·6/12/2018, 1:07:09 AM·20 votes·127,070 views

Hello,** Boards!**

It’s been a while since the Universal Rules have been really looked at, and today we’re pushing out an update to them based on feedback we’ve received from the community. Here’s a quick rundown of the major changes, although we encourage every board member to review the rules and read the new additions:

#MAJOR RULES CHANGES We’ve added three new specific rules – while all of these rules were implied by previous rules, we’ve called them out specifically as these are things that we’ve heard pretty loudly players want to see less of (well, nobody was begging for a “No sharing personal information” rules, but it seemed important).

Gameplay and Rank Shaming [Added]: No belittling or shaming a player for their champion pool, rank, playstyle, or match history.

Pejorative Language [Added]: Do not use language intended to express contempt for an individual on the basis of ethnicity/race, sexual orientation, political affiliation, gender, religion, etc. This includes, but is not limited to, examples such as “gay”, “retarded”, “autistic”, “cuck”, “jew”, etc., even if intended humorously or jokingly.

Sharing Personal Information [Added]: Do not post personal information belonging to yourself or another player. This includes, but is not limited to, the following: real names, addresses, e-mail addresses, phone numbers, Facebook profiles, etc. The sole exception is for streams/fan pages/names belonging to individuals who have opted to reveal this information to the public.

The Good Stuff [Added]: A section detailing some positive board behaviors that are great to aspire to. It’s worth reading, as if your post is adhering to these principles you’ve got nothing to worry about. If it looks a bit like the Summoner’s Code tweaked to apply to the boards, well…

#ORGANIZATION CHANGES You’ll see three sections (Good Stuff, Bad Stuff, and Really Bad Stuff) to help convey which behaviors we consider most problematic, some more links to the moderation discord and/or player support, some wording changes for clarity, and a nifty new drop-down format.

#You can find the updated Universal Rules here.

71 Comments

Altiverse6/12/2018, 10:10:20 AM6 votes

Do not post or engage in discussions of religion, ethnicity/race, sexual orientation, gender, politics, or real-world social issues.

Really? Are we encouraging censored platforms now as if we're living in North Korea? I fully understand that these topics will usually lead to heated discussions, yet any possible violation of board rules is already listed under a different category. If a discussion is getting out of hand, there already is a reason to close it and/or ban offensive commenters due to violation of the already listed rules (e.g. "hate speech", or anything else that was violated). That being said, I see no reason to censor and prohibit these types of discussions solely based on their nature. Doing so seems like nothing short of creating a dystopian platform to me.

Pejorative Language: This includes, but is not limited to, examples such as “gay”, “retarded”, “autistic”, “cuck”, “jew”, etc., even if intended humorously or jokingly.

Will these words be banned only if used in a pejorative manner? I'm quite literally a jew and a bisexual person irl, and seeing two of my identities in a "these words are offensive" list once again leads me to believe something went horribly wrong down the line of the decision making here.

EkyonKun6/12/2018, 4:47:47 AM3 votes

I do have a question in regards to rank shaming, though it is 100% a rule that I understand. What if in the context, it's almost necessary to point out rank? For example: Player 1 is Bronze III claims Garen is OP and destroys every game he's in. Player 2 points out "Garen is fine. He probably does very well in your games because of the low elo you play in." or something along these lines. Is this permissible or is it still considered rank shaming?

I just imagine this rule was made to stop people from spouting things like "lol a silver 2 discussing balance" which i totally agree is a problem and should be addressed, but I'd just like some clarification if there are exceptions like the former example.

4 Step Cadence6/12/2018, 12:33:06 PM3 votes

Pejorative Language [Added]: Do not use language intended to express contempt for an individual on the basis of ethnicity/race, sexual orientation, political affiliation, gender, religion, etc. This includes, but is not limited to, examples such as “gay”, “retarded”, “autistic”, “cuck”, “jew”, etc., even if intended humorously or jokingly.

As someone with Autism(who is also Pan), I'm happy to hear that this is no longer allowed on the boards. Thank you.

Quinzley6/12/2018, 8:35:42 PM3 votes

[deleted]

SangreDeNoche6/13/2018, 2:11:49 AM3 votes

I read this as "Universal Bard rules update"

Godly Archfiend6/14/2018, 1:01:32 PM2 votes

I find it all good and happy but when you say <<Pejorative Language [Added]: Do not use language intended to express contempt for an individual on the basis of ethnicity/race, sexual orientation, political affiliation, gender, religion, etc. This includes, but is not limited to, examples such as “gay”, “retarded”, “autistic”, “cuck”, “jew”, etc., even if intended humorously or jokingly. >> you are reffering mainly to what is classifed as racism but do we forget that the first black champion riot released lucian Lucian was holding two guns or we forget that the second black champ reffering to ekko Ekko ( some of you may not agree with this based on how he looks in the splash art ) stole a time machine in his lore? isnt that racism and usage of stereotypes.

Now dont get me wrong i dont want to judge you or anything and i dont want to get banned for letting out my opinion ( and i mean it like seriously one ez can end up in permaban... and after 2 months of not flaming im still in the first checkpoint for level 1 ) i just hate hypocrisy.

rtbf2256182416/12/2018, 6:39:20 PM2 votes

even if intended humorously or jokingly.

Why? If the parties involved understand they're both just fooling around and not attacking each other, this part seems pointless.

Imagine someone calls themselves a Bronzie or someone else but in a playful, friendly manner. Say they know each other. This would not seem justified at all.

sKz Aaron D6/14/2018, 2:33:00 AM1 votes

And today I was likely downvoted by a mod who said that I was in the right, but evidently disliked that I said what I did. Nice to see that our overlords are all aspiring to the standards they have set for us.

La Belle Sauvage6/22/2018, 3:36:48 PM1 votes

Question @ The Djinn:

Often when answering Tech Spec questions I mention JayzTwocent's YouTube Channel. It's not my channel but it's excellent information about pc builds and how components work. That's okay right? One of the rukes mentioned not advertising your own channel, but what about other channels that are well established?

InTheory6/12/2018, 5:55:32 AM1 votes

I'm quite surprised that you didn't update the phrasing for some rules like spamming as I suggested in your personal ama. Still can't figgure out when a comment violates these rules:

Posting designed to bait conversation or falsify content.
Posting designed to spoil things (movies, shows, books, etc.) for other players
Posting repetitive non-constructive or low-effort content.
Bumping of discussions while adding no meaningful content.

kriegnes6/22/2018, 3:25:46 PM1 votes

the dont say gay rule is gay

Hemulen Magi6/28/2018, 11:01:15 PM1 votes

[{quoted}](name=The Djinn,realm=NA,application-id=6heBIhQc,discussion-id=Rr5Ulb1z,comment-id=,timestamp=2018-06-12T01:07:09.123+0000)

Pejorative Language [Added]: Do not use language intended to express contempt for an individual on the basis of ethnicity/race, sexual orientation, political affiliation, gender, religion, etc. This includes, but is not limited to, examples such as “gay”, “retarded”, “autistic”, “cuck”, “jew”, etc., even if intended humorously or jokingly.

Can you take "jew" out of this list? The context implies that "jew" has an automatic pejorative connotation. I feel like it makes no more sense than to list Christian, Muslim, Arab, Turk, Mongol, Chinese, Black, White, Male, Mexican, etc. In fact, just remove the list altogether and get rid of the rule. It's too subjective and open-ended. It puts too much power in mods hands based on their personal interpretations. There is no clear line to say is something is pejorative or if it exceeds some arbitrary line of how pejorative something is allowed to be. If someone says they are tired of being bible bashed are they going to be banned for using a pejorative against religion? If someone says that they don't like blacks being shot by racist cops, are they going to be banned for showing contempt against law enforcement? What if someone says the opposite, that cops should be empowered to make snap judgments in order to preserve law enforcement lives even if it means accepting civilians deaths that are partly the result of racial profiling, is that being pejorative against blacks because it could be interpreted as saying that cop lives are more important than certain blacks in high-crime areas? This rule is honestly stupid and meaningless. All you mods do is shut down free speech. The only rule I agree with is the one against sharing personal identity information. You might as well add "mod" to your stupid list, because whenever I use that word, I mean it pejoratively with as much contempt as I can fit in a word.