The Autism Thunderdome has had a convoluted history. Many attempts have been made at a re-fresh or leadership change to address issues within and without the community of regular and exclusive users here. The result is that the rules and guidelines for this place are scattered across a number of different threads and posts, making it burdensome for even longtime users to have a good grasp of what those rules are. To say nothing of the recent wave of new registrations, many of whom are coming from God knows where and seem to have zero understanding of the history & purpose of this website.
The Kiwi Farms is an entertainment site. Even for political spergs, that's what draws us here. To discuss and speculate on political developments from an entertainment perspective. Whether that's laughing at some journalist transparently coping, a politician doing a terrible job at spinning a recent controversy, or just the sheer clownery of those who lead us and the world at large, if you aren't deriving some kind of entertainment from doing so, you're doing it wrong. This isn't meant to be a place to rage against the machine.
With that in mind, even though this post may wind up joining all the other attempts at a reboot for the Thunderdome rules and guidelines in the future, it will at least serve as a consolidated update of the posts that came before it. The rules below are split into three categories: explicit rules re: post content, rules regarding submissions in each subforum, and general discussion rules. In the absence of a disclaimer, assume all rules apply throughout the Thunderdome.
Posting Rules:
1. Do not post if you have nothing to say
One word replies and reaction image posts are against the rules and will be deleted. If you have nothing to contribute in reply other than “good” or a gif of Jack Nicholson nodding in anticipation, that’s what the ratings system is for.
2. Do not multi post
Multiple posts in a row by the same user clutter the thread. If you have more to add, or want to reply to a new post, edit the existing post to include your new statements. For those who may not be aware of how to edit in new quotes to reply to a user, you can quote the post at the bottom of the page like you normally would when replying, and then copy+paste it into the edit window to allow you to insert the new quote to reply to. Remember to add an extra line before copying so there's space for you to type your reply.
3. Do not necro dead threads
If you are pages deep in a Thunderdome board and find something you want to reply to, check the last post date before doing so. Bumping threads that haven't been posted in for over a month, and have no new developments in the story, is bad form. It gives other users the impression that the story updated when it did not.
4. No Fedposting
Fedposting is defined for our purposes as explicit, violent threats and/or calls to action directed at specific individuals or political groups. In general, if you are typing up a rant about how X group or public figure is the source of all of your/society’s problems and are asking why they haven’t been (or directly suggesting they should be) violently taken out, it’s probably time to take a break from the forum for your mental health. This is a website about laughing at retards on the internet. The Thunderdome is expected to maintain a similar degree of levity as the rest of the site. We are not your political organization soapbox.
NOTE: Adding “in Minecraft” isn’t a Get out of Jail Free card, guys. The fed bois know what you mean when you say that now, probably because you ran the joke into the ground.
5. Insert your images as thumbnails
Big, un-spoilered images are a pain in the ass to scroll through, especially on mobile. When you attach an image, click “Insert” in the top left of the attached image, and select the thumbnail. Clicking on a thumbnailed image loads the full-size image if you are concerned about readability.
A more in-depth explanation of how thumbnails work is available here, if you have further questions: https://kiwifarms.net/threads/we-ha...t-being-able-to-figure-out-thumbnails.113862/
6. This website is Safe For Work
Sexually or violently explicit images should be enclosed in a spoiler tag. Basically, anything that’s legal, but you think your mom would slap you upside the head if she saw it over your shoulder, should go in the tag. Obviously illegal images or nsfw spam will be deleted and your account will be banned. Repeated dumping of legal, but still nsfw, imagery outside of spoiler tags remains a rule violation on its own.
Submission Rules:
1. Articles & News
As a reminder, the purpose of A&N is content aggregation from outside media. As it is the only subforum with that goal, it also has the highest standards for OPs. To that end:
Happenings is for real-time event discussion. Submissions should include a brief summary of the happening to justify the thread. Links to further info are encouraged but not required.
3. Deep Thoughts
This board is intended for serious discussion with an expectation of civility. No meta threads about other threads in Deep Thoughts are allowed. In practice they are largely used so people of the minority opinion in the original thread can complain about the posters there.
4. Mass Debates
All other argumentative content goes here.
Discussion Rules:
1. Agree to Disagree
This is the newest posting rule for the Autism Thunderdome. The general gist is that there will be other users whose opinion you cannot change, whose position you cannot sway, and when that becomes obvious, it’s best to move on rather than continue to engage.
Continuing the argument often derails the thread, or puts it in a repetitive cycle of the same few users arguing back and forth for multiple pages. Unlike other websites with more ephemeral, disposable content, the Kiwi Farms serves as an archive, and arguing back and forth ad nauseum provides for a poor reading experience, both in the moment and in the future. If you find yourself seeking for the third way to re-frame a point so the blockhead you’re talking to might get it? Consider whether it’s better to agree to disagree.
If you find you cannot ignore a user’s posts you disagree with, utilize the Ignore User feature rather than derailing the thread.
2. Flaming and Personal Attacks
This section of the site has a well-earned reputation for being uniquely combative and hostile in its tone and attitude towards dissenting voices. That’s both a good and a bad thing. And because of it, the Autistic Thunderdome needs a clarified rule about what is considered flaming/personal attacks. In short, if personal insults are your entire response, it’s flaming and it will be deleted/you will probably be warned for community infighting. If personal insults are exchanged alongside a more generalized rebuttal to their point? It’s probably ok.
We’re not here to police you for saying naughty words. You’re all legal adults and we assume you can handle seeing someone post gamer words without going into conniption fits. But pointlessly slap fighting drives threads off-topic and detracts from the reading experience of everyone besides the few individuals fighting. See the above statement about Kiwi Farms partially serving as an archive.
The Kiwi Farms is an entertainment site. Even for political spergs, that's what draws us here. To discuss and speculate on political developments from an entertainment perspective. Whether that's laughing at some journalist transparently coping, a politician doing a terrible job at spinning a recent controversy, or just the sheer clownery of those who lead us and the world at large, if you aren't deriving some kind of entertainment from doing so, you're doing it wrong. This isn't meant to be a place to rage against the machine.
With that in mind, even though this post may wind up joining all the other attempts at a reboot for the Thunderdome rules and guidelines in the future, it will at least serve as a consolidated update of the posts that came before it. The rules below are split into three categories: explicit rules re: post content, rules regarding submissions in each subforum, and general discussion rules. In the absence of a disclaimer, assume all rules apply throughout the Thunderdome.
Posting Rules:
1. Do not post if you have nothing to say
One word replies and reaction image posts are against the rules and will be deleted. If you have nothing to contribute in reply other than “good” or a gif of Jack Nicholson nodding in anticipation, that’s what the ratings system is for.
2. Do not multi post
Multiple posts in a row by the same user clutter the thread. If you have more to add, or want to reply to a new post, edit the existing post to include your new statements. For those who may not be aware of how to edit in new quotes to reply to a user, you can quote the post at the bottom of the page like you normally would when replying, and then copy+paste it into the edit window to allow you to insert the new quote to reply to. Remember to add an extra line before copying so there's space for you to type your reply.
3. Do not necro dead threads
If you are pages deep in a Thunderdome board and find something you want to reply to, check the last post date before doing so. Bumping threads that haven't been posted in for over a month, and have no new developments in the story, is bad form. It gives other users the impression that the story updated when it did not.
4. No Fedposting
Fedposting is defined for our purposes as explicit, violent threats and/or calls to action directed at specific individuals or political groups. In general, if you are typing up a rant about how X group or public figure is the source of all of your/society’s problems and are asking why they haven’t been (or directly suggesting they should be) violently taken out, it’s probably time to take a break from the forum for your mental health. This is a website about laughing at retards on the internet. The Thunderdome is expected to maintain a similar degree of levity as the rest of the site. We are not your political organization soapbox.
NOTE: Adding “in Minecraft” isn’t a Get out of Jail Free card, guys. The fed bois know what you mean when you say that now, probably because you ran the joke into the ground.
5. Insert your images as thumbnails
Big, un-spoilered images are a pain in the ass to scroll through, especially on mobile. When you attach an image, click “Insert” in the top left of the attached image, and select the thumbnail. Clicking on a thumbnailed image loads the full-size image if you are concerned about readability.
A more in-depth explanation of how thumbnails work is available here, if you have further questions: https://kiwifarms.net/threads/we-ha...t-being-able-to-figure-out-thumbnails.113862/
6. This website is Safe For Work
Sexually or violently explicit images should be enclosed in a spoiler tag. Basically, anything that’s legal, but you think your mom would slap you upside the head if she saw it over your shoulder, should go in the tag. Obviously illegal images or nsfw spam will be deleted and your account will be banned. Repeated dumping of legal, but still nsfw, imagery outside of spoiler tags remains a rule violation on its own.
Submission Rules:
1. Articles & News
As a reminder, the purpose of A&N is content aggregation from outside media. As it is the only subforum with that goal, it also has the highest standards for OPs. To that end:
- All submissions must consist primarily of the text of an article, with the thread title matching the headline of that article.
- They must include a link to the article and an archive of that link
- Referral and Meta text (links to other articles on the site, image captions, etc) should be stripped out
- Delete any images that don’t display properly. News outlets are increasingly using proprietary image formats because they’re butthurt about copy+paste being a thing on the internet, and 99% of the time they aren’t relevant to the article. Really, unless it’s absolutely required for users to parse the article, I’d just delete any images in the text as standard procedure when submitting.
- Any commentary from the submitter is limited to the thread subtitle (try to make it funny) or the bottom of the OP.
- More detail on A&N submission guidelines is available here: https://kiwifarms.net/threads/articles-happening-meta-discussion.61563/
Happenings is for real-time event discussion. Submissions should include a brief summary of the happening to justify the thread. Links to further info are encouraged but not required.
3. Deep Thoughts
This board is intended for serious discussion with an expectation of civility. No meta threads about other threads in Deep Thoughts are allowed. In practice they are largely used so people of the minority opinion in the original thread can complain about the posters there.
4. Mass Debates
All other argumentative content goes here.
Discussion Rules:
1. Agree to Disagree
This is the newest posting rule for the Autism Thunderdome. The general gist is that there will be other users whose opinion you cannot change, whose position you cannot sway, and when that becomes obvious, it’s best to move on rather than continue to engage.
Continuing the argument often derails the thread, or puts it in a repetitive cycle of the same few users arguing back and forth for multiple pages. Unlike other websites with more ephemeral, disposable content, the Kiwi Farms serves as an archive, and arguing back and forth ad nauseum provides for a poor reading experience, both in the moment and in the future. If you find yourself seeking for the third way to re-frame a point so the blockhead you’re talking to might get it? Consider whether it’s better to agree to disagree.
If you find you cannot ignore a user’s posts you disagree with, utilize the Ignore User feature rather than derailing the thread.
2. Flaming and Personal Attacks
This section of the site has a well-earned reputation for being uniquely combative and hostile in its tone and attitude towards dissenting voices. That’s both a good and a bad thing. And because of it, the Autistic Thunderdome needs a clarified rule about what is considered flaming/personal attacks. In short, if personal insults are your entire response, it’s flaming and it will be deleted/you will probably be warned for community infighting. If personal insults are exchanged alongside a more generalized rebuttal to their point? It’s probably ok.
We’re not here to police you for saying naughty words. You’re all legal adults and we assume you can handle seeing someone post gamer words without going into conniption fits. But pointlessly slap fighting drives threads off-topic and detracts from the reading experience of everyone besides the few individuals fighting. See the above statement about Kiwi Farms partially serving as an archive.
