bill
    
| #1 posted October 31, 2003 at 2:55pm (EDT)
edited October 31, 2003 at 2:57pm (EDT) |
GameTZ.com Newsletter
#20
Happy Halloween! This month the big news is that we're going to make an effort to reduce the level of rudeness on the site between users. But, we've also got a nifty new TimeZone feature and we have and update on how Canceled Trades work.
o What's New at GameTZ?
- Dealing with the Rudeness
- Diversity Statement
- Setting Your TimeZone
- Canceled Trades Update
o This Newsletter is Optional.
What's New at the GameTZ?
o Dealing with the Rudeness
We've decided to shift our efforts a little to help deal with the problem of rudeness between users on the site, particularly in forums and chat. For some time now, we've been focused on going after offensiveness, but we've let the insults and rudeness between users go largely unchecked. We feel it has gotten to a point now where the forums are a fairly hostile environment and it's hurting the site.
So, starting now, we're going to make a new effort to clean-up the rudeness and insults on the site. We'll be closing topics, deleting posts, and editing posts that have excessive rudeness in them. We'll be restricting users that are habitually rude to others.
We'll also be backing off a little on our enforcement of offensive language. We'll take context more into consideration for such cases.
We want to continue to encourage free expression, but we will expect it to be done with respect for others.
You can help us with this by making an effort to be respectful toward other users and use "moderate" to report any message that you feel lacks such respect.
We understand that it's fun to make a zing once in a while, and we're not saying you can't do that anymore. But, be sure to not push it too far and be sure that everyone understands you're kidding. A winking smiley can go a long way toward preventing misunderstandings.
o Diversity Statement
As part of the above effort, I have added the following "Diversity Statement" to the Rules page:
The GameTZ Community is made up of people from all different backgrounds, sexes, races, religions and sexual preferences. We value this diversity and will not tolerate any language which specifically attacks a group or individual because of their background, sex, race, religion, or sexual preference.
o Setting Your TimeZone
You can now set the dates and times on GameTZ to be displayed in your local timezone. This new setting is on your "My Account" page. The setting is broken down by major geographical region: Africa, America,
Antarctica, Asia, Atlantic, Australia, Europe, Indian, and Pacific. From there, it is further divided into major locations within that region. Set it to the location closest to you (for example, "America/Denver" or "Europe/London"), and you should be all set. This setting should also handle daylight time. The default is "America/New_York" which is the timezone of the server.
o Canceled Trades Update
Since that last newsletter, I've made some changes to the way Canceled Trades work.
It turns out that there are many trades that get canceled for reasons that aren't a problem for anyone. Some changes have been made to allow for these canceled trade records to be removed, so that they will not clutter up the system and not stigmatize users who get them.
o When one of the traders in a trade cancels the trade, the other trader gets an email about it.
o The email explains that they can choose to delete the canceled trade record if they have no problem with the cancellation.
o If they do have a problem, they can add a response to the record. This is their chance to gripe about the other trader backing out.
o If no response is made after 3 days, the canceled trade record is removed automatically.
Most canceled trades will now be removed. Only the canceled trade where there was a problem will be kept.
This Newsletter is Optional
This newsletter is optional for all GameTZ users. If you do not want to receive further issues of this newsletter you can login to your GameTZ account, click on the "My Account" page, scroll down to where it says "Signed up for GameTZ Newsletter: ", change the pop-up next to it from "yes" to "no", then scroll down to the bottom of the page and click
"Submit Account Changes".
If you have any suggestions for the content of this newsletter or for GameTZ in general, feel free to reply to this email. Your response will be appreciated. If you want to post your feedback in a public forum, you can use the Site_Feedback forum:
http://gametz.com/forum/Site_Feedback/
Thank you.
Bill Marrs
Owner Game Trading Zone
A Kenyon Hill LLC Website |
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