SWG EMU Discussion - read before posting

Stradden

Hello,

It has come to my attention that there have been far too many threads regarding a specific Star Wars Galaxies EMU server. As you may or may not be aware, MMORPG.com does not condone the discussion of EMU servers, as they are, at best, a gray area.

As you may have noticed, our moderators have removed such threads from the forums. This is not because we wish to limit what you can talk about here, but rather that these discussions were causing a number of unnecessary headaches for our staff as they work to make MMORPG.com a plesant place for all of our members.

Continued discussion of this topic will result in warnings and/or bans, as approrpiate.

I apologise for any inconcenience this may have caused.

Sincerely,
Jon "Stradden" Wood, MMORPG.com Community Manager

dookseid

I was wondering when we'd see another sticky....

maxanto

Thank you for making this clear and for the stickey. It was a grey area till now.

jrscott

What I wrote probably belongs in a PM.  My Bad.

SpiritCrawler

Thank you, Stradden. You've taken away a major headache for a lot of community members. Again, thanks.

Shayde

So what happened to the "You can talk ABOUT it, just not link it" rule?

If it creates too many posts, why not make an emu thread like the hate $OE thread?

miagisan

/agreed...being a staunch SWG fan...something like this HIGHLY interests me. It should be allowed to be talked about, especially if LA is being involved. But just like the real swg devs, the emu devs are really being no better (due to NOONE wanting to say anything)

How are people, such as myself supposed to get information regarding the state of the game i once loved and could spend countless hours playing? Then to get little rays of hope like the EMU and LA possible EMU...only to be once again left in the dark with no way of knowing about anything.

So basically....once again the players are treated with utter disrespect...cause once again, we are left in the dark to blindly follow nobody.

Honesty and truth is all i ask, and to be informed of what is going on

---

Originally posted by Shayde

So what happened to the "You can talk ABOUT it, just not link it" rule?

If it creates too many posts, why not make an emu thread like the hate $OE thread?

---

acmtalk

---

Originally posted by Shayde

So what happened to the "You can talk ABOUT it, just not link it" rule?

If it creates too many posts, why not make an emu thread like the hate $OE thread?

---

QFE ,   I hope these forums don't become like SOE's one,  I see no harm in talking about it, as long that u don't post any links, guid or server info about it.  But again, Money is what moves the world, and I am sure SOE has The word in this forums , as long that they pay them right?  

SpiritCrawler

There isn't anything wrong about talking about the "duck", but when you direct links to communities that don't wish to have attention it causes major problems. This is one of the major reasons why MMORPG is taking these measures.

Spathotan

---

Originally posted by Shayde

So what happened to the "You can talk ABOUT it, just not link it" rule?

If it creates too many posts, why not make an emu thread like the hate $OE thread?

---

That wont fix the problem though. If there were a sticky made about it, it would go up in flames within 2 pages. Also it would just give another reason for their little douche devs to show up again crying.

blondeh

looks like my post got deleted and i didnt post any links to any communitys.

Why was it removed?

tjvoodoo

---

Originally posted by Shayde
So what happened to the "You can talk ABOUT it, just not link it" rule?

If it creates too many posts, why not make an emu thread like the hate $OE thread?

---

I think this is a great option - i still want to play SWG i still want to discuss SWG, but after being told before christmas that me as a vet was not part of SOE's target audience and "Thrown aside" where else do i discuss SWG under a development team that wants me.

Rabia

---

Originally posted by Stradden
Hello,

It has come to my attention that there have been far too many threads regarding a specific Star Wars Galaxies EMU server. As you may or may not be aware, MMORPG.com does not condone the discussion of EMU servers, as they are, at best, a gray area.

As you may have noticed, our moderators have removed such threads from the forums. This is not because we wish to limit what you can talk about here, but rather that these discussions were causing a number of unnecessary headaches for our staff as they work to make MMORPG.com a plesant place for all of our members.

Continued discussion of this topic will result in warnings and/or bans, as approrpiate.

I apologise for any inconcenience this may have caused.

Sincerely,
Jon "Stradden" Wood, MMORPG.com Community Manager

---

Well, we better not discuss Linux either since it is an emulation of UNIX and POSIX.

Wildcat84

---

Originally posted by Rabia

Originally posted by Stradden
Hello,

It has come to my attention that there have been far too many threads regarding a specific Star Wars Galaxies EMU server. As you may or may not be aware, MMORPG.com does not condone the discussion of EMU servers, as they are, at best, a gray area.

As you may have noticed, our moderators have removed such threads from the forums. This is not because we wish to limit what you can talk about here, but rather that these discussions were causing a number of unnecessary headaches for our staff as they work to make MMORPG.com a plesant place for all of our members.

Continued discussion of this topic will result in warnings and/or bans, as approrpiate.

I apologise for any inconcenience this may have caused.

Sincerely,
Jon "Stradden" Wood, MMORPG.com Community Manager

Well, we better not discuss Linux either since it is an emulation of UNIX and POSIX.

---

Or mention the fact that you can buy 3rd party toners for your printer cheaper because it was reverse engineered...

I don't care, I intend to continue to discuss the "duck" and if I am banned from this site I'll quit reading it and consider it as biased towards advertiser boot licking as IGN is.

BTW, I note that MMORPG.COM takes advertisments from credit/gold sellers.  That violates the TOS and EULA of every MMO out there.  So I see this stance as hypocritical to say the least.

Spathotan

---

Originally posted by Wildcat84

BTW, I note that MMORPG.COM takes advertisments from credit/gold sellers.  That violates the TOS and EULA of every MMO out there.  So I see this stance as hypocritical to say the least.

---

No, it isnt. As long as this site is not advertising them on the servers then they arent violating anything. If a representitive from this site were to make post on say the Offical Blizzard WoW forums advertising them, and log in the game and spam it, then yes that is violating Blizzards or whoevers game it was in EULA/TOS.

Rekrul

I just hope that everyone is clear on which posts were deleted. Yesterday was a flamefest like not seen in a while. It almost bordered on the uproar around NGE.

The discussion is still allowed, but all the posts that really carry no information and serve as flamebaits only were and most likely still will be deleted. No real problem there.

Xcathdra

---

Originally posted by Stradden
Hello,

It has come to my attention that there have been far too many threads regarding a specific Star Wars Galaxies EMU server. As you may or may not be aware, MMORPG.com does not condone the discussion of EMU servers, as they are, at best, a gray area.

As you may have noticed, our moderators have removed such threads from the forums. This is not because we wish to limit what you can talk about here, but rather that these discussions were causing a number of unnecessary headaches for our staff as they work to make MMORPG.com a plesant place for all of our members.

Continued discussion of this topic will result in warnings and/or bans, as approrpiate.

I apologise for any inconcenience this may have caused.

Sincerely,
Jon "Stradden" Wood, MMORPG.com Community Manager

---

Heya... first thanks for clarifiying.. I have a question though... Any chance you guys could ask LEC for comment to see whats going on?

MrArchy

Stradden - great move, and on behalf of the SWG community, thank you.

Shayde

---

Originally posted by Wildcat84

Again, until gold farmer adverts (and discussion) is banned from mmorpg, the moderators/etc have no standing whatsoever to ban discussion of swgemu used in non profit, legal ways.

---

Well.. an EULA means diddly-squat. Thus breaking an EULA isn't breaking a law.

Now EMU's skirt the grey legal issue... it CAN be illegal in some cases.

Not that I'm defending their stance, but gold farming IS NOT ILLEGAL... I still think we should be able to discuss this openly without links... and I think deletion and not simple locking of posts went too far. BUT...

What's done is done.

Distopia

They deleted the story about Milo . What did milo ever do ? 

Wildcat84

---

Originally posted by Shayde

Originally posted by Wildcat84

Again, until gold farmer adverts (and discussion) is banned from mmorpg, the moderators/etc have no standing whatsoever to ban discussion of swgemu used in non profit, legal ways.

Well.. an EULA means diddly-squat. Thus breaking an EULA isn't breaking a law.

Now EMU's skirt the grey legal issue... it CAN be illegal in some cases.

Not that I'm defending their stance, but gold farming IS NOT ILLEGAL... I still think we should be able to discuss this openly without links... and I think deletion and not simple locking of posts went too far. BUT...

What's done is done.

---

Gold farming and selling is also very gray as far as legality goes, and can be illegal as there is LOTS of fraud in that industry.

fozzie22

Does seem a bit on the hypocritical side trying to ban all discussion about the EMU and have adverts condoning credit farming (that is what it is doing),but i know of least 20 sites aside from this one with thier own threads about this story,trying to bury it under censorship wont make it go away tbh

olddaddy

Gee, I graduated from EMU (Eastern Michigan University). Didn't know there was that much hostility toward the dining commons servers. Must be because of the food.... 

Stradden

Hey Guys,

I feel the need to respond at this point. Not because I have been personally attacked a number of times, but because I appear not to have made the reasons clear.

Yes, Emulator servers are a gray area. That is not the reason that the decision was made to disallow discussion of the EMU in question. I have asked that people not talk about it, because of the huge number of a) threads that were created on the same subject, clogging up the forum, and b) the fact that nearly every thread concerning the EMU contained flames and other rule violations.

The simple fact of the matter is that we had decided to allow conversation about the EMU. It progressed for some time before we were forced to remove the threads because of the rules that were being violated. The topic has become troll and flame bait. It was either take this stance, or be forced into a large number of bans.

I have said before and will say again: We have no intention of censoring anyone. However, we must remember that our rules are in place to make MMORPG.com a fun place for all of our members. When one single subject takes over a forum as well as encourages people to break the rules, it is reasonable to remove those posts. 

I would also like to say that who does or does not advertise with this site has absolutely no effect on the site's content or the decisions of the site's content Editors. We have, for example, run numerous articles that denounce the secondary market (even though, as was pointed out, we do have gold-seller advertising) here is the most recent of them. We have also given poor reviews to games that advertise with us. Likewise, advertisement does not effect decisions that are made regarding the forums.

I hope that this clears things up for people. I realize that there will be some who, for whatever reason, will disagree, but I felt that the reasons for this decision should be made clear in as up-front and honest a way as possible.

Cheers,

Jon "Stradden" Wood, Community Manager

Also, for those concerned with the virtual seller ads, there is a sticky for just that purpose:

http://www.mmorpg.com/discussion2.cfm/thread/67413

jrscott

---

Originally posted by Stradden

Hey Guys,
I feel the need to respond at this point. Not because I have been personally attacked a number of times, but because I appear not to have made the reasons clear.

---

Seriously, not to suck up, but I think most of us know your job is very difficult.  You ALWAYS handle things gracefully, and for that you are to be commended.  SOE could take lessons from you on how to remain responsive and polite without appearing arrogant.

wookiee

Since its a "grey area" why not make a board just for it? It is a legitamte topic.