Null is SEN's 'other' section. Being that this section is for the miscellany, the things that just don't fit anywhere else, it causes some confusion as to what exactly is allowed here. Allow me to enlighten you:
An 'other' topic is a topic that facilitates a discussion or interest that can be beneficial for both the topic starter and those replying to discuss. A topic here should be something nonpersonal enough for people other than you and your friends to understand and actually care about, and be specific enough to have a point of discussion. I'm not saying you need to conform to Light Discussion type standards. I'm saying there needs to be some sort of standard.

Forum games are fun and all, but some just don't belong here. I've seen forums where people play the one word story game with each reply being a single word. That doesn't fly here at SEN, even if it may somewhere else. When making a forum game, be it a story guided by outside influence, a changing author game of more than a few sentences, or whatever, it needs to have a point and replying to it has to have a positive outcome. It needs to try to produce something of value, just like a production section topic tries to produce a map.

This is a crackdown. Just because something was okay in Null two days ago does not mean it's going to be okay now. Just because you got away with it before does not mean you're going to now. And just because a moderator isn't me, doesn't mean they're going to leave a spam topic open or let you slide. You're now on notice, Null. Do not continue down this path.

I am by no means trying to make Null un-fun or into a second LD, but we have been rapidly falling into a near 4chan /b/ state in here for too long. Keep your three word/one reaction image replies to yourself.

I must say that this policy will not help the general malaise of SEN. We're a dying community, and as communities die, they need to lighten up on the rules - not enforce them more heavily.

Regardless of what your intentions may be, this post does come across as a bit of a "no fun allowed" statement, and that is something likely to turn off an already dwindling community.

Did you always have that police avatar? :3

Guys, I just wanted to add something.

Don't fight this. Its FINE. In the end, SEN is a forum, and Null should be at the bottom of your priorities as for what to become a hero over in an attempt to save. I may sound hypocritical in saying this, because I'm probably the biggest 'problem poster' in this forum.

You know its okay to chat and chill on another forum, right? There are many forums I visit and chat on. Many threads I make surprisingly do not make it here, mostly because I know you guys, for the most part, would never be able to relate. For example, am I going to talk to you or Etsy about the best printer for archival quality prints? Don't answer that. I want answers from other people, who use it in the same fields I do. Its inappropriate.

But, despite that, I still come back here, and at the very least I do chill in the shoutbox. The most recent outbreak of topics in Null was spawned because it looked dead. We have two threads that seem to always be rocking - post your pic and what are you listening to - and a few variations of other topics that are always popular - such as Mafia.

Honestly I would love to hold a serious RPG in the forum, but from what I've seen you wouldn't take it seriously. A matter of fact, that lost in the desert game? If you had gone a different direction you would've found treasure. Or pirates. There were both. I caved and I fed off of the silliness it degraded to, and maybe I shouldn't have. But part of story telling to me is making it enjoyable to everyone playing, and the only nay-sayers were people not playing. Besides, we have so many role playing threads in Null, yes I did try to make other threads on other topics. Children, relationships, and in more serious forums topics that have been almost entirely ignored (such as one about the Agency Conflict).

In the end I want you to know that I have not meant any harm, and honestly any 'tough love' I dish out in the shoutbox is done with the best intentions. The point of the thread that spawned this was to be randomly nice, instead of randomly troll.

I am sorry that it degraded into this, and I am sorry that I was the catalyst that "sucked the fun" out of Null.

But I highly doubt that's true. There's many ways to have fun on a forum.

Consider this my formal apology.

I actually agree Voy, it does seem like a "no fun allowed" policy.

I've always been one to close "useless" or "spam" or "troll" topics, so I'm with you in that regard. I also agree that moderating the people who perpetuate these threads by posting in them when they know they will be locked is also a valid idea. Aside from the latter, though, I don't think much else needs to change in Null. We can crack down on troll/joke posts, posts with just a smiley, posts with an image as a response, etc. but for the most part I tend to think Null hasn't been that bad.

Then again, I heavily trolled Kame's first RPG so I'm an asshole for that. Kame, if you want to do a serious RPG and want to ignore the "silly" posts, report them and have us delete them so you can do something legit.

Agree with Devlin. I think giving severity for useless replies to threads that get locked is appropriate. But everything beyond that is excessive.

There's a difference between intelligent jokes and excessive trolling, even though both may create fun.

I seem to recall you making one of these in the melee maps section, Ex. I do not recall, however, seeing many maps posted after that.

Part of the problem is not that SEN is a dying community, I don't think it will ever die. The problem as I see it, is the mechanics SEN employs. The '5 most recent posts' bit is the 'ticker' of activity, technically there is no problem with Null being a complete sort of lulzy waste of space. A 'dying community' doesn't need stricter rules, it needs more relaxation. It's late, I'm drunk, can't fix SEN.

Lighten up and relax, people.

Here, have some cows and jazz:

@Voy
We are a dying breed. But I refuse to disrespect all the SENners we've had, yourself included, who have done so much, by letting the place fall to new lows. None of my problems with Null ever went on at ML.

@Cardinal
Tony DiNozzo, NCIS.

@Kame
Thank you Kame, but what I really need from you is just an end to troll topics and maybe have a more heavy handed approach to your games. I like your games, and I think if you reported the silly posts so we could delete them, it would show people that the enviornment you're trying to facilitate within them is of a higher level than what they're throwing at it. Its very possible for you to run a lot of nice games here, and I have no problem helping you keep them as spam/bullshit free as possible.

@Dev
There is a lot of room for fun here, tons of potential. We've had avatar fads, fake elections of fake positions, and enough inside jokes here at SEN to make our own SNL. Fun is great, and SEN's humor has made me smile more times than I can count, I love this place. But I am not going to let problem posters run free, be it starting a topic or replying. We need to show that Null, although a pretty free section, does have its restrictions. If we promote forum games that take a certain level of seriousness in their direction rather than one that will accept 'Go into kitchen and strip tease for your mom' as a suggestion, we may see more of the former and less of the latter.

@Dem0n
Less maps for sure, but a lot less shitty ones too. If given the choice between 10 topics of shit maps by people with no interest in improving or none at all, I'd choose none. Same goes for topics in Null.

We're at a Starcraft forum, not a White House dinner. SEN in its prime was rarely classy in its Null forum - it may have exhibited professionalism in the mapping forums, but elsewhere, we could unwind a bit.

SEN's response to the community's slow demise has consistently been "Let's focus on mapping, crack down on everything else. If only we could focus people on making maps, we'll regain our former glory." And I think that approach has failed, primarily because a big part of the draw to SEN is the sense of community.

Having what is essentially a proclamation from the Fun Police makes me feel like I'm living in an internment camp, not a family.

EDIT: I'm not saying that there weren't standards for the off-topic forums, but they were an informal standard.

I think that whole idea of restoring SEN to its "former glory" was incredibly arrogant at the least. Members come and leave frequently, and no matter what you do, you can never restore something to its original status. I think everyone here just has a hard time believing that there are other people in the world (ie sc2mapster) that actually know more about mapping than they do.

But I always choose "Go into kitchen and strip tease for your mom" when I play any and all RPGs.

I now see where you are coming from, and I agree. I think there are certain games (Mafia specifically) where it is difficult to manage the "level of seriousness" as the point is to deceive others and in some cases, act like a Fool. I suppose we can manage on a case-by-case basis.

I don't think it has ever had anything to do with that. The people who wish SEN could go back to the way it was, myself included, miss the community that SEN had in the past. I don't think anyone cares about how we rank compared to other people, this isn't (and has never been) a pissing contest. I had the best time at SEN years ago, ironically when SEN seemed to be more strict, because of the community.

Voy, consider the way ML was run and all it achieved. It was a no-nonsense place, fun was allowed, but controlled, and it produced a lot of great mods. We were a family then, we're a family now. The kids are just getting a little out of hand is all.

The main problem is that I LIKE silly. Especially when I'm having a crappy day. It makes me happy to see people having fun.

Silly is easy and though it may make you laugh a bit more, I think a lot of games you've made had a lot of potential that just ended up getting squandered.

I feel as though I'm tandem posting, but I just want to point out that Maplantis was like 4 years ago when BW was still kind of in its prime. There were a lot more active members, and a lot more of them actually made maps. Only a fraction of the people here own/play/map on Starcraft 2, and it's reasonable to understand that the site's mapping activity would be significantly lower when BW's all but completely died off. When Maplantis was around, there was only BW. Now on SEN, there's BW SC2, and BW's not even big anymore.

EDIT: dear god, the post I was responding to is way up the page from mine in less than two minutes.

SEN v4 was pretty dead when it went down and ML came in and scooped everyone up. An owner who cared about the site and actively coded made people value the site all the more. The environment it promoted was productive and fun in all the right ways, and it was great. A lot of factors have changed and though the years continue to roll BW was by no means young or in a golden state when ML was made.

Strike the sentence about classyness. It doesn't convey what I mean.
This is not about rescuing mapping or restoring SEN glory. It's about you kids getting worse and worse and a line has to be drawn somewhere.

Also I find it rather odd that you only feel welcome or "in a family" when you're allowed make a fool of others or to boycott forum games and other topics, or in other words allowed to troll. To me that sounds like you're just protesting because you feel your freedom being taken away, which is understandable. But as I said, the line has to be drawn somewhere.