Return to Unfiction unforum
 a.r.g.b.b 
FAQ FAQ   Search Search 
 
Welcome!
New users, PLEASE read these forum guidelines. New posters, SEARCH before posting and read these rules before posting your killer new campaign. New players may also wish to peruse the ARG Player Tutorial.

All users must abide by the Terms of Service.
Website Restoration Project
This archiving project is a collaboration between Unfiction and Sean Stacey (SpaceBass), Brian Enigma (BrianEnigma), and Laura E. Hall (lehall) with
the Center for Immersive Arts.
Announcements
This is a static snapshot of the
Unfiction forums, as of
July 23, 2017.
This site is intended as an archive to chronicle the history of Alternate Reality Games.
  

The time now is Wed Nov 13, 2024 1:21 am
All times are UTC - 4 (DST in action)		 View posts in this forum since last visit
View unanswered posts in this forum
Calendar
 Forum index » Meta » Player Help
Topic Headers
Moderators: imbri
View previous topicView next topic
Page 1 of 1 [13 Posts]  
Author Message
MageSteff
Pretty talky there aintcha, Talky?


Joined: 06 Jun 2003
Posts: 2716
Location: State of Denial

 		Topic Headers
I am borrowing/copying from Collective Detective for this (and per Jamesi - Cloudmakers), since I don't see it listed elsewhewhere. I'd like to thank CD for their helpful Help section on this. Italics is information I have added.

-Magesteff

Topic Headers
Topic headings are used to help organize posts in the Discussion pages. These headings give other Detectives an immediate idea of the type of information they can expect find included in the post. The heading choices are: INFO, QUESTION, SPEC, PUZZLE, UPDATE, CONTACT, META, SPOILER, OT (off-topic) and OTHER. Below a brief description will explain how to use each tag.

INFO
This header is used to post general info on the Case. Detectives can also use this tag to post information that may or may not be related to a puzzle, such as facts that may or may not prove relevant to the solving of the puzzle. Additionally, the Info header is used to report any background information, like WhoIs data. Info is the collection of all miscellaneous information and research directly related to the Case.
Example: INFO: Passage from Shakespeare's Macbeth.

QUESTION
This header is used when a detective is requesting additional information or clarification on a topic.
Example: QUESTION: Where can I find Laia's journal?

SPEC
This header is used for all Case related speculation. Use this header to post opinions on where evidence may lead, or to start a discussion about how different characters or Case components might be linking up.
Example: SPEC: I think that Richard may not know anything about all of these "accidents"…

PUZZLE
This header is used to announce the discovery of a new puzzle in the Case, or to discuss an existing puzzle while working towards its solution. Please note that "puzzle" includes passwords, voicemail codes, etc. in addition to more traditional-variety puzzles. Please use this header to report the discovery of a solution and include SOLVED or SOLUTION in the subject line.
Example: PUZZLE: Jeanine's voicemail code.

UPDATE
This header is used to post any new in-game site discoveries, as well as any any updates/changes made to known sites. Additionally, Detectives should use the UPDATE header when posting any new in-game phone numbers or email addresses that they have discovered.
Example: UPDATE: NEW site - university.

CONTACT
This header is for Detectives to post any contact made with campaign characters. This includes any phone calls, emails, packages received or personal contact.
Example: CONTACT: weird email.
Since some of the campaign forums (fora?) may have the boards broken into sections for each game there are also sub tags for this header: EMAIL, PHONE CALL, IM, CHAT, SNAIL MAIL, IN PERSON. which may also be followed with dates of same and characters involved.


META
This header is for discussions about the community, or about campaign participation. Additionally, this is the header to use for announcements about mods, or comments about Case structure.
Example: META: should we brute force pushtimes.com?

SPOILER
The Spoiler header is primarily used when a campaign is directly tied in to a movie or television show. This header is designed to alert other detectives that the post may give away pieces of the plot.
Example: SPOILER: Information on Nachos.
Note: On UF there are spoilers that hide info relating to the specific details of a solve the use of which is encouraged, to allow those who want to work on solving it themselves a chance to do so, yet be able to get hints when they need it.

OT
This header is for anything that is not related to the Campaign.
Example: OT: A priest, a monk and a rabbi walk into a bar…

OTHER
This header is for any post that does not seem to fall into the confines of any of the above-mentioned headers.
Example: OTHER: Detective meeting in New York on Saturday.
_________________
Magesteff
A small group of thoughtful people could change the world. Indeed, it's the only thing that ever has. - Margaret Mead


PostPosted: Thu Dec 04, 2003 10:47 am
Last edited by MageSteff on Fri Dec 05, 2003 9:45 am; edited 1 time in total
 View user's profile Visit poster's website AIM Address Yahoo Messenger MSN Messenger
 Back to top 
AnthraX101
Entrenched

Joined: 18 Mar 2003
Posts: 797

 		Metacortechs used a modified form of these headers.

Taken from http://www.smirkbox.com/label.html. Thanks to jamesi.

Quote:
GUIDELINES for moderation:
* LABELS. Your subject MUST begin with a label, specifying the category in which it is being posted.

* RELEVANCE. Your post should tell us something we may not have thought of or realized before.

* CLARITY. If your post is ill-written or hard to understand, we will ask you to change it.

EXAMPLES OF LABELS:

* NEW - New in-game website, phone number, or e-mail from the game.

* UPDATE - Use this when an in-game web site, voicemail number or e-mail autoresponder has changed its content. (DO NOT POST OLD NEWS USING "NEW" OR "UPDATE"!!!)

* SPEC - Speculation. You think your post might be right, and some evidence supports your view, but the point is not conclusive.

* QUESTION - Use this label when you have a factual game-related question which you are fairly certain that the group can answer, or for answers to other QUESTIONs.

* OFFTOPIC or OT - This post is totally unrelated to the game. Posts like this can actually go elsewhere, because of the diverse sections of Unforums.

* TRIVIA - Facts about the game which COULD be relevant, but which, as far as you can tell, probably aren't.

* HUMOR - A post which is funny.

* PUZZLE - A post about game-related puzzles, passwords, UAMs, credit numbers, voicemail codes, etc. If you know the answer, add the word SOLUTION to your subject as well.

* SOURCE - Analysis of the HTML source code underlying game-related pages.

* META - Discussions of what the moderators are doing wrong, new labels we should use, how people ought to play the game, or about the Unforums organization generally.

* ANNOUNCE - Announcements. You probably shouldn't use this unless you're announcing a Trail update or something like that. DON'T use this for game news/updates!

* FLAME - Replies to a stupid post.

* TROUT - The polite response to a redundant or factually false post. The word "trout" is a term of respect. Read about it here

You should use multiple labels, when appropriate. For example, speculation as to how to solve a login puzzle should go into SPEC/PUZZLE. (Of course, it's unlikely that any such discussion is relevant any longer, but that's how you'd label it under the current system.)

If you don't want to read any UF humor, you don't have to. That's what the labels are for.

Don't make up new labels unless you really feel like none of the earlier labels are at all applicable. We're going to be more likely to edit your post if you made up your label.


SUBJECTIVITY AND CENSORSHIP

Yes, the final guideline, "Moderator's preference," is subjective. Maybe we ARE refusing to post your stuff just because we have a personal grudge against you. We have the full right to do so, which we will try to wield with responsibility and tact. Sometimes we will fail. When we do, you should flame us *mercilessly*.

---------------------------------------------


Borrowed from Cloudmakers-Moderated. Thanks to the author of this fabulous article.


AnthraX101
_________________
VGhlcmUgaXMgbm8gc3Bvb24u
ll----ll--ll--ll----l---ll---llll---ll--l--ll---llll-ll-l-ll-llll--l-.

PostPosted: Thu Dec 04, 2003 11:58 am
 View user's profile
 Back to top 
jamesi
Sentient Being


Joined: 25 Sep 2002
Posts: 2195
Location: Canadia

 		All the credit I can see goes to www.cloudmakers.org and the people who put the 'original' labelling guidelines together.
_________________
Digital Trail | Twitter | Retired ARGFest-o-Con 2012 Project Manager

PostPosted: Fri Dec 05, 2003 1:02 am
 View user's profile Visit poster's website
 Back to top 
MageSteff
Pretty talky there aintcha, Talky?


Joined: 06 Jun 2003
Posts: 2716
Location: State of Denial
jamesi wrote:
All the credit I can see goes to www.cloudmakers.org and the people who put the 'original' labelling guidelines together.


If anyone know the people who put the original set of guidelines together please let me know and I will add their Nicks or Names if they want. I mentioned Collective Detective, because that is where I found the list.
_________________
Magesteff
A small group of thoughtful people could change the world. Indeed, it's the only thing that ever has. - Margaret Mead


PostPosted: Fri Dec 05, 2003 9:50 am
 View user's profile Visit poster's website AIM Address Yahoo Messenger MSN Messenger
 Back to top 
Wolf
Decorated


Joined: 26 Sep 2002
Posts: 292

 		Here ya go. The originals.

You might have to be signed in to Yahoo to see them.
_________________
You can lead a horticulture, but you can't make her think.

PostPosted: Thu Feb 26, 2004 9:56 am
 View user's profile
 Back to top 
bill
Unfettered


Joined: 25 Sep 2002
Posts: 614
Location: Tampa

 		Even when logged in and subscribed to CM, I couldn't directly link.

Here is the relevant text. The original document was posted to cloudmakers on 6/4/2001 by wholok.

Keep in mind these tags were designed for use on a message board with a single, chronological thread. With phpBB, we can separate into multiple threads and many of the labels become redundant.

Quote:
GUIDELINES for moderation:

* LABELS. Your subject MUST begin with a label, specifying the
category in which it is being posted. IF YOUR POST IS MISLABELLED
OR UNLABELLED, IT WILL NOT BE POSTED ON CM-MOD!!! (This should get
you in the habit of always labelling your posts.)

* RELEVANCE. Your post should tell us something we may not have
thought of or realized before.

* CLARITY. If your post is ill-written or hard to understand, we
won't post it on cm-mod.

* MODERATOR'S PREFERENCE. Some moderator must believe that your post
is good.


EXAMPLES OF LABELS:

* MOVIE SPOILER - This reveals plot points of the movie A.I. which you obtained
by seeing the movie or reading a spoiler review. You *must* use this
label and provide spoiler space when appropriate.

* NEW - New in-game website, phone number, or e-mail from the game.

* UPDATE - Use this when an in-game web site, voicemail number or e-mail
autoresponder has changed its content.

(DO NOT POST OLD NEWS USING "NEW" OR "UPDATE"!!!)

* SPEC - Speculation. You think your post might be right, and some
evidence supports your view, but the point is not conclusive.

* QUESTION - Use this label when you have a factual game-related question
which you are fairly certain that the group can answer, or for answers
to other QUESTIONs. Do NOT use QUESTION for controversial questions
like "Is Evan an AI?"

* OFFTOPIC or OT - This post is totally unrelated to the game.

* TRIVIA - Facts about the game which COULD be relevant, but which, as
far as you can tell, probably aren't.

* HUMOR - A post which is funny.

* PUZZLE - A post about game-related puzzles, passwords, UAMs, credit
numbers, voicemail codes, etc. If you know the answer, add the word
SOLUTION to your subject as well.

* SOURCE - Analysis of the HTML source code underlying game-related
pages.

* META - Discussions of what the moderators are doing wrong, new
labels we should use, how people ought to play the game,
or about the Cloudmakers organization generally.

* ANNOUNCE - Announcements. You probably shouldn't use this unless
you're announcing a Trail update or something like that. DON'T use
this for game news/updates!

* FLAME - Replies to a stupid post.

* TROUT - The polite response to a redundant or factually false post.
The word "trout" is a term of respect. Read about it here:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/cloudmakers/message/5748

You should use multiple labels, when appropriate. For example,
speculation as to how to solve the chemistry puzzle should go into
SPEC/PUZZLE. (Of course, it's unlikely that any such discussion is
relevant any longer, but that's how you'd label it under the current
system.)

Posts bearing *any* of the above labels may receive moderation, even
speculation, trivia and flames. We may forward speculation , but only
if we think it's GOOD speculation. We may forward flames, but only if
we feel that your flame merits widespread viewing. We may forward
humor, but only if we think that it's funny.

If you don't want to read any CM humor, you don't have to. That's
what the labels are for. On CM-mod, you can be assured that you need
see nothing more than the subject lines of pointlessly humorous
posts. (Spoilsport.)

Don't make up new labels unless you really feel like none of the
earlier labels are at all applicable. We're going to be more unlikely
to forward your post if you made up your label.

_________________
Bill
http://deaddrop.us/
Dedicated to Alternate Reality Gaming

PostPosted: Thu Feb 26, 2004 10:33 am
 View user's profile Visit poster's website Yahoo Messenger
 Back to top 
bill
Unfettered


Joined: 25 Sep 2002
Posts: 614
Location: Tampa

 		Scanning the list of labels, it seems that PUZZLE and META are the only labels that would be deprecated. Using the structure from Metacortechs, I could see the following headings being standard for most games.

    General/Updates
    Quick Reference
    Interaction
    Puzzles


Personally, I would add Meta to that list. And, if warranted, other forums like Acheron's Pre-Game would make sense.
_________________
Bill
http://deaddrop.us/
Dedicated to Alternate Reality Gaming

PostPosted: Thu Feb 26, 2004 10:45 am
 View user's profile Visit poster's website Yahoo Messenger
 Back to top 
Tien_Le
Charter Member


Joined: 22 Sep 2002
Posts: 878
Location: corner of no and where

 		headings
wb wrote:
Scanning the list of labels, it seems that PUZZLE and META are the only labels that would be deprecated. Using the structure from Metacortechs, I could see the following headings being standard for most games.

    General/Updates
    Quick Reference
    Interaction
    Puzzles


Personally, I would add Meta to that list. And, if warranted, other forums like Acheron's Pre-Game would make sense.


Why? Frankly, I don't want there to be enough messages to warrant a META heading in any game. I'd prefer it if META were simply a topic within the General/Updates heading.
_________________
consume less; live more

PostPosted: Thu Feb 26, 2004 12:41 pm
 View user's profile
 Back to top 
bill
Unfettered


Joined: 25 Sep 2002
Posts: 614
Location: Tampa

 		Common meta topics include 'guess the PM' and 'i found the original image the PMs used'

It's enough that I would want it elsewhere since it's really not part of the actual game (even if it is fun Very Happy )
_________________
Bill
http://deaddrop.us/
Dedicated to Alternate Reality Gaming

PostPosted: Thu Feb 26, 2004 2:07 pm
 View user's profile Visit poster's website Yahoo Messenger
 Back to top 
Tien_Le
Charter Member


Joined: 22 Sep 2002
Posts: 878
Location: corner of no and where
wb wrote:
Common meta topics include 'guess the PM' and 'i found the original image the PMs used'

It's enough that I would want it elsewhere since it's really not part of the actual game (even if it is fun Very Happy )


How about a META sticky?
_________________
consume less; live more

PostPosted: Thu Feb 26, 2004 2:34 pm
 View user's profile
 Back to top 
imbriModerator
Entrenched


Joined: 21 Sep 2002
Posts: 1182
Location: wonderland

 		What's wrong with a META tag or even the meta forum that already exists?

An entire forum under each game category for the handful of posts that arise seems like overkill. If we're creating more forums, I'd like to see them go to Games and not Meta Games. "Mysterious Stranger" seems more worthy of a forum, imo, than discussing Meta issues (which could fit in the general category or in the preexisting Meta forum).

It seems to me that Sticky posts and adding forums would increase the Meta Game that a few like to play. I don't get it, never will. Doesn't mean it's wrong or bad, just that I would rather put the time in on puzzling and spec or helping someone with a guide and trail. Lemme tell ya, those things are GOLD! GOLD! And, if you like the PM hunt, host it on your own space and check the logs... I can guarantee that if you've got a good guide and/or trail, the PMs will be using it too and that might give you a heads up based on what they're looking at.

So, I'd vote for using the existing meta forum or the simple route of just using a simple META tag in the title of the post. Sort of like a spoiler warning.... you don't want to read it, you don't have to. As an added bonus, for those of us that prefer to see SPEC and UPDATE posts, if there are enough of them, the META posts will fall off the front page and then we don't even have to see them.

-b

PostPosted: Thu Feb 26, 2004 3:09 pm
 View user's profile Visit poster's website AIM Address
 Back to top 
rose
...and then Magic happens


Joined: 26 Nov 2003
Posts: 4117

 		Two thoughts
I advocate the addition of a SPEC section that would deal with spec on plot and characters. I found the GENERAL section got too jumbled with stuff sometimes and some good ideas got lost. Also, I think players should spec on plot, characters and the meaning of new information, in the same collaborative way as we do with puzzles. So I think a section, similar to the PUZZLES is appropriate.

PostPosted: Fri Feb 27, 2004 11:32 am
 View user's profile Visit poster's website
 Back to top 
Tien_Le
Charter Member


Joined: 22 Sep 2002
Posts: 878
Location: corner of no and where

 		meta topic header
>So, I'd vote for using the existing meta forum

There you go! That's the best idea yet.
_________________
consume less; live more

PostPosted: Fri Feb 27, 2004 11:41 am
 View user's profile
 Back to top 
Display posts from previous:   Sort by:   
Page 1 of 1 [13 Posts]  
View previous topicView next topic
 Forum index » Meta » Player Help
Jump to:  


You cannot post new topics in this forum
You cannot reply to topics in this forum
You cannot edit your posts in this forum
You cannot delete your posts in this forum
You cannot vote in polls in this forum
You cannot attach files in this forum
You can download files in this forum
You cannot post calendar events in this forum



Powered by phpBB © 2001, 2005 phpBB Group