Note: The thread currently has a limit of one post every two hours for non-mod users. Currently, this is hard-coded by the admins, but there are plans to give mods the ability to toggle it without admin intervention. After mods are given the ability to do that, the time limit may be further reduced or removed entirely.
This thread is for discussing the following topics:
- Questions and clarifications about the site's rules and policies pertaining to wiki editing, forum posting, trope launching, and so on.
- If you have an idea for a thread on another part of the forums but aren't sure if creating it would be allowed, feel free to ask here.
This thread is not for any of the following:
- Reporting complaints or concerns about specific moderation decisions (e.g. suspensions and thumps). Report these directly to the admins via the contact form
. Selecting "The Staff" sends your message to the admins only, without making it visible to moderators.
- Queries about thumps applied to your own forum posts, including contesting the validity of a thump. Reply to the relevant moderator via PM for these matters.
- Ban appeals (use the "Edit Banned" thread
in this forum).
- Reporting problems or requesting moderator action in the wiki or forums (use Ask The Tropers or Hollersnote or specialized threads such as "Locked Pages"
).
- Queries about locked On-Topic Conversations (OTC) threads or banned discussion topics. OTC has its own moderation discussion thread here
, and the latest statement on the locked US Politics thread
and other banned OTC topics is here
. Bluntly, when certain OTC threads and topics have repeatedly caused problems, we're not going to provide forum space to discuss them again until the moderation toolkit is equipped to handle those conversations.
- Cut List challenges and queries (they have their own thread here
).
- Requests for changes to the site's code or discussion about such changes, as mods cannot change the code; only the admins can do that. Please direct tech requests to Query Bugs or Tech Wishlist (for bug reports and suggestions for feature additions/changes, respectively), and take other tech-related discussion to the Changelog thread
.
- Crowner actions. Please use the holler function instead.
- Discussion about changing or implementing policies. Please use Wiki Talk for that. (Asking whether it's OK to make a specific thread is acceptable; using this thread in place of such a thread is not.)
- Asking about the whereabouts of inactive mods (or other inactive users) before they return, if they return at all. Use the Absent people thread
for discussing inactive users.
Posts that use this thread in place of the sections listed in the bulleted list above are off-topic.
We're aware that the Edit Banned thread has a Non-Indicative Name, due to it also covering non-editing suspensions. We're not sure whether the name for that thread can even be edited without breaking the special coding that keeps posting restricted to mods and suspended users, so we're leaving it alone for now, because better safe than sorry.
(Edited Mar 28 2024, adding bullet about OTC and amending layout a little)
Edited by GastonRabbit on Oct 11th 2024 at 3:20:25 AM
Hello. I just wanted to throw my own two cents in really quickly.
Some people who do not have therapists outside of their place of education or employment may have issues that they are afraid to discuss with said internal therapist. While nothing can be a substitute for professional help, there are times, especially during this decade so far, where no help is available for someone. I understand that as of the terms going forward I cannot access Yack Fest for at least three months, but I just wanted to put this in here.
she/her/they | wall | sandboxThere are still better resources for help online than this forum, and like we already explained, we can't really take that responsibility, much as we might want to.
Hope shines brightest in the darkest timesYeah, it can be really dangerous to have a forum like that. I'm speaking from experience here; getting help from an internet friend can feel great but being that friend put into the therapist scenario is not only extremely stressful but also very unsafe if you don't know how to handle it.
A place to vent about things? I think it might be valuable. A place to seek a form of online therapy? Potentially life-threatening.
Working on: Author Appeal | Sandbox | Troper WallAnd venting as a thread may be okay... if they don't get replies/help in itself. Preventing that is very very difficult since anyone can post just about anything. In addition to that, a hugbox isn't any better.
So it would have to be moderated as is to be feasible, even with a "no replying to others rule" to avoid further issues.
IMO, I don't think it's remotely doable in this case. It's a good idea, but impossible to implement right now. Even the Edit Banned thread has issues with people replying to others as is, despite the clear rule. And that has a limited number of posters by design.
Shadow?
If there's no replies period, not even "damn that sucks I'm sorry" type of replies, then why even have the forum? To air your dirty laundry and get nothing out of it? At that point just get a diary.
My memory is foggy on this, but I'm like 80% we had a venting thread at one point. It got locked and deleted not long after its creation.
Hello here. I've decided to read this thread discussion after the Trash Heap was locked yesterday. I want to give some suggestions on improving the forums so that type of drama won't happen again.
- Move all Murderverse games and other roleplays to the Roleplay section of the Forums.
- The Trash Heap and Thread Anti-Necromancy is restored, but with rules to prevent further drama and chaos.
- All off-site discussions for Roleplays in the Forums must be moved to Roleplaying Discussions so that drama is not imported from other sites. There must be a prohibition on off-site discussions, especially invite-only servers like Discord.
- The appointment of local thread moderators on the Trash Heap and Thread Anti-Necromancy, whose role is to enact threadlocks for a period of time to cool down the discussion and thump posters that engage in the drama.
What do you think?
I am unsure about whether the Thread Anti-Necromancy Game should be restored... although the dangers of child predation are pretty much anywhere anyway.
Trash Heap, though, that is a much calmer place. I have a feeling it'll be a lot safer.
And in conjunction with The Hangout Thread, I feel like it may be good.
Edited by TheWhistleTropes on Jan 18th 2021 at 9:17:00 AM
she/her/they | wall | sandboxI believe the issues with more moderation is focusing on one part of the site isn't really plausible? I forget the details.
That said, yeah, the venting thread was very quickly removed cause it got volatile fast. ...Which well, that happens with "ranting" in general. Even if we allowed hugbox-based replies(not saying it's a bad idea alone, but many will be tempted to reply outside of that. Having a zero replies rule can actually prevent that). I'm also not saying it's a "great" solution either. It's just a possibility that could prevent some chaos. Either way, I'm not sure if there's a feasible option anymore.
Shadow?I'm not too keen on restoring Anti-Necro, though that's in part because it hardly qualifies as a forum game and the intentionally-fast-pace of the game makes it an environment that encourages spam at best.
Working on: Author Appeal | Sandbox | Troper WallI feel like the whole off-site discussion point of yours is a very extreme measure to avoid drama importation, Adept. Some people in the community just wanted to chat with each other without the whole on-topicness with whatever RP/game community they're at.
artsy geek | any pronouns | "well, if you're hearing this, then chances are you've made a very poor career choice."That's not something we can control, but we can ban off-site chat groups for Roleplays and the like. There's a difference between a few tropers meeting up off-site, and Discord groups for Roleplays hosted on TVT.
Working on: Author Appeal | Sandbox | Troper Wall
I agree with that. I think Trash Heap will be only used to post things that are frivolous for the Hangout threads, while Thread Anti-Necromancy will be permanently locked for now on.
![]()
![]()
The point was more about forum games creating their own large scale shadow thread off-site, which means conflicts grow well outside of the forum and are hard to moderate.
Edited by Redmess on Jan 18th 2021 at 3:29:06 PM
Hope shines brightest in the darkest timesI do not want there to be a breeding ground for horniness and child predation like TANG used to be. It had two toxic bird-themed individuals who both were banned for their crimes; one was an alt-right edgelord who sent an explicit Wikipedia page to minors, while the other was a depressive manipulator who sexted people on other platforms and generally made the whole place hornier than it should have ever been.
she/her/they | wall | sandboxIgnore this.
Edited by Irene on Jan 18th 2021 at 9:06:35 AM
Shadow?TBH, it may help if more Yack-Fest goers were here to discuss.
Working on: Author Appeal | Sandbox | Troper WallYes, indeed it should. I'll choose three at random that I have only occasional interactions with.
~Angrok Va, ~Ultimatum, and ~Reiko Kazama, you may state some of your opinions. Bring others along if you like.
she/her/they | wall | sandboxAfter whatever happened yesterday, which I've heard bits and pieces about over on Discord, and which I don't need to repeat, I have to ask: is it really necessary to permalock threads after importing drama from other places? Why not just simply temporarily lock the thread to give people time to calm down, and ban the offending users right away?
Edited by AngrokVa on Jan 18th 2021 at 11:04:18 AM
I think it's good idea to temporarily lock threads and ban the offending users. It prevents us from recreating the thread every time a mod-induced lock occurs. Plus, it would be an opportunity to rest away from typing on threads.
I am currently under the assumption that the locks administered to the Trash Heap and Insecurities are cooldown locks until we are clear of mind enough to return, but I am unsure. The lock of the Thread Anti-Necromancy Game was most likely envisioned as a cooldown lock, but that cooldown has lasted for a month and three weeks thus far, as likely with the discussion of fetishes and presence of problematic tropers and sexual harassment it was determined to have been an explosion more akin to Chernobyl than Hiroshima.
Edited by TheWhistleTropes on Jan 18th 2021 at 11:12:29 AM
she/her/they | wall | sandboxTrash Heap can go either way, but most of us are very uncomfortable with bring Insecurities back; there's been a lot of discussion about the potential hazard it can cause.
Working on: Author Appeal | Sandbox | Troper Wall

Took a while to catch up.
I think I covered it all by now.
That said, I can fully understand the Discord drama problem. Worth noting that it's hard to tag anyone on this site, and I have avoided doing so unless beyond necessary. The current roleplay that I co-run with another user is getting hard to have active players, but a PM feels kind of unnecessary unless it's an actual problematic thing they did. Just "being inactive" seems uncalled for. Sometimes RP's die. It happens.
Shadow?