Meme Images

[insmek]

Has there been any thought given to revising the overall forum rules to provide some whole-forum guidance on the use of meme images? Right now, the "legality" of meme image usage varies from subforum to subforum here, and it's a bit confusing if people are free and clear to post a meme image as part of a legitimate post in one area, then get reprimanded for doing the same in another. Meme images are undeniably a large part of internet culture and without clear guidance on their usage here a lot of well-meaning posters are going to be caught unaware. Whether we're allowed to use them or not, it would be nice if it was consistent across the whole of MMO-Champion.

Thank you for your time.

[Sunshine]

We don't want to allow meme images because too often they derail a thread -- they take up space and are very visible, so they attract people's attention and distract from the surrounding text. Plus, the next person to post is likely to comment on the image or try to one-up it, the following person is likely to do the same, and soon you end up with pages of people playing "who can post the best meme" instead of meaningful discussion.

There are a few cases where an extremely relevant and non-distracting picture might be overlooked, but our policy forum-wide is always that they are not permitted, for the reasons above.

[insmek]

We don't want to allow meme images because too often they derail a thread -- they take up space and are very visible, so they attract people's attention and distract from the surrounding text. Plus, the next person to post is likely to comment on the image or try to one-up it, the following person is likely to do the same, and soon you end up with pages of people playing "who can post the best meme" instead of meaningful discussion.

There are a few cases where an extremely relevant and non-distracting picture might be overlooked, but our policy forum-wide is always that they are not permitted, for the reasons above.

Ah! Thank you. I can see where my confusion comes from. A ban on meme images is mentioned by name here, in the FAQ overview, but isn't mentioned by name under the expanded forum guidelines here. There is a mention given to "lolcats and troll images", but many meme images would reasonably fall outside that oddly specific ruleset. The intention is clear, however, and the rules have been noted.

Thanks again for setting me straight, Sunshine. ^_^

[Sunshine]

Yeah, I should edit that to be more clear.


Edit: Updated that and a few other things in various sections of the FAQ.

[insmek]

One last question for clarification: Is linking the images banned as well, or merely posting the images themselves?

[Sunshine]

Still not allowed, because it still ends up distracting from the thread as people click to find out that it's an irrelevant image, etc.