HASA Workshop
Message:
28019
30 Jun 04 10:34 AM
Reply To:
28017
General Audience
Read-Only
Giving and receiving beta comments is a particularly difficult and sensitive task that can result in upset, even if none was intended. We would like to make this discussion a welcoming place where people feel comfortable to post. To that end, there are behaviours which participants should avoid as they may disrupt the process of authors and betas working together easily.
Behaviours that make it difficult or unpleasant to use this forum may result in loss of membership of the Beta - Try Before You Buy forum. The most severe violations warrant permanent banning from this forum. Those violations include:
* clear violations of the
Member Code of Conduct that keep other members from enjoying the forums.
* continuing to direct comments to another member in the same discussion, after being asked not to do so by that member and then reminded not to do so by the member or an admin. This includes continuing to comment on the other member's posts, even if these are not in direct response to those posts.
* derogatory statements about other members' comments. Members are reminded that the goal of this forum is to support other authors. To that end, critique should primarily be directed towards the authors' work, rather than to providing commentary on the critiques provided by other members. It is fine to discuss matters of canon, fact and grammar, or to debate other useful points brought up by various commenters, but denigration of other critiques is not acceptable. It is equally unacceptable to discourage an author from accepting another member as a beta reader.
* continuing, after being warned over a first offence, to denigrate particular types of content simply because of the type of content, not because of the quality of execution of that content in the story. An example would be attacking a story simply for containing slash, although it is permissible to question whether the slash in a particular story is credible within the context of that story. Similarly, stating whether the poster personally likes stories about a particular race or character is acceptable, as is stating that, in their view, many stories about a particular race or character that they have read seem to be badly written. Making sweeping generalised statements that no stories about a particular race or character are worthwhile (simply because they are about that race or character) or that HASA should not host stories about that race or character is
not acceptable.
* continuing, after being warned over a first offence, to fail to indicate clearly any threads which contain adult content. We have many members who are either under the legal age to read this kind of story, or who simply don't want to read such material. HASA has a duty of care to label adult or disturbing material as clearly as possible. Remember, this forum is not specifically adult; unless you label your threads as such, members will assume the thread is also general.
* refusing to amend a post that the admins consider is a violation of the operating rules for this discussion (particularly when posting story extracts). The admins will give clear evidence of the ways in which the post violates the operating rules, and make attempts to resolve the issue amicably with the member. If the offending post is not altered to conform to the rules of this discussion, the admins may delete it after giving 24 hours notice of their intention. The admins will include the reasons for making the request for amendments in the notice, which will be sent to the e-mail address in the member's user record through an official HASA e-mail address or through one of the site contact forms.
* continuing, after being warned over a first offence, to use language which a reasonable person would consider offensive. The
Member Code of Conduct requires members to 'treat each other with civility and courtesy, despite differences of opinion'.
Further conditions may be added as deemed necessary
The HASA admins feel it is very unlikely that members will behave in ways that will merit a ban, and we will always endeavour to resolve issues amicably without the need to invoke a ban. However, any member who is concerned that another member's behaviour in this discussion is inimical to the process of linking up authors and betas should contact the
HASA Beta Admin in the first instance (rather than making accusations in the forum). The Beta Admin will be pleased to investigate the issue.
As always, we're much more interested in helping everyone enjoy HASA than keeping people from using any part of the site. If you're ever unsure whether you should do something at not, please feel free to ask the
HASA Beta Admin.
