[Announcement] Rumour Mill

Hi folks,

after some recent incidents I would like to get a feel how you guys feel about the rumour mill.

As you may (or may not know) a member recently left because among some other things the tone of the rumour mill made them uncomfortable. I don't want to overreact and tar everybody with the same brush, but the more I think about it the more I am forced to admit that especially to new members the rumour mill in its current form does not make the best impression. It is all sex and vitriol and while I don't want to say negative things can't be posted there, we might want to look into it as a community and decide just how far we want to take it.

Put yourself into the shoes of a new member on their first day on MH and decide how they would feel seeing what they saw there without knowing that most of the nasty things were actually posted by the drivers whose characters it concerns.

I've already talked to some people individually, so I don't want you to respond to this thread with "it was X" or "Y posted Z about A". Honestly, I don't care and have no desire to look into it. We perhaps approached the rumour mill too naively, but I don't want this to be a cause to tell anyone off.

What I do want however is for us not to continue this way. That means if you see comments on there that are really below the belt, don't respond to them. Don't join in. If you have an idea for a meaner comment ask yourself how you would see that if you were a new join. There is a massive difference between posting "Declan is annoying" and making a list like this:


People who actually like Declan:
Nobody
Not a soul
maybe some hooker he paid

So yeah... tone people, and thank you.

We'll base any further action on what you vote in the poll. Personally, I hope this does not need further admin interference.

Cheers

None of the above options in the poll suit how I feel, but to be honest the Rumour Mill in it's current form largely intimidates me simply because I find it very difficult to navigate (at least on my laptop anyway). When I supported bringing the rumour mill I was expecting a similar format to how it used to be, like IC posts per school - perhaps a board layout like such:

BEAUXBATONS RUMOUR MILL
Luciana could be heard discussing Zoé Deveaux's recent change in relationship status outside the greenhouses "Did you hear? They were caught in the kitchen's doing such and such.."

^-- sorry my brain is incapable of thinking of something witty right now xD but you know where i'm going.

and you could have Hoggies and Durm topics, where people simply respond with their 'rumour'.  If something is offensive/inappropriate, e.g. someone insulted Lucia in a way I thought was too far (even for IC) I would just PM an admin about it and the post in question can easily be deleted, no harm no foul. Potentially could also have an Adults topic too...

I just think this would suit the tone of "RP" better as things heard in the rumour mill can be mention in threads?

So that is my suggestion ^^

also, this format would mean we can pinpoint any foul play a lot better because I feel anonymity makes the claws come out if people feel a certain way about a driver -- I would hope we don't have any driver-driver issues on here but just another aspect I feel posting ON mh would resolve as the current format is very anonymous

I am really reluctant to make the rumour mill more linked to IC because it invites meta playing which is already a problem we struggle with. Also, we had the format you suggest before and it breeds its own variety of issues... let me explain a bit.

For those who might not know, meta playing is when your character knows information about something or other characters that he has no way of knowing IC while you as a driver are obviously informed.

For example, if your character knows Declan was a Death Eater because you as their driver has seen my membergroup icon.

The meta problem I see with your rumour mill idea is that we really only could have rumours posted with the drivers permission. If two people are meeting on the BB grounds at midnight and have a private topic posting that your character saw that is more or less godmoding and might uproot someone's plot.

I am speaking from personal experience here as the last time the rumour mill was active in this format it drove Lisa, Farrenkat and me mental. There would be information on there taken from topics in Declan's house or Farren's bedroom and people would talk about what he did in a cafe with Tegan more than what Harry, Hermione and Ron were doing or any members of the famous and influential families. I bet it was super frustrating to anyone wanting to play a famous, talked about person too. And for weeks any thread I had with someone other than Farrenkat and Lisa was just full of meta and people knowing very personal things about Declan he most certainly would not advertise to the public.

Aside from that if you put names to the rumours this makes it personal in a way that creates a lot of drama too. "Julie doesn't like me, she always posts nasty stuff about my character." I think that is a conceptual rumour mill problem that is present in all formats. Posting nasty things about other members seems impossible without hurting some people's feelings. However, in the format you suggest it leads to inactivity as everyone ends up afraid to post anything as it might offend somebody and thus the rumour mill dies.

I am trying to keep my personal bias of absolutely disliking the rumour mill concept out of my admin work here which I am not sure I am fully succeeding with.

Just to see if your idea has any traction... show of hands on who find's Lowri's idea to be the way forward? I'd not even considered going back to that system for reasons above.

I think the only way it would work if we wanted it to be usable as ic gossip would be if people posted rumours about their own chars.
Otherwise it just has to be 100% ooc. Or, you know. Not exist xD

Hm, I hadn't really thought about it like that perhaps because I've never had any problems like you've explained but that is a valid point with the metaplaying and knowing quite personal stuff. I suppose Vannah's suggestion might also work? Or indeed collaborating on rumour mill posts.  I really don't mind too much, it was just an idea ^^

I like the current rumour mill as an ooc piece of fun.

I also like the idea of having a separate IC 'gossip thread' of some kind, where drivers can post things that they *want* to be common knowledge. eg:

Area: Germany; Eastern Europe
Characters Involved: Isaak Meer
Source of Gossip: Overseen/Overheard; Isaak Bragging
Gossip: Isaak snagged a large win at a Dragon Race over the weekend, pocketing a huge amount of galleons. He wasn't shy about the fact either, buying everyone drinks - did you know he's still single too?
Gossip's Path: Likely to be passed through the upper classes of the area (and potentially beyond) who are familiar with the Meers.

something like that? So this gossip is 'approved' by me, Isaak's driver, it's stated exactly who could pick up on this rumour - so some muggleborn from Hogwarts, for example, would not hear this rumour. Maybe a pureblood English family keeping an ear out for a potential husband for theit daughter might though.

Another exmple:

Area: UK; Hogwarts
Characters Involved: Alvin Hadditch; Sarah Hirst; Lorin Odell
Source of Gossip: Speculation; false rumour; incorrect information
Gossip: Sarah Hirst has dumped Alvin! Was abut time, she was way too good for him, and what with her being graduated now it makes sense. Perhaps that's why he spending all his time drooling over Lorin - he's got no chance there!
Gossip's Path: Through Hogwarts students/people who know of Vin and Sarah.

I think this kind of format would be of more use for IC threads.

And if someone wanted to post a piece of gossip about a character other than their own, they would have to seek the driver's approval first.

I like your input on this Cas.. definitely something to consider.