Hey Everyone!
With our existing forum guidelines8 being over a year old, it is now time for an update! I’m Isabell, also known as Ratique, and while many of you have interacted with me for years as forum moderator and part of the community, I’m now the new Creator Happiness Manager at Tapas. My goals are to improve the communication between the Tapas team and you, and to find better ways to include you in exciting projects that improve your time here as creators! I can’t wait to see how we can grow closer together as a community and how I can help you get the most out of Tapas!
Our rules have served to provide and maintain a welcoming, healthy and creator-friendly culture. Tapas is now home to over 50,000 creators (!) and we’re so lucky to have a group of creators on these forums that are kind, supportive and always work to help each other out. There aren’t many places like these online and I, as well as the team, are grateful for all of you being here.
1. There's Never a Wrong Time to be Polite
Always be courteous to your fellow Tapas readers and creators. Don't forget that there is a real person behind every post, who, just like you, wants to be treated with respect and tolerance. Keep your cool even in the most heated discussions. Above all else, we want everyone to feel safe and welcomed in our forums. Any behavior that threatens the culture we've all helped to build will not be tolerated.
We try our best to resolve issues behind the scenes by communicating directly with readers and creators. If you feel that there are posts that are actively hostile or are attempts to instigate any hostility, please flag those posts or get in touch with one of the moderators listed at the end.
We operate with a two strike policy. First time offenders (depending on severity) will receive a temporary ban (typically lasting 3 to 7 days), and repeat offenders will receive a permanent ban.
2. Tag, Search and Quote are Your Friends
Before creating new topics, please check for existing topics with the same subjects to see if your question has been answered before. The “Questions” and “Answered” categories contain lots of useful information that may help you.
Be respectful of readers and creators, who have already created similar topics and have generated ongoing discussions. A great way to jump into an active topic is to quote an existing post or to tag someone already active in the topic to engage them. We want to reduce multiple topics dealing with the same issues to make the forums easier to navigate for everyone.
However, we want to avoid bringing inactive topics back to life - if a subject you want to discuss has not been updated in the last 6+ months, feel free to create a new topic!
Old zombie topics that were revived by accident can be flagged by the community and will be closed and/or unlisted.
3. Do Not Solicit Sales on the Forums
Please refrain from trying to make any form of sales on our forums. Link dumping to a kickstarter or store front without contributing to the betterment of the forum will not be tolerated. If you want to link to your kickstarter, storefront, etc then please make a topic that will help the community (whether it's things you've learned, or questions about how to improve).
This includes advertising your own commission or editing services.
4. Report Posts When Necessary
In the past, we've encountered a number of spam bots, which prompted us to adopt a two-step authentication system for flagging posts, which means if two people were to flag a post, then the post will be placed under an interstitial visible only to moderators to either confirm or dismiss the flag.
Beyond reporting, if you feel that a topic has escalated to a point where discussions are no longer healthy or a cause for concern, please tag one of the moderators listed at the end. Oftentimes, a moderator will jump in and close the topic to try and deescalate the situation, then read through to try and contextualize the situation. Afterwards, we'll send out warnings or follow ups with the involved parties and either re-open the topic or permanently close and unlist the topic with a closing statement regarding why the decision was made.
5. Categorize and title your topics appropriately
This is covered in more detail in this topic6 regarding making topic names that avoid ambiguity. With so many topics being created daily, it's important for topic titles to be clear and concise to help readers and creators navigate and find relevant topics more easily. Also, please try and utilize the Categories tool to help sort topics.
6. We want to celebrate your work on our platform!
We are excited about your accomplishments and the hard work you’ve put into your creations on Tapas! Please continue to share your work that is hosted on Tapas in any of the existing topics that are made for that purpose or create new, exciting topics that allow the community to share their own work or creations they love.
Old, outdated self-promotion topics may be closed periodically to make space for newer versions. Please avoid creating topics that promote only one comic or novel to reduce spam - we will be closing and unlisting those.
Since this forum is a space where Tapas creators can communicate with each other and the team, please focus on topics related to Tapas.io. Topics about other platforms may be closed and unlisted.
7. Collaborate like a champ!
Cain created a great set of guidelines for our Collaboration42 category. Before posting, please review this guide and make sure you add as much information as you can to your own topic. This ensures that potential creative partners have an easier time judging if they should work with you. We encourage you to put time and effort into your collaboration posts.
Topics that have insufficient content and don’t follow our guidelines will be closed and hidden by moderators.
Please meet your forum moderator team!
@michaelson - A staff moderator and Editor in Chief. Michael has been part of Tapas and the community for a long time and knows all the ins and outs of the company.
@desktop_dragon - A beloved content assistant at Tapas, and more formally known as Cynthia! She has been part of the novels team for a year now and will be your go-to girl for posts specifically related to Novels and writing.
@Ratique (That’s me!) - I’ve been a long time community moderator and am now a staff moderator and Creator Happiness Manager. Some have called me forum mom, probably because I’m old and like to make sure everyone is kind to one another. I’m also the creator of the webcomics Devil’s Acres3 and Queen of Gods3.
Thank you for reading and keeping these guides in mind when using these forums! They’re always a work in progress and we will adjust them when new issues arise. Don’t hesitate to provide us with feedback at any time.
Thank you and happy posting!
Rat
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Apr '20last reply
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