• We have updated our Community Code of Conduct. Please read through the new rules for the forum that are an integral part of Paradox Interactive’s User Agreement.

DebbieElla

Community Manager (currently on maternity leave)
Administrator
Paradox Staff
Moderator
Mar 4, 2019
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Hello everyone,

For a few months the Community team at Paradox, with the help of our volunteer Moderators, has been reworking the Community Code of Conduct, this document that explains the rules we expect everyone to follow on the forum. Our main focus is to ensure the forum is a safe and fun place for both you and our staff to interact and share your passion for our games. We believe that the forum is a cornerstone of Paradox Interactive’s community and we want to carry on the 20-year-long tradition of developers and players meeting on this platform. Right now, we see forumites leaving, new players avoiding the forum because they don’t feel welcome, developers interacting less and less with the community… We want to change things around and for that we chose to focus our efforts in fostering healthy behaviors on the forum to make sure everyone has an enjoyable experience, and ultimately increase participation. Together with the Community Code of Conduct we are updating our Sanction System to a 3-strikes approach. The rules are remaining roughly the same, but this new system will be less lenient towards repeated offenses (more details below).

It will surely take time, but we trust that these changes will have a positive impact on the forum’s environment. The updated Sanction System will be rolled-out shortly.

In details:
You can (and should!) read the updated Community Code of Conduct HERE. It provides you with clear expectations of the behaviors we welcome on the forum and how we want to interact with you. You will also find a list of Do’s and Don’ts that will help you navigate the behaviors and content prohibited. The Sanction System will now be divided into Minor Infractions and Major Infractions. To put it simply, Minor Infractions will lead to a warning, while Major Infractions will result in a suspension. However, repeated Minor Infractions will transform into a Major Infraction, and there is no more reset period. We give you 3 opportunities to learn from our feedback. At the third Major Infraction, we will consider that you aren’t interested in following our forum rules and it is better to part ways.

NOTE: With the change of Sanction System, it is possible that forum users that accumulated enough sanctions in the previous system automatically end up permanently banned. Do not worry, it is not our intention to retroactively update the sanction system. Our team will review the automatic bans manually to establish the situation and unban anyone that was wrongfully sanctioned because of the change. We understand that it is a major inconvenience and we did our best to limit the risks, but some will inevitably slip through the cracks of cases we didn’t think of and will get automatically banned. If you were banned from the forums and are not able to contact the moderation team, you can appeal the sanction by reaching out to this email: admin@paradoxinteractive.com

Please be patient, we are on it!
 
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Question: I've read the code of conduct. But what about jokes, memes, poems etc. as long as they are game-related?
If they are game-related, and don't break the rules in terms of content, then a funny meme or poem won't be an issue. It all comes down to context, and remembering that the tone of it might not translate well over text.
 
Out of curiosity, does this apply to the staff, as well?
 
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A number of strikes system vs an infraction based system will always be worse.
It's generally not a good idea to copy that from reddit.

Especially in the OT discussions and debates are normal and tend to get heated.
This will result in a lot of long time members getting banned in no time.

There is no expiration date on infractions.
Holy moly. That is extreme.

Also with the retroactive conversion of infraction points how is a user to know how many strikes he currently has?
Especially since there were infraction points that did not expire.


Oh well.
 
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Out of curiosity, does this apply to the staff, as well?
In general yes, everyone on the platform go by the same rules.

A number of strikes system vs an infraction based system will always be worse.
It's generally not a good idea to copy that from reddit.

Especially in the OT discussions and debates are normal and tend to get heated.
This will result in a lot of long time members getting banned in no time.


Holy moly. That is extreme.

Also with the retroactive conversion of infraction points how is a user to know how many strikes he currently has?
Especially since there were infraction points that did not expire.


Oh well.
OT currently has very experienced moderators who do a great job at handling the heated discussions there, I have full faith in their ability to balance the new conduct with the discussions that take place in OT. As mentioned, the rules have not been majorly changed, just streamlined.

If you have any questions about how many infractions you currently have, please reach out to me or a moderator and they can tell you privately.
 
Two questions about the new code:
1)
Users are also reminded that posting with a lack of content also constitutes non-constructive posting

What do you mean exactly by posting with lack of content?Does this apply to asking question to developers in dev diaries if the question is not developed enough?
2)

Legal information:​


Using the forums requires you to create a Paradox Account, which in turn requires you to accept Paradox's User Agreement. This Community Code of Conduct is an integral part of the User Agreement, which for example means that a breach of this Code is the same as a breach of the User Agreement, with the same possible consequences.


We further recommend you to read Paradox's Privacy Policy which contains important information on Paradox's practices in relation to the collection, use, storage and other processing of your Personal Information.


This Community Code of Conduct is subject to change without notice. It is your responsibility to ensure that you are aware of the current rules and guidelines for posting.
Does this mean that you can get completely locked out of your Paradox account and services(including your games)just for a forum infraction or this will only be in extreme cases?
Thanks for any replies about this.
 
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Why communist symbols and propaganda are not mentioned as "inappropriate content"?
 
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A number of strikes system vs an infraction based system will always be worse.
I agree, a simple strikes systems takes no accounting into the severity of individual infractions on a case by case basis. More arbitrary than not having it really.
Why communist symbols and propaganda are not mentioned as "inappropriate content"?
A large chunk of the official profile pictures already fall under this category so considering it an infraction doesn't really make any sense.
 
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This also seems to fundamentally limit on-topic discussions of a lot of issues - for example discussing Nazism, which is on-topic for HOI or discussing sexism or sexuality-based discrimination, which is on-topic for CK. If saying something which gets taken the wrong way can get you permanently banned, I worry that people aren't going to be able to have meaningful discussion on issues which really need to be dealt with with nuance?
 
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A large chunk of the official profile pictures already fall under this category so considering it an infraction doesn't really make any sense.
I am not here to have long winded philosophical arguments. I saw the updated CoC, I skimmed to it to look for red flags, which of course I found. I located the proper area to discuss it. I saw others have raised my concerns. So I will only add my 2 cents to it. This statement and CoC reeks of implicit endorsement in favor of Communism. This is a problem for me. You should address it properly.
 
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I agree, a simple strikes systems takes no accounting into the severity of individual infractions on a case by case basis. More arbitrary than not having it really.

A large chunk of the official profile pictures already fall under this category so considering it an infraction doesn't really make any sense.
Sure, let's ban one murderous ideology from forum, but let's leave another because already large portion of profile pictures consist symbols of that secon murderous ideology. Sure. Makes sense. (irony if someone would not catch it)
 
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Sure, let's ban one murderous ideology from forum, but let's leave another because already large portion of profile pictures consist symbols of that secon murderous ideology. Sure. Makes sense. (irony if someone would not catch it)
The angle I'm going with is that banning it would point to a massive hole in the consistency of Paradox's approach.

I could have said something else, but I felt like it would be a bit silly for the both of us to get strikes in the replies to the thread announcing them.
 
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Sure, let's ban one murderous ideology from forum, but let's leave another because already large portion of profile pictures consist symbols of that second murderous ideology. Sure. Makes sense. (irony if someone would not catch it)

The angle I'm going with is that banning it would point to a massive hole in the consistency of Paradox's approach.

There are reasons they aren't equivalent, but I felt like it would be a bit silly for the both of us to get strikes in the replies to the thread announcing them.

Based on the HOI4 forum specific rules, I think this may actually be related to German law, rather than a judgement about the various merits (or lack thereof) of specific ideologies? (I may be mistaken though - I'm just making an inference).
 
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  • Real-world religion when not in the context of the game
  • Real-world Politics or events when not present in the game
Does this mean that all political discussions on the OT forums are banned?
 
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Looks good to me. Time after time, fun and useful discussion - positive or negative - is ruined by people who are seemingly only here to cause disruption and endlessly post snark. Glad Paradox is getting serious about dealing with them. Hopefully, it'll make for a more interesting forum and make more space for actual useful contributions/interactions that can help make the games better.
 
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