New Rules!

[Snigaroo 119]

Hello streamers!

Your friendly staff here. We'd like to let you know about the new site rules we've just whipped up. These are a modification of the old site rules to remove some outdated rules, add a few new ones (and some extra categories on old rules), and just generally reformat everything and make it easier to read, especially by organizing them in a better way that flows from the most important rules for users to see to those that are least-important.

For most of you, if you follow the cardinal rule of "don't be stupid," this won't mean much to you. It's meant to be more of a clarification, both for us as moderation and for you as users, so the rules are more readable and more up-to-date. There are some major caveats to that, though, which we should point out here. A few massively important changes have been made:

 

FIRST: Bumping. As you can see, bumping is no longer under a blanket ban, but instead has some common-sense regulations about when it should or shouldn't be employed. Since de facto bumping was used from time to time anyway under these circumstances, we thought it made sense to codify those exceptions.

 

SECOND: Spoilers. We're never going to remove something for spoilers, but as the new rule #11 points out:

Despite being an old game, many users are new to them, and as Deadlystream hosts many bugfixes and content restorations deemed critical by the community ...

In areas where first-time players are likely to travel, major spoilers should be kept to an appropriate minimum and, where necessary to include, should be mentioned beforehand.

This is just a courtesy regulation for new players. It's not a rule we're enforcing through warnings or bans, but it is absolutely something we'd like everyone to remain mindful of. Many of the mods here are of tremendous help to all varieties of players, including brand-new ones; insofar as it is possible, their experiences should be respected and protected by being mindful of what you're saying, and where you're saying it.

 

THIRD: Tipjars. This is the big one, and there's a lot of regulations on it, as we want to protect both our modders and users. But it's a huge change and a long time coming, so I'd like to talk about it in a bit more detail, and explain our rationale.

Our stance has always been, and will always be, that the sale of modifications (that is, taking money for making, releasing, supporting or troubleshooting a mod, as well as accepting money with any expectation of reciprocity, for either party) is strictly prohibited. It's not just because that's not the kind of community we want to be, it's also because we determine that this is strongly against the EULA for the games, and would ultimately be tremendously detrimental to the community in all respects: to modders, to users, and to the sites that support both. We will never permit this, ever.

With that said, many communities have recently become more tolerant of allowing modders to be voluntarily thanked for their content, and we think this is a positive trend. Most of those who mod the games don't do it with any expectation of reciprocation (and nor should they), but if they make something which truly improves a user's experience to the extent that the user wants to thank them for their contributions in a tangible way, we see no reason why they should be prevented from doing so. Most modders spend hours of their days doing their work, after all, and so long as the system is voluntary on both sides we don't see a reason why those modders who choose to shouldn't be able to state that they accept tips, and users who are interested shouldn't be able to provide them.

The full regulations for the tipjar system are in the second post of the rules thread, and we expect (and welcome!) a lot of feedback here. It's obviously a very new thing for DS, and while we think we've covered all the necessary bases there can always be more said, and if needed adaptations and additions to the current regulations. But I want to emphasize here finally that we aren't making this site-integrated. DS isn't taking money off the top, or handling these tips through its own integrated system, or making it mandatory. MODDERS choose if they want to use it, and where they want to advertise it (within the extremely strict bounds of the regulations; we don't want these links to be spammed). This is meant to be a system that modders have the greatest control over, so if you dislike it or think your mods shouldn't be the subject of any donation talk, you can make the decision to not participate without ever having the system shoved in your face. It's opt-in on both sides, by design.

 

Needless to say, we expect a lot of feedback here, and will be listening closely. But we hope that, on the whole, everyone thinks that these new rules are an improvement over the previous iteration. Thanks!

[DarthParametric 3,785]

Assuming you haven't implemented it (or plan to) already, one way of managing the tips thing (which I find a weird nomenclature btw, why not just call it a donation?) might be to add a dedicated field to the mod submission page where the modder can enter a PayPal address or whatever. Maybe with a default message to the effect of "The author has opted out of tips/donations for this mod". It would make it a more consistent enduser experience rather than making them have to ferret through different readmes for the information. And it would keep that junk out of the actual important information about the mod.

[Snigaroo 119]

I'm not opposed to doing such, as long as that doesn't lead to giving the impression that DS profits from this in some way. Ultimately that's @Tyvokka's decision, though, and will be forthcoming if it's a change we'd like to have.

[DarthParametric 3,785]

An idea regarding the tips/donations crossed my mind, that I'm not sure what the overlords would make of. Rather than asking for direct cash payments such as through PayPal, how about instead asking for Steam gift codes (and/or GOG, if they do that too)? I can see that being less of a headache for the mod author, saves them giving out their personal details and having to deal with potential tax implications of money magically appearing in their bank account.

[Snigaroo 119]

Personal details shouldn't be visible through Ko-Fi or Paypal so long as a Paypal business account is used, which I don't think has any tax implications in itself, and based on what @JCarter426 said Paypal doesn't take a higher cut for that type of account, either. Your tax note is valid, but how would we regulate Steam gift codes? We shouldn't have anyone asking for specific games (that's setting the amount in a way, the same way the regulations currently ban) and I believe straight gift cards across regions are also blocked by Steam in at least a few circumstances (and I believe also have a minimum amount).

[JCarter426 1,215]

I keep forgetting the staff forum is private. I'll just quote myself on the matter:

On 11/16/2019 at 8:21 PM, JCarter426 said:

Also, anonymity may be a concern, so I did some investigating. It seems the only way to prevent PayPal from revealing your name and email address (even through a site like Ko-fi, if PayPal is doing the payment processing) is with a business account. There is no difference in fees. PayPal has no rule against multiple accounts - each account just requires a separate email address. When you make a PayPal business account, you need to put your personal information down as the contact for legal reasons, but you can choose any name for your business to display on transactions.

Basically: make a new email account, make a new PayPal business account, give them your real name, but pick whatever business name you want and that's what people will see.