"Quality Standards" in the d20 System Guide

[Arnwyn]

And while I'm on this rant, could you (second person plural) please start proofreading your posts before you post them. (I'm sure you know who you are.) Atrocious grammar and phrasing does your argument no good. Hell, I've stopped reading badly composed postings. I've got better things to do than try to figure out what a poster was trying to say. And, no, I will not make allowance for those for whom English is a second language. Were Hebrew my native tongue I'd make the same demand of those for whom it is a second language. Clarity of writing indicates clarity of thought and adds impact to your argument.

Edit: removed rather hostile-sounding response... probably not warranted.

In any case, the rant above, regarding a D&D internet messageboard, is laughable.

 

[KDLadage]

Dr. Harry: one of my new heroes.

 

[jaerdaph]

Dr. Harry: one of my new heroes.

Mine too!

 

[shadow]

I was reading a thread on editing before coming here, and so I may be a tad hypersensitive, but this (along with myriad other mistakes in this post alone) grated on my sensibilities.

What is with the proliferation of "although"? It's not a bad word. In the right place it's a very good word. The above is not the right place. There is a better word, "though". As in, "Now though RPGs don't sell all that well to the general public…". See, a sentence that is easier to read, easier to comprehend, and you've saved a comma for later use.

And while I'm on this rant, could you (second person plural) please start proofreading your posts before you post them. (I'm sure you know who you are.) Atrocious grammar and phrasing does your argument no good. Hell, I've stopped reading badly composed postings. I've got better things to do than try to figure out what a poster was trying to say. And, no, I will not make allowance for those for whom English is a second language. Were Hebrew my native tongue I'd make the same demand of those for whom it is a second language. Clarity of writing indicates clarity of thought and adds impact to your argument.

Thank you very much for your great critique of my apparently poor grasp of grammar. Perhaps you should act as my personal proofreader and point out all the grammatical and punctuation errors that I made in my previous post. God forbid that I ever make an error or typo!

Obviously since posting on a Dungeons & Dragons messageboard is as important as writing an academic paper, I need to take more time off my busy schedule to double check and triple check my post. Perhaps while I'm at it, I could submit a rough draft to my English professor to have her review it for errors before posting.

By the way, how do you suggest that I do citations? APA style or MLA style?

 

[Scorpio]

This 'thread' is becoming ridiculous.

 

[Monster Manuel]

This 'thread' is becoming ridiculous.

I'm with you.

 

[patrickmallette]

Your post is the 478th on this topic...

So, one more isn't going to hurt is it. In the 7 pages of replies I read I didn't notice a form letter so my apologies for those who had to suffer through seeing one more.

Why do think you merit a special response when nobody else was able to receive one? ... therefore you are not in the group that would be professionally concerned with the change in policy

Because I'm special. Or maybe, just maybe they could see what affect it is having on the community (not just publishers). The fact that it annoyed even normal gamers is a testament to why it is such a bad idea. As a consumer damn right I'm involved. I'm glad they at least took the time to answer actual publishers.

Overreacting will not improve...

Yes, sometimes overreacting is good. The DMCA might have been better debated if a congressman had overreacted a little more pointing out the stupidity of certain parts of the legislation. In this case the "lawmakers" are wizards and the publishers are the "citizens" getting shafted by a bad change in the rules.

there is no inherent "right" that is being violated to use someone else's IP in their effort...

Agreed, but it does seem a lot like a child bringing a basket ball to a court, getting a large group to play and stating that if you don't like the changes he's making to the rules they all started playing under, they can go home. Yes, I understand that the license says it could change at any time blah blah blah, but I bet not too many thought it could potentially stiffly their creativity or expression. Do you think Spawn would have been published if the Comic Code were still strictly enforced? No.

..."communist pig" is going to strongly demonstrate that you are a mature, rational individual...

Hmm, over the top? Yes. Measured and self-censored yes. At least I'm not afraid to use my real name, nor was I in my communication to them. I have praised their work on 3.0 just as I have criticized their latest policy that I believe will affect the availability of products.

What you allow your children to do/see is immaterial, unless you are making the position that you, not WotC, should control what WotC's intellectual property should be linked to.

Censorship is not immaterial for anyone. If they don't want it linked to or associated with them have a disclaimer - that's what they're for isn't it. That would also allow publishers to express their thoughts and creativity no matter how dark without spreading it to the license holders.

-> Your letter fails to differentiate between what could be called "positionally inferior" and *intrinsically inferior*... That your letter shows such a fundamental misunderstanding about such a central point will also not improve the chances of this letter generating an individual response.

They made no differentiation that I could see, so why should I. Since they would also have the final say now in what is or is not inferior etc, I could easily envision a company making a competing product far superior to Wizards only to be told it had violated an aspect of this clause just to suppress a better product. When the movie studios sued Sony's for making the VCR had they a license similar to this we might not have VCRs or DVD players unless you purchased their potentially inferior and proprietary version.

Why would WotC care that you don't like Disney...

Dude, you totally missed my point. Disney and other companies have so censored or rewritten so many stories that they can no longer be recognized as many remember them from their childhood. The little mermaid for example dies in the original version, which made it a great tragedy - something truly memorable unlike Disney's version where everyone gets what they want and nothing bad ever happens again. (Until the sequel that strangely ends with everyone getting what they want...) This makes one movie just like every other movie with minor twists - nothing memorable or inspiring at all. Tell me how many modern Disney movies have an incompetent sidekick that's there just for laughs... Yup pretty much every one I've ever seen. This type of policy breads mediocrity plain and simple. As others have pointed out who would want to take the chance of doing something notable or risqué if by the time you're done someone external to your company can come along and say too bad it'll never see the light of day; release it under some other policy, but don't even think of saying it's compatible with D&D 3.5.

Why would you think you did?

It would have been nice to receive anything but a form letter because it would have shown it is at least being read rather than autodeleted or autoresponded to. You'll notice that I actually took the time to read your reply to my post. While we may disagree on the topic you now know I valued your feedback. This is something that Wizards obviously does not show by using these form letters. Was my letter just deleted, or did they say, "Wow this guy is really crazy/passionate about something that only indirectly involves him. Hey, here's another one and another. Maybe they have a point."

In this case I did expect a short answer (not a short form letter answer) because I have received answers on several other topics - even if they were only related to D&D, compliments or complaints.

Take care.

 

[mythusmage]

Edit: removed rather hostile-sounding response... probably not warranted.

In any case, the rant above, regarding a D&D internet messageboard, is laughable.

Since arnwyn, and Shadow below his post, care nothing for the quality of their writing, I feel safe in putting them on my ignore list. They have nothing to say, and they say it badly.

A disordered post is a sign of a disordered mind. My thanks to you two for confirming that.

 

[woodelf]

By the way, how do you suggest that I do citations? APA style or MLA style?

Chicago Manual of Style--MLA makes my teeth itch, and APA is too distracting.

 

[Wulf Ratbane]

Since arnwyn, and Shadow below his post, care nothing for the quality of their writing, I feel safe in putting them on my ignore list. They have nothing to say, and they say it badly.

HA! Take that you punks! You just made mythusmage's ignore list! The fun and games are OVER!



Thanks for keeping the rest of us posted.