Watch out BB is about to have a rant LOL :twisted:

Before launching into said rant I would like to say it's not directed at any individual players and if you recognise any of the examples I am about to give please don't take any of it personally or feel the need to reply to the specifics.

Speaking as an admin I am extremely grateful for the support of the many great regular players who help to keep things running smoothly at isketch. The problems can arise when those same regulars fall into an understandable attitude of ownership. They become very familiar with their enviroment and the other regular players which, in turn can lead to problems.

A few examples

a) A group of players decide that if they are amongst friends and all agree they can write hints or draw the odd penis for fun. Then in comes another player and rightly votes the offender causing all the others to shout "we all agreed it's ok"

b) A group of players who always occupy the same room decide that they don't approve of one of the game rules so as they are regulars they agree to ignore it.

c) I was in the movies room today and the answer was "Sandman". A very nice well respected player then typed the lyrics to "Mr Sandman" into the game window long before the round ended and several others thanked them for the help . Earlier this week another good player said who the star of a TV show was before the end of the round.

The point I am trying to make is that we are all subject to the same rules in public rooms no matter which friends we are playing with. I like to have a laugh as much as anyone but if I want to go outside the rules I always make my own room. In the examples I have given all were very good regular players who, I believe, got carried away with the atmosphere and the feeling of being amongst friends and would not intentionally break any rules. Sadly when this sort of scenario ensues some otherwise lovely people get very angry with the admin who is just upholding the game rules :sad:

Thanks for this reminder, BB. It's really easy to forget that you have to stick to the rules when there's a bunch of you playing together. I have been guilty of all of those things in public rooms because I get so used to doing so in private rooms. Well, I have never shouted at someone that 'we all agreed so it's ok'.

Yeah, we have to remember with rooms where anyone can come in, that we have to stick with the rules that everyone else has to stick with.

Apologies to the admins for when I have done this - I don't think there was ever an 'outsider' in the room when I have done it, but that's beside the point.

Thanks BB and all the other lovely jubbly admins for your patience :)

I would have to agree with you BB, as you know yourself a week or so ago i made that same mistake i drew a human part as the word hard.
And i was voted out.
You came in to that room and asked why i was voted, we told you and you said that it was relevent to the draw, but i do see the point your makeing, when we play in groups of friends it does crop up that we do sometimes go in to a comfort zone and dont uphold all the rules.
Ok even though my draw was relevent to the word, i still shouldent have drawn what i did, so from now on i will pay more detail to sticking to game rules, which as you say are there for us to abide to.
Well said BB.:razz:

Well said BB and I for one am grateful for that reminder. As cherry said, we get into a comfort zone :embarrassed: But I don't think I've ever had double standards, if somone who's not in the room writes pms etc or worse, I've never voted them because it was against the rules when we've just been doing the same.

I do have a quick question on the third point, I thought I read it was ok to give hints in either of the chat or guessing box to help people. Is that not ok? I may have read wrong but I just want to clear it up :smile:

Seems not, Facey.

I thought it was ok too... oops.


Giving away the answer: As guesser, after you have successfully guessed the word, feel free to talk in the "Chat" window. However, do not direct other players to the word. For example: typing the current word with spaces in between, giving the actor's name for a movie title, etc. Comments about the current puzzle are acceptable, but do not give leading hints. It is alright to note that a player has misspelled a word; however, do not give the correct spelling of the word.

LOL no it's most definitely not ok to give any hints to the answer in the current round.

An excellent reminder from BB. I also am ashamed to say if im in a room with many regs I tend to flout the rules slightly-mostly drawing abit of pron!:embarrassed: lol
I will endeavour in the future not to do that.

/me has never been angry with BB.. but then I like a good spanking :twisted:

In seriousness though, it's one thing to boot a supposed 'non-reg' if they're being abusive, another entirely to boot someone because they've rightly voted a violation. I've seen that done. Slap 'em if ya need to... but it's not on to boot someone for exercising their rights.

/me hugs BB even though it was me she warned for mentioning the star of the TV show (in my defence, there were only friends in the room at the time - I'm not that naughty, honest :razz:)

You raise some great points, BB. I think we've all witnessed this kind of thing. To us normal* sketchers it can appear amusing admittedly. But to you admin, trying to uphold the law, it must get infuriating at times.

Unwarranted booting is my main bugbear. I've seen it happen and suffered it, haven't we all? If another player is being a right royal pain in the botoom then fair enough, but not just because they're not part of your gang etc (obviously this only applies to normal, non-custom rooms.)

*Normal for a given value of normal

Unwarranted booting is my main bugbear. I've seen it happen and suffered it, haven't we all? If another player is being a right royal pain in the botoom then fair enough, but not just because they're not part of your gang etc (obviously this only applies to normal, non-custom rooms.)

I don't agree entirely. If you want that, you should work with an invite system and not make it accessible for everybody. When I was new-ish on Isketch I sometimes got kicked out of a user created room within seconds of entering. It's a public game after all. And if you really don't want someone in, just tell 'em that the room was intended for you and your friends or something; don't just kick. It's rude and pretty unnecessary, 'cos the person you just kicked out could actually be really nice or fun to play against/with.

I think I know what you're talking about Nay... the types that have names such as 'Will you be kicked?' usually I find the answer's yes... but I go in anyway. :twisted: I just like that sound. lol

BIG THANK YOU BB FOR YA REMINDER!!!!!!!!!!

i do see regulars doing that, and it's just totally saddening. i see some who do even further than that... but shall not say too much into this...

just... THANK YOU!!!!!!

=D

I've seen this happening a lot throughout the years, it's always angered me. What's worse, these groups of new regs, as i call them, don't know me as i don't play as much as i used to, so they think i'm some noob and then kick me if i start blowing whistles, and they're frequently in the movies room when i'm on, so there's not much i can do to get away from them if i want to play movies. To top it all off, all admins i know of are UK based, which means it's about 3am to them when i'm on isketch lol. I've been tempted to mail feedback to get these punks; i shall next time i see them hopefully.

i find that when i go into certain rooms to play, that most of the room is on away besides a poor newbie that is stuck drawing... i find it in mostly US rooms, haven't seen it in a UK one yet.. but i'm assuming that they are regulars because they laugh at whoever gets stuck drawing... too bad there isnt a way to prevent this cruel childish behaviour.. i mean, if they want to talk they should create their own room and not take up space in a public one where people want to play..

I have also noticed that some other regulars vote on drawings just because they don't play with that group of people.. i dont know why they think it's ok to do this...

i stick by the rules no matter what, and if a friend of mine decides to write hints on their drawing that are actual words i will hit the warn button just the same on them as if they are a Newbie

Thanks for the reminders, BB :)
I know I can slip up sometimes and joke to a person about the picture being related to them (whatever it is), which ends up being a clue, even if they have go it by then. It's still a clue to the rest of the room. I believe I did that once while an admin was in the room. "More food for you, so and so" (as we had been talking about food), and got an admin warning about clues.. :embarrassed: It just goes to show how easy it is to slip up and not realise you're giving things away when you're with a friend. *sigh*

One thing that I'd like to comment on:

"Regular" players who boot out people for swearing/cursing, but do it themselves, anyway. How can you boot out someone for doing what you do publicly too? May as well boot yourself out as well. I'm not sticking up for those that do swear, but rather, I really dislike seeing "the more regular" players swearing and cursing and getting away with it. Play fair. If you want to boot someone out for swearing.. stop swearing yourself too. And some less regular players actually listen to you sometimes if you ask them to stop swearing. I really dislike swearing, anyway. So sometimes I will say "why did you boot out someone for doing exactly what you're doing? It makes you no different to them". And of course, WW3 starts..

Anyway, thanks BB!

Hmmmmm, I admit to leding a gang to do that to a friend who finds it hilarious but I would never impose bieng stuck on draw to someone I don't know.

Ok, so I got it wrong with the hints but you can say about spelling. I will always write SP? and draw an arrow if I'm drawing and they're all spelling it wrong.

Should I get my wrists slapped for that?

O I do that too facey-its frustrating when you can see people know what it is but they not spelling it right. Are we nawty???

Ok, so I got it wrong with the hints but you can say about spelling. I will always write SP? and draw an arrow if I'm drawing and they're all spelling it wrong.

Should I get my wrists slapped for that?

i dont know.. that would be a good question for BB

O I do that too facey-its frustrating when you can see people know what it is but they not spelling it right. Are we nawty???
/me is never nawty :razz:

I've only just thought about it. We may be being nawty hun xxxx
i dont know.. that would be a good question for BB
/me sits and waits for she-who-must-be-obeyed to answer :biggrin:

/me sits very close behind facey in case they gonna get slapped wrists!!:sad::smile:

* Facey;90969 sits and waits for she-who-must-be-obeyed to answer :biggrin:

/me LOL's at "she who must be obeyed"

It is ok for the artist to remind guessers with an "sp" although, as with PMs on the canvass there is always the risk of being skip voted by players who are unaware that this is permitted.

Nerdy I agree with you about the hypocrites who vociferously advocate do as I say not as I do :mad:

Pfft @ She who must be obeyed :razz:

I am not sure whether I would be defined as a 'regular' *said with tongue in her cheek*; but I take on board what the little woman says. I think we can all hold our hands up here and say that on occasions, perhaps we have slightly bent the rules in public rooms - especially when with groups of people we know. And let us please not get on to the Eye for an I topic :razz:

/me stirs the cauldron just a little bit more :razz:

I think we can all hold our hands up here and say that on occasions, perhaps we have slightly bent the rules in public rooms - especially when with groups of people we know.Exactly, it's good to acknowledge that it's not just Newbies who make mistakes. I'm glad that someone brought up the 'unwritten rules' of the specialty rooms here, bringing it up during a game has a way of bruising egos...

* Fender;90921 hugs BB even though it was me she warned for mentioning the star of the TV show (in my defence, there were only friends in the room at the time - I'm not that naughty, honest :razz:)

But isn't that one of the problems BB was talking about? The fact that there were only friends in the room at the time isn't a defence... in a public room the rules of iSketch apply, friends or not.

heh..thats been going on for to long, Id like to see admins testing some of these regs by going on as a newbie and playing by the rules, but somewhat testing the attitude towards a non-reg.for example pressing done, and even skipping someone for a personal message. As I find they are the most common problems that a non-reg will do legitimately.

My biggest problem with "regular gangs" (and I'm not saying all), is bullying :( If I mention the /insult command, it could send me into a rant. Oh, too late :P

Someone in the room gives a bit of attitude, and the regular players start using the /insult command on them. Then that player gets offended (sometimes not even realising it is a command), and boot out one of the regulars. The regulars get angry, and soon that player is gone due to everyone booting. If you say "you run the risk of being booted for using that, because someone can find it offensive", the typical response is, "iSketch made it, not me". True, BUT.. you have the choice to use it, and therefore you do. So expect someone to vote to boot you out if they find it offensive. And stop booting back thinking it's vote abuse. It's not :/

Sorry, that was a bit off topic, but I felt this was an appropriate thread to mention it in. I've been wanting to get that off my chest, heh. As well as the drawing violations/guessing violations, I think that's another issue that regulars slip up on and miss a lot of the time. Sometimes we are very guilty of not being welcoming enough in a room, especially when there is a "gang" of us.

This Is a great thread and I was thinking about doing one similar myself !!

Thanks BB for being so brilliant and approachable :razz:

I agree with BB on all her points .I am getting a bit annoyed at how some people treat others at the moment. There seems to be a few (very few) regs that think they are high and mighty and beyond the rules themselves yet pounce on newbies when they make even the slightest mistake ,sometimes booting without stopping to explain or even asking why ect..Dont get me wrong I will boot when needed and tolerate no swearing or extreme rudeness to anyone regular or not.But lets remember theres a vast majority of us that are tolerant and are always willing to explain the rules and how to use the functions

An example of whats been annoying me is the other day I was in a reg room and a reg player attacked another one in open chat using very explicate langauge I warned this player In both open chat and pm that this was not exceptable and then was not very popular for the next few hours .This did not bother me but the fact only one other player said something did.

Hopefully (I dont remember ever) writing hints ect but I also agree we do become a bit lax in our reg rooms.I have a bad habit of writing PM's sometimes on the canvas.I love playing in the reg rooms for the chat and have made some wonderful new friends ftom Isketch .Also when I have tried to go play random a bit lately (quite often under another name) Ive been vote abused so many times by young twits and find the other players not wanting to vote with me for fear of getting booted themselves .I think this is a lot of the reason we do congregate together.95% of the regs do obey the rules and will not tolerate writing,cheating ect and you know you always have help when needed .

I admit I have been abit nawty in some of my open draws (not full on porn draws) and sometimes use Aussie slang or mispelt (hinted a ) slightly offensive langauge in chat.So Im glad for the reminder and will make sure I dont do this at all any more In "normal" rooms.I hope this doesnt sounds hypocritical as Im in no way saying Im perfect.:twisted:

I'd also like to take this opportunity to say thanks to the Admins as we would not have Isketch without them( I know one quite well and theres no way I'd like to cop the abuse they do sometimes from newbies and regs ) and apologise myself for whinging a little bit lately as I was warned a few times (and was apologised to for the error .we all make them ) :razz:

PS; Im grateful Facey asked about the "sp" question as I do it too!!

Bell hopes she didnt ramble on or sound hypocritical In her first big post :rolleyes:

My biggest problem with "regular gangs" (and I'm not saying all), is bullying :( If I mention the /insult command, it could send me into a rant. Oh, too late :P

Someone in the room gives a bit of attitude, and the regular players start using the /insult command on them. Then that player gets offended (sometimes not even realising it is a command), and boot out one of the regulars. The regulars get angry, and soon that player is gone due to everyone booting. If you say "you run the risk of being booted for using that, because someone can find it offensive", the typical response is, "iSketch made it, not me". True, BUT.. you have the choice to use it, and therefore you do. So expect someone to vote to boot you out if they find it offensive. And stop booting back thinking it's vote abuse. It's not :/

Sorry, that was a bit off topic, but I felt this was an appropriate thread to mention it in. I've been wanting to get that off my chest, heh. As well as the drawing violations/guessing violations, I think that's another issue that regulars slip up on and miss a lot of the time. Sometimes we are very guilty of not being welcoming enough in a room, especially when there is a "gang" of us.

*NoHints hopes he isn't one of the bad people

I occasionally get skipped or voted on for writing "=(username)" or "=me" at the top left of the draw and that's fine with me. Technically, writing "Pun" is also a hint towards the draw, is that ok in the public rooms?

With regards to language and /insult, I feel people should just use the Ignore facility as this will have the same effect. When it comes to not being welcoming, I usually make the effort of greeting a new entry, particulalry if they have a dot, and I'd much rather be in a room of people I don't know than be in a room of people on away.

Good thread, thanks BB for starting it.

Who is considered a regular? Groups of people who play together in the same rooms? Any player who logs on and plays on a regular basis? Any players who are recognized and/or known by a lot of other players?

I consider all of the above "regulars". I think one thing to keep in mind is that there are many players who go to iSketch frequently but might roam around and play in different rooms. An unknown player isn't necessarily a non-regular. All players at one time were newbies so each "regular" was at one time a newbie. Try to treat newbies as potential regulars. I really don't like to see the term "regular's room" used to describe any public room on the game. I know it's easy to get with friends and sometimes find it intrusive when someone new joins the room and I appreciate that you all seem to be grasping this quite well.

As long as we're on the subject of rule bending, I would like to bring up one subject that I see happen a lot and as an admin I just want to add another reminder, (or two), to this thread. I thoroughly enjoy the regulars on the game and it makes me happy to see people having so much fun because they are together. On that note...

Pay close attention to the section of the rules regarding private messages in the draws. It says they are allowed but to refrain from using them as it can be mistaken for a clue. Votes against private messages take up a large percentage of the rooms that I attend to. Votes against private messages also provoke retaliation votes and arguements that private messages are allowed. I see this every time I'm at the game. Players get bullied out of rooms for voting private messages and they are NOT vote abusing. As an admin, I will not warn the voter for voting a PM. I think most newbies who truly are there to play the game will soon learn about private messages. If you write in your draw, you are choosing to take the risk of getting voted. Even regulars, admins, and long time players can't always know when letters in a draw are a PM and it's even sometimes difficult to say a PM wasn't actually a clue of sorts. A group of regs playing together in a room and adding PMs to most of their draws is fine and fun but please have consideration for anyone new that joins you. Fights in the chat window over "PRIVATE MESSAGES ARE ALLOWED!" just tend to take from the fun as well as taking the admins from attending to more offensive behaviors and as we all know, there is way too much of that.

One other subject I'd like to touch on is about cheaters. If you suspect covert cheating and call an admin in or if an admin happens to pop in the room and you know they are an admin, it is helpful if the cheaters are left to the admin. You have the right to vote but it's better for you if the admin can remove them from the game. You can boot them and chances are they will just move to another room and continue cheating. Personally I like to make certain covert cheating is going on before I remove anyone from the game so this might take a little time and your patience is appreciated. I know many of the really fast guessers are often accused of cheating when they are not, so please keep this in mind when waiting for an admin to take action on cheaters.

Happy iSketching, happy PMing, cheers,

Sierra

nice post Sierra, i completely agree with everything surprisingly enough..

I've had people warn my drawing for private messages and sometimes friends smack them around for it, but most of the time i explain it was a misunderstanding, and everyone gets back to playing and doing whatever...

too bad more players don't understand these points, and get more caught up in the social aspect of isketch rather than the game aspect, iSketch is fun to chat on, but i think it's more fun if you play against someone who is better than you and try to beat them :twisted:

Technically, writing "Pun" is also a hint towards the draw, is that ok in the public rooms?



In my book that is no different than someone writing "Movie" or "Female" at the top of a draw... so you would be skipped.

Using the letters "SP" for Spelling is not really a hint for the word, just helpful. But even with that, be careful, as other admins have pointed out in this thread-- anyone can vote you for using letters in a personal message. I've seen lots of regulars use the drawing board for messages when they could just wait another 30 seconds to write something in chat. IMO... it's better to wrote nothing! No confusion, no mess, no arguments.

Great points Sierra .I see your examples quite often and agree with you about the Personal Messages causing problems .I have a habit of writing them on draw board and will be attemping to rectify this as like you said It can be funny and ok to do when the rooms full of "regs " but once a newbie comes in it can cause problems .

In my opinion there are many different groups of regulars and as you said regular individuals aswell.I wrote my post thinking ( knowing me im always wrong lol ) that BB was using the example of the type of "regular" that I and quite a few members of this forum are so I hope I was correct In doing so because I know BB didnt want to point the finger at anyone and thats definatly not what Im accusing her of if anyones wondering .

Its a good reminder though to all of us that there are many forms and groups of regulars so we need to realise everyone,including newbies ( which we all were at one stage remember that ) needs to be given the same chances and be able to enjoy the game as equals .This thread has been great for that already I think.:razz:

Regulars bullying newbies has been a hot topic lately, not just on here.

Sometimes I get bored with the large rooms where the regs stick together on away and go off-piste. After a few votes against me for cheating or abuse when I try and explain the rules, I usually scurry back to the protection of familiar players.

We stick together because we have to, because we rarely get an admin turn up when we get a boot vote against us. But if we vote to kick a player then wham! there's an admin.

By all means stop the cheating, writing, bullying etc but it's not as clear cut as that. Some newbies aren't new, they're just there to cause trouble.

Regular doesn't necessarily equal bully, newbie doesn't necessarily equal innocent.

Sometimes though, a newbie will just catch me in my zero tolerance mood, when I'm just plain sick of having to defend myself and the rules. Some days the abuse from a steady stream of newbies seems constant.

(I haven't taken any accusations personally cos I've hardly played lately!)

I get sick of the muppets who continually abuse their vote / warn privileges. This is especially the case when there's no admins about. I use iSketch as my escape and stress relief from what's not exactly a stress free job.

There was one on last night who used the warning on every artist. That player was told in open chat to cut it out it's not funny. But did they listen? Did they hell. Did they feel a size 9 in the backside? Of course they did. Swiftly followed by some rather small, ladies size 6's.

This is MY leisure time. I want to play iSketch - I dont want to faff around with muppets and I don't really care if they want to disrupt the game - just don't disrupt mine - go play on the railway lines for all I care. iSketch has these 2 functions for valid use - but they are abused by regs and noobs alike.

So what do you do? Waste your time typing out that they should read the instructions only to be told to f♥♥k off? Sorry but me and Genghis Khan are way out on the right with this one. Unless there is a new button or command developed that allows people to "point" someone at or "remind" them of the rules - then I will continue to use the:

/me points at his avatar and says READ THAT! or the /boot funtion.

I don't mind if someone hits the warn button and apologises - and/or then is willing to ask about rules - I will invest the time in a person of that calibre. But I do not tolerate muppets in the flesh and blood world so I shouldn't have to tolerate them in the cyberworld.

Most of the regs I play with these days are on away half the time, chatting and you can go into a room where there's 16 players but only 4 playing. It's rare that they will all "gang up" on someone to boot them if the person isn't an absolute twonk.

Oh and my sincerest apologies to Cunny_Funt for accidentally giving her a boot when the player F♥♥king_C♥♥♥ was drawing pron and abusing their vote. That person should have their hands cut off. They got booted though and I did get slapped loads:rolleyes:

yes, this is iSketch, not iWrite.

i have a question though. Will you vote or boot them out if your friends go against the rule? for me, I will. unless i know i can't do anything with my single vote I'll just leave the room.

once a group of regulars [i won't say out who they are though.] are in a room playing, and none of them can get the answers, so the drawer just wrote it on the draw board. all of them got it, except me, cause i didn't want to type the answer. i stare at the screen hoping someone will warn. time elapsed, nobody did anything.

The most stunning thing? what i saw was they actually THANK the person for writing????????????????????????????

yes, this is iSketch, not iWrite.

i have a question though. Will you vote or boot them out if your friends go against the rule? for me, I will. unless i know i can't do anything with my single vote I'll just leave the room.

once a group of regulars [i won't say out who they are though.] are in a room playing, and none of them can get the answers, so the drawer just wrote it on the draw board. all of them got it, except me, cause i didn't want to type the answer. i stare at the screen hoping someone will warn. time elapsed, nobody did anything.

The most stunning thing? what i saw was they actually THANK the person for writing????????????????????????????

In answer to this yes ICHI..I know I will and so do most of the "regulars" I play with.I also refuse to answer a question if the answer is written but to be honest most of the people I personaly play Isketch with dont ever do this !!:biggrin:

In answer to this yes ICHI..I know I will and so do most of the "regulars" I play with.I also refuse to answer a question if the answer is written but to be honest most of the people I personaly play Isketch with dont ever do this !!:biggrin:

you're wrong bell... i saw them doing it. else i won't even bother to protect their privacy.


edit: anyway, that's all history. hope it is. =] just hope things will get better after they all view this thread.

=]

you're wrong bell... i saw them doing it. else i won't even bother to protect their privacy.


edit: anyway, that's all history. hope it is. =] just hope things will get better after they all view this thread.

=]
*sigh*
Well Im sorry you think this and may have even experienced it but it isnt an occurence I have personally seen and if I was in the room I would have been away as i do brb a bit .And I do not personaly like to be accused of being wrong(lying?) or anything else for that matter when 1, I havent seen it 2, I posted in this thread in attempt to urge others to read it in the hope they would post there point of view/experience too and also take on board what has been suggested and requested but Ive now had quite a few PMs saying there not even going to bother as some people have already made there minds up and they also wouldnt appreciate this kind of reply to there HONEST answers .Hope this wasnt a threat btw and has really been put in the past as far as I know this wouldnt be allowed on this forum .

Lets just hope this column doesnt become a tit for tat or name and shame tool as it was meant to be a reminder to ALL of us that we are being a bit lax ,which if everyone reads all the post will see that most of us have admitted doing on some occasions :rolleyes:

Happy Isketching to all :razz:

once a group of regulars [i won't say out who they are though.] are in a room playing, and none of them can get the answers, so the drawer just wrote it on the draw board. all of them got it, except me, cause i didn't want to type the answer. i stare at the screen hoping someone will warn. time elapsed, nobody did anything.

The most stunning thing? what i saw was they actually THANK the person for writing????????????????????????????

I have also witnessed this on occasions (normally gets worse around holiday times). What I do is warn the artist and refuse to guess the answer - making it clear that I WILL NOT ANSWER!!!! (if players I normally play with guess it -then I would probably send them a PM - though that hasn't happened yet). I have also mentioned in the chat box that what the drawer has done is cheating and anyone who guessed it were freeloaders as well as cheaters.

Good thread,

It's nice sometimes get things out in the open, (makes us see the error of our ways)




Fights in the chat window over "PRIVATE MESSAGES ARE ALLOWED!" just tend to take from the fun as well as taking the admins from attending to more offensive behaviors and as we all know, there is way too much of that.Sierra

Hands up I'm guilty of this ( I shall stop ) and I,m also guilty of this one NUMBERS ARE ALLOWED ( but I can't promise to stop this one, but I we try my best :razz:)
I have been warned, skipped and even booted from a room for using numbers, I do not delibratly use numbers, but when the word is hundred, million,bank euro,pound dollar etc I do use numbers.

In the past after once writing NUMBERS ARE ALLOWED, an admin did say to me, jewels caps mean you are shouting, my polite reply was, "that's because I am shouting" . I try to help newbies where possible, I pm them to telling them where the tab key is, help them when they ask how to I join a team, help them they they say wtf when do I draw (tell them about /do).
I once got 2 boots (ages ago), because 2 players said I wasn't letting them have a turn at drawing :eek:. Saying all of this I try my best to help newbies ( after all I was one once).

sorry I went a bit off topic.

yes, this is iSketch, not iWrite.

i have a question though. Will you vote or boot them out if your friends go against the rule? for me, I will. unless i know i can't do anything with my single vote I'll just leave the room.

Only times I've seen my friends blatently write out a word, it usually has ffs before it and !!! after it and then they skip. If I'm playing on my own and someone writes it out, i will grab the 10pts and then warn them, cos I've got the pts, other ppl are usually happy to follow with the warning too. Otherwise the cheaters will just divide the pts up amongst themselves and nothing will happen.

Regulars are always falling out with eachother because of a difference of opinion against the rules, warning and booting eachother happens all the time.

Regulars aren't perfect, sometimes they get bored, sometimes they just feel like mucking about. Personally, I'm there to play and I chat in between guesses.

I hate cheaters, will always vote to boot even if the others in the room don't give a toss, I do, what's the point of playing a game if you have to cheat to win. I hate racist names and offensive comments but it seems to be a matter of degree. Some admins say it's ok to boot if you find it offensive but others slap us and say it's not against the rules.

I think we police ourselves fairly well, there are always going to be those that abuse the privilege.

Oh one thing I will criticise the regulars for is picking on ppl for using the same name as a friend. I've seen ppl enter a room, whether they have been mistakenly invited or not and been ripped to shreds for using the same name as a regular. So what? We don't have registrations yet. If I mistakenly invite someone, I will announce in chat box that it's not the so and so I know but they are very welcome anyway.

once a group of regulars [i won't say out who they are though.] are in a room playing, and none of them can get the answers, so the drawer just wrote it on the draw board. all of them got it, except me, cause i didn't want to type the answer. i stare at the screen hoping someone will warn. time elapsed, nobody did anything.

The most stunning thing? what i saw was they actually THANK the person for writing????????????????????????????

We often joke about and ask eachother to PM the answer or thank eachother for pm'ing the answer when actually we haven't been cheating AS A JOKE! Same as thanking someone for writing it out, it's a sarky "well I would never have recognised that pathetic draw if you hadn't written it out!"

There are some people with terrible reputations on isk, some who argue with every single decision an admin makes. They are the ones who bring shame on the game, not those of us who just play for the fun of winning and sharing time with our friends.

I really don't want this to turn into a regulars v newbies thread, this was never my intention. I think we are all aware of the problems associated with new players who have not read the rules and certainly don't intend to follow them but that is another topic. My point in this thread was to highlight the issues surrounding otherwise good players who lapse into rule breaking through familiarity and then become highly indignant when appropriately sanctioned.

I really don't want this to turn into a regulars v newbies thread, this was never my intention.
OPPS, soz, hands up, I'm guilty again,
I just had to reply to the below comment from sierra, as I am guilty of that, newbies were only drawn into it, as I feel most regulars know about personal messages.



Fights in the chat window over "PRIVATE MESSAGES ARE ALLOWED!"

Often times with messages in the draw box, it's evident that it's not connected to the draw. Such as 'LOL' or 'Sorry, it sucks' lol. I've seen people vote these and snarl 'No letters AT ALL that's what the rules say', Well actually no they don't, they say that messages like this are allowed, HOWEVER, you are advised not to use them just in case this very thing should happen. I do use messages in my draws... but I know I'm taking a chance that I'll be voted for it. I would be appalled if someone was kicked from a room because they voted me for that, they were perfectly entitled to do so. So if I'm voted on for writing a personal message, it's me that's in trouble, not the others for vote abuse. That said, the rules DO state that they're allowed.... so perhaps a clearer ruling would assist admin?

For those who use puns... often they're a 'sounds like' too, so you could use that symbol instead of the 'Pun' one if needs be.

That said, the rules DO state that they're allowed.... so perhaps a clearer ruling would assist admin?

As we all know many players don't read the rules at all. My own personal preference that I do know is shared by at least some admin colleagues would be a blanket "no letters at all" ruling. This would make matters perfectly clear cut for all players and admins alike with no grey areas for debate.

As I said this is my own personal preference and not necessarily shared by everyone.

Only times I've seen my friends blatently write out a word, it usually has ffs before it and !!! after it and then they skip. If I'm playing on my own and someone writes it out, i will grab the 10pts and then warn them, cos I've got the pts, other ppl are usually happy to follow with the warning too. Otherwise the cheaters will just divide the pts up amongst themselves and nothing will happen.

...

I hate cheaters, will always vote to boot even if the others in the room don't give a toss, I do, what's the point of playing a game if you have to cheat to win.

Yep, guessing before skipping is the way to go:smile: When it comes to the blatant answer sharers, I think it's fun to try and beat them with their advantage and it's best to keep them in rooms where they get beaten, instead of letting them run riot in less experienced rooms:twisted:

As we all know many players don't read the rules at all. My own personal preference that I do know is shared by at least some admin colleagues would be a blanket "no letters at all" ruling. This would make matters perfectly clear cut for all players and admins alike with no grey areas for debate.

As I said this is my own personal preference and not necessarily shared by everyone.

This would make sense as everyone is told at the start of a draw to remember that letters are not allowed - this is the main source of confusion. Usually, you can draw some kind of face or "!!!", "!?!?!?" etc to signify whatever you're feeling.

Yep, guessing before skipping is the way to go:smile: When it comes to the blatant answer sharers, I think it's fun to try and beat them with their advantage and it's best to keep them in rooms where they get beaten, instead of letting them run riot in less experienced rooms:twisted:


If the artist is skipped all points from the round are cancelled anyway. I'm firmly with TF on this one. If they write and I was a player rather than admin I would vote to skip and refuse to answer.

Nice post, Sierra.

One other subject I'd like to touch on is about cheaters. If you suspect covert cheating and call an admin in or if an admin happens to pop in the room and you know they are an admin, it is helpful if the cheaters are left to the admin. You have the right to vote but it's better for you if the admin can remove them from the game. You can boot them and chances are they will just move to another room and continue cheating.

Yeah, that's an important point. I used to take it on myself to boot cheaters (before I knew any regular admins that would be around while I was on), but too many retaliation votes were involved, sadly. I try not to boot them out anymore. I'll search for any admins that I might know and inform them of cheaters. It's better having them off the game completely than playing in different rooms and cheating. Also, sometimes people don't pick up on cheaters straight away, because there can be subtle ones. If I can't find any admins, I'll boot. And it helps if there are other people in the room to back up the judgement.

And like TF, I refuse to type the answer in after they write it. I remember one time, the writer said "Omg, MsNerd, you were the only person to not get it, are you dumb?!" ROFL! Sorry, that's not a laughing matter. But they did get my views on it, anyway.. :twisted:

I dont know if its been mentioned but I am really tired of booting somone for cheating and then they comeback with friends under a different name and start booting the people that boot them.. We can only ask that people play fair and unfortunately some have not figured out that it really is more fun to win without cheating!

/me snarls at the cheaters..

yes, this is iSketch, not iWrite.

i have a question though. Will you vote or boot them out if your friends go against the rule? for me, I will. unless i know i can't do anything with my single vote I'll just leave the room.

once a group of regulars [i won't say out who they are though.] are in a room playing, and none of them can get the answers, so the drawer just wrote it on the draw board. all of them got it, except me, cause i didn't want to type the answer. i stare at the screen hoping someone will warn. time elapsed, nobody did anything.

I must say I have only seen people i play against write a PM and usually at the bottom of the screen. I can't say what they do when I'm not there - but I doubt they would do it. Would I warn? Well I would most likely do this in the game box:

LETTERS?>>>>>>>>>>>

But it would only usually be a PM anyway as the folks I play are not known as cheaters - the only ones I have personally seen writing answers is the social outasts who I would choose to boot for rule violations.

............I'm also guilty of this one NUMBERS ARE ALLOWED ( but I can't promise to stop this one, but I we try my best :razz:)
I have been warned, skipped and even booted from a room for using numbers, I do not delibratly use numbers, but when the word is hundred, million,bank euro,pound dollar etc I do use numbers.

In the past after once writing NUMBERS ARE ALLOWED, an admin did say to me, jewels caps mean you are shouting, my polite reply was, "that's because I am shouting".

Yeah I must say I have been warned and even skipped for numbers and will regularly do the "OI! GO READ THE RULES YA MUPPET! NUMBERS ARE ALLOWED!" More often than not they tell me to F♥♥♥ off and I boot them anyway.

Yep, guessing before skipping is the way to go:smile: When it comes to the blatant answer sharers, I think it's fun to try and beat them with their advantage and it's best to keep them in rooms where they get beaten, instead of letting them run riot in less experienced rooms:twisted:

This would make sense as everyone is told at the start of a draw to remember that letters are not allowed - this is the main source of confusion. Usually, you can draw some kind of face or "!!!", "!?!?!?" etc to signify whatever you're feeling.

So THAT's why you always beat me when we play against cheaters? I most times just type:

/me sniffs. I smell cheating!!!!

I also like to say:

/me yawns and points at the scoreboard.

Especially if I am 30 odd points clear.


I'll search for any admins that I might know and inform them of cheaters. It's better having them off the game completely than playing in different rooms and cheating. Also, sometimes people don't pick up on cheaters straight away, because there can be subtle ones. If I can't find any admins, I'll boot. And it helps if there are other people in the room to back up the judgement.

I would have a bunch of admins on my buddy list if it were longer. And if iSketch's /u command hadn't been modified - we'd all still be using ZeBadger's Budddy List Extender!

I dont know if its been mentioned but I am really tired of booting somone for cheating and then they comeback with friends under a different name and start booting the people that boot them.. We can only ask that people play fair and unfortunately some have not figured out that it really is more fun to win without cheating!

If you are flying solo - best move is to get the hell out of Dodge. Go find another room. These muppets are just there to create strife and clearly not play the game. I have recently taken to saying:

If you want to cheat - go play InkLink!

I agree Bad Manners, sometimes finding an Admin is impossible. It would be great if we had a command avaialbale to us that would allow an admin to be summoned without typing /f and the admins sn. A mass message system that if we have trouble and need HELP! Oh well until such a time I will continue to fight the cheaters. I must admit when you tell them that alt F4 will give them hints or allow them to do /me says.... it generally takes care of the problem. Well at least until they sign back on and come after you....:)

I agree Bad Manners, sometimes finding an Admin is impossible. It would be great if we had a command avaialbale to us that would allow an admin to be summoned without typing /f and the admins sn. A mass message system that if we have trouble and need HELP! Oh well until such a time I will continue to fight the cheaters. I must admit when you tell them that alt F4 will give them hints or allow them to do /me says.... it generally takes care of the problem. Well at least until they sign back on and come after you....:)

Sadly the type of "call admin" system that has been suggested many times would be abused by the players that abuse anything and everything already. The end result could well be admins chasing their tails being bombarded with calls for help and manageing to do less than they can now. :sad:

I agree Bad Manners, sometimes finding an Admin is impossible. It would be great if we had a command avaialbale to us that would allow an admin to be summoned without typing /f and the admins sn. A mass message system that if we have trouble and need HELP! Oh well until such a time I will continue to fight the cheaters. I must admit when you tell them that alt F4 will give them hints or allow them to do /me says.... it generally takes care of the problem. Well at least until they sign back on and come after you....:)

THE HUMOROUS COMMENT THAT EXISTED HERE HAS BEEN DELETED BECAUSE SOMEONE COMPLAINED ABOUT IT

THE HUMOROUS COMMENT THAT EXISTED HERE HAS BEEN DELETED BECAUSE SOMEONE COMPLAINED ABOUT IT
Yes but i did manage to be a nosey cow and i did see the humour lol.
And i loved it to so ner ner:eek:

This is for all those people who want to play in rooms with unfamiliar people but don't because they can't handle the cheating, violations, etc.

I will keep this short, because this is not a regular vs newbie thread, as BB said.

As most of you might have noticed, I don't often play with "regulars" (re: people I know). As a result of this, I am quite familiar with what happens in rooms with people I don't know.

While I recognize all the situations that you have all mentioned, I must say that I have only had about 10% bad experiences (e.g. being booted out of a room, cheaters, violaters, people who 'return vote', etc.) during my whole three years playing iSketch.

I find that usually I am in decent rooms. I try to explain every time I vote against a draw my reason for it and I find that usually means that people don't just respond with a return vote then. People usually understand and stop. If they don't, I just invite an admin in and let them take care of it.

Anyway: what I want to offer to those people who want to play in unfamiliar rooms, is an invitation to play with me in these rooms. I enjoy my games with newbies and the rest, and I'd love for you to have the same experiences too. =)

[B]Anyway: what I want to offer to those people who want to play in unfamiliar rooms, is an invitation to play with me in these rooms. I enjoy my games with newbies and the rest, and I'd love for you to have the same experiences too. =)

Heh, I do the same, and I love it :razz: I love all my regular friends, but a lot of the time I go into a room with perhaps one or two people that I know, or sometimes no one that I know. I also don't see myself as part of a "regular gang". A stray nerd, lol. I don't really like calling them "n00b rooms", because I find that I come across some very decent regular players that I've never met before, and that goes for the newbies too :) They can offer some chucklesome times!

Yes, it can get annoying when there is trouble and you don't have enough people backing you up, or helping out other players, but I have to say the positives greatly outrun the negatives :) And it's definitely not like that most the time.

/me hopes that sterile conditions were used when the sense of humourectomy procedure was carried out.

/me wishes all affected ppl a full and speedy recovery x

This is for all those people who want to play in rooms with unfamiliar people but don't because they can't handle the cheating, violations, etc.

I will keep this short, because this is not a regular vs newbie thread, as BB said.

As most of you might have noticed, I don't often play with "regulars" (re: people I know). As a result of this, I am quite familiar with what happens in rooms with people I don't know.

While I recognize all the situations that you have all mentioned, I must say that I have only had about 10% bad experiences (e.g. being booted out of a room, cheaters, violaters, people who 'return vote', etc.) during my whole three years playing iSketch.

I find that usually I am in decent rooms. I try to explain every time I vote against a draw my reason for it and I find that usually means that people don't just respond with a return vote then. People usually understand and stop. If they don't, I just invite an admin in and let them take care of it.

Anyway: what I want to offer to those people who want to play in unfamiliar rooms, is an invitation to play with me in these rooms. I enjoy my games with newbies and the rest, and I'd love for you to have the same experiences too. =)

I quite often play in rooms with people I don't know, afterall - if it weren't for other people doing this, I wouldn't know any of you:razz:

you're wrong bell... i saw them doing it. else i won't even bother to protect their privacy.


edit: anyway, that's all history. hope it is. =] just hope things will get better after they all view this thread.

=]
I just re-read this thread-post.

I agree that things should get better - but the whole thread had the appearance of slapping so called "regulars" even if that wasn't BB's intent. What if those "regulars" aren't here? Or are here and don't read this thread? - Maybe the Admins could ask Rob to incorporate a header on the iSketch screen as a reminder to people about not bullying and playing fair?

Oh and else i won't even bother to protect their privacy.

That isn't allowed around here.

I agree that things should get better - but the whole thread had the appearance of slapping so called "regulars" even if that wasn't BB's intent. What if those "regulars" aren't here? Or are here and don't read this thread? - Maybe the Admins could ask Rob to incorporate a header on the iSketch screen as a reminder to people about not bullying and playing fair?


I started the thread to address an issue with the members here. I know that not all the players who have done the type of thing discussed would be members and see the thread but felt it was a good way of reminding some. Please note that I have said that most offenders are normally good players and these are things they have slipped into through that feeling of familiarity already mentioned.

The indignance showed by some when rightfully sanctioned by an admin is part of this ongoing if not major problem. That reaction of "you can't caution me I'm a regular and I asked all my friends who didn't object to me drawing a penis / writing hints / giving clues etc etc etc "

The report post system is there to give everyone a voice and a chance to raise concerns with any post on the forum.

Whether a post is reported once or a hundred times, each report is looked into and a decision will be made as swiftly as possible.

The mod team can and will also at times edit posts at their discretion.

Please accept the decision to edit any posts and refrain from further comment which could stand to lessen the appeal of the report post button for other users as a safe and anonymous method of flagging concern.

Some time ago I had a post edited by Ches and he approached me to explain why. As a member of this forum I have agreed to let the moderators edit where they see fit if they feel I have posted something that isn't quite acceptable. It has quite frankly saddened me to see the recent reactions to some editing by forum moderators that I feel echo the statement above about "you can't caution me ...."

At the risk of being edited :twisted: I feel the urge to say that if the moderators feel the need to edit your posts for whatever reason please just accept their decision and not throw what the Americans call a hissy fit. If you have a problem with their decisions please take it up with them in private and not try to make whoever felt the need to highlight concerns about a post feel uncomfortable about using the warn triangle.

Let's try to keep this forum a place where everyone feels comfortable in posting or even reporting a post without worrying about the reactions of others and where we show respect for the whole management team and the sometimes very difficult job they are doing.

else i won't even bother to protect their privacy.

That isn't allowed around here.


Lets just hope this column doesnt become a tit for tat or name and shame tool as it was meant to be a reminder to ALL of us that we are being a bit lax ,which if everyone reads all the post will see that most of us have admitted doing on some occasions :rolleyes:


Really sorry about that line, guess my anger's taking me over. i understand the importance about the privacy. Note that i have absolutely NO intention of turning this into a "name and shame tool" or anything like that. Definitely NO!!!

:smile: =Peace isketching=

I'd like to second what BB said, really.

People have to right to complain, on iSketch and on the forum, about decisions made by admin/mods. In fact, as I have said before on this forum, I strongly feel all authoriy must be questioned (that is to say, you shouldn't follow what someone else says blindly just because they hold a position of authority, without questioning if it's fair, and taking on board their reasons once questioned). This is a private matter, however, and should be conducted privately. On the forum via PM and in the game via Feedback. No-one else particularly wants to see the kind of messages that result from disputes such as that arising on the public forum aimed at a mod, or even at thin air, or in an iSketch room, aimed at an admin or thin air. It just makes for uncomfortable viewing, confusion from those who don't know the situation, and also undermines the case in question as publically complaining is just going to make people cross. Anyone in a job of responsibility will tell you the same thing, in the real world, or online.

The iSketch admins, as well as the forum mods, are not a bunch of crazy dictators who do things because they feel like it, they are people who give up their time to try and keep the peace, make judgements based on the info at hand and who try to make their respective places nice places to be for all involved. Please respect the job enough to keep the complaints private (at least at first!) and have the faith that they will be looked into and that the situation will be resolved as fairy as possible.

I agree with this BB. Nobody on iSketch is above the rules, nobody is allowed to break them, not administrators, not regulars, nobody.

While on the topic of regulars, I've seen many times regulars claiming ownership of several very common rooms on iSketch. Please remember that iSketch is a public game, and there are no room "owners", except for in user-created rooms. Share the rooms and be tolerant of new players.

In regards to BB's examples in her first post of this thread, we as administrators will go by our instructions and take action accordingly, there are no exceptions like "we all agreed on porn being okay". If you draw porn in one of the public rooms, you can expect to be banned. If your group feels the sudden urge to draw penises galore, make your own private room! :eek:

Kean hun, i think the point here is that BB was merely saying that some of us get a bit free with ourselves at times.
I dont think she meant it as strongly as you have put it.
Porn draws are rare in normal rooms we dont go out of our way to draw dicks willy nilly, ooopps sorry for that pun.
We do go to our own rooms for porn draws which is also a rare event, as we deem ourselves above penis drawing, but like the noobs and idiots we do act silly sometimes and we dont think.
Thats hardly a banning statistic is it.
So like ive already stated yes we should think more and not become to familiar and belive we are above reproach.

If you draw porn in one of our public rooms, you can expect to be banned. If your group feels the sudden urge to draw penises galore, make your own private room! :eek:

In one paragraph you state there are NO owners of the rooms, but above you say "If you draw porn in one of OUR public rooms...."

Should that be "If you draw porn in one of THE public rooms..."??!!

I meant "our" in a general sense, our being all of us (thats why it's important, because we all share it).

But post edited :p

All terrific posts and points made! Good thread :)

/me thinks we need a group hug!

i have become a victim of said examples stated in the original post
i particularly love going into a room by myself just to play and use my voting rights

the problem is really abuse by numbers.. i have applied this lately with a lot of wrong things going on in public
majority rules in govt but when the majority of ppl are wrong i dont find myself scared to step in.. the ending result can be scary sometimes

today i was kick voted for calling out some harassment
the majority of players werent on my side and the whole situation ending with my being kicked out of the room

the majority of ppl are wrong and are overpowering those who are correct
ive been saying this for months.. and it doesnt just apply to isketch, the same can be said if you go outside of your home and walk the earth
its all over the internet too.. its an american epidemic

if anybody wants to confirm this is a world epidemic im all ears

ive virtually stopped playing isketch for a bit, mainly because my computer is locked in my student house over the summer and i can only get on my GF's laptop (i hate laptops. . .), but also because of the idiots on there. The last 5 or 6 times ive played the same thing has happened everytime. . .i go in and someone is drawing a word. . .such as baa coming from a sheep. i vote as this is against the rules. Cue everyone going "wot? she didnt write the word" or "get a lyfe" (how hard is it too spell life properly but thats another point). this means me having too link them too the rules (which is very very annoying) and me having too explain that what they did was wrong. This leads to everyone else doing it just too piss me off . .me voting continuosly and me leaving 3-4 rounds in and giving up!!!! sorry about that rant but this behaviour is getting bloody old.