Apparently some of you on this forum simply can't stay away from creating an another conflict on the "beta scene".

I am now going to forbid any fake screenshots on this forum. Not only does these promote (more or less) creative attempts at making a convincing fake screenshot, but it's also a breeding ground for falsely accusing individuals for creating and spreading them (as it so happened recently with our "fake screenshot contest thread).

So I am putting an end to all this. From now on...

• Any fake screenshot posted on the forum will be responded with a warning. Any repeated offense will be responded with a ban.
• Any suspect fake screenshots found by members should be reported to a forum moderator, Andy or me. We then report these to the staff section for review and archiving by the staff. This also includes screenshots found in the image gallery and wiki.
• No more "fake screenshot contests" or any posts regarding fake screenshots are allowed. It's not fun even when posted in the fun section.

I apologize about my stories. I guess I got too carried away on the last one.
addit: All fake screenshots that I made in that thread were made only by me and so were the stories. All screenshots and stories were false; I only tried to make things more interesting. Again, I guess I got too carried away.

How are we supposed to know if something is fake or not? Some looks can be decieving.

seems a bit harsh tbh, i mean why would people bother sharing these things even if they have no clue if they are fake or not, plenty of fakes have been made and they can only been deemed fake if brought out into the spotlight, hell! i have posted a couple of things here that i have thought to be real, to only have them be proved fake, tis not my fault, so why should i get a warning for that, i do agree that promoting people to create fake screenshots whether in contests or random posts should be frowned upon, but throwing warning at people for uploading sumthin they have no clue about, shouldnt result in a warning imo.

i know its hard to know whether i spent 4 hours trying to PS sumthin so i could come here and pull the wool over peoples eyes, but most fakes get called out on rather quick so if someone is going to waste the time to do that, they need to find better things to do, and definitely not sumthin people think is cool.

peas
cityboy

indeed

better to lock such topic, if pic is proven to be fake or seen already in past here

I will admit, I don't think a lot of times, I just do. That means if I'm going to do something and I get caught up in it then I will do it without thinking things over which later in life will cause big problems.

I apologize to everyone who had fun looking at the fake images thread because now it's gone, all the full fault of ME. No one else, just me.
And no, I'm not trying to get any warnings removed, I'm just saying that all of this is my fault and if Andy thinks so, then I should be banned over it since this warning is the fourth one I have.

There's a difference between these "fun" fakes which all were quite obvious, and more clever fakes that needs investigating. When such fakes are discovered then we (mods) may post a thread and start a discussion about it (without any source reference etc). That way people can discuss it and come to an conclusion if it's real or not.

The reason to stop these fake screenshots in general are because it's been abused in the past as well as now. Someone claims that they got some screenies from someone, the source can't prove them by providing a binary build, and off the deep end everything goes. Members has clearly shown this with discussions regarding for example Nashville, Odyssey and Neptune, discussions that has ended with a lot of accusations to the left and right. This is no different. A claims it's fake. B claims it's not. And then we got a conflict which a lot of members not mature enough to handle an argument in a civilized matter.

I don't enjoy banning topics like this, but it's done to prevent what happened today. All because one member didn't know where the limit was. It's all that is required to tip the scale.

In 95% of all "fake" cases all you need is a little bit of research and common sense to discover it's not real. For the other 5% you report it to us and we'll allow a discussion around it. All within set boundaries without making anyone feel uncomfortable.

I never liked this "fake screenshot contest" thread from the start because I knew this kind of situation could happen. I didn't do anything back then to stop it because there was no reason to. Now there is, and everyone knows why these topics are bad.

This is a beta collecting community. People who create frauds are con-artists. I think it's gracious of the admins to give anyone who knowingly participates in blasphemy a second chance.

I'll agree with mrpijey until a certain extent, and that is no more fake screenshots thread.
Fair enough, fake images stir up fights in the forum, but most of the images in that fake screenshot thread are obviously fake. It's people expressing what they want their operating system to look like.

I think BA is slowly becoming less and less tolerant of everything.
Fights will occur over anything, and banning everything won't solve it.

agreed. if it's under a "fake screenshots" thread then it shouldn't stir up a fight in any way because obviously they're fake.
but in other cases like "ZOMG FIRST WINDOZE 8 SCREENSHOTZ" then of course that would stir up trouble.
just my opinion though.

BA - restricting freedom of speech slowly but surely.
I agree that certain measures need to go in place to fix certain issues, but BA has a horrid habit of taking things too far.

There goes kernel modding and version haxxoring in NTOSDrop CE and those UI concepts. Yay.

Ahh there are the words I was looking for

Yay, looks like I've nothing to do anymore as a UX dev, hooray.

+1 for this post. The parts I don't understand about this rule is the no fake screenshot contests, which are OBVIOUSLY fake, and I don't understand why stuff CLEARLY LABELED as a modified windows version/UX/whatever (Kenneth, PortalCake, etc) can't be posted as well.

I agree with 4512jth. We can't fake screens of builds, but if we clearly label it as a mockup/uxdev/ntosdrop ce build, it may be allowed.

Else, if we really are to apply this "rule" we ban my sig, and sigs like it because it's based on the Metro UI.
Hell, we can ban Photoshop because it can be used to make fake images. That, or make the image uploader grep for "Photoshop" in the EXIF metadata and send it straight to the null device.

You guys may as well just shut down BA now, soon spelling errors will be a bannable offence.
You should also implement something so that all posts are verified by staff before they're publically posted...

Remember when BA wasn't so restrictive? Now discussions on questionable screenshots are banned

Exactly. Out of curiosity, which admin came up with this idea? Mrpijey? I realize he posted it but it could've been him and Andy deciding or whatever

i wouldn't go as far as shutting down. but adjust the rules is a must.

Im sorry, but this is total crap. If you want to, delete this post afterwards, but this would only show how crap BA really got.
In fact, I think, it has all startet when you, mrpijey, became admin. This is not really a direct insult in you beeing a bad admin, its just my oppinion, you can agree or not. Anyway its the beta scene. There will surely be dozens of fake screenshots but im sure as there are as many false positives as real fakes.
In fact, I have not read any of the "Important Notes" i got via email, as I really just think, 90% of those Rule adjustments and I really would wish a BA, that we had two or three years ago (same goes for the FTP).

Anyhow, I've got a feeling that this post is still incomplete, so I allow myself to edit it later on.

Oh the drama all you create...




you clearly don't see the difference between a mod and a fake. I never said anywhere that posting screenshots of mods was prohibited. If members want to post screenshots of mods (I bold these words just in case you misread them for "fakes") then go ahead, as long as they are labeled as a mod and not accusing anyone else for being real.




This can still be done as well. A thread discussing a wishful future of operating systems is harmless since any claims of reality in that topic would automatically be inappropriate.

And BA is becoming less tolerant for a reason. Adding rules against it defines a clear can do<>can't do boundary. But I guess you want to live in a lawless society? You're allowed to say anything, do anything. Without any real consequences.




This is BetaArchive, not the Geneva convention. If a few individuals on BetaArchive (as well as on the outside of BA) didn't take it as their primary mission in life to destroy the beta scene then we would not need to restrict topics such as Odyssey, Neptune etc. These rules weren't added just out of fun you know. I guess some people have very short memory spans...




Ah yes, the master of overreaction himself. Really, is this all you could come up with? Remember when BA had daily spams, fights between members and all out hostility against other individuals and beta groups? No? Those were the reasons we had to put in restrictions. But perhaps you rather want all the old crap instead. Makes for a much more alive forum don't you think?




I got an idea. Why don't we just remove all the late changes to the rules BA added during my membership? I mean, I am so very sorry for trying to keep things civil on this forum, it really wasn't my intention. Same goes for the FTP, keeping it structed, ordered etc. But fine.

You want the "old" BA FTP? You want the old BA rules where you're allowed to discuss controversial topics without any real control over it becoming inflammatory and breaking out into a real spamfest? No problem with me, I got better things to do really.

So I am going to make this a simple choice for you members. Apparently my work on BA isn't wanted since every change is fought with bloody knuckles, every attempts at making the forum a less hostile place is instantly responded with gross oversimplifications so I am going to make this simple.

I will stop with my FTP work completely. I will stop helping hosting a part of it. I will stop moderating this forum. And I will stop putting down unpaid time into contributing. All of you will eventually get the old FTP back (I can even put back the old remains of the old FTP up for you replacing my own hosted stuff) and I will not meddle in any rules anymore. I'll let Andy make all the decisions without any comments or personal opinion.

Will this be satisfactory? I will be more than happy to oblige because I could really use this apparently wasted time elsewhere, doing stuff that actually helps preserving betas and abandonware. Outside this forum.

All this may be dramatic but I am frankly just tired of all this. I thought I was doing a good thing but apparently none of you wants any of that.

Now you have a real chance to make a change!

I'll await your answers...


I have revoked the fake screenshot rules. I've put back the old post, unedited and all. Post as many fakes you want. Implicate others for faking them too! I don't care anymore...

--------

Addition: You know what? I am going to be fair to all members on this forum. I have always tried to be fair so I am not going to deny the less active members to make an opinion.

Acting immediately I am going on a temporary leave until my holiday break begins, which is July 1st. I will not make any forum posts nor any FTP releases until this time. I will not participate in any discussion whatsoever on the forum. Andy will decide if someone is going to cover for my FTP releases during this time and I'll make the user uploads available to this person if so needed.

During my absence I'll let the members think it over and decide, if they want the old ways back then I will step down permanently, no questions asked. I always worked for maturity, fairness and order but if that's not wanted then I'll respect that. If I step down then I'll make all my user uploads available to my successor.

Anyone wanting to contact me can do so privately on MSN. As always I'll keep in touch with key members of BA if needed but I am not going to make any decisions regarding BA as long as I am away. Now I can get the time to work on some beta/abw projects of my own and perhaps even re-discover why I started with all of it in the first place.

Questions? I am available on MSN...

And I am sorry Andy, but I am just sick of all this. I need a break and this is the only way I can get some perspective. As always I am available on private channels .

See you all in July.

The amount of immature whining in this thread is very pathetic. I can't help but laugh at some of it though. I've seen some of the ones complaining in this thread mention how there's too many "kids" on here and ruining the site elsewhere on the site.

When you all get what you want (or get away with) everything's fine. One tiny little suggestion about fake screenshots (by an admin doing his job) some of you go into hissy fits.

This is why I barely post here. Too much high school type drama.

I don't even know why I bothered to read this whole topic. It's all pathetic, however on this one I agree with the members entirely, and yes, this topic was mrpijeys idea, I happened to be sleeping.

We can't go around being nazi mods over topics like this. Fake screenshots are a way of the beta scene, it's never going to go away no matter how much you try. Banning them won't help, they'll just cause arguments and wars even more so than before. It's not worth it. We have the fake screenshots topic for those members who really want to show off that fake screenshot they have. It keeps it off the rest of the forum and so far has worked really well (even if its original intention wasn't for that).

We have already forbidden enough things to be posted on the forum because of hates/wars/arguments/stupidity, adding another petty rule is just looking for trouble. We add some rules for your protection as a member of this forum, not because we are trying to restrict everything you can do and say on the forum. You wouldn't like it if in real life someone you didn't know came up to you and started an argument with you, followed by another person you didn't know, and so on so forth would you? If that happened you'd feel really intimidated and you would probably report it to the police for harassment. The forum is no different to that, and that is the point of the many rules we have here.

Yes, some rules were created because some people have no common sense, but those of you with common sense will never even have to look at those rules, and that applies to 99% of people on the forum. Others were created to stop topics that were ripping the community apart. Every community has their rules, we're no different.

As for mrpijeys decision. Well, if he wants to retire for a few months that's up to him, but I urge you to go and ask him to come back. Nobody is more qualified to make beta releases properly than he is. I wouldn't know where to start, and I doubt anyone else would know his procedure either. If not, then there will be no releases until July, and I certainly don't want that. Go and have a think at how much mrpijey has brought to this community since he joined. Over half the current archive was provided by him, and him alone. Not through uploads, but from his own collection that he kindly shared with us. Surely that is worth a hell of a lot?

This is not what I wanted to wake up to on a weekend. Everyone pull yourself together and stop being so petty. The rule was revoked, so consider this topic over.

As I have said before, it was not a personal insult on you; id generally prefere to have the old ba back, same as with joejoe and many other communities, but we can not change this. and no, i do not want you to revoke all rules, I would just suggest not to limit us too much. of course, posting fakes is [censored] but do we really have to ban talking about them? i dont think so! (but thats my oppinion, and I am not an active member here)

Edit. the ftp is defenatly structured now, but i would have prefered an OTHER way of structuring it - thats not my desicion anyway.

Wow, talk about an overreaction. Nowhere did any of us say "zomg we hate every single thing you do", nowhere did anyone say we hate what you did to the FTP, we were all just complaining about this singular rule being a tipping point. :\
I'm not going to beg for mrpijey to come back, totally his choice, but know that this wasn't the vast majority of our intentions.