Starfleet Jedi

For all your suggestion needs. Talk to me about it.

For example, I'm hearing some dissatisfaction with the fact that I have not established a canon policy specifically for these boards.

I don't think you need to change the rules, but that's just me.

Personally, I love the idea of the OP determining what's canon and what's not. Having a forum-wide policy on it usually severely limits possible discussions. I typically find that the only reason to have a single overriding policy is for those who are more concerned with actually winning the Star Trek vs Star Wars debate (if such a thing is even possible).

However, I do feel there is a need to have limitations on exactly how far you go in allowing what material can be used. For example, are people free to pick from any reference manuals? Any published sources? Video Games? Anything with the Star Trek/Star Wars names on it? Fan Fiction? How far does it go? Although 95% of the time this probably won't even be an issue in a reasonable community, it's usually best just to set some broad guidelines just so we don't have issues with it in the future.

Once the board has broadened a bit in membership, I'll see if we can't reach something of a consensus on that.

In other rules-related news, I've put up a tentative edition of the enforcement policy.

Oh yeah, one other thing. In the future, there should probably be a policy on exactly what will happen if the OP fails to cite what is acceptable as canon and what is not (such as the OP just disappearing after starting the topic). Will the topic be locked? Will someone else (such as the admin) have to interject and state what is canon? Or will everyone just have to make posts based on how they're feeling at the time? Should there actually be an overriding canon policy just for special cases such as these by default? Just some food for thought.

I agree, I think a default would be nice. Keep the OP setting the rules of evidence option though.

I agree with Socar, a better broad range explanation of what counts as admissible evidence, preferably one that takes into count the offical canon policies of both the Star Trek and Star Wars franchises is needed here.

I mean, as Socar mentioned, anyone could use anything and without regard to the actual filmed or televised materals. This could lead to people taking from obscure video games, comic books, novels, or even fanfic. In what order do we accept evidence? Is there a hierarcy (For example, filmed material and novelizations before comic books and technical manuals.)? So at the very least, I am for a general tightening up of the rules to prevent misunderstandings.
-Mike

I like the rules regarding canon just the way they are. Makes different kinds of debate possible when compared to other sites. And with everyone having to state what counts as evidence in the OP, the "what is canon" ramblings should be cut to a minimum.

EDIT: I disagree with a default canon setting.