I'd like to make a commentary on the discussion that happened earlier over floran lisps. http://community.playstarboundrp.com/threads/can-florans-go-through-speech-accent-theraphy.8626/ While being heavily argued, and having a thoughtful inclusion of opinions, I think there was a lack of tact among certain players, and even those who moderate this server. The rule regarding floran lisps is stated in the Rules list, as this: "It's your responsibility as a player to know the lore behind the race you're playing. Florans have a natural lisp, for example. While you don't have to use the lisp for every single sentence, it's expected that you roleplay your racial characters with their appropriate quirks and culture history. Use common sense on this one. Every Glitch prefixes their dialogue, but not every Avian was raised in Avian society. There are some quirks that are flexible, and others that aren't." (found here: http://community.playstarboundrp.com/pages/general-rules/ ) What was found on the thread arguing about floran accents was a moderator determination, and I'll provide their quote here: "Having a Floran without a lisp is against the rules, for those of you here who have said your Floran does not have a lisp. My personal thoughts on the matter are that since Florans don't have lips, and their mouth is comprised of two teeth, then they physiologically are incapable of forming some sounds." (found here: http://community.playstarboundrp.co...go-through-speech-accent-theraphy.8626/page-2 ) This statement clearly was more opinionated and not as founded on the rule I listed above. Instead it seemed rather like a support into the argument taking place. The opinions of people for the restricted use of a floran accent included ideas like "It's just chucklefishes bad writing", "oh it's proven florans can only talk with lisps", and this is just to paraphrase a few ideas. Never does the rule explicitly state that florans without a lisp is against the rules. Even in the rule listing it included the idea of using common sense. While the moderator's 'rule' comment leaves out the concept that a floran character could have a natural lisp and develop through the roleplay not to have one. Instead it seems as though the rule itself is not well explained enough, to where people who have developed floran characters could be subjugated to an obscure rule. I have no way of telling what the consequences of breaking this particular 'rule' is, and in hindsight, based with past experiences, if the moderation team deems it so they could ban someone on these prefixes alone. [ which brings up another idea, the only distinction in these rules is that it won't punish people harshly for the first few offenses, but the form of punishment or reprimand for breaking the rules is an unspoken law, it doesn't clearly state what happens if you break a rule once, or if there's a system to tell how deep you are in trouble. From past experiences, people have been banned for very little with little warning. The rules currently being enforced are based off of past observations from moderators, so it seems appropriately so to assert that being banned for breaking a rule is a thing.] I bring this up because the argument over the floran lisp seemed abstract, one-sided with moderator support, and also aggressive in tone on part from the people who's opinions reflected the idea that florans can only have lisps. I don't believe that this reflects, as the rules list, "a safe, fair, and fun sci-fi roleplay environment for all involved." It is not fair seeing as the rules are obscure and that since there is a rule several in this community seem secure in throwing their opinions around. If people have to worry about being punished for a 'catch all' rule on something as light as the use of accents, even if those accents are supported by the roleplay situation, then the safe and fair roleplay environment that this server boasts might as well be nonexistent.
While I did not have much of a hand in that debate, it is worth a note that more civil discussion has since followed. While I agree that the reaction was far too hostile, and that in many cases, the lack of courtesy exceeded what we should have allowed, the ruling was made and as moderators, we have to enforce administrative ruling. We are open to contesting the ruling, and debating it with more civility. Your request for clarification on the rules has been noted.
