Once upon a time the Village was small. All of us knew each other- were friends with each other. And our Village was a bit different from all the other fan sites. We welcomed everyone. We had respect for each other. No on was turned away. There was no hate.

Oh, that's not to say that everybody was pals with each other. There was still disagreement sometimes and there were some who didn't' get along. But there was still respect. We respected each other's religions, where they lived, and how they lived their lives. Even in the midst of disagreements, there was still respect. Everyone knew that no matter what, we were all Villagers-- something to be proud of.

And we still had good debates in the forums. Great debates in fact. Everyone knew they could speak their opinions without bringing down abuse and flames to themselves.

But things have changed. Maybe it's because we're not so small anymore. There was a time all of us knew each other personally. Maybe it's because we have been too easy at times in accepting everyone. Maybe we've been too forgiving at times.

But whatever the reason, things have changed a good bit. We still have a good core of Villagers who have retained this idea of respect for others, and many new members who came here seeking that. But we also have some who enjoy flaming others and making comments meant to harm. Those lacking basic respect for others.

And this *will* change. We are returning to the Village we once were. RuneVillage will once again become a haven for those seeking friendship and comradeship among the storm of the web. There *will* be respect for others. We will not tolerate mean people.

We already have forum rules against flaming, making offensive comments, and insulting others. Although these things should come naturally. A wise man/woman even has respect for his enemies. A good man/woman has respect for all. Only a fool would make themselves a target by abusing and insulting others.

But this is just to put everyone on notice, that we *will* be returning to an emphasis on these core beliefs of the Village. We *will* be a true Village and not just another forum on the web.

The rules I mentioned earlier will be enforced more strictly, and interpreted more widely. The task for doing this will be the responsibility of our Admin Staff, and I've told them that I don't care if we ban ourselves back to a Village of 500 again, there *will* be the attitude of *mutual* respect in the Village once again.

And this is not to say that there can be no debates or disagreements. It's all in the manner and attitude by which you approach it. Anyone can flame and belittle others, but it takes a strong person to always be respectful and diplomatic, even in the midst of disagreement. Former U.S. Secretary of State Adelai Stevenson defined diplomacy as "the art of telling someone to go to hell in such a manner that they look forward to the trip."

So this is not meant to muzzle you or restrict your opinions or speech-- only the manner in which you approach it. Even friends can agree to disagree.

Let the Village be a place of fun, friendship, and fellowship-- let this be our strength over others. Rejoice in this fellowship of your brothers and sisters of the Village. Let us be united by respect.

Happy Trails,

very nice speech i hope we can get there without banning 2 much ppl as... as 500 ppl with about 200 mods is crazy

i'll do my best 2 keep the forums i mod clear from flamming and cussing... ye be warned

I read it. i agree entirely. Recently I have been getting mad at people for Insulting me and my friends. Ill try and stop my ways. I hope we can return to being a village.

-Shady

AGREED maybe now that these new rules will soon start to be re-enforced more strictly it will teach those nasty flamers to be nice & show respect to others. I would love to see the village & all of us villagers become the way they were a while back, we CAN make this change it is up to YOU the people to decide whether or not you help us out. Next time you make a post & have something bad to say about the person who started the topic or someone who may have flamed you hold your tongue young hobbit & call upon a moderator, we will help you out & take action. Great speech Hiker we needed to hear this & it is about time someone has spoken up about it.

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I need a new sig

Even though I haven't been around as long as most of the other villagers, I have still noticed a change in attitude here and in runescape. I believe it is because people haven't read the rules or think they can get away with not obeying them. As you said the solution is to be stricter so hopefully people will realise they shouldn't hurt other people's feelings.

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More clicky red button? Sounds fine to me.

I can't say I've known a village of 500, but even a village of 5000 was very different from what we have now, and apart from the fact we didn't have awsome modding staff such as myself, it was better. You should write speeches for a living, Hiker.

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Nice said Hiker, even thoug i havnt been here for very long i agree with you Cheers!

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[align=center]
If you were one of the idiots who enlarged this just to read it, then paste this into your profile[/align]

Straight up, it gets extremely annoying going into a topic and having to scroll through 20 posts of flames to get to any decent material. This is the same stance I take in all the other forums i mod or admin. This will make the forums more enjoyable for everyone.

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<img src="http://cgi.softwebb.plus.com/runescape/stats.jpg?username=spydrplus">

hiker, i have been here for quite sometime and i have seen and read alot of the "downgrade" and methods to improve such as bannings, rules changes and penalties. sorry to bring this up but, this has always been said but never implemented. heck, some of your own mods are spammers and post to try to get popular and be a mod. they never get penalized as they are friendly with the mods and admin. there are quite a few people who were regularly flaming the mods but did not get banned. they are quite a few people who flame, say sorry and use some lame excuse such as "i was in bad mood" and its okay again. there are alot more instances such as multiple topics even it is already apparent that there is a similar topic already, posting at the wrong forums, posting i have been scammed/hacked topics..etc etc...that are tolerated and should be warned or banned but not since the RV rules are not strictly implemented.

that said, moving forward, i hope that what you are saying will happen and that i am in error.

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to put it simply:
99 str - 630th person

ok..sorry... me wit and piggah made 5 pages of spam...

I won't do it again...
plz don't ban me..
even though I don't paly runescape...
I enojy coming to runevillage...
although a village of 50 would be nice(If I was in it :p)

Well said, I will try to be not so off the hook eh?
Well, the problem shall be resolved and I look forward to it. I shall love to see the Village back to 1 year ago.

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Teetering on the brink of insanity

A great speech, I understood every single bit of it, so now I won't be encouraged to make stupid mistakes again

And neither should anyone, anyone who has just read through some of it, read through it all, it makes you think about your actions abit ^__^

Im screwed then huh... lol.


Just joking sounds cool.
We'll see what 'appens 'ey.

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|117 Combat|99 Strength|97 Attack|90 Defence|

Scaper Since 2001
Clan: Torment

Exactly my thoughts.

-Shady

Great speech, the rules definitly need to be better enforced, both throught the general village and the mod team, they spam and flame nearly as much as everyone else and seem to get away with it.

I think the village might benefit from some additional rules and/or stickies to reduce the number of toics that are used over and over again.

Sad to say I dont believe the village will get back the way it was, even if you banned everyone down to 500 users, those people have changed a lot since then, some for the better, some for the worst, I know I've changed.

The village the way it was...will just have to live on in our memories. We CAN create a better village, but it will never be the way it used to be.

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Runevillage member #46

I joined back in September i think it was - look at my joined date, anyway for the first 3 months i wasnt as active as i could be, and just browsed the forums for peopel selling/buying, and this was back when there was around 700 - 1000 people just visiting the forums..

Ive seen my fair share of flaming/warnings given/bannings, a warning, which i have never had, but apart from that, this speech will hopefullyl help/clear some people up.

Nice speech, hope it gets through to you all, it will help if you read and understand the full extent of what Hiker has spent some time writing.

Ta,
criX

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thanks than -

cx` productions

Things hav changed a lot even sice i joined (and i was browsing about 2 mnths b4 that), i really do hope we can get a better comunity again, personaly i know gydot (he didnt kill me wen i was out in the wild ) and i have said hello to east gotenks once or twice (i was even there wen he got 80 crafting ), but ne way this really was a great speech and i completly agree with it.
~orange~

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You laugh because im different, i laugh because ur all the same

--IN GAME NAME(s) ARE DOKU TEISHU AND-- --DOKU ITE--

ive been here a fair while, before a few admins...
alot of mods and spammers..
but i agree and this has been a subject for sometime
you finnaly over looked it and came to a discussion which is a good choice
may i ask hiker if you can delete all the pople who have made accounts but havent even posted once?
and what if a spammer is a mod what happens then

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
i agree 2, many of the users on runevillage just join and don't really do anything. It might help out by deleting members who have been inactive for say a month or so. But yeh, i post maybe not as much as other people but i have definately noticed a larger amount of flaming in the old school ownage and quite a bit in general pictures. Just my 2 cents. Umm, yeh, i hope runevillage can return to the state it was before where every1 is friendly, even with their enemies. Also, i hope the mods keep up their job and start deleting/warning/banning some of the inapropriate users.....

~kym12~

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71 pker: t w 1 g g y 60a/60 5d/5 80s/91 73h/?? 73r/80 52p/52 82m/85 *working on* completed DT and MM!

Great speech! I completely agree with what you said. Flaming and hate should be forbidden and penalties handed out. It's no excuse to say that you had a bad day because there is no need to make others suffer because someone had a bad day.

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