Forum Rules - Please fix them - They're Hypocritical

Okay, so, I read the rules and became aggravated with the one about "proper English" because it almost seems purposefully riddled with erroneous commas. Here is the same paragraph cleaned up:Posting

• Search before you post. Chances are there is already a similar topic to yours and if such a topic is found then please use the original topic instead of creating a new one.
• Please use correct spelling as frequently as possible and avoid abbreviations (such as "pls", "tnx", and "yw") . Skipping a few letters when you have a full keyboard is unacceptable. If you can't bother to make an effort then don't bother at all. This type of language is often referred to as SMS language.
• Post must not use excessive caps or incorrect punctuation. This includes, but is not limited to, excessive exclamation marks at the end of words, phrases, or sentences, such as in topic subjects like: SOMEONE PLEASE HELP ME!!!!!!!! URGENT!!!!!
• Topics must contain a proper title. Describe your topic with as much details as possible and please do not use "help please", "problem" or similar vague entries.
• Posts must maintain a certain level of quality. Do not post just for the sake of it because it benefits no one. If all you have to say is "hi", "thanks", or similar; then don't bother. It does not require much to expand the post something akin to "Thanks for this, I really appreciate you taking the time to upload this." Showing genuine appreciation like so can really make the other person glad that they have assisted you.
• Posts must be on-topic until said topic has been thoroughly discussed. If the topic is a question then absolutely no off-topic discussion before the original question has been properly answered. This includes questioning the topic author with mindless questions such as "Why would you want to do that?" or similar. Please state instead "I wouldn't recommend doing that as ..." then said user can draw his or hers own conclusions.
• No posting two or more consecutive posts in the same thread. There is an edit button, use it. (Yes, we know you don't get all the extra options in edit, but BBCode isn't that hard to understand)
• Do not post two topics about the same topic, one is enough. Bumping a topic is allowed provided something valuable is added to the topic. Whether it be a more thorough answer, a similar (but not the exact same) problem or et-cetera. However, when bumping, keep it to a minimum and let it pass a few pages before doing so.

Versus it in its original glory:Posting
- Search before you post, chances are there is already a similar topic, if such a topic is found then please use said topic instead of creating a new one.
- Proper English must be used, spelling errors are, naturally, allowed but abbreviating words such as please, thanks and sorry is not accepted. If you can't bother to make an effort then don't bother at all. This type of language is often referred to as SMS language.
- Post must not use excessive caps or incorrect punctuation; this includes, but is not limited to, excessive exclamation marks at the end of words; usually seen in topic subjects.
Example: SOMEONE PLEASE HELP ME!!!!!!!! URGENT!!!!!
- Topics must contain a proper title, describe your topic with as much details as possible, do not use "help please", "problem" or similar.
- Posts must maintain a certain level of quality, posting just for the sake of it benefits no one, if all you have to say is "hi", "thanks" or similar then don't bother. It does not require much to expand it a bit to "Thanks for this, I really appreciate you taking the time to upload this." yet it means so much more to the person who posted the thread you respond to.
- Posts must be on-topic until said topic has been thoroughly discussed. If the topic is a question then absolutely no off-topicness before said question has been properly answered. This includes questioning the topic author with mindless questions such as "Why would you want to do that?" or similar, please state instead "I wouldn't recommend doing that as ..." then said user can draw his or hers own conclusions.
- No posting two or more consecutive posts in the same thread. There is an edit button, use it.
- Do not post two topics about the same topic, one is enough. Bumping a topic is allowed provided something valuable is added to the topic, be it a more thorough answer, a similar (but not the exact same) problem etc; however, keep it to a minimum and let it pass a few pages before doing so.Notice the following errors have been corrected:

• Run-on Sentences
• Excessive Commas
• Broken or fragmented phrases
• ETC was abbreviated despite the rule against abbreviations.
• BBTags were not properly utilized to correct spacing and make the list uniform and easy to read.

Sorry if I'm being an ass, but it seems pointless to have rules against poor grammar/spelling/abbreviations if the post stating so isn't even properly written/formatted. It goes with that whole "practicing what you preach" kind of thing.Also, about the whole "proper English" thing, there is no such thing. If we still used what was "proper English" a hundred years ago, we'd sound more Shakespearean than we do. Language changes over time and there is no such thing as proper, just poorly thought out or phrased. (I am only bothered by poorly phrased English when it is part of a set of rules that forbid poor usage of grammar, its hypocritical.)I am not seeking to start fires, I just don't like hypocritical statements or actions.

The rule isn't about poor grammar per se, we understand that not everyone speaks English as a first (or even second) language, and that some people do not have a very good grasp of the language and/or are not very confident at using English. Even the site owner (Seph) does not speak English as his first language.The proper English rule simply seeks to eliminate 'lazy' writing, such as 'l33tspeak' and 'txtspeak' because they are unnecessary and difficult to read. We can tell when mistakes are the result of a poor grasp of the language or lack of confidence, and we don't penalise for that.Regarding the abbreviation 'etc' it's a widely recognised abbreviation for 'etcetera' and is allowed. The abbreviations that are not allowed are the ones prevalent in 'txtspeak' such as 'pls', 'tnx', 'sry', 'm8', 'u', and others, where letters are dropped from the word simply to avoid the extra typing (in SMS messages, there is a character limit, which is why people do it. On a forum, there is effectively no such limit, therefore such abbreviations are laziness and are not acceptable).

That said, I don't think we really need this rule anymore. It was written during the height of our popularity and we had thousands of posts every day. It was a very different crowd that visited us and enforcing these rules made sense, not so much these days.I'm not going to change it right now, but feel free to ignore it.

Haha, okay, I felt like mentioning it.I think this place is starting to grow on me, I'm going to get premium soon.Seems like I'm so late to the wii mod scene.... so many things haven't been updated in years.