User blog comment:CyberTheNerd/SOG Wikia Staff Meeting/@comment-17737991-20140531034442

I think Rule #5 needs some serious clarification. Not the part about using proper grammar, the part that says we must use the default font/formatting.

I see some say any font is fine as long as it's a reasonable one and isn't something stupid like "EyEcAtcHinG FoRMaT". But then others say it must be the wiki's default format and font period under all circumstances.

The latter interpretation of the rule, in my opinion at least, is quite silly. Font and formatting is how a story is presented... text is the main visual medium used for the stories here. (Yes, visual medium. Text isn't a picture, but it's still a medium you use sight to process.) That element, the visual appearence of text, can be changed to convey some kind of message (ex: simple, angular font to represent something written on an old typewriter). Limiting the font to just light gray Helvetica (or its nearly identical twin Arial) is severely limiting what creators can do to the visual medium of their text.

Also, if every aspect of the rule is to be taken literally, that means there are several SOG reads that break rule #5. It's Watching - Some font is centered, breaks the default format rule. KiyoshiSNES  - Some font is dark gray, breaks the coloured font rule. Maria's Revenge - It may be hard to see, but the first three paragraphs under the first section heading, the font is smaller than it should be, breaking the default font rule. The rest of the pasta is the default font though. Never Stop Running - Nearly the whole thing is ALLITALICS. This is an example of using the visual medium of text to represent a letter's writing. Despite that, it still technically breaks rule #5. Nightmares in Dreamworld - The font is Verdana, not the default Helvetica (or its near identical twin Arial). Revolt - It's all bold and all italics. The Legend of Zelda: The Dark Rites - Many of the new lines aren't separated by a space. The default formatting however, separates every new line with a space.

The Rake - I think this is Verdana, but not sure. In any case, that font is not the default font.

Yes, I seriously just went through every SOG read to find those examples. Also, gais, srsly, leave the font and format of those pastas alone until we clarify if this rule even applies to such examples. I went through the effort to find them, at least have the respect to wait for a proper consensus before messing with them, please. Anyway, being required to use the default formatting is clearly not a very strictly enforced rule. It's not just SOG-reads that don't use the default format, I just used those examples because most are relatively popular... so an admin must of seen some at some point. But that admin didn't change anything, even though they blatantly break rule #5. However, I don't think those pastas should be changed. Being restricted to just Helvetica (or its near identical twin Arial) and the grammatically incorrect paragraphs being separated by a space, and zero customization allowed as far as font colour goes… there's just no reason for that. If a story simply looks awful, like size 30 and all eye-bleeding bright red or some shit, that's when the rule should be enforced. But as it stands, stories like the examples above technically break rule #5, even though those stories are formatted reasonably and don't look bad. Therefore, I think the part about only using the default font and formatting should be changed to specify we should only use reasonable font and formatting, but aren't restricted to just the default font. If even that's too abstract, we can set up specific fonts that are allowed (reasonable fonts like Verdana, Tahoma, Calibri, Times New Roman, Helvetica/Arial, Georgia, etc) or banned (like the outrageous Webdings xD). Though I think simply stating that the font and format must be reasonable should suffice.

Uh... back on topic. Heh, sorry, but that's been bugging me forever and this looks like a good place to mention it. Anyway, wouldn't it be easier for an admin to make an announcement that we all get a notification on, and then the admins and chat mods would see the announcement and discuss their feelings on it in the comments? Because I really don't think getting everyone on at the same time is going to happen :\

Also, for the record, Niklaus A. Mikealson is NOT me. FUUUUCK. Her name is Bree too, but she's not me. Geeze. I do not role-play, and I do not use dog icons (though they're adorable). This is my only account, it even says so on my profile >.< I know some already know that, but I'm just throwing this out there for anyone reading this who might not have figured it out.