Welcome to the guild! (read first!)

[Zeo]

Welcome to the Media and Cultural Awareness Guild!

As you all know, this guild is for people who are concerned about the way the media is portraying humanity and about how it shapes culture. Any topics relating the media, pop culture, marketing, sociology, cultural identity, the consumer culture, groupthink, and the like are acceptable topics for discussion. (Off topics are alright so long as they connect with social issues somehow.)

Discuss news items; television shows; movies; magazine, journal, or blog articles; personal perceptions of how the media has affected you, and so on. (In other words, you can discuss something particular in the media, or you can talk from your own perspective on the matter.)

This is for serious conversation and discussion on these matters, but more importantly, this is a place for people who are concerned about the way media affects our culture. This is a place for people who want to understand it, rant about/support aspects of it, or change it. With that in mind, have fun and gain knowledge!  

[Zeo]

Rules:


1. This is intended for serious discussion, not light-hearted, non-directional chatting. (That's for the introduction thread 3nodding ) If you don't have anything interesting and relevant to discuss, don't start a thread. If you don't have anything interesting or relevant to add to a discussion, don't reply to a thread.

2. No one word to one sentence replies, please. Posting something like "I agree" or "That's a good point" alone does not offer anything new or meaningful to the conversation. If you agree (or disagree), please explain why. Don't clutter up the threads with meaningless one liners.

3. This should go without saying in an intelligent discussion forum, but: no spamming, no advertising, no trolling, and no flaming.

4. Debates are welcomed and encouraged. Don't let things get out of hand, though, and into flame territory. Be RESPECTFUL of other people's opinions, experiences, and thoughts. We're adults here, so act like one.

5. NO REPEAT THREADS. I can't stress this enough. One of the biggest problems with ED is that there are always 50 threads with the exact same topic, and the starter rarely if ever has something new to add. If a topic exists that you are thinking of starting, please post in it instead of making a new one (unless you intend to post a different aspect of that topic that would spawn a new discussion and would be worth a new thread).

6. Don't be afraid to discuss unpopular topics or opinions. You can talk about whatever you'd like, so long as it (in some way) relates to social issues and doesn't violate the TOS. And don't be afraid to disagree with someone! Just as long as you substantiate your opposition (or for that matter, approval) and keep things respectful and considerate, you'll be fine.

7. Please use intelligent language. Perfect spelling (and even perfect grammar) isn't required, but do keep a mind to it. And NO chatspeak. Chatspeak is annoying drivel, and likely no one will take you seriously. Type like a regular human, not a lobotomy patient.

Violators of these rules will receive a warning. A subsequent violation will result in your being banned.

More will be added as I see fit.

Thanks for keeping these in mind!