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Our local site chatroom, The Sphinx's Lair, has a thriving community, and one that readily welcomes new users. As Room Owners were recently notified, we now have the ability to set room guidelines. We already have a room description.

General discussion for https://puzzling.stackexchange.com / Join in our Cryptic Clue Chat Chain: https://chat.stackexchange.com/transcript/message/60387050

Please note that Markdown does not work in room descriptions. However, it will work in chatroom guidelines, if we so choose. An example of a room guidelines modal is below:

Chat room description and guidelines for the "h Bar", the general Physics SE chat. Room description at the top and a few mandatory checkboxes below.

Is there anything that we think needs to be in this modal? While we haven't had chat problems recently, there are historic one-off cases of users being disruptive, to the point of driving other users out of chat. (Yours included.) We could also decline to set room guidelines at all, in which case we would only have the general chat modal.

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  • $\begingroup$ Room guidelines have been implemented. Please raise further guidance updates (wording tweaks, changing an item, removing them entirely, etc.) either in chat or in a new meta post. $\endgroup$ Commented Nov 25 at 23:08

2 Answers 2

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Since CCCC is such a prominent part of the Sphinx's Lair, it might be worth having a bit more lengthy description of what it's about.

As an off-the-cuff attempt:

Cryptic Clue Chat Chains (CCCC)
We have an ongoing game in the Sphinx's Lair (since November 2016) called the CCCC. Players take turns posting a cryptic clue, preceded by CCCC: . The current clue is pinned in the star board. Whoever solves the current clue gets to post the next one.
Anyone can play, but please make sure you're familiar with how cryptic clues work (see the link above) before attempting to solve/post.
Post a solution by responding to the message with the CCCC and explaining your solution. The setter will respond, indicating whether your solution is correct. If it is, then you get to post the next clue. Questions about the game or the clues are welcome, and people often collaborate or discuss difficult clues to try to find a solution. Sometimes if the setter of the clue knows they will be away, they will post an MD5 hash of the solution. This can be used to verify a solution, but it is considered bad form to google the hash or otherwise attempt to reverse-engineer it to obtain the answer.

If we're going to have room guidelines anyway, it also might not hurt to add the ones quoted from Physics.SE above. I mean, when is it a bad idea to remind people to be nice?

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    $\begingroup$ I like this idea. Might be a good idea to include a link to the archive page as well? $\endgroup$ Commented Nov 14 at 23:06
  • $\begingroup$ @Jafe What archive page are you referring to? $\endgroup$ Commented Nov 18 at 21:59
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    $\begingroup$ @Will.Octagon.Gibson See bobble's answer! $\endgroup$ Commented Nov 19 at 2:09
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A proposal using suggestions in @GentlePurpleRain's answer, slightly modified. Texts are limited to 1000 characters (and I think that's before rendering) so I had to cut GPR's draft down a bit, especially to link the archive. I'm open to edits and/or changing the order of the items.

Be nice

Users are expected to be polite in chat, and swearing is generally frowned upon. This is something you need to be particularly careful about when discussing sensitive topics like politics, sex, and religion. If someone tells you to stop, stop.

Don't use chat as a 'replacement' for the main site

Though we'll obviously talk a lot about puzzling, full puzzles are better off on the main site. In chat, fewer people will see your puzzle, you have less ability to edit/update, and answers are disconnected from the question. Plus, chat Q&A don't come with "imaginary internet points"! However, feel free to use chat to share links to puzzles that regulars may find interesting.

Cryptic Clue Chat Chains (CCCC)

Since November 2016 we've had a "cryptic clue chat chain" (CCCC). A setter posts a cryptic clue, preceded by "CCCC:". The current clue is pinned on the star board. Whoever solves the current clue gets to post the next one. Clues and solutions are archived.

Anyone can play, but please make sure you're familiar with how cryptic clues work (see the link above) before attempting to solve/post. Queries and collaboration are welcome. Post a solution by "responding" to the latest clue with an explanation. If the setter indicates that you are correct, you get to post the next clue.

Sometimes if the setter of the clue knows they will be away, they will post an MD5 hash of the solution. This can be used to verify a solution, but it is considered bad form to reverse-engineer the hash to obtain the answer.

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  • $\begingroup$ I know the first sentence of the Be nice section is directly from the h Bar guidelines, but it's a weird sentence. The "too" makes no sense (in addition to what?), the entire "although" clause adds nothing, and the "so" is an odd choice as well. Maybe something like "Users are expect to be [polite | considerate | pick a good word] on chat, and swearing is generally frowned upon on SE." $\endgroup$ Commented Nov 19 at 2:22
  • $\begingroup$ @Jafe good suggestion, edited $\endgroup$ Commented Nov 19 at 3:03
  • $\begingroup$ @Jafe, I think the "too" refers to being nice (in the header). Be nice, and be polite too. But bobble's edits are better anyway. $\endgroup$ Commented Nov 19 at 19:02
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    $\begingroup$ This answer has been implemented. Please raise further guidance updates (wording tweaks, changing an item, removing them entirely, etc.) either in chat or in a new meta post. $\endgroup$ Commented Nov 25 at 23:07

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