I really cannot stress enough how strictly these rules will be enforced. If the admins see ANYONE avoid making a constructive criticism and instead make a destructive, unhelpful one, there is a very good chance that person will be immediately forbidden from posting in this forum until we permit it. And while we can't tweak the ban settings to keep you from posting in this one particular forum, it's very easy to simply give you a posting suspension for the entire site if you ignore us and continue posting here. For ANY reason.

So, y'know. OBEY THE RULES.

The reason we're coming down so harshly on this particular forum is because quite frankly, it's the one place on the site with a serious potential for drama and hurt feelings. Which is why we've made the following rules:

1.) One critique thread per character, posted at the player's discretion.

Only the player of the character being critiqued may start the topic. They have to ASK for your input before you can give it. This will hopefully keep them from perceiving your critique as an unwarranted attack on them, and more like an actual criticism that they asked for.

2.) Critique threads may be made for canon characters ONLY.

This isn't discrimination against original characters; it's just that nobody really knows an original character nearly as well as the person who created them. Canon characters have source material we can compare to. Though, note that the source material in question MUST be the particular canon material in question. For example: You would not critique Evo Scarlet Witch with evidence based in the 616 universe (comics) version of the Scarlet Witch. They're two different canons.

3.) Criticism must be submitted in a courteous, professional manner, and may not be destructive in nature.

Telling someone "You play Cannonball so bad it makes me sick, you should just drop the character and leave the site" is NOT the way to do things. In fact, we'll likely just see that, delete the post, and forbid you from ever posting in this forum again. Ignore us and post again, we'll just suspend your account outright because at that point you're in severe violation of the rules (ignoring an administrator, harassing another player). A third offense is a permanent ban from the site, so be on your best behavior.

Likewise, do not just post ambiguous praise, either. For example, there should be no comments like "You're doing a really good job!" A good job doing what, exactly? All that tells them is that they're doing something right. If you have no actual concerns, find a specific area to compliment the player on so they get useful information out of your comment. Maybe they did a really good job of playing Mesmero as the cowardly villain that he is, or Colossus' reluctance to serve Magneto (in the show, it's revealed he doesn't have a choice). That information isn't just a better form of praise, but it also provides the player with useful information. Maybe for them, they weren't quite certain they were headed in the right direction, but now you've just shown them that they're on the right track.

4.) You asked for it.

While we aren't going to make a rule forcing players to compulsively follow any criticism posted here, we ARE going to get one thing out of the way...regardless of what's posted, YOU asked for it, even if it's something you didn't want to read. If someone tells you that you need to improve your portrayal of the canon character in question, do not come crying to us to get rid of them because they were mean to you. If we can look and see that they were (see above), then yes, we will. However, if it seems like a valid criticism, regardless of whether or not it might be CORRECT, it's staying and you'll just have to live with it. People are entitled to their own opinions, and this is a criticism thread. It doesn't exist for you to get pats on the back from everyone. It exists to help people improve their portrayal of a given canon.

5.) Drop the canon, lose the thread.

If you drop a particular canon, or someone playing the canon leaves the site / fails an activity check, the criticism thread will be deleted after one week. In that time, it is your responsibility to copy and save the information in the thread if you want to keep it.

6.) Everyone must be able to comment.

I don't see this becoming a problem with the current players, but at some point in the future, I can't be certain. Basically, if you make a thread, you cannot forbid a certain person (or persons) from posting a criticism of the way you play the character. You may not limit it to 'Friends Only' or some other nonsense. Again, this is NOT a forum that exists just to feed someone's ego, it's for players who genuinely want feedback on how they're doing and how they can improve.