[Freezair]

So that title doesn't make much sense, but let me explain.

As the rules update notes, mods in the Breeding Area forum mark topics that they've looked at with an asterisk before them. Another thing that's pretty common is that official topics will have their titles bordered by .: :., so they .:Look like This!:. However, as noted, some people have been putting asterisks in their breeding topic titles to begin with. And some people use the .: :. notation for their own titles.

I'm proposing that we should make certain "topic punctuations and notations" off-limits for everyone but the mods, so that official topics can always be spotted quickly and easily, and other topics can't be mistaken for official ones. Of course, users would still be free to come up with their own brackets for titles (such as how I often use two hyphens for my own events that I host), it's just that we would officially designate some for mod use only.

[Remedy]

I don't feel that this is needed, mainly since I can tell when something is an official post just by the fact that a mod posted it/where it was posted.  I think it would be best to just keep the restrictions on using Astericks in the Breeding Area, since those symbols actually have a valid meaning.  But I don't feel that there's been any or enough confusion with .: title :. being misinterpreted as an official thread when it isn't or vice versa.

[Freezair]

However, I do know that a lot of people hang out in the "View new posts" or "View unread posts" section of the site, and use them as their de facto means of seeing what's going on and what's new in the forums. There, it's less obvious at a glance where something is posted. Plus, people have used it in forums like the Contest forums, where both official and user content coexist.

[Remedy]

Still, it's pretty much a given that something is or may be official/important when you see the colored username. P: I just don't feel that it's enough of an issue to constitute making any restrictions on how people can organize their post titles.  o3o But, alas, that's just my opinion.

[Kitsumi]

Yeah, I also believe that this isn't really needed. Maybe I'm biased because I use that sort of marking (the .: or something similar) to mark my own important posts, but to me I really don't think it's necessary. I've never once mistaken a non-official thread for an official one, or vice versa. Especially since most of the truly important updates are found in the Updates thread, I can't see how others using that little marking (I have no idea what to call it) could really be that much of a bother.

Plus, there would be the hassle of everyone who's ever used it having to go back and edit their titles. It's not really that much of a pain I suppose, unless you don't have links to every thread that you've ever used the marking in...in which case it would be an enormous pain.

I get not using the asterisk symbol within the Breeding Center, but other than that...I don't see the point of putting unnecessary restrictions.

[Silver]

Maybe there can just be an FAQ style thread that explains what the different staff markings mean?

That way, it's a clear indicator to us what they mean (I've been unsure about why my titles were edited in the past), and we can avoid using them if we want to clear up confusion.