Draft Forum Rules

[RW]

We don't have any official rules posted yet so we thought we would draft some and give you guys an opportunity for feedback before they become official.  Your comments, good, bad or ugly, are welcome.



Rules

1.   This is not a bastion for your civil liberties.  You should have no expectation of freedom of speech or an infallible right to post.  You are our guest.  We expect you to respect our rules.  We reserve the right to exclude or limit you at our whim for any or no reason whatsoever.



2.   Do not break the law.  Any material that may violate any laws be it of your country, the country where The Blue Cashew is hosted or International Law will result in loss your post and possibly of posting privileges.  This includes hate speech, threats, child porn, copyright material without permission, etc.



3.   Posting personal, private or identifying information about another poster is prohibited.  We encourage you not to share information from private message as a measure of good taste.



4.   Posts containing pornographic, gory or gross content, images or links are prohibited.  Posting such material could result in loss of posting privileges.  What constitutes as pornographic, gory and gross is what we say is pornographic, gory and gross.  Admins have a weak stomach.



5.   If we believe your intention here is to be irritating, obnoxious or make the board less fun for others we will limit or revoke your posting privileges.



6.   Spammers and disruptive trolls will be given the boot.  The definition of spam is an irrelevant or advertising post and a spammer is the person who posts spam.  A troll is a person who sows discord on the Internet by starting arguments or upsetting people by posting inflammatory, extraneous, or off-topic messages on a forum with the deliberate intent of disrupting normal on-topic discussion.



7.   Please stick to one account.  We don't need 10 versions of you when one will do.  That said, if you want to create another account for shits and giggles by all means do so but if you are doing it to troll, it will be removed.



8.   Although you remain responsible for the content you post, we reserve the right to delete or edit text from your posts for any or no reason whatsoever.



9.   Please do not backseat moderate. Nothing is more annoying than someone who sits there telling admins what to do.  If you have a comment or suggestion please PM it to an admin and where we can ignore it without an audience.  That said, from time to time, we will ask you or your opinion or perhaps give it to you depending on our mood.



10.   Admins and moderators will enforce rules based on the severity and frequency of the offense.  Punishment will range from warnings to restricted posting privileges to permanent banning and everything in between.

[Renee]

I'd give some constructive criticism but I don't want to be seen as a backseat moderater  ac_biggrin .

[RW]

See "from time to time we will ask for your opinion".  This is that time :)

[Anonymous]

Looks good RW.

 

[Renee]

You want my opinion....here it is and please excuse my frankness....



You sound like a complete tyrant.



No offense but the way these rules are worded, it makes this place look completely uninviting. For example....telling potential members that their posts are subject to removal or editing for no reason other than.....because we can.....makes the administration look like a group of overbearing intrusive dickheads. And you don't just state it once; you state it multiple times.

[RW]

I thought I was being funny.  Well, I actually borrowed these from all sorts of sources but I'll take another look at it from a tyrannical dickhead perspective.

[Renee]

I thought I was being funny.  Well, I actually borrowed these from all sorts of sources but I'll take another look at it from a tyrannical dickhead perspective.

Let's put it this way....if I recognize the dickhead/tyrant factor.....it's pretty bad.

[RW]

It's supposed to be more BOFH - like sarcastic asshole but maybe I didn't take it far enough or maybe I took it too far.  



Thanks Renee :)

[Anonymous]

We don't have any official rules posted yet so we thought we would draft some and give you guys an opportunity for feedback before they become official.  Your comments, good, bad or ugly, are welcome.



Rules

1.   This is not a bastion for your civil liberties.  You should have no expectation of freedom of speech or an infallible right to post.  You are our guest.  We expect you to respect our rules.  We reserve the right to exclude or limit you at our whim for any or no reason whatsoever.



2.   Do not break the law.  Any material that may violate any laws be it of your country, the country where The Blue Cashew is hosted or International Law will result in loss your post and possibly of posting privileges.  This includes hate speech, threats, child porn, copyright material without permission, etc.



3.   Posting personal, private or identifying information about another poster is prohibited.  We encourage you not to share information from private message as a measure of good taste.



4.   Posts containing pornographic, gory or gross content, images or links are prohibited.  Posting such material could result in loss of posting privileges.  What constitutes as pornographic, gory and gross is what we say is pornographic, gory and gross.  Admins have a weak stomach.



5.   If we believe your intention here is to be irritating, obnoxious or make the board less fun for others we will limit or revoke your posting privileges.



6.   Spammers and disruptive trolls will be given the boot.  The definition of spam is an irrelevant or advertising post and a spammer is the person who posts spam.  A troll is a person who sows discord on the Internet by starting arguments or upsetting people by posting inflammatory, extraneous, or off-topic messages on a forum with the deliberate intent of disrupting normal on-topic discussion.



7.   Please stick to one account.  We don't need 10 versions of you when one will do.  That said, if you want to create another account for shits and giggles by all means do so but if you are doing it to troll, it will be removed.



8.   Although you remain responsible for the content you post, we reserve the right to delete or edit text from your posts for any or no reason whatsoever.



9.   Please do not backseat moderate. Nothing is more annoying than someone who sits there telling admins what to do.  If you have a comment or suggestion please PM it to an admin and where we can ignore it without an audience.  That said, from time to time, we will ask you or your opinion or perhaps give it to you depending on our mood.



10.   Admins and moderators will enforce rules based on the severity and frequency of the offense.  Punishment will range from warnings to restricted posting privileges to permanent banning and everything in between.

Not exactly the welcome mat is it RW.

[RW]

Are rules supposed to be?

[Anonymous]

Are rules supposed to be?

Are you trying to be uninviting?

[RW]

I thought they could be countered by your warm personality.

[Anonymous]

I thought they could be countered by your warm personality.

 

[RW]

Okay, I have taken in consideration your feedback and done a second cut.  Please let me know what you think.



Rules



Welcome to The Blue Cashew.  We are so glad to see you here and look forward to your insightful contributions to our board.  While here, we ask that you please respect a few simple, straightforward rules so we can all enjoy our time here.



1.   Like all moderated forums, you should have no expectation of infallible freedom of speech or an irrevocable right to post.   Although you remain responsible for the content you post, we reserve the right to exclude or limit your posting abilities as necessary to maintain harmonious discourse on our board.



2.   Please do not break the law.  Any material that may violate any laws be it of your country, the country where The Blue Cashew is hosted or International Law will result in removable of offending posts and possible loss your post and possibly of posting privileges.  This includes hate speech, threats, blackmail, child pornography, posting copyright material without permission, etc.



3.   Anonymity on discussion forums is important to many posters.  Posting personal, private or identifying information (PI) about another poster is strictly prohibited.  We also encourage you not to share information from private message as a measure of good taste.



4.   Posts containing pornographic, gory or gross content, images or links is not allowed.  We ask if you are going to post material that is questionable for purposes of contextual discussion or for artistic purposes that you please provide a link to the image with a disclaimer rather than posting the image itself.



5.   If we believe your intention is to be irritating, obnoxious or make the board less fun for others we will limit or revoke your posting privileges.



6.   Spamming is prohibited.



7.   If you are going to troll, please do so in the Reject Rodeo section of our board.  The creation of sockpuppet accounts or impersonating other posters is discouraged.  Creating alts to circumvent bans or account restrictions will result in the accounts being deactivated and a ban issued or extended.  



8.   Please respect our moderators and administration staff while doing their forum duties.  They are volunteers and don't get paid enough to take abuse from posters for doing a service to the board.  



9.  From time to time a circumstance will arise that we find unacceptable but is not outlined in these rules.  The administrators and moderators will discuss the issue and decide on an appropriate course of action to be taken.



10.   Admins and moderators will enforce rules based on the severity and frequency of the offense.  Punishment will range from warnings to restricted posting privileges to permanent banning and everything in between.

[Renee]

Much better, very professional.