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Forum Posting Guidelines
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The moderators' objective is to enable enjoyable forum usage. We want an environment where newcomers feel free to post to the forums without fear of being unfairly attacked and where posters don't feel overly-policed.
We want these forums to be as open as possible. All moderation will be made using best-judgment and will never be used to stifle opinion, so long as such posts remain within the boundaries set out here.
Moderators have the ability to hide posts, hide threads, move threads to other forums, and place forum bans for varying periods of time on posters continually breaching the posting guidelines.
Please note that members of the community are encouraged to use the Alert Moderator link below any post which they believe breaches the guidelines set out here. This will place the post on the moderators' list of posts to review.
The following twelve points are the guidelines that should be followed when posting to the forums.
1) Discussions in forums can often get heated, but while you may take issue with another poster's viewpoint, you must not resort to personal attacks or abuse. Do not post offensive or inflammatory remarks that stray beyond the bounds of reasoned debate. Calling another poster an "idiot" will leave a post subject to immediate removal.
2) Do not post profanity. There may be occasions where the context of certain words may be acceptable, and this will be at the moderators' discretion, however posts containing profanity will often be removed automatically by the "robomod". There will be situations where it removes inoffensive posts, but this is unavoidable.
3) Do not post material which is obscene, indecent or pornographic.
4) Please stay on topic. There is clearly a subjective judgment to be made as to whether a post strays off topic and in the majority of cases the post will not be deleted unless it is considered to be disruptive to the thread and its participants.
5) While it is acceptable to post links to external articles and information, you may not use these forums for advertising or promotion of products or services or canvasing support for policatal parties or movements. You may post links to personal home pages, but repeated spamming of such links is not permitted.
6) Do not make defamatory posts. While reasonable criticism of an individual or organization is not in itself libelous, any post that adversely affects the reputation of a clearly identifiable person or company is likely to be removed.
7) Do not harass other members of the community. Harassment is any unwanted conduct including insults, jokes and any remarks affecting the dignity of another. Such conduct could relate to gender, race, nationality, sexuality, religion, disability or other similarly sensitive issues.
8) Do not post information which invades the privacy of another individual, or the disclosure of which would breach an individual's reasonable expectation of confidentiality.
9) Any posts which are deemed to be incitements to commit criminal offenses, or any post which seeks to influence another to commit an offense will be removed.
10) Repeated posting of the same material (spamming) is not acceptable.
11) Overly trivial posts may be removed at the discretion of the forum moderators if they are deemed to be disruptive or distracting to the thread and its participants.
12) Do not rant. Ranting is defined here as a style of post that comes across as a political broadcast or an angry protest that does little to progress the discussion or to involve other posters. Such postings often feel like an intrusion into the general debate, regardless of the validity of the points being made.
I think 4), 6), 7), 11) and 12) are too subjective and potentially too restrictive. All it takes is one Puritan-minded moderator enforcing rules such as those to their strictest interpretation to kill interest in the forums.
Edit: I think 12) is the worst of all and should be immediately stricken from the moderating policy. Some of the 'rant' threads are the most interesting to read on the site. So what if someone wants to rant? Rants often lead to good discussions.
Originally posted by BigDoggProblemYou are ranting...
I think 4), 6), 7), 11) and 12) are too subjective and potentially too restrictive. All it takes is one Puritan-minded moderator enforcing rules such as those to their strictest interpretation to kill interest in the forums.
Edit: I think 12) is the worst of all and should be immediately stricken from the moderating policy. Some of the 'rant' threa ...[text shortened]... g to read on the site. So what if someone wants to rant? Rants often lead to good discussions.
Originally posted by arrakisRanting should be allowed in the forums. Judging from Thread 55459, you don't mind doing a bit of ranting yourself.
You are ranting...
Originally posted by BigDoggProblemnow were just getting trivial children.
Ranting should be allowed in the forums. Judging from Thread 55459, you don't mind doing a bit of ranting yourself.
Originally posted by pawnfondlerAlthough this may contravene rule #7, I find this post to be yet another example of the difficulty Americans seem to have with basic punctuation. Worst of all is "your" when "you're" is meant. I see it all the time in the posts and private messages. The money to build one cruise missile invested in primary school education could probably fix this problem at a national level.
now were just getting trivial children.
Originally posted by plainesYes I agree. I think Americans should sell all the cruise missile's they have that are helping protect Canada first. And then invest that money in our primary school education. Then you really wouldn't be able to get annoyed by our lousy punctuation at a national level.
Although this may contravene rule #7, I find this post to be yet another example of the difficulty Americans seem to have with basic punctuation. Worst of all is "your" when "you're" is meant. I see it all the time in the posts and private messages. The money to build one cruise missile invested in primary school education could probably fix this problem at a national level.
Originally posted by Forum ModeratorAwesome info.
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Forum Posting Guidelines
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The moderators' objective is to enable enjoyable forum usage. We want an environment where newcomers feel free to post to the forums without fear of being unfairly attacked and where posters don't feel overly-policed.
We want these forums to be as open as poss ...[text shortened]... ntrusion into the general debate, regardless of the validity of the points being made.
Originally posted by plainesOH NO, The Spelling Police are everywhere !!! 🙄 🙄 🙄
Although this may contravene rule #7, I find this post to be yet another example of the difficulty Americans seem to have with basic punctuation. Worst of all is "your" when "you're" is meant. I see it all the time in the posts and private messages. The money to build one cruise missile invested in primary school education could probably fix this problem at a national level.