Rules

Rules
This community only welcomes posters aged 18 and older. Admin, Steve, and the individual posters who comprise those entities would like to remind all posters that they in no way, shape, or form, guarantee the real-life safety of any posters who participate in this forum. Admin, Steve, et al. have not accepted, do not accept, and will not accept any responsibility for providing help, assistance, or support - monetary or otherwise - to any poster off-board. Should Admin, Steve, et al. receive any communication from a poster threatening to harm her/himself or implying that s/he is going to be harmed by another, Admin, Steve, et al. will take no action whatsoever and will delete the communication, whether it was made by PM, general post on the board, e-mail, or by any other means. Repeat - Admin, Steve, and the individual posters who comprise these entities are here to moderate posts on this board only, not to provide real-life safety and/or rescue services for posters or their family and/or friends. No profanity, personal attacks, name calling, or trolling. No messages which lack civility, common sense, and decency. This should be fairly clear, but unfortunately, Admin must point it out to some. If your post elicits a warning or reminder, there is a good chance it was because of violating this guideline. Please note that Admin does not wish to stifle expression of varied opinions, nor does Admin wish to repress the lively discussion and repartee this community enjoys. Admin's intention is to enact policies that promote the strong and passionate expression of viewpoints in a constructive or neutral way, while discouraging the expression of said viewpoints in a hateful way. Regarding reporting violations of the above rule: Admin is aware of the difference between good faith reporting of a violating post, and making reports that could reasonably be seen as seeking out material to use against other posters. Admin continues to encourage good faith reporting of posts believed to be in violation of board rules, but Admin does not look kindly on tattling behavior and will not tolerate it in the future. Please govern yourselves accordingly. Trolls and the like will be banned from the forum. This means real trolls only (posters who sign on for the primary purpose of abusing/intimidating/harrassing other posters, or who sign on for the purpose of spamming). Moderators will be the authority on what constitutes "abuse" and are authorized to use their own discretion in making that determination. The Internet is filled with communities like this one and there are no restrictions on members of this community belonging to others. However, we ask that members do NOT bring drama from their other boards to this one. You MAY repost topics that you feel would make for an interesting discussion, but do not use this forum to bash another, particularly if that forum shares a large number of members with this forum . Any drama that happens on other boards stays on other boards. Period. Discussing disciplinary actions of other boards is strictly prohibited. If moderators from another site are also users here, you may NOT PM them to discuss the disciplinary actions of the board they moderate. Callout threads regarding incidents or disciplinary actions on other boards are NOT permitted. Consequences for the violation of this rule will be at Admin's discretion, up to and including a full and permanent ban from this site. No posting of other posters' personal information that could identify them in real life. This includes not only information but also images. Please be aware that you must have permission from every pictured poster in order to post a photo or to quote/copy a post containing a photo of posters. No glittery avatars. No pictures in signatures. Posting of the text of PMs sent between posters is frowned upon. Please alert Admin to any serious violations of the rules, either via PM or via the "report" button next to the post in question. We cannot stress enough that while we make every effort to be present on the forum, we cannot and do not see every thread or post. It is very important to notify Admin of potential violations if you feel they are sufficiently egregious. We hope to see members of this community handle their disagreements in a mature and tolerant manner, with an effort toward tolerance and respect for the viewpoints of others. Please note that warnings are issued on threads, with the offending post or posts quoted. There will not be private, PM warnings issued for minor infractions. Admin does reserve the right to privately warn a poster regarding a potential banning (temporary or permanent). Admin also reserves the right to not disclose the outcome of action taken on a complaint filed against another poster. Any poster repeatedly violating the rules, or violating them in a particularly egregious way will face consequences up to and including a ban from the forum. Consequences for rules violations are as follows: Minor infraction - The warning system will be used to issue a warning to the offending poster(s) Repeat minor/1st infraction - The automated system will then be used and poster(s) will be blocked from posting for 24 hours but may still log in. 2nd infraction - Warning system will be used, and a 24 hour ban will be enacted; offending poster(s) may not log in or post for that time. 3rd infraction - Warning system will be used, along with a 7 day ban. 4th infraction - Warning system will be used, along with a month-long ban. 5th infraction - Permanent ban. Any user who PMs a poster after being directly asked by that poster to cease and desist will be given 1 warning only and banned on the second occurrence (whether the second occurrence involves the same recipient or not). This rule applies to any communication via PM after the "stop" request, even an apology or written acquiescence. This applies to all board members - moderators included - except Admin. Please note that the offending PM, including the request to stop sending PMs, will need to be forwarded to Admin in order to for action to be taken. A moderator posting under her own name is posting as a regular poster only. Any official moderation will be done under the Admin name. Moderators are to be held to the same standards as any other poster; there is no more stringent standard for moderators posting as themselves. There is a thread in the permanent section dedicated to the selling of goods and services. Any posts made on a public thread with the sole purpose of advertising a product or service for sale are prohibited. However mention in a poster's account profile or signature is considered permissible. As always, requests for votes (e.g., online contests) are still permitted. For basic "how to" pointers, please see this thread on the Permanent Subforum.

This community only welcomes posters aged 18 and older.
Admin, Steve, and the individual posters who comprise those entities would like to remind all posters that they in no way, shape, or form, guarantee the real-life safety of any posters who participate in this forum. Admin, Steve, et al. have not accepted, do not accept, and will not accept any responsibility for providing help, assistance, or support - monetary or otherwise - to any poster off-board. Should Admin, Steve, et al. receive any communication from a poster threatening to harm her/himself or implying that s/he is going to be harmed by another, Admin, Steve, et al. will take no action whatsoever and will delete the communication, whether it was made by PM, general post on the board, e-mail, or by any other means.

Repeat - Admin, Steve, and the individual posters who comprise these entities are here to moderate posts on this board only, not to provide real-life safety and/or rescue services for posters or their family and/or friends.
No profanity, personal attacks, name calling, or trolling. No messages which lack civility, common sense, and decency. This should be fairly clear, but unfortunately, Admin must point it out to some. If your post elicits a warning or reminder, there is a good chance it was because of violating this guideline.

Please note that Admin does not wish to stifle expression of varied opinions, nor does Admin wish to repress the lively discussion and repartee this community enjoys. Admin's intention is to enact policies that promote the strong and passionate expression of viewpoints in a constructive or neutral way, while discouraging the expression of said viewpoints in a hateful way.
Regarding reporting violations of the above rule: Admin is aware of the difference between good faith reporting of a violating post, and making reports that could reasonably be seen as seeking out material to use against other posters. Admin continues to encourage good faith reporting of posts believed to be in violation of board rules, but Admin does not look kindly on tattling behavior and will not tolerate it in the future. Please govern yourselves accordingly.
Trolls and the like will be banned from the forum. This means real trolls only (posters who sign on for the primary purpose of abusing/intimidating/harrassing other posters, or who sign on for the purpose of spamming). Moderators will be the authority on what constitutes "abuse" and are authorized to use their own discretion in making that determination.
The Internet is filled with communities like this one and there are no restrictions on members of this community belonging to others. However, we ask that members do NOT bring drama from their other boards to this one. You MAY repost topics that you feel would make for an interesting discussion, but do not use this forum to bash another, particularly if that forum shares a large number of members with this forum . Any drama that happens on other boards stays on other boards. Period.

Discussing disciplinary actions of other boards is strictly prohibited. If moderators from another site are also users here, you may NOT PM them to discuss the disciplinary actions of the board they moderate. Callout threads regarding incidents or disciplinary actions on other boards are NOT permitted. Consequences for the violation of this rule will be at Admin's discretion, up to and including a full and permanent ban from this site.
No posting of other posters' personal information that could identify them in real life. This includes not only information but also images. Please be aware that you must have permission from every pictured poster in order to post a photo or to quote/copy a post containing a photo of posters.
No glittery avatars.
No pictures in signatures.
Posting of the text of PMs sent between posters is frowned upon.
Please alert Admin to any serious violations of the rules, either via PM or via the "report" button next to the post in question. We cannot stress enough that while we make every effort to be present on the forum, we cannot and do not see every thread or post. It is very important to notify Admin of potential violations if you feel they are sufficiently egregious.

We hope to see members of this community handle their disagreements in a mature and tolerant manner, with an effort toward tolerance and respect for the viewpoints of others.
Please note that warnings are issued on threads, with the offending post or posts quoted. There will not be private, PM warnings issued for minor infractions. Admin does reserve the right to privately warn a poster regarding a potential banning (temporary or permanent). Admin also reserves the right to not disclose the outcome of action taken on a complaint filed against another poster.
Any poster repeatedly violating the rules, or violating them in a particularly egregious way will face consequences up to and including a ban from the forum. Consequences for rules violations are as follows:

Minor infraction - The warning system will be used to issue a warning to the offending poster(s)

Repeat minor/1st infraction - The automated system will then be used and poster(s) will be blocked from posting for 24 hours but may still log in.

2nd infraction - Warning system will be used, and a 24 hour ban will be enacted; offending poster(s) may not log in or post for that time.

3rd infraction - Warning system will be used, along with a 7 day ban.

4th infraction - Warning system will be used, along with a month-long ban.

5th infraction - Permanent ban.
Any user who PMs a poster after being directly asked by that poster to cease and desist will be given 1 warning only and banned on the second occurrence (whether the second occurrence involves the same recipient or not). This rule applies to any communication via PM after the "stop" request, even an apology or written acquiescence. This applies to all board members - moderators included - except Admin.

Please note that the offending PM, including the request to stop sending PMs, will need to be forwarded to Admin in order to for action to be taken.
A moderator posting under her own name is posting as a regular poster only. Any official moderation will be done under the Admin name. Moderators are to be held to the same standards as any other poster; there is no more stringent standard for moderators posting as themselves.
There is a thread in the permanent section dedicated to the selling of goods and services. Any posts made on a public thread with the sole purpose of advertising a product or service for sale are prohibited. However mention in a poster's account profile or signature is considered permissible. As always, requests for votes (e.g., online contests) are still permitted.
For basic "how to" pointers, please see this thread on the Permanent Subforum.