Additions to the forum rules and board policies

[Malvolio]

Additions to the forum rules and board policies:

1. Copy and pasting articles

The following are rules to be followed for copy and pasting articles. These apply to any and all articles you post in public forums. These apply to thread starters, as well as, posted responses within any thread.

1. It must include the identifying information; e.g., where available, the author, the publication, the date, the URL.

2. The member must offer some context. Answer one or more of the following questions: How did you hear of this article? What is your opinion? Why is it important to you? Why should it be important to forum readers? The more context you provide, the more you assist others in gaging the excerpted information's significance.

3. You may copy and paste an excerpt or series of excerpts, not the whole thing or even the majority of the whole thing to encourage people to read the entire article.

A violation of any of the above will result in the deletion or closing of the post or thread and could earn you a warning or suspension.

If you have any questions concering any of the above please PM a moderator and we will be happy to clarify.


EXAMPLE:

2. Discussion of moderation actions in public forums

Discussion of moderation actions in the public forums is not permitted. Moderation actions include warnings, suspensions and the editing or deletion of posts. If a member has a concern about a moderation action, he or she is invited to address it with Marc via Private Message.

Posting about moderation actions in the public forums constitutes a violation, and will be dealt with as specified in the forum rules.

You are free to discuss a moderation action via Private Message with the moderator involved, but you may not harrass or abuse the moderators (as already specified in the forum rules). In practical terms, this means that once a moderator tells you his or her decision is final, no further PMs about that moderation action are permitted.

As always, if you have a concern about a moderation action, you are free to appeal to an Administrator via Private Message.

3. Policy on the use of "liar", "lies", "lying", etc.:

"Liar", "lie", "lying" or similar expressions have become a popular means of baiting recently. The Moderators have received a lot of complaints about that. Until now, the use of those terms wasn't regarded as a violation of the forum rules. However, we have come to the conclusion, that this policy has encouraged some posters to use these terms as a loophole for baiting. Unfortunately, for the moderators it is impossible to decide in each case we see whether the calling of someone a liar is being raised as a real belief or is being used abusively. So from now on, the accusation of being a "liar" or similar accusations towards other posters will generally be regarded as implying an insult and therewith as a violation of the forum rules. So please do not call another poster a liar from now on. "I question the validity of your statement because...", "That's not the truth" or "you are wrong about that" seem to be absolutely sufficient for any decent discussion if you want to disagree with somebody's assertions.

4. What is NOT allowed in private forums

A problem has been brewing unchecked in the private forums. This private forum may or may not be involved. Nonetheless, it is the responsibility of the private forum holders to ensure that if the problem is present in the private forum to do his/her best to put an end to it immediately.

The problem as I see it is:

1) Members are being discussed, insulted, bashed, made to look bad, etc., in the private forums. While not all members can see such comments, your private forum contains a large number of members that do see such comments. As such it fosters an environment in both the private forums and public ones of hostility, presumptiveness, dislike, distaste, and even hatred to some extent. A rule was posted a long time ago explicitly stating that the private forums were not intended nor to be used for these purposes. The term “members” is all inclusive and includes new members, old members, moderators, and banned members.

2) This is related to #1 above but more specific in nature. I can understand and appreciate that some members will not like some moderators and vice versa. Regardless, private forums are not the place to rally support for your cause against one or more moderators. Private forums are intended to give contributing members a place they can tailor to their liking and have a focus they themselves design. This may include a forum for weather, sports, history, those that like a certain food, or more often than not a forum for chit chat with other members that they like. If a member has a problem with a moderator then the required course of action is to take it up with me. This would include providing links, samples, etc.

I admit to not always being able to get to PM’s right away. Nonetheless, members’ concerns are not ignored or forgotten. It is extremely important to me to have the best moderator team possible. However, it should be kept in mind that all moderators and myself volunteer our time to try and make this place work as best as possible. Yes, we ‘choose’ to do it. We are not asking for pity, only some understanding. When such actions occur it not only makes our jobs that much more difficult, but it also makes the issues that members have concerns about that much more complicated and unlikely to be addressed and hopefully resolved to some degree.

Discuss politics, men, women, food, sports, weather, etc. Do NOT discuss why this members or that member sucks or why this moderator hates you or is bad at their job. This type of ‘discussion’ only works to demoralize the entire community here at USPO.

If these types of problems persist in the private forums then said forums will be suspended in accordance with the forum rules for the suspension of individual members. I have not paid much attention to what has been said in the private forums, but when these issues are brought to my attention by several members with many of the same concerns I have expressed here it becomes clear that this is an important issue that must be dealt with seriously and diligently.

If you have threads that violate either #1 or #2 above they need to be deleted. I have given the private forums much latitude, but there does have to be some limits…especially when the board as a whole suffers. Thank you for your cooperation and patronage.

5. Thread opening restriction for new members

In order to control SPAM new members cannot start their own threads. You must have made 30 posts and been a member for 30 days. If new members want to start threads before that, they have to contact an Administrator via PM.