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.

6. Derogatory labels

Recently there seems to have been a rise in sexist terms such as "girly" "little missy" "sweetie" etc. etc.
This is a direct insult and will be treated as such.

7. Private Forum Usage Announcements

The following are announcements by the Administration regarding the use of private forums.

A) Abandoned private forums

We have deleted two private forums due to lack of usage.

In the future, private forums that essentially become abandoned homes will be subject to deletion, donation or reorganisation. Just like elsewhere in life, clubs sometimes lose their vitality and purpose for a myriad of reasons. If it becomes clear that a private forum has clearly lost its vitality and nobody is going to really use it anymore, owners are advised to consider whether to reuse the forum for something new and productive rather than let them linger or notify the Administration that the forum should be rearranged for other purposes, closed, merged with other compatible private forums, donated to others for new purposes, etc.

This is basically an 'anti-blight' and 'anti-ghetto' rule for the forum. Abandoned forums waste space and constitute clutter and eyesores. Do not be concerned that your forum must be a membership and post count race with others to avoid falling under this policy. The question is whether your forum has actual vitality instead of being 'brain dead.'

B) Propriety of private forums

In the future, the Administration will judge the desirability of a proposed future forum and enact, if we allow it, any conditions upon it that we see fit to ensure that its purpose is productive. That means if it smells like more trouble than it is worth in creation or as proposed, we'll authorise or set the conditions for it to be created or operated.

Since 2003, the Administration staff has periodically witnessed certain private forums being created or over time developing into cliques that have a strong or primary purpose of being havens to talk gossip and smack about others on the main forum and/or about other private forums. This is a general statement and not targeted at any particular past or present forum and is a general observation meant for general application seeking a general remedy going forward. Private forums are intended solely for productive purposes such a special thematic discussion, friendly hangouts, etc.

What is being expressed here is a policy of preventing "Hatfields v. McCoys" private forums. Periodically, certain groups of posters might not get along with others for whatever reasons. Creating or morphing a private forum to create cliques and fuel such things is inappropriate. And the focus here is on preventing petty antics and petty playground conduct. As an example, a forum of liberals or conservatives is thematic and for thematic discussion has a proper purpose and is not designed for personal griping and sniping.

The Administration and moderators will also have the right to ensure that a private forum complies with these policies. If they believe lines are being crossed in a forum, then they are authorised to take whatever corrective actions they deem necessary.

Any questions or appeals regarding moderator actions in the private forum are to be sent to the Administration via PM only as the proper manner and venue for dispute resolution. Do not challenge or fight them in the private forum if they exercise their discretion. Discussing mod actions publicly in the main or private forums are subject to sanctions as part of the existing forum rules.

C) No private forum moderators will be allowed until further notice unless they are already forum moderators

The Administration has learnt that there are some system flaws that make having private forum moderators who are not already regular forum moderators inappropriate (hereinafter referred to as private forum moderator(s) "PFM(s)") unless and until such system conditions can be remedied. These unintended powers have been a source of problems where those who have interpersonal disputes and/or nosey or gossipy intentions abuse them for such purposes instead of and/or in addition to what their PFM status was given to them to properly do. We are currently working to see if these software issues can be remedied but for the meanwhile PFMs will not be permitted until further notice.

Private forum owners and/or their authorised representative(s) are advised, but it is their choice, to appoint a forum moderator who is a member of their private forum to handle moderation activities in their forum. If this path is not chosen, then the owner must notify the Administration for any moderation tasks they desire.

D) Spying and stool pigeoning within private forums

We have also been informed and/or discovered that way too many posters have been sharing information from private forums with others for disruptive and counterproductive purposes such as malignant gossip and fuelling interpersonal spats.

First, any and all instances of sharing accounts by allowing someone else to log in under their own account so they can see into forums they are not permitted will be deemed violation of the double account rule and all caught doing so will be permanently banned. That has long been prohibited by forum rules and we mean to enforce it, especially now. The forum staff can and will be doing account audits to ensure that each person's account remains their own.

Second, relaying private forum posts and information to others not members of the forum for the purpose of mean spirited gossip and fuelling interpersonal disputes and any other destructive petty antics will no longer be deemed simply matters for the private forums to address but a violation of forum rules itself. Very egregious cases of breaches of private forum protocols can even result in a permanent ban or any other sanction we deem fit.

In short, do not act as a private forum 'spy' and/or 'stool pigeon' in private forums for such things and do not solicit others to do it for you.

Private forum members are advised, however, to be realistic about human nature and the nature of the Internet. People are people, they talk, they make friends, they get into arguments, they are curious, they get upset, etc. Thus, if you really want to ensure that someone you don't want to learn something doesn't do so, then don't post whatever it is. If private forums want to create 'what is said here stays here' rules for themselves and desire very strict enforcement, then that is up to the private forums to enforce that.

However, if and when we detect flagrant spy and stool pigeon abuses for bad purposes where it really arises to a forum issue in our opinion, we reserve the right to address such people.

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[Malvolio]

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8. Abuse of forum tools and abilities

Over time, the Administration has witnessed, as part of petty antics, interpersonal disputes, general curiousity and nosiness, etc, the abuse of forum tools and abilities. As a result, forum members are instructed to use forum tools and abilities for their intended purposes and no other.

For example, that means using the 'Who is Online' function to see if someone is directly responding to your PMs or post(s) and other appropriate purposes and no other. Do not loiter there and/or coordinate with others for the purpose of seeing who else is PMing whom, who is talking to whom, etc, and other things relating to being a 'fly on the wall' for nosiness, spying, monitoring of people in interpersonal dramas, etc. The forum staff will be watching this function and others to prevent abuse of them, and those caught abusing them for improper purposes are subject to any sanctions we see fit, including possible suspensions and bans.

Also, if someone detects a forum glitch or weakness of any kind that allows you to see or do something you know you shouldn't, please report it. Remember, it may affect you just as much others in ways you do not want. We want to know and remedy such things as best as we can for the benefit of all posters. This is not said to alarm the forum that major security breaches currently exist. But, it is an Internet forum, and software programmes do have or develop their quirks at times, forum staff may make a settings error, and/or posters can coordinate an improper agenda using what is available for proper purposes. If such things are ever detected, bring it to our attention as soon as possible. Failing to inform the staff of any unintended access to anything will create a presumption that you intended not to inform the staff to take improper advantage of the situation.

But note this well--if we catch any poster discovering any kind of actual forum glitch or forum staff settings error and he or she chooses to conceal its existence and then exploit it for an improper purpose such as nosiness, spying, monitoring of people in interpersonal dramas, etc, that poster will most definitely be sanctioned by the forum staff depending on how severe we deem it, suspensions most likely at a minimum and including possibly a permanent ban.