Rules Of Conduct

Zaharoff

Zaharoff

Grimscribe
Please, correct me if I am wrong.
I have been unable to locate "rules of conduct" anywhere on this forum.
Generally, all boards feature those, typically pinned to the landing page.
Why don't we have those?
I ask, because I have witnessed fellow members get banned for breach of etiquette.
At this 20 year point, is it possible to write simple rules?
Do we need rules?
They don't have to be democratic, they don't have to be by committee.
Shoot, it'd be OK by me if Ascrobius wrote them.
You guys have thoughts, opinions, advice?
 
Being a retired lawyer, I always like clear rules. Otherwise, things can be a little bit arbitrary and capricious, as we say in the law.
 
I could've sworn we wrote a code of conduct years ago. We're older than Google, so we've outlived practically any forum online today.

If any member wants to knock out a code of conduct draft, we could discuss and ratify it here. If not, I probably could write something up in the next week or two.
 
Thanks! I thought there was one but didn't recall where it was. I'll try to highlight/bookmark it. Also, it looks like it needs some good copyediting/revision. I'll work on that, but this is also a good thread for members to discuss what they think makes sense, what doesn't, and what might need to be added.
 
I did a little cleanup work on the existing forum rules. When I did, I noticed this bullet point, which is relevant:

"In forum-based sites like TLO, requests for membership removals are not welcomed. These sites are free, members find them and join them without any invitation, so if the site does not appeal to them, they are expected to simply abandon the website instead of insisting on membership removal."

The forum rules were added in 2008 by Brian, so I didn't pen these, but this rule makes sense. Publicly demanding membership removal is something that has come up at various times throughout the years, and it is always rather obnoxious. If for some reason you must purge your online presence from TLO, please write me or Brian (Dr. Bantham) by PM.
 
While we're discussing this, here are the rules as they stand this moment. Feel free to ask questions or make revision/addition suggestions:

Forum Rules
  1. All messages sent to forums should follow our site agreement, site principles, and forum etiquette rules.
  2. A forum post can be sent to one forum area only. If a thread is related to more than one forum, it should still be posted to a single forum. Multiple posting of the same thread is not allowed.
  3. Every forum thread should be created in the relevant forum, and every post should be posted in the relevant thread. Irrelevant, off-topic posts and threads should not be posted.
  4. Members should not post messages which can provoke, harass, disturb, or otherwise agitate other members. Doing so can lead to warnings and/or banning by moderators.
  5. Posts deemed rude, unfriendly, unhinged, ill-mannered, inappropriate, gratuitous, disturbing, disrespectful, or unjust by site administrators should not be posted. Doing so can lead to warnings and/or banning by moderators.
  6. Be civil. At their discretion, administrators will warn and/or ban members who are offensive, abusive, or use hate speech.
  7. Mass spamming is strictly prohibited. If you have books for sale, for instance, you may list them on the forum in the appropriate section but be mindful that excessive spam will lead to immediate and permanent banning.
  8. Pornographic or extremely violent material of a graphic nature is specifically prohibited. Doing so can lead to warnings and/or banning by moderators. Sexually explicit text should only be used within the context of literature, and the site administration reserves the right to remove any content which it deems unacceptable.
  9. Replies and Questioning to warnings, notices and reminders of site administrators and moderators, including criticism, complaints, discussions of site administration, site rules or the site itself, should be posted inside an appropriate forum or sent via private message system or email system to site administration. Such discussions cannot be pursued inside the public forums or existing threads.
  10. Posts in the forums are expected to be written in English, as it is the default language of our community.
General Forum Etiquette
  1. You should not TYPE YOUR MESSAGES IN ALL CAPITAL LETTERS.
  2. Reminders or warnings by forum moderators should be discussed with that moderator in private, not in public inside forum posts.
  3. If a forum thread is closed, a similar thread should not be opened. Likewise, if a forum is closed by a moderator, queries should be asked via private messaging—not public threads.
  4. Formatting of messages with coloring, making it underline, bold or italic, centering the text, indenting, using a different font size should be used to emphasize a small section of the post and should not be applied to the entire post.
  5. If a post is quoted in your reply, you should only quote a relevant section of it, not the entire post.
  6. Before opening a new forum thread, spend a few minutes searching the database to make sure the subject has not been previously discussed. If it has, you should add your post inside the existing thread and not post a new one.
  7. If a forum post appears to break any rules, do not reply, quote it or discuss it inside the forum. Instead, click the "report this post" link and notify forum moderators to take over.
  8. If you receive a private message or email from another user, you should not post it publicly without the prior consent of the sender. Doing so will put you at risk of banning.
  9. If you don't like a member, add them to your ignore list. Harassment will lead to banning.
  10. In forum-based sites, requests for membership removals are not welcomed. These sites are free, members find them and join them without any invitation, so if the site does not appeal to them, they are expected to abandon it and never visit the website again instead of insisting on membership removal.
  11. In forum-based sites, frequent changes of usernames are not welcomed and should not be requested unless absolutely necessary.
  12. Do not pm/email moderators, administrators, or any other site staff for small talk or for non-site related questions and conversations.
 
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