Courtesy and Common Sense: A Manifesto

3 - Forums Etiquette

We keep things fairly lenient here, but with so many members, there have to be a few general rules and regulations. The basic philosophy's pretty simple: Be Civil! If everyone relaxes and tries not to overreact to things, the forums run a lot more smoothly. Fortunately, the overwhelming majority of people who visit here will never come into conflict with the guidelines of this section. There are very few rules, and as you will see, these rules are not very restrictive. The WWII Forums has a long-standing policy of non-intervention and freedom of expression, so if you follow your own sense of courtesy and common sense you will be fine. Unfortunately, these guidelines of courtesy and etiquette must be clearly defined for the few people whose sense of respect may have eluded them. Take a quick look and familiarize yourself with the rules of etiquette here, some rules are more serious than others, and it is good to know exactly what the rules are so that you can help others with them.

As a WWII Forums Member, you are expected to read and be familiar with the Forums "Etiquette" (this document), and FAQ sections. Moderators and Administrators reserve the right to close/delete topics or posts that go against the rules, or ask questions that are clearly answered in the latter two documents.

Posting Guidelines:

Posts may not contain or have links to any one of the following:

-Pornography or sexual material
-Illegal Files / Links (music, warez, CD cracks/codes, etc.)
-Hate speech (racism, sexism, etc.)
-Excessive profanity. No profanity is allowed in subject lines. (see "Use of Profanity" below)
-Spam, scams, or commercial messages. The moderators and administrators reserve the right to decide what qualifies as "spam". You're certainly allowed to link to outside websites, or put them in your signature, but please do not start topics dedicated to promoting them.

General respect for others:

People are going to ask questions that have already been asked, bring up topics that have already been discussed, and so forth. These things happen. If you're not interested in the topic at hand, simply don't post! Flaming and bashing are not necessary under any circumstances. You do not have the right to insult or attack someone for any reason. Abuse of other members will not be tolerated, anyone found to be trolling, and making inflammatory posts will be warned. Any further infractions will result in summary banning of both the user's email address and IP address. Banning is permanent; there is no appeals process or reinstatement of banned users. Save "flamewars" for other message boards.

Respect for Veterans:

This is the most strictly protected rule of this site. Veterans of both sides of the Second World War often visit these forums, when they do, they must be treated with the utmost respect and dignity. Any infraction here will result in a permanent ban without warning.

Use of Profanity:

No profanity is allowed in the subject of a thread, your posting Signiature or your Avatar. However, profanity is not absolutely banned from this site. The subject matter here sometimes does include the use of curse words and "forceful" language. Always be tactful when "being forceful", careful placement of an asterix or two can make the difference between a forceful post or an outright offensive post. Remember, anyone can access the site, regardless of age, so keep this in mind. It is good practice to write as if you knew there were school students present, because they often are.

Multiple Accounts:

Under no circumstances is it acceptable for one user to use multiple usernames and multiple accounts simultaneously. This activity is actually quite easy to detect, and persons doing this will have both accounts banned and their IP blocked. If you are a member who has returned after a long period away, there is no need to start a new account, the Admin team can restore your former account if you are having trouble reactivating it yourself.

Birth Dates:

This discussion board must comply with US federal law that dictates how children (13 or younger) must register for the discussion boards. As such all members must supply their true birth date in their user registration profile. You are free to make your your birth date private (actually I recommend it), but you must supply your true birth date. Failure to do so is a bannable offense.

Thread Hijacking:

This is a simple rule; try to stay on topic. Occasionally members inadvertently post a message that deviates from the already established topic in a thread. This makes searching for information difficult and will impede the flow of a conversation. No one is saying you cannot post your new or different information, simply create a new thread and post it there.

Post Inflation:

The WWII Forums rewards members for their total number of posts. The number of posts you have corresponds to your rank and will earn you medals. Posting purely for increasing your post count will not be tolerated. This practice ads useless clutter to the forums and is frustrating to members who may have to scroll through several pages for nothing. Again, use common sense, post as often as you like, but ensure there is at some relevance in the post. Members who engage in inflation will have their post total reduced.

Spelling & Grammar:

Pointing out spelling and grammar errors isn't necessary. The best way to improve the overall presentation of the forums is not to post in every poorly written thread complaining about it. Instead, practice what you preach: Try to write reasoned, well-thought out, well-written posts.

Soliciting:

There is none allowed. If you join the Forums and begin to immediately post about your fantastic deals on eBay, or your cut-rate battlefield tours, your account will be banned and your posts deleted.

General Thoughts:

Your post count, the length of your forum membership, or any other means of measurement does not absolve you of responsibility for your actions. If anything, we expect long-term members to behave more maturely, and help make these forums a great place for discussion amongst all members.

If you are not a moderator, please don't try to be one, there's no need to post in someone's topic saying "this will be closed soon!" or "why did you write this?" or publicly demanding that the moderators close the topic or ban the member. However, if someone is being exceedingly disruptive, feel free to bring it to a moderator's attention (via private message or the "report post" icon).

The moderators and administrators hope that everyone can adopt these rules as being what they are: straightforward, concise, and damn simple. If anyone has a question concerning these rules, please e-mail or private message your nearest moderator. They will see you are taken care of. Please keep in mind that the moderators are here to only enforce these rules to keep the forums a fun and healthy place to visit. If you have a problem with how a moderator is helping to run the forums, please private message or e-mail them and talk to them privately. Do not start a new topic and turn it into a bashing.

Not happy with the rules? No one's forcing you to post, and you're free to leave at any time. We think though, that you'll find staying within the boundaries of the rules is pretty easy, and that on the whole they will help keep the quality of discussion in these forums high.

 

I would have you reference post #1 above. I copied it from Otto's original etiquette rules from a few years back. They were more recently updated last year. I think they reflect the same sentiments as belasar has proposed. Whether or not we lose long-time members (and we always do), Otto's rules still apply. For those who have not done so recently, they are worth a new look.