THE "JUST-SAFE-ENOUGH-FOR-WORK" RULE: This forum has an R-rating (if you're a movie buff - M-rating for gamers, minus the nudity). Profanity is allowed but let's keep it reasonable, yes? Conversations about adult topics are permitted, but let's not make it too graphic, alright? No pornography, no links to pornography. Links to FurAffinity accounts are permitted, since non-registered users don't automatically see adult content. If we link to porn or host it, we can and WILL be shut down by MyFreeForum. Before you post something, just ask yourself "would I get in trouble if my boss/parent/teacher saw me looking at this?" If so, don't post it. You won't get in trouble for accidentally posting adult material a couple of times (though we WILL take it down right away.. If it continues, however, then you'll receive a warning. If you see any, tell us right away.
THE "KEEP IT TIDY" RULE: Don't clutter up the forum, if you can avoid it. Avoid making multiple threads on the same topic and try to keep threads in the sections they belong in. e.g. If you're about to post a thread on how much you LUUUUURVE genitals/cheese/cake/mudkipz in the Announcements section, you're doing it wrong and you might want to consider the Randomness section... Just a thought. We WILL move threads that are in the wrong sections to the right ones. Keep spammy posts to the "Randomness" section.
THE "HUGBOX" RULE: This forum is not a LiveJournal or a blog. It never will be and should not be expected to be. If you want to talk about the trivialities of your personal life such as what colour you dyed your hair, how upset your family makes you or how hard life is, please start a blog or an online diary and link us to it in the links section of the forum. Those sorts of posts are only permitted if it's a HUGE, IMPORTANT thing that is essential news that the forum MUST know. This forum is NOT to be used to fish for sympathy. Before you post something like that, ask yourself: "Do people really need to know this? Is it that important?" If not, avoid posting it. Repeated instances of this will merit a warning, so think about what you post before you post it.
THE "DON'T BE AN ASSHOLE" RULE: This delicately-named rule combines a bunch of old ones. It breaks down like this:
- Don't post hate-speech. If you hate a group of people, we don't care and we DO NOT WANT to hear about it. Period.
- Don't flame anyone or attempt to start a flame war by being an easy target.
- Don't troll either. I know it can be hard sometimes and the temptation is great, but avoid it please. It IS something you will get in trouble for.
- Don't be angsty. This is partly covered in the "HUGBOX" rule, but it bears repeating. Drama and angst are endemic of the furry fandom, we know, but NOBODY wants other people's bad juju dumped all over them.
- Be civil. It's not hard. It's takes less effort most of the time than being uncivil and you'll find it works both ways. Miraculous!
- If you've got beef, deal with it in real life, not on this forum. If you disagree with someone, do so respectfully. You can also address it in PM's, but if you're abusive, people have a right to complain.
STUFF THE WHOLE FORUM CAN GET IN TROUBLE FOR:
- Posting or linking to porn.
- Posting hate-speech, racist remarks or similar badness.
So that people know, breaking these two cardinal rules can get us shut down. Don't do it. Refer to the above rules.
ABUSE POLICY
We have a very low tolerance for malicious posts here. The following is the revised abuse policy:
There are a few things that can get you in trouble here. They are: Posting porn, turning the forum into a pity-party and being an asshole. See above rules for clarification.
i) First, a private request to change the content of the post and apologize to the offended party will be issued.
ii) If the offender refuses to comply, the post will be edited or deleted by the admins. This will be accompanied by a warning and a public scolding.
iii) If the behaviour continues, further warnings will be issued.
iv) If, after 3 warnings the behaviour continues, the offender’s access to the forum will be temporarily suspended and they will be temporarily banned from meets and events during the period of their suspension (1 week).
v) If all these methods fail, the offender will be banned outright from the forum and from meets and events. If they turn up at events, they will be turned away. (We really don’t think it should ever come to this, but this action will be taken should things get out of hand.)
B) Grievances and complaints about posts that users find offensive should be sent via e-mail, PM or instant message to an admin. We’ll take a look at it and determine what, if anything, needs to be done. If you need to, you can e-mail me (ironklaw) at “turbospeedy100(at)gmail.com” or you can get me on MSN by adding “klaw_zero(at)hotmail.com”. Otherwise, feel free to PM any of the admins (Meer or Ironklaw).
C) Private Messages (PM’s) are, indeed, private, but they are not a way to insult or offend someone. If someone is abusing you over PM’s, please send a copy of the message to an admin. Appropriate actions will be taken, beginning with a written warning.
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The admins like to think that we're fair and we'll always give a warning to let you know that you've broken the rules. If you continue though, steps will be taken. Our personal biases do not affect who posts in the forum. We wrote the rules and we'll stick by them. We've been lax about it in the past and that needed change. That's why the rules were revised. Also, since people seemed to have trouble taking them all in, they were simplified and named for easy reference. Instead of saying "Look at section C of the Behaviour section" you can just say "Don't be an asshole".
Also, we'd like you all to know that as admins, we promise not to power-trip. That has caused serious friction in other Ottawa furry communities where the admins started banning people because they didn't like them or for other equally-stupid reasons. We help keep the board running smoothly, but we don't let it get to our heads.
Thanks for reading, enjoy the board.
