Forum Rules

[MoonlightSonata]

Overview

There are six basic rules:

(1) Members may not engage in discourse which is highly offensive.

(2) Members must reference any articles they post.

(3) Members may not post spam.

(4) Members may not harass other members.

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(5) Mods must provide reasons for thread closure.

(6) Members may appeal to super-mods or admins.


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The Rules in Detail

If you want to know exactly how they are applied, you can read about it here.


Section 1: Offensive posts

1. Members may not engage in discourse which is highly offensive.

2. "Highly offensive" means:

(a) racist in nature, or
(b) maliciously or excessively sexist, or
(c) excessively rude, being very insulting to a reasonable person of ordinary sensibilities.

3. A post will not be offensive if it is clear that a reasonable person of ordinary sensibilities would consider that, in the context of the thread and surrounding posts, the rudeness was intended playfully.

4. Posts do not have to be politically correct.

5. It is not a defence to this section that the comments made in an offensive post were the result of religious beliefs.


Section 2: Referencing

Members must reference any articles they post.

(The purpose of this rule is two-fold. First to prevent Copyright infringment, and second to allow everyone to check the validity and source of the information or opinion.)


Section 3: Spam

1. Members may not post spam.

2. Consideration of whether the post constitutes "spam" will be determined with regard to whether the post:

(a) is overly irrelevant to the forum or particular thread topic;
(b) is significantly inhibitive of fruitful discussion;
(c) would unreasonably irritate members by way of nonsensical content;
(d) would unreasonably irritate members by way of repeating previous threads or posts;
(e) would be better suited for the "non-school" forum.


Section 4: Members may not harass other members

1. Members may not harass other members.

2. Harassment involves:

(a) repeated insults towards a particular member or members; and
(b) the insults were made during a period of less than one month; and
(c) the insults would be considered highly offensive, distressing or consistently very annoying by a reasonable person of ordinary sensibilities; and
(d) the insults are consistently unwarranted and unprovoked.


Section 5: Reasons for thread closure

1. A moderator may not close a thread without a reason being published at the time of the closure, or soon thereafter.

2. The reason provided must be reasonable but does not need to be sufficiently detailed.


Section 6: Appeals

If a member feels aggrieved and wishes to appeal a decision made by a moderator, they may appeal to a super-moderator or an administrator.

Please note that frivolous and vexatious appeals will not be looked upon favourably.


Section 7: Penalties

1. A breach of these regulations may result in one or more of the following actions being taken:

(a) a warning issued to the offending member;
(b) deletion or closure of relevant posts or threads;
(c) banning of the offending member.

2. In determination of the penalty to be applied, consideration will be given to:

(a) any previous offences by that member; and
(b) and previous warnings issued to that member; and
(c) the severity and nature of the breach; and
(d) any apparent legitimate attempts made to mitigate the harm caused, not including private messaging; and
(e) whether or not the member is a benefactor, the penalty being more lenient if they are.

[Generator]

A new rule to add to the above - any member posting a video link must provide a brief yet accurate description of what is contained within the file. Links that are not accompanied by a description will be deleted and the member in question will receive a PM asking that this particular rule be observed. Should the member's settings prevent a PM being sent, the post in question will be moved to the Contact Moderators in order to allow the the request to appear in more private setting than the forum at large allows.

[ur_inner_child]

Section 7 (e) on benefactors is now void; benefactors no longer exist.