New Posting Guidelines - Board Terms of Service

[Dave]

At Politics & Current Affairs, freedom of expression is encouraged - we should be able to express our thoughts and views freely, period. But in doing so, we need to maintain civility and consideration toward others.

P & CA's forum is one of the fastest growing current affairs forums in cyberspace. P & CA is truly a home away from home. Why? Because most members abide by the rules and respect one another.

1. General Posting Rules:

1.1 - No "Flaming": Please do not post any messages that harass, insult, belittle, threaten or flame another member or guest. Abusive behavior will not be tolerated and your account may be suspended.

1.2 - No "cross posting". In other words, do not post the same message to more than one thread or topic section. Cross postings will be deleted and posting privileges may be suspended for doing so.

1.3 - No "Spamming". This also relates to multiple accounts on the forum which are strictly not allowed. Also, please do not mass-PM or mass-email multiple members of this site the same message. ATTN: Spammers will be dragged out into the street and shot. Spammers who spam the board will have their email addresses and IPs posted in public view. You've been warned.

1.4 - No posting of privileged information. Please remember to respect other's privacy. In the public forum, do not post real names, email addresses, or other personal identifiers that may be considered privileged information. If these items are already publicly available, this shouldn't be a problem. But if these are from private correspondence, or from some user database, discretion is advised.

1.5 - No "Offensive" Posts, Links or Images: Please do not post any messages that are obscene, vulgar, sexually-orientated, hateful, threatening, racist, sexist, discriminatory, or otherwise violative of any local or international laws. This includes links in your signature, profile, bookmarks as well as posted images, photos and avatars. The moderators will ultimately decide if something is appropriate or not.

1.6 - No "Libelous" Posts. Do not make posts that could be considered libelous, defamatory, or posting merely to cause harm to another's business. Opinions are expected, but do not attack others with accusations of criminal activity unless this has been proven in a court of law.

1.7 - Posting of copyrighted material. Please ensure the source is quoted and if featured online a link back to the article is referenced in your post. Also, do not post copies of postings/threads from other forums unless you have explicit permission to do so. When in doubt, ask.

1.8 - No portal wars. Do not start a flame war between one portal and another. Portal wars will not be tolerated.

1.9 - Do not register an account fraudulently. Fraudulent accounts are defined as accounts created specifically to flame others (hiding behind a mask of anonymity), or accounts opened primarily to spam the board or to act as trolls. Do not register more than one account in the forum. Additional accounts will be deemed as bogus, and you may find yourself out on the sidewalk lying on your back staring at the stars.

1.10 - Please do not exploit this board to promote your own personal agenda. If the moderators (and members) feel that you are spamming the board with links to your website, etc., your account may be suspended.

1.11 - No Image Hotlinking: Please do not hotlink any images directly from someone else's website. Either host the image on your own webspace, utilize the free image hosting feature offered at P&CA to all members or use a free image hosting site such as http://imageshack.us/

2. Infractions

• Infractions will be given whenever a moderator sees a violation of any of the above rules.
• Three infractions in a ten day period will result in a 7 day time-out.
• Four or more infractions in a 30 day period will result in a 14 day time-out, and consideration by the moderators for a permanent ban.
• -If the violation is severe enough that a mod thinks an infraction isn't enough, moderators will discuss any action considered appropriate.

3. Board Staff

Super Moderator

Super Moderators - Francois, Justin, Fred, Dufrel and Gilles de Rais

Super Moderators can perform the tasks and administrative functions that are required to be done in day-to-day operations.

In the light of any serious breaches of the above listed board terms of service guidelines, P & CA's Super Moderator Staff Members will decide in private whether a temporary or permanent suspension of posting rights on P & CA is to be implemented. At least three super moderators need to be in agreement for a member to be banned. In certain circumstances when it is deemed necessary, then Dave as the board owner will have the final decision.

What Super Moderators cannot do is offer board technical support. This is provided solely by the owner of Politics & Current Affairs. If you have any technical issues with the forum or website of P & CA then these are to be directed to Dave.

Additional Super Moderators may be added in the future as needed.

Board Owner

Board Owner - Dave

Like in any organization, someone has to make final decisions if and when the SuperMods cannot agree upon an action among themselves, which hopefully should happen very rarely. That role falls to Dave, which makes a lot of sense since he is the owner of the board.


Should you have any queries about any of the above, please start a thread in the Member's Feedback Forum.