General Discussion moderation policy
This (locked) thread is a compilation of the rules of the General Discussion / Chit Chat forum.
- For the veterans: I just merged the three stickies (Posts don't count/Moderation policy/Staying on topic)
- For the newcomers: Please read this rules
Hello everybody.
First of all, I don't start this thread because of some incident in the General Discussion Forum. I just want to state a few things and let you guys tell me what you think.
The General Discussion Forum is somewhat special, because it does not have a topic posts have to adhere to. In other words, it allowes you to chat about whatever you like. However, this does not mean that every post content is acceptable.
This is an incomplete list of things that are not ok:
- fighting, insulting, calling names
- posting questionable things with a "disclaimer"
- posting questionable things with the note "if a mod thinks that this is not ok, he should feel free to delete it". If a mod has to edit your post, you are already in violation.
- posting copyrighted material. This includes using [img ] tags to display images from other web sides -- if you are not sure that these images are not copyrighted, don't post them.
- insulting prominent persons, e.g. politicians or CEOs of various companies.
A few times I have seen poeple say that the moderators are "spoiling the fun" of the forum. I think that this is not the case, as we seldom have edited or deleted posts -- not to speak about closing threads.
Rules of the General Discussion / Chit Chat Forum
Hello everybody!
As you probably know, there was a discussion lately, whether posts in the Chit-Chat Forum should stay on topic or not. We (the modarators) have discussed the issue together with the site admin (Brad Jones) and decided to set up a new guideline:
- When starting a thread that you want to keep on topic, please explicitely state so.
- When posting into "on topic" threads, please respect the the thread starter and the other posters, and stay on topic.
- If you think that someone has posted off-topic in such a thread, please use a PM to ask that person to remove her post. Telling someone in a public thread, as opposed to via PM, that they are off-topic is in itself off-topic.
- Please avoid starting public flamewars for being off topic.
- Finaly, please note that this guideline explicitely aims self moderation. It can only work if a majority of the participants show that they are serious and mature enough. To be explicit, we (the moderators) will avoid jumping the gun and arbitrating, but let the group dynamics do its work.
I hope that this new guideline is satisfactory for people demanding on topic discussions (e.g. Sam) and also doesn't disrupt the tradition of the Chit-Chat forum. To say it again, we hope that the group dynamics will separate serious posters from the Noise Company. This guideline will not lead to more moderation actions in the Chit-Chat Forum.
Thanks for reading this. Your oppinions are, as always, welcome. But please stay on topic. :)