General Guidelines and Provisions
The Golden Rules
FixedVancouver isn't run by rules, per se. Rather, it is moderated by a group of moderators who have volunteered to put themselves in the position of making difficult judgment calls.
Remember that this is a community and that there are far more users than there are moderators. This is a good thing. Moderators are not thought police meant to enforce strict rules down to the letter, they are janitors meant to keep these forums organised and to promote a safe environment for discussion.
The only way moderators can be good at their job is with help from the community. When you see a post you think violates these guidelines use the report button (or send an email) and report it. Reports are kept strictly confidential and there are no repercussions should the moderator not agree with you.
Most of these Guidelines are geared towards just improving the state of the forum through smart tips (using good subject lines is just wise, ya know). Some of these Guidelines are more prohibitive, however, and they function as rules. The rules come in two-forms: the cardinal, and the compulsory.
It's obvious that a number of these guidelines are completely subjective, do your best to follow them. Moderators will try and be as rational and as impartial as possible in their judgements, but they are humans too and will make mistakes.
Cardinal Rules
- No trolling. Don't make posts that are inflammatory just to get people riled up. Substance is a key to not being labeled a troll, but substance alone cannot prevent you from being considered a troll. Substance with a dash of personal attacks will get you labeled as a troll. This includes blatant thread derailling.
- Ad hominem and personal attacks are not permitted. Criticize the ideas, not the people. An ad hominem attack is a logical fallacy describing the attempt to discredit an argument by merely attacking the credibility of the arguer. Excessive flaming will not be tolerated. Users who verbally assault the character or person of other posters on a regular basis will be banned. Moderator's judgment applies here. "You are wrong" is not a personal attack; "You are wrong because you are an idiot" is. Persistent name-calling in the absence of content will likely be assessed as a violation of this rule.
- No pornographic, sexually offensive, sexually explicit, or objectifying material. Simple rule. Moderator's judgment applies here. We'd like for our readers to be able to read FixedVan at work and share with friends without fear of retribution.
- Do not post links or requests for warez.
- Respect the privacy of others. Do not post other's private phone numbers, addresses, pictures, etc., without their express permission.
- Abuse of editing/deleting privileges is not permitted. Editing posts for grammar or information is fantastic, but users may not delete/edit content for the purpose of evading possible moderation (removing flames, trolls, etc.). Also, starting a thread, not liking how it turns out, and then deleting your own posts is irresponsible and unfair, and an actionable offense. It's simply not cool to troll users and then delete it, acting as if nothing has happened. This includes asking mods to delete threads/posts; 99% of the time a lock is preferred to outright deletion but discretion is left up to the moderator.
- Each forum member may have only one account.
- Do not place foul language in thread subjects.
- And of course, NO SPAMMING. No commercial-oriented posts, and no flooding with useless content or content designed to engage readers into forum wars or trolling other sites. This includes signatures with links to your company or commercial product.
Compulsory Rules
- Use descriptive subject lines and research your post. This reduces the chances of double-posting, and it also makes it easier for people to see what they do/don't want to read. Also, scan the subjects of the last several days' posts to make sure you aren't duplicating posts.
- Post in the right forum! Sometimes determining the forum that best fits your topic might be difficult, so just do your best. Should a moderator disagree with your choice they will move your thread to the appropriate section - do not be offended by this - it is simply to keep the forum organized so that it is easier to read.
- Restrict the use of excessive foul language. Although we don't really care if people cuss (um, we have been known to cuss ourselves now and again), excessive foul language is likely to get moderated, if only because excessive foul language usually indicates that someone is utterly clueless. Buy a thesaurus. We also require that you leave rough or offensive language out of the thread subjects. A lot of people read the forums at work.
- No blatantly juvenile toilet humor. Simple rule. Moderator's judgment applies here. Talk about what you do to relieve yourself, although popular (for some odd reason) is not needed here.
- Please respect and abide by the decisions of the moderators. Self-explanatory. If you have issues with moderation, we want to hear about them, but the thread where the moderation took place isn't the place. E-mail mods@fixedvancouver.com and your concerns will be addressed.
Bottom line: we almost always give warnings. But we don't give them twice to the same person.
Repercussions
The forums implement a points based infraction system; users who violate the above guidelines will be given an infraction with a certain number of points attached to it - the amount depending on the severity of the violation. Once a certain amount of points has been accumulated the following actions will be taken:
- 6 Points - Banned for 5 days
- 12 Points - Banned permanently
Infraction points accumulated will reset to zero after an undisclosed (long) period of time (depending on behavior). |
