Forum Rules, Regulations and Recommendations - - Version 2.3
I. If you have any questions, advice or ideas for improving things here feel free to PM a moderator - they are always willing to listen and help. Moderators will revise and improve the Rules and Regulations so always check on this thread for changes.
II. If you have any complaints about post or a thread please hit the "report" button on that post, write up a description of how that post violates a rule(s) and if necessary what you want done about it. Please limit your reports to rule violations only.
III. The following rules and guidelines for posting in the four World sub-forums exist to create and maintain a high standard of interesting and informative debate, whilst abiding by general standards of civility and common sense. These guidelines were prompted by a desire to create an atmosphere of respect for the different opinions of the many posters to this forum.
IV. Moderation may include editing, moving, and deletion of posts or threads. Whilst moderation takes place according to these guidelines, posts and threads are treated on a case-by-case basis, in an effort to create a balance between competing points of view and to treat all posters fairly, given all the circumstances. However, in posting here you accept that the Moderators have the final say, and can moderate your posts for any reason they think fit.
V. In general, posters will not be informed that their posts have been edited or deleted, although the Private Messaging system might be used to inform you, as time permits.
1. General
A. Posting New Threads
Make sure your posting in the right sub-forum. Ill placed threads will be moved to a more appropriate sub-forums.
B. Use the Search Tool
Its best to post in an existing thread then to make a new one on a topic that already has a thread. Use the search tools rather then posting a question or topic that has already been covered. Posting a topic that already has a thread may mean your thread will be deleted or merged with the existing one.
C. Stating Opinions
If you have an opinion, back it up with evidence, a valid argument and even links and references if possible.
D. Asking Questions
If you have a question, provide enough information so we can help you.
E. Language
Excessive use of vulgar language will initially be edited. Posts that continue this trend will be deleted.
F. Consecutive Posting
Please refrain from posting multiple posts in a row on a thread, as this may disturb the readable flow of a thread. If no one has replied to your post edit it instead of posting another post. Multiple posts in a row may be deleted and/or merged into fewer posts.
G. Replying
When replying to a person it is courteous to state who your reply is to. Other members can get confused and even insulted by a misinterpreted remark.
H. Be Polite and Respectful
Be polite and respectful of other members, even if they are not to you, do not stoop to their rule breaking level! Instead report them rather then returning fire.
I. Personal Information
Post personal information about your self at your own risk. Information like your phone number and address are highly risky to distribute freely here (anywhere in fact). Sciforums takes no responsibility for anything that happens outside of these internet forums.
J. Emotion
Try not getting to emotional in an argument or debate as it usually leads to rule violations and even feuds between members. Try to remember that this is an Internet forum; you won’t get hurt here, nor will you likely meet any of these people in person; so take things lightly and relaxed.
2. Personal Attacks or Abusive Ad Hominems
Posts which attack a person rather than his or her views will be edited to remove the unnecessary personal remarks, or deleted in entirely
Examples of acceptable posts include:
· You are wrong to say that Islam is a violent religion, because ...
· You obviously don't understand the situation, because ...
· Saying what you said clearly displays your ignorance of ...
Examples of unacceptable posts include:
· You are a stupid liberal, because you say Bush is wrong.
· You're just another DubyaTard who doesn't know anything about foreign relations.
· Anybody who'd write what you wrote must have severe psychological problems.
3. Stereotyping, Insulting and name-calling
Use of vulgar or demeaning words to describe a member or a group of people will be subjected to editing or post deletion at a moderator’s discretion. The reparative use of such language could get you banned. The following are included:
· Profanity used in the description of person or member is no acceptable!
· The use of childish immature names such as but not limit to “idiot”, “twit” and “Moron” in the description of a member is not acceptable.
· Misspellings of members names that look demeaning are unacceptable
· Misspelling of words that look demeaning, examples include but not limited to: “Amerikans”, “Sheeple” and “Mooslums” are unacceptable.
Be careful of assigning character features to another poster because of his or her membership of a group (such as a particular religious belief system – or place of residence). It is acceptable to point out similarities between members of groups, but only as long as this is backed up by some kind of argument or evidence.
4. Goading, flaming and trolling
Posts which, in the moderator's opinion, serve no purpose other than to attempt to provoke an angry reaction from another poster, will be deleted.
5. Religious, ethnic or racial hatred / Threats
Avoid posts that promote hatred among different religions, ethnic groups or nations.
All racial slurs will be deleted.
Any post threatening another poster in any way will be deleted, and an effort will be made to ban the poster from sciforums.
6. Gratuitous comments and images
Obscene, sexually-oriented, violent and graphic material will, in most cases, be removed. If you wish to post an image or information that may be found offensive please post only a link and warning of what it contains.
7. Cutting and pasting / plagiarism
A. General
Posting large verbatim extracts of text from other sites is undesirable for several reasons:
· It uses up storage space on Sciforums.
· It duplicates information that is easily accessible elsewhere.
· It can disrupt the flow of a thread, because posters have to scroll through large amounts of text that they may not wish to read.
· It may breach copyright laws.
Therefore, we ask that posters abide by the following guidelines:
· All quotes from other sites must be attributed (e.g. by posting a link to the site).
· Quoted text should be restricted to a few lines or a paragraph unless the poster is quoting the text along with his or her, own detailed analysis (interspersed with the text).
· Avoid verbatim reproduction of entire posts of other posters (e.g. from earlier in a thread). If you want to dissect a post, it is fine to split it into different parts, but do not simply quote the entire post and then add a one or two line comment.
Posts which deviate from these guidelines will be edited or deleted.
B. Plagiarism
Plagiarism consists of copying another person's writings and passing them off as your own. If you post something somebody else has written, you must name the author, and preferably also reference the source. Posts which include material from elsewhere that is not properly acknowledged will be deleted.
8. Off-topic posts
Posts that interrupt a serious thread with inane comments that in the moderator’s opinion do not relate to the original topic will be deleted.
9. Repeated posts and topics
Topics that are mere cut-and-pastes from previous thread topics may be deleted or merged with a previous thread. Similarly, cross-posting of the same message in multiple threads will result in the deletion of one or more of the repeated posts.
10. Advertising or Spamming
Placing posts to advertise for a site, placing personal information below every post and/or posting information for your own benefit that has no relevance to the thread is called “spamming” or “spam”. Spam is not acceptable here and will be edited or deleted out. Repeated spaming may result in immediate banning.
11. Interfering with moderation
Changing or interfering with moderator's editing for any reason will result in your immediate banning from sciforums.
12. Complaining about moderation
These sub-forum are dedicated to discussions about current events and politics in the world, if your troubled by the way things are moderated, pleased do not post in the World Subforums. Contact a moderator directly, if that doesn't resolve the issue contact one of the super mods (Stryder and goofyfish) or administrators (JamesR and Plazma Inferno!).
13. Repeat offenders
The moderators here are not paid for their work, and have limited time. We do not look kindly on posters whom we have to watch continually for breaches of the forum rules. If we find that your posts are requiring continual moderation attention, you will first be warned by personal message. If the inappropriate posts continue, you will be banned.
14. Freedom of speech
You are free to post or not to post on sciforums. However, posting here is a privilege, not a right. As such, by posting you agree to abide by the forum rules. Yes, this restricts your freedom of speech to a certain extent. If you cannot accept the restrictions that are in place, our advice is to find an alternative forum that suits you better, or starts your own site.
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