Edit: latest version is here: http://www.terrypratchettbooks.org/article186.html

This is my take on things regarding rules, thought I may as well have a go at it then we can add to it, take stuff away, or implement it into something else. It's mostly taken from ideas on another message board I've been involved in for a very long time, not all my own work in other words.

I like the idea of calling it 'Code of Conduct' better than 'posting rules' or anything with rules in the titles, I think Code of Conduct has more of an ambience of respect about it? Whatever we end up using in the end we can have linked to from the forums and make it the sign up agreement when you join, that thing no one ever reads and just ticks yes - but is kind of legally binding nonetheless.


[b:b62601c85c]Terry Pratchett Unseen Message Board
Code of Conduct[/b:b62601c85c]

Registration to this forum is free! We do insist that you abide by the rules and policies detailed below.

Although the administrators and moderators of this forum will attempt to keep all objectionable messages off this forum, it is impossible for us to review all messages. All messages express the views of the author, the owners and other members of this forum will not be held responsible for the content of any message.

[b:b62601c85c]Signatures & Avatars [/b:b62601c85c]
We do not have any specific set of rules regarding signatures. However, we do ask you that it will not be offensive to others and the length of signatures will not exceed 500x100. If you desire to have a custom avatar, it must be 150x150 pixels or less, NOT animated and NO adult, drug related or racist content please.

[b:b62601c85c]Nudity/Porn[/b:b62601c85c]

Please remember that this board is a PUBLIC forum. There are 12 year olds here just as there are 50 year olds. Nudity and porn is prohibited for obvious reasons.

[b:b62601c85c]Impersonating Other Users / Accessing Another User's Account [/b:b62601c85c]

You may not impersonate another board member or create an account specifically for the purpose of provoking other users. Also, accessing or using someone else's account or attempting to access another poster's account is strictly prohibited. You will be banned.

[b:b62601c85c]Copyrighted Material [/b:b62601c85c]
All board users agree not to post any material that is protected by copyright, trademark or other proprietary right without the express permission of the owner(s) of said copyright, trademark or other proprietary right. Especially portraying such work as your own. This is otherwise known as, "RIPPING". Rippers are not permitted here, and if you are caught stealing others work you could be banned without warning.

By agreeing to these rules, you warrant that you will not post any messages that are obscene, vulgar, sexually-orientated, hateful, threatening, or otherwise violating of any laws.

[b:b62601c85c]General Conduct[/b:b62601c85c]
Respect your fellow forum users. If you want to take issue with what they say then do so by sticking to the point, not by using 1337 5p34k, childish outbursts or threatening language.

Personal attacks will not be tolerated, if you use the forums to wage virtual war you aren't just a very sad person, you will also not be welcome here.

If you need help ask for it, but search the forums first in case your query has been asked before. Oh and make sure you post your question / plea for help in the right forum, if you don't then you'll get moaned at.

If someone shares a little personal information then please respect this and don't make fun of them for doing so.

[b:b62601c85c]Posting Messages[/b:b62601c85c]
Posting should be done in English. Drunken English is also permitted so long as we can make sense of it. Using so called 133t speak or text message style writing (other than a stray LOL) is NOT welcome in any way shape or form.

Strong language is okay in moderation, but swearing all the time for the sake of swearing will get you into trouble.

Racism and extreme political views are not welcome here.

We permit image posting but use your common sense - vulgar, obscene or graphically pornographic images are not okay.

Posts that are generally harassing, offensive, abusive – especially those aimed at sexual orientation, gender, race, colour, religious views, national origin or disability – will not be tolerated.

Spamming is evil because it clogs up our forum with needless messages and eats away at our bandwidth. Spam and you will be smote from on high and could be subject to an instant, permanent banning.

Copyrighted music, film or other similar material is not permitted to be posted on our forums, neither are links to such files or links / details of methods of obtaining such material via online or offline means.

Don't post your or anyone else's email address in the forums. If you want to share your email address make it available in your profile or ask people to send you a private message. If you DO share it, the dregs of the web will probably arrange for a thousand years of spam to arrive in your inbox for eternity.

Don't say things to people on this forum that you wouldn't say to their face, and that's not a challenge to the macho arseholes out there to prove themselves. Sin and be banned probably for good. If you're nasty and unpleasant, you are not wanted.


Do not try and sell ANYTHING on these forums, or sign up merely to posts a link to another website.


DO NOT posts adult material of any kind.

Please no childish or coy flirting with other members in public threads; if you really must declare your feelings for Rincewind, please do it via Private Message (clacks)

Edit: to remove the we will hurt you bit from the posting your email address.

I like these bits...

[quote:d53c3430e0="Maljonic"]
.... Don't post your or anyone else's email address in the forums. If you want to share your email address make it available in your profile or ask people to send you a private message. If you DO share it, we will hurt you and the dregs of the web will probably arrange for a thousand years of spam to arrive in your inbox for eternity.
[/quote:d53c3430e0]

Haha
[quote:d53c3430e0="Maljonic"]
...Don't say things to people on this forum that you wouldn't say to their face, and that's not a challenge to the macho arseholes out there to prove themselves. Sin and be banned probably for good. If you're nasty and unpleasant, you are not wanted.
[/quote:d53c3430e0]

Quite true

[quote:d53c3430e0="Maljonic"]
...Please no childish or coy flirting with other members in public threads; if you really must declare your feelings for Rincewind, please do it via Private Message (clacks)[/quote:d53c3430e0]

LOL, but surely that would only spur him on?

Btw, good rules there. They look so official I was tempted to ignore it and read the last bit. (Like I do with all official documents)

I don't know about extreme political views not being tolerated. I would change it to:

"Feel free to express any political, religious or philosophical view. But also expect other posters to criticize your beliefs. Please keep debates focused on the topic being debated. Personal attacks on people with different viewpoints will not be tolerated. Note, however, that being told that you are wrong about something does not constitute your being personally attacked."

(This could probably be worded better.)

edit: Could there also be something about using the search function before posting, to avoid starting new threads on topics that have already been discussed (e.g. casting threads)

Also, what about posting in character, role-playing and pool parties (and the last 2 should be defined)?

[quote:efe2d8affa="Mooseman"]I like these bits...

[quote:efe2d8affa="Maljonic"]
.... Don't post your or anyone else's email address in the forums. If you want to share your email address make it available in your profile or ask people to send you a private message. If you DO share it, we will hurt you and the dregs of the web will probably arrange for a thousand years of spam to arrive in your inbox for eternity.
[/quote:efe2d8affa]

Haha
[quote:efe2d8affa="Maljonic"]
...Don't say things to people on this forum that you wouldn't say to their face, and that's not a challenge to the macho arseholes out there to prove themselves. Sin and be banned probably for good. If you're nasty and unpleasant, you are not wanted.
[/quote:efe2d8affa]

Quite true

[quote:efe2d8affa="Maljonic"]
...Please no childish or coy flirting with other members in public threads; if you really must declare your feelings for Rincewind, please do it via Private Message (clacks)[/quote:efe2d8affa]

LOL, but surely that would only spur him on?

Btw, good rules there. They look so official I was tempted to ignore it and read the last bit. (Like I do with all official documents)[/quote:efe2d8affa]I was meant to take out the 'we will hurt you bit'; took it out now.

[quote:b3fe7632b4="Marcia"]I don't know about extreme political views not being tolerated. I would change it to:

"Feel free to express any political, religious or philosophical view. But also expect other posters to criticize your beliefs. Please keep debates focused on the topic being debated. Personal attacks on people with different viewpoints will not be tolerated. Note, however, that being told that you are wrong about something does not constitute your being personally attacked."

(This could probably be worded better.)[/quote:b3fe7632b4]I agree that might be better, but I think we should try and keep it as simple as possible, not too legalese sounding but getting our rules across clearly.

I agree it should be worded better. I just don't like the idea of saying we won't accept extreme political opinions. It's too ambiguous. Would we have censored Pixel's or Roman's posts because their political viewpoints were unpopular?

In this sense I think extreme means being a racist or ultra fascist, not just slightly unpopular - but I guess it could be made clearer, just so long as we don't tie ourselves up with wordy explanations.

Would if be possible to lace any codes of conduct/rules with links to futher expand the communitys views?

This way we can have simple clear rules, but futher explanations for those who are interested/ those that need them.

So we could have

[b:bdcbc1ac8f]Swearing moderately is acceptable, but swearing for the sake of swearing or for insults will get you in trouble[/b:bdcbc1ac8f] (or something)

But say on swearing it could link to a thread (kept in the dungoeon) explaining Graces much used points on swearing and how it can have a purpose and how it can be offenive.

I suggest this, so if people can't be arsed to read rules, we can have clear simple ones so they at least know the basics (which is better than haven;t people just skip through them) also if someone breaks a rule- say on swearing- it's clear they haven't understood it, so then we can just link them to the explannation. So they have no excuse to do it agian.

I also think it's important to explain why we have the each rule somewhere becuase it gives use justification for having them. So people may think 'Why the hell can't i use slang?! they're just being bastards' but if we explain that people can't use slang for reasons X,Y,Z they'll understand why we do things in a certian why and have no room to agrue the oposite side.

Also we shoudl look at the FAQ rules from the old board and use them to help make these rules.

Yes we could easily have expanded explanations linked to, I think it's a good idea.

I want to say though that these rules I just posted are just an idea, just me getting involved in the rules making process; they aren't in any way a replacement for anything that's already been said and written, or anything that is in the process of being written. I just wanted to have a bash at it myself.

No, it's good that we get the ball rolling.

happy with most of that...

i don't have any objections to someone having a pot leaf for an avatar, so long as they haven't toked so much that they can't post coherently. i'm fine with political and religious debate, even if it takes on an somewhat extremist angle from one side or another, provided the participants can debate in such a way that they're open to reason, reasonable themselves, and aren't preaching hate or simply being insulting.

As Marcia's pointed out, Pixel's politics are fairly extreme and generally not the normal or common view for this crowd, but we like pixel. now, Hookem on the other hand, Hookem was simply just a variation on Steve (in fact, if steve had ever posted pro-republican propoganda, I'd swear they were the same person), a shit-stirrer who was only in a 'debate' to tell everyone how wrong they were for not telling him he was a genius.

there's a world of difference between the two, and while pixel can be annoying and seek out a martyr complex, he's not a troll.

i think there's a lot of behavior that, when it's a newbie doing it, is not tollerable in the slightest, but if it's someone we actually know and trust then it can be given a bit of leeway.

I suppose the reason for this is that if you're brand new and the first thing you post is talking about how you want to be ravished all the time, we have nothing else to go on and you seem like nothing but a slut. if, on the other hand, you've chimed in with weeks worth of intelligent and thought provoking posts and THEN say that, on a friday night when you let your hair down, you're not adverse to a bit of ravishing, we know that you're not some one dimensional character and already enjoy having you around. This is the difference between temple maiden and Om.

something that's not covered in that code which might be relevant (if only as an example) is sports. we've had posters both good and bad who'd start topics about who won a match or a race or whatever. This has nothing to do with Pratchett, and has nothing to do with the community, but it interests the individual poster, and usually at least a few others. The thing is, again, if you're already fitting in or have established yourself as a good poster, we won't really mind the occasional "woo, go Liverpool" post. If, on the other hand, your other posts are bragging about girlfriends two decades younger than you and telling other posters what bullies they are while being a bully yourself, posting anything about "go Arse in all" is just going to be more fuel on the fire.

I suppose I'm basicly just talking my way back to Sleepy Sarge's social awareness checklist.

hell, maybe we should have that, the code, and the old guidelines (updated), make em all available on a special page on the site, but have them randomly located behind different links.

"Would you like the rules behind Door number 1, Door number 2, or Door number 3, or would you trade it all in for a link to L-space?"

..

...

right, bed time for garner.

[quote:1be7f8697b="Maljonic"][b:1be7f8697b]Signatures & Avatars [/b:1be7f8697b]
We do not have any specific set of rules regarding signatures. However, we do ask you that it will not be offensive to others and the length of signatures will not exceed 500x100. If you desire to have a custom avatar, it must be 150x150 pixels or less, NOT animated and NO adult, drug related or racist content please. [/quote:1be7f8697b]

Is it possible to have an image in your sig? If it is, it shouldn't be, there is no point to it, it'll only increase the loading time and length of the page. If it is possible to have one and impossible to disable, we should make a statement that we don't allow them.

[quote:1be7f8697b="Maljonic"]Racism and extreme political views are not welcome here.[/quote:1be7f8697b]

Same as everyone else really, I don't mind extreme views as long as the person is prepared to accept that others don't share them

[quote:1be7f8697b="Maljonic"]Don't post your or anyone else's email address in the forums. If you want to share your email address make it available in your profile or ask people to send you a private message. If you DO share it, the dregs of the web will probably arrange for a thousand years of spam to arrive in your inbox for eternity.[/quote:1be7f8697b]

I think people should be free to post their own address if they wish (although not others without permission), bannign them just seems overly-prohibitive, but we could warn that they'll probably be spammed.

[quote:1be7f8697b="Maljonic"]Please no childish or coy flirting with other members in public threads; if you really must declare your feelings for Rincewind, please do it via Private Message (clacks)[/quote:1be7f8697b]

This could be worded better, one isolated flirty comment is OK, persistant flirting isn't.

[quote:1be7f8697b="Maljonic"]Edit: to remove the we will hurt you bit from the posting your email address.[/quote:1be7f8697b]

I think there are a few similar things in here (like being smote) that need to be removed because either
a) People will take it in a jokey manner, and think we aren't taking it seriously.
or
b) People will take it seriously and become too scared to post.

[quote:1d8e52a58d="Garner"]I suppose the reason for this is that if you're brand new and the first thing you post is talking about how you want to be ravished all the time, we have nothing else to go on and you seem like nothing but a slut. if, on the other hand, you've chimed in with weeks worth of intelligent and thought provoking posts and THEN say that, on a friday night when you let your hair down, you're not adverse to a bit of ravishing, we know that you're not some one dimensional character and already enjoy having you around. This is the difference between temple maiden and Om.

[/quote:1d8e52a58d]

I quite don't know what to say...except..um.. thank you. Glad to know you've gotten to see the multi-dimentional character that is me. Huzzah!

Edit to add: I have read all the above rules and so forth. I like it. I agree on the political views discussion. I was going to mention that, I'm glad Marcia and Garner cleared that up. Thank you guys for all your hard work on this. I really appreciate it.

Very well said. I agree with Marcia and Garner on extreme political posts. Thanks for taking the time to work this up, Maljonic.

I like that, Mal. One bit I wondered about is towards the end, where you say do not post any adult content of any kind. I'm not sure about that. We currently have a thread where we're talking about sexual promiscuity; is that not adult content? It's a bit of a vague thing to say.

Also, I have been working on FAQ stuff, but was sadly unavailable yesterday to post about it. I have a lot of stuff worked up, but I may not be available tonight either, as we're going out and getting back quite late. However, I should be able to post it all tomorrow evening at the latest. This is a very draft stage, so we should consider how we want to work everything together and what the best format is for presenting it.