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Rules and Infraction Review -
08-12-2008, 11:47 PM
Hi folks,
I have just completed an extensive review of our current rules and punishment taking on board all suggestions from Moderators and the rest of the blues. I have decided to take a new direction in the hope that the inconsistency and issues we have been encountering will be a thing of the past.
The new rules will be contained within 3 main sections. The first two sections can be viewed as black and white rules and there should be no real problem in determining when these rules have been broken.
The third section of rules deals with a Members social behaviour throughout the forum.
I have decided that a Moderator will be responsible for making the decision that social behaviour has become unacceptable in a Thread within their Forum. This decision will simply be a determination on whether two or more members are fighting and are blatantly disregarding the forum etiquette concerning behaviour to other Members.
When this determination has been made, a Moderator will post a warning to the Member(s) in question within the Thread in their forum.
If the Member(s) in question do not comply with a Moderators request, a Moderator will remove their subsequent posts and a Blue or Super Moderator will then administer an Infraction.
This Infraction will last a period of time of choosing by the person giving the Infraction. However, this Infraction will not expire for a period of one year. In that, although a Member may receive a Feature Restriction Infraction for a period of 3 weeks, this Infraction will remain on their “record” for a year. This means if the Member is to receive another Infraction, they will be given the next level of Infraction immediately - unless of course the original Infraction has expired.
Super Moderators will also have the ability to give these Infractions.
New Rules
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Member accounts
a) No one under the age of 18 is allowed on the Skyline Network.
b) Only one registration account is allowed per member – absolutely no exceptions.
c) Members are not allowed to sign in under another members forum account for any reason.
d) Members Avatars and Signatures should not contain naked breasts, genitalia or sexual activity. This includes cartoons, art and any other visual category.
e) Sites which can be viewed as competitive to Skyline or promote anything illegal, racist or offensive in nature are not allowed to be any part of a Members profile. This includes member profiles, avatars and signatures.
f) Members are not allowed to be deceitful to the board administration, groups set up by the board administration or other board Members within any context of the board. This is regarded as fraud and deception.
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Member posting
a) Members should post in the English language.
b) Private communications should not be posted. This includes private messages originating from the board, IRC, emails, etc. unless permission has been given by the party involved or the communication was taken from elsewhere on the Internet.
c) Multiple or repeated posting in order to increase post count or chip count is not allowed.
d) The discussions of illegal activities, including but not limited to software and music piracy, are not allowed.
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Quote:
Social Behaviour
Within our forums, we will not tolerate rudeness, insult throwing and personal attacks. This extends to all areas of the forum where communication between members is taking place.
a) Members must not argue or fight with each other. A Forum Moderator will determine when this is happening – not the members involved.
Members must comply if a Moderator or Administrator asks a Member to: i) Stop communicating with another Member in a Thread
ii) Stop posting in the Thread completely.
iii) Stop communicating with another Member within the Shoutbox for a period of 12 hours.
iv) Any other request a Moderator makes in the context of their forum.
This request is classified as a warning to the Member. If it is ignored, the Member will be subject to an Infraction immediately.
Repeated warnings will be reviewed by an Administrator with a view to administering a warning via PM where the context above concerning ignoring other users will change from Threads and posts to being global throughout the forum.
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Etiquette changes
c. has been changed from:
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c) Quality over quantity. Make sure your post has content. That basically means, give them something to read, pose a question, and so on. That is, after all, why you post in the first place.
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to:
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c) Quality over quantity. In more serious forums, please make sure your post has content. That basically means, give them something to read, pose a question, and so on. That is, after all, why you post in the first place.
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f. has been changed from:
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f) Caution should always be used when posting opinionated topics relating to politics, war, religion, affiliations or race.
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to:
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f) Caution and tolerance to different opinions should always be used when posting opinionated topics relating to politics, war, religion, ethnicity, affiliations or race.
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I have added the following that were previously deemed as rules:
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u) Do not bring disagreements or issues from other areas within Skyline to the board. An example would be an argument that started in IRC being brought to the board. They should be conducted in private/pm. Issues should only be bought to the attention of Admin if they involve infractions of Skyline rules.
v) Be courteous. Respect others. Argue against the content of the post, not the poster of the content.
w) Members should not use board features in a negative way. This includes sending Megamall items to other Members anonymously with what can be perceived a negative intention and sending negative messages via any other anonymous feature of the board.
x) Respect copyrights. Always quote the author where applicable. All copyrighted articles posted are subject to Fair Use. Please research copyright law further if you would like more information.
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Although these are now within the etiquette, it does not mean that they are any less important.
The etiquettes purpose has now evolved to be that of a reference to Moderators and Blues to determine when they feel a user is not acting appropriately to what is expected from them in this forum. Based on this, a warning will be issued to the Member. If the Member does not heed this warning, they will be subject to an Infraction.
It is important that Members take this warning seriously as a user will receive no further warnings at that time.
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Infractions
a) Feature Infraction
The Member will not be able to use any of the board features in the features menu. They will also be subject to further restrictions throughout the board.
b) Read Only Infraction
As above, only the Member will not be able to post or send private messages.
c) Banning Infraction
The Member will be banned from Skyline.
The Infractions above will be given for a period of time determined by the giver of the Infraction. The Member will be informed of the period of time the Infraction will be in effect. However an Infraction will remain on a Members record for a period of 1 year. If a Member breaks another rule before the Infraction has expired from their record, they will receive the next level of infraction immediately. If a Member has been subject to a banning Infraction then they will be permanently banned next time.
If a member has any grievance with an Infraction they have been given, they must conduct communication in private with an Administrator only.
Contacting ISPs
If a member becomes so much of a pest to the point where they are impossible to stop, we will take the liberty to contact those who we can. A member will have their ISP contacted. We'll tell them what they have done, provide access logs, collaboration, and let them choose what to do from there. Likely the ISP will terminate their service as this very thing violates the same terms you agreed to for your internet connection.
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Moderator Infractions
It has also been decided that if a Moderator breaks the code of conduct they will be subject to one warning and will be removed from the Moderating Team for a period of time of the Moderator Team Leaders choosing.
This warning will never expire and any subsequent break of conduct will result in a Moderator being removed permanently from the Moderator team.
In Conclusion
I hope this helps clarify a lot of misunderstandings that have happened in the past and I also hope it helps us maintain an even and fair consistency.
There will always be a period of time before any new policies are completely bedded in and with that in mind; I hope you can understand should any changes occur within the next few months.
Please take the time to view the new rules and explanation of Infractions at Support>>All Rules or by following the link below.
Skyline Chat - Board - Rules
Thanks,
J
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