This is what the original (non ABC) PA was based on. And we hardly ever needed to enforce any of these rules, because of the ability of people to be forceful, even abusive at times, yet still keep things in perspective, and continue to deal constructively with the issue at hand, and move on past occasional petty insults.Moderation Policy :
1. No pornographic or illegal material.
This isn't the place, simple enough.
2. No extremely violent material.
3. No extremely hate filled material.
Especially racial, though not necessarily limited to.
4. No direct advertising.
We're not here to shop or visit your new Forum.
5. Please only create a new thread for a new topic, otherwise it may be locked. Keep your comments within a political thread relevant to the topic at hand. Moderators may split a thread to create a new topic, or remove off-topic comments at their discretion.
6. Keep abuse to a minimum. We don't mind people playing rough and we won't censor you. But posts simply containing abuse, or that are way out of line with previous posts in the thread will draw moderator attention. Posters who the moderators feel are too offensive to other posters will be warned. After that moderators may either suspend their account or ban them outright.
Abuse doesn't convince anyone, makes your argument look weak and reflects badly on the Forum.
7. Profanity - As per the Forum goer polls, the C word has been censored automatically. All other words can be used with discretion. No swearing in thread titles. Please keep swearing relevant, and within a post, not as a post in itself.
8. Complaints MUST go to the moderator via Private Message (PM). Complaint threads that are posted before the moderator has dealt with the issue by PM will be deleted. A moderator will answer your PMed complaints, but shall retain the final say on the operation of the Forum. Any Forum member who breaks these rules consistently may be suspended and or banned.
9. No threads may be begun where the topic or intent is criticism of another Forum member.
Personal flame wars should be kept to the threads from which they started, or moved to a "flame war" titled thread if they get too off-topic.
10. Please only quote limited & key points from news articles & other online sources, rather than the whole thing. Excessive quoted text may be deleted at the moderator' discretion.
11. Links to original sources should be provided so Forum goers can read the full article at their discretion. This is done as much for copyright reasons as simple Forum courtesy. Exceptions apply when the article can not be read online, but please try and make clear and credit the source.
12. No deliberate misquotation of others.
Not only is this dumb (for the original post can be compared to your quote), it's completely dishonest to alter the words of another Forum user in a quote of their post.
This is a subjective area, and moderator reserve full discretion on what constitutes an unfair or dishonest quotation or representation of another's post.
13. Avatars should not be obscene or offensive, and should be no more than 150 pixels wide or 250 pixels deep. Avatars that do not meet these requirements may be changed by the moderator.
14. Privacy:
The IP address of all users, both Members and Guests, is visible only to the Moderator. If any action is warranted against a user in relation to their IP address and method of accessing the Forum this may be undertaken at the moderator's discretion. Moderators will attempt to protect the privacy of Forum users wherever possible.
15. Forum posters should be referred to by their Forum personas only. Revealing their real life name, contact details or any information of a personal nature without their express permission is not on, and will attract an immediate ban. Any member who threatens another member will be banned instantly.
16. Post moderation
Any Forum user/guest account poster who re-edits or reposts content which has previously been removed or altered by the Forums moderator will receive an automatic one day suspension from the Forum. During this time the user's account will be suspended and any post they make from other accounts deleted. Any further occurrences will result in longer (even including life) bans
17. Other Forums
While promoting other Forums to a reasonable extent (to be determined at the sole discretion of Moderators) is acceptable, complaints or comments concerning contributions or the conduct or the identity of a poster at any other Forum are not to be posted on this Forum.
18. Insults or derisive comments about Forum member's family or relations or their life outside of PA are entirely out of bounds.
19. From time to time, moderators may make rulings for the good of the Forum or the protection of members. These rulings must be made in public, and refer to specific behaviour and/or specific members. A reason must be given for a ruling. Failure to adhere to a ruling may result in suspension of a member's account.
Political Forum specific moderation notice :
The political forum will be more closely moderated than the "Off topic" forum. This is a place for free, open, intelligent debate on politics, important figures and the issues of the times now and bygone.
We welcome all contributions to this marketplace of ideas.
Some tips
Try to maintain a healthy perspective on the situation
This is important... Issues are almost NEVER black & white, so we shouldn't be afraid to get some perspective on things. A good expression of opinion has plenty of qualified rather than sweeping statements.
Believe that maybe, just maybe, someone else may be right
This is by far the hardest of the guidelines to follow. However, I believe that if you make it clear you are open to other perspectives on a situation others will naturally be more open to your perspective. There exists a fine line between self-assurance and arrogance, one worth treading carefully. A self-assured person is engaging and challenging to listen to, and arrogant person is irritating and tiresome. This is essentially the difference between Brainy Smurf and Papa Smurf, and you all know who got to wear the funky red pants and had the respect.
If you're a member of a political party, it would be nice to noting that in a specific thread or in your posts signature.
Play rough but play fairly. Intellect, not bulk is whats required here. Accept others may have valid views, accept this forum doesn't mean squat outside the virtual sphere.
If you edit one of your posts and make substantial changes, it's good manners to mention that you've changed something. The forum software should do this automatically, but it doesn't always work.
AiA has been installed as a moderator for a time, and I would like to try his idea of re-opening PA to those banned users who have contributed to the forum constructively in the past. This isn't going to mean a free for all, anything goes forum though, rather, moderation will be based on the above guidelines. If there are troublesome posts, please do not make a fuss about them by posting about them, this just encourages the behaviour, and makes it harder for a moderator to find them. Rather, use the report button (near the quote button) if it is a post that is seriously offensive. Continually feeding trolls in an attempt to have them banned is likely to get both of you suspended for a time.
Please, everyone, try to contribute to content threads with constructive posts, regardless of who else is posting in the thread. If you want a PA that works, start now.
