Rules from old forum - please read and comment

[Michael]

Recently we have had some disagreements over what some have considered inappropriate postings on this board (I'm not talking about the spam... that is being dealt with as quickly as possible.) I have retrieved the set of rules that Cory set up way back on I think the second version of The Petra Zone. Read them and comment; they do need some revision. next weekend (the weekend of the 20th and 21st of January) I will lock this topic and post a revised version of the rules as a sticky so that they will be available from now on. This will allow posters to know what they can and can't do, and it will allow moderators to know when it is appropriate to take corrective action (removing a post, moving it to another forum, or worst case scenario banning a user). Here are the old rules. As I said, read and comment on changes that need to be made:

1. No profanity of any kind.

2. This is a Petra forum. That means if you want to talk about other bands or CCM in general, you'll have to find another forum. Also, other off subject posts are allowed only to an extent. Each off topic post will have to be assessed and may or may not be subject to being ruled a rule-breaking post. (In general, prayer requests, ect are just fine.)

3. You are at all times required to be polite to the other people (in the forum or otherwise). This means no name calling, no accusing people of things you cannot prove, and no insulting other people. Just use common since and treat others as you would like to be treated yourself.

4. No "spamming". In other words don't post random or non-since messages. This also includes ads for non-Petra related products and websites.

5. Do not post the same message more than once.

6. Do not impersonate anyone. This means no 'jokes' like claiming to be John Schlitt or any person in the forum ect.

7. Do not respond to attacks such as insults ect. If someone has a problem with you or what you think, resolve the problem privately. Don't turn it into a feud for the world to see (trust me, we don't want to see it).

9. Do not make posts that are not suitable for people of all ages. These will be deleted every time and are taken very seriously by admin.

10. "Petra bashing" is not allowed. Constructive criticism is one thing but bashing Petra just for the sake of bashing something is not allowed.

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If you break any of these rules admin (that's me, Cory) has several ways to handle it. This is the general way things will be handled but it depends greatly on how seriously the rules have been broken. Please note that breaking the rules several times in a short amount of time will cause a more serious response from admin.

Break the rules once: Depending on exactly what was said you may receive a warning. In addition your post or thread may be edited or deleted. Whenever a post is edited admin will mark the message "Edited by Cory".

Break the rules two times: Again it depends on the timing and how bad the rule was broken. You will receive another warning and your post or thread will be edited or deleted.

Break the rules three times: Your message will most likely be deleted and you will receive a sterner warning.

Break the rules four or more times: Depending on how badly the rules were broken and if the person in question is exclusively making trouble causing, rule breaking posts, admin will either: Delete the message(s) and send yet another warning, or delete message(s) and request the person in question not post at the Petra Zone again. If the person is requested to leave the forum and does not s/he is subject to having his/her username deleted (and since the only way to get a new username is through me, s/he will be banned for good). Only someone who has proven to be a trouble maker by breaking the rules several times will be instructed to leave.

Note: A person who has been instructed to leave may email admin at [email protected] in no less than one month and request to be allowed back in.

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If a harmless post or thread starts to develop into a potential problem, admin will either ask that the discussion be dropped, close the discussion (prevents any more replies from being added), or delete the whole discussion.

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Please note that if you respond to a rule braking post or discussion, your post is subject to be deleted along with the rule breaking post. This is done to completely remove the discussion from the forum to prevent further posts.

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If you find any of these rules have been broken please feel free to contact Cory (admin) at [email protected]

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Remember, this is a Christian forum. Lets make that show in our day to day posts!

[Pethead1]

Looks good to me. But we do need to have something for the off topic.

[executioner]

The Off Topic seems to be where most of the problems are, so I'm thinking we need a A-B set of rules for both.

[Michael]

My own ideas for modifications would be... rule #2 needs to be softened up a bit, because we have had lots of discussions that included other artists and things that were about CCM and those threads have been appropriate. Sometimes they have been moved to off-topic when they had little or nothing to do with Petra. If I rememeber correctly, when Cory wrote these rules there was only the one board; we didn't have the option of several separate forum areas. Now we do, so things can be a little different. We still want the "Petra Zone" forum to be about Petra, of course, but the other ones can be more relaxed.

Maybe what we need is one "rule" that gives us the basic purpose of the particular part of the board (The Petra Zone, Off-Topic, etc.) and then the rest of the rules pertaining to being nice to others and kindergarten stuff like that.

I also think we might want to open another whole section for the political discussions. It seems like it's not going to go away, and there are a number of people here who genuinely enjoy it, so maybe that's what we need (the other option would be to tell those folks, go talk about this on another board, and running people off the board doesn't particularly appeal to me). So that way off-topic is freed up from those things, which can be unintentionally (or sometimes intentionally) inflammatory, and then if people see them it's because they WANTED to see them.

[Shell]

The guildelines Cory set up are pretty good. I think it boils down to treating others the way you would want to be treated. Ask yourself what you're hoping to accomplish by making a post. If it's to have a friendly discussion or exchange information, that's fine, but if it's to insult, provoke or upset someone, maybe you shouldn't post it.

Some good rules of thumb: Don't make posts when you're upset, give yourself a little while to calm down, and if you have issues with something someone has posted, deal with it by private message or e-mail. It can be hard to always be sure what someone might mean when you can't see or hear them, sometimes you might need to ask for clarification, but don't make it into a flame war in the process. The best way to handle an Internet troll is to ignore them.

[charl]

Wow some of those are really subjective.

What is non-since?

[Michael]

What is non-since?

I never said Cory was a spectacular speller. What is "ect"?

You're right... they are pretty subjective. I know I've had the power to delete posts almost since this board was set up, and except for lots of spam posts and the occasional double-post, I've VERy rarely deleted a post. Cory really was pretty much the same way; I think he just wrote the rules in such a way that he could follow his instincts and people couldn't whine too much. It's really not too different from how things have been run here ever "since" ...we just haven't had things codified so people would know what was considered appropriate or not.

Can you think of ways it could be made less subjective? It needs to be totally fair to everyone.

[charl]

Indeed it is difficult if not impossible to remove all subjectivity from such rules. And while I am a bit of a fan of forum anarchy (in the best possible sense) I respect that ultimately deletion of posts is the prerogative of admins.
Particularly open to interpretation are:

1. No profanity of any kind.

7. Do not respond to attacks such as insults ect. If someone has a problem with you or what you think, resolve the problem privately. Don't turn it into a feud for the world to see (trust me, we don't want to see it).

9. Do not make posts that are not suitable for people of all ages. These will be deleted every time and are taken very seriously by admin.

Perhaps just a little more clarity as to what each rule entails would be in order.

The first rule seems patently obvious, however as I have found out over the past few years, christians often have a broader vocabulary in the "profanity" pile than most. For example, I have been chastized for saying "crap" or "screwed up". Profanities? I just want to be on the same page as everyone else with that.


How many times have we had someone break into a discussion to complain about how mean everyone is being-those threads usually seem fine to me before they degenerate into this. Is rule seven for that kind of instance as well? What of those of us who are not insulted nor trying to be insulting? We seem to have a problem with interpretation of "insulting" on this board. I suppose some criterion as to what is insulting is what would be in order-is this covered by rule 3? while I would hope that it does not include strongly disagreeing with one another, I suppose I could live if it did.

Also, what about trolling? Are we including this under the banner of spamming?


As for rule 9, I would assume this is referring to discussing sexuality or perhaps violence. Again though I know "suitable for all ages" means something different to everyone.

I have to say I like rule three as it provides examples of the type of behavior that is prohibited.


rule two I am thinking is defunct since there is an off-topic thread...?

[adrinux]

I have a question.
MIGHT I post an off-topic subject at the off-topic zone?

It is about christians and etc...
I had put it here at the main zone, but I noticed that it wasnt to be here.
so, can put it there?

[Michael]

I have a question.
MIGHT I post an off-topic subject at the off-topic zone?

It is about christians and etc...
I had put it here at the main zone, but I noticed that it wasnt to be here.
so, can put it there?

If it isn't appropriate for the main section and I notice it, I always move it. I seldom delete a post that isn't a bot. I don't really know for sure if others are actively administering the site.

[Michael]

I've been working on tweaks to these rules... if you have comments to make, make 'em now! The time has gone FAR more than the one week I intended to give for suggestions.