Rules
A Note to Moderators: Enforcing rules is, inevitably, an interpretive venture. Therefore, it is important to abide by the letter of the rules. Revisions may be made to these rules when clarification on a point is necessary. If a situation appears to be borderline, please consult with myself as to the proper course of action.
Rules
1. The team boards are intended for discussion, both positive and negative, of said team, in a civil manner. Outright trash-talking belongs in one of the trash-talking forums.
This is understandably difficult to define, so moderators may with to consult with me often on this issue. The most important aspect of this rule is that posts flaming the fans of a team invariably belong in the trash talking forum. In addition, posts that are derogatory toward the team simply for the sake of being derogatory also belong in the trash talking forum, but this should be enforced with reservation and a certain level of leniency in ambiguous cases.
2. No posting personal information of other posters without their permission.
This includes photos, phone numbers, addresses, and other such information. This is both an issue of privacy and an issue of ensuring that members feel safe in this environment.
3. Racist speech is not tolerated, even in Trash Talk forums.
While I'm fairly flexible in terms of allowing discussion on race and racial issues, speech that exists simply to incite hate against a particular race or ethnic group is not allowed. This is particularly the case if it is targeting an individual or group of members.
4. No harassment.
Harassment is defined not by the person doing the harassing, but by exceeding the comfort zone of the harassed. Thus, even if you don't mind being insulted, that doesn't mean that it's ok to do it to someone who does. That being said, a claim of harrassment is only legitimate if the person claiming to be harrassed does not have a history of similar actions to the ones they are complaining about - we will not enforce a double standard. Personal attacks, stalking, insults, etc. may constitute harassment. The procedure for dealing with harassment is to bring it to a administrator's attention, at which point we will warn the person that what they are doing constitutes harassment. If they simply went too far without knowing it, and stop, then there will be no punishment. If they continue their behavior, however, they will be punished.
5. No tasteless material.
Keep 18+ images in the 18+ forums. Don't overdo R rated images on the general boards, and don't post anything revolting, needlessly graphic, or excessively obscene. There can't really be a clear line here, of course, but generally speaking, if you have to ask, you probably shouldn't.
6. Keep true Spam in the Spam Forum.
Spam is defined as threads without a logical point, consisting only of smilies, pictures, song lyrics, and the like, or existing simply to reach a high number of posts.
7. Swearing should be used relatively sparingly.
I'm sure you all remember the antelope explanation. This rule applies only minimally in the spam and trash-talking forums.
8. No organizing gambling activities on the forum.
I can't control what happens via PMs or outside of the board among members, but it is not allowed on the forum itself. This is a legal issue. SR takes no responsibility for any gambling activity that occurs. We are not a gambling website, do not provide gambling services, and will not assist in or involve ourselves with such activity.
9. There will be NO flaming or rude behavior in the Introductions forum.
This is in the interest of retaining new members. If you don't have anything nice to say, don't say anything at all.
10. Signatures should be a reasonable length.
We've been a bit lax on this recently, but I'm going to send out PMs if your signature exceeds a reasonable length. 2 or 3 large pictures stacked on top of each other is unreasonable. 300-350 pixels should be the general maximum.
11. Facilitation of criminal activity is not allowed.
This applies to both offline and online (pirating, fraud, hacking, etc.) crime.
Rules
1. The team boards are intended for discussion, both positive and negative, of said team, in a civil manner. Outright trash-talking belongs in one of the trash-talking forums.
This is understandably difficult to define, so moderators may with to consult with me often on this issue. The most important aspect of this rule is that posts flaming the fans of a team invariably belong in the trash talking forum. In addition, posts that are derogatory toward the team simply for the sake of being derogatory also belong in the trash talking forum, but this should be enforced with reservation and a certain level of leniency in ambiguous cases.
2. No posting personal information of other posters without their permission.
This includes photos, phone numbers, addresses, and other such information. This is both an issue of privacy and an issue of ensuring that members feel safe in this environment.
3. Racist speech is not tolerated, even in Trash Talk forums.
While I'm fairly flexible in terms of allowing discussion on race and racial issues, speech that exists simply to incite hate against a particular race or ethnic group is not allowed. This is particularly the case if it is targeting an individual or group of members.
4. No harassment.
Harassment is defined not by the person doing the harassing, but by exceeding the comfort zone of the harassed. Thus, even if you don't mind being insulted, that doesn't mean that it's ok to do it to someone who does. That being said, a claim of harrassment is only legitimate if the person claiming to be harrassed does not have a history of similar actions to the ones they are complaining about - we will not enforce a double standard. Personal attacks, stalking, insults, etc. may constitute harassment. The procedure for dealing with harassment is to bring it to a administrator's attention, at which point we will warn the person that what they are doing constitutes harassment. If they simply went too far without knowing it, and stop, then there will be no punishment. If they continue their behavior, however, they will be punished.
5. No tasteless material.
Keep 18+ images in the 18+ forums. Don't overdo R rated images on the general boards, and don't post anything revolting, needlessly graphic, or excessively obscene. There can't really be a clear line here, of course, but generally speaking, if you have to ask, you probably shouldn't.
6. Keep true Spam in the Spam Forum.
Spam is defined as threads without a logical point, consisting only of smilies, pictures, song lyrics, and the like, or existing simply to reach a high number of posts.
7. Swearing should be used relatively sparingly.
I'm sure you all remember the antelope explanation. This rule applies only minimally in the spam and trash-talking forums.
8. No organizing gambling activities on the forum.
I can't control what happens via PMs or outside of the board among members, but it is not allowed on the forum itself. This is a legal issue. SR takes no responsibility for any gambling activity that occurs. We are not a gambling website, do not provide gambling services, and will not assist in or involve ourselves with such activity.
9. There will be NO flaming or rude behavior in the Introductions forum.
This is in the interest of retaining new members. If you don't have anything nice to say, don't say anything at all.
10. Signatures should be a reasonable length.
We've been a bit lax on this recently, but I'm going to send out PMs if your signature exceeds a reasonable length. 2 or 3 large pictures stacked on top of each other is unreasonable. 300-350 pixels should be the general maximum.
11. Facilitation of criminal activity is not allowed.
This applies to both offline and online (pirating, fraud, hacking, etc.) crime.
Z0RP