I belong to several boards, most of which have some guidelines (some have more hard and fast rules, but that I'm not suggesting here). One of the boards to which I belong has, what seems to me, a very useful and well thought out set of guidelines, which the administrator of the board rarely needs to 'enforce' (which is silly anyway, since they're guidelines instead of rules). Whilst discussion does sometimes get heated, name-calling, accusations and innuendo seem to be avoided. Admittedly, it is a different board for a different group (it's not a pets' or dogs' board?)
With the permission of the board owner, I reprint them here - I wonder if it would be worth adhering to such guidelines (even if they are not 'enshrined' or adopted as official) for the sake of peace, and to remind ourselves that we are reasoning adults here, and not the bickering children that the internet sometimes seems to bring out in the best of us.
Please note, I have not started this topic to lay blame on anyone's door - this is not directed at any member or ex-member, and is not started in order to start a he-said / she said argument. Instead I suggest that we have a look at these guidelines, and comment on the guidelines themselves, not any past discussions/arguments/accusations.
These appear as the first topic - right at the top of the board, called Forum Guidelines, and new members are encouraged to read them.
Quote
Rather than a long list of steadfast rules we have guidelines, which we would like members to keep within as much as possible. Obviously this may not always be possible but it will then be down to the discretion of the moderators.
forum:
1a. The public square or marketplace of an ancient Roman city that was the assembly place for judicial activity and public business.
b. A public meeting place for open discussion.
c. A medium of open discussion or voicing of ideas, such as a newspaper or a radio or television programme.
2. A public meeting or presentation involving a discussion usually among experts and often including audience participation.
3. A court of law; a tribunal.
Forums are about discussion, not contention and [this] is not a forum with unlimited resources. In order to enable useful discussion and reduce time wasting of members and moderators alike, we hope everyone will abide by these suggested rules of behaviour.
As with ALL aspects of [this] message board, the rules are always available for discussion here. If you think something's not right or want to suggest updates to the rules, please feel free to post or get in contact with a member of the Admin team.
If you see something around [here] that you feel is in violation of any of the rules, or if you simply don't think it has a place on the site, please do not hesitate to get in contact with a member of the Admin team, preferably by PM or email.
1. DO NOT POST IN ALL CAPS.
It’s the equivalent of shouting. This is a general rule of netiquette on the internet. The easier you make your posts to read, the better for everyone.
2. Please do not make off-topic posts in the midst of a thread.
If you have an idea you want discussed that does not immediately apply to the current thread, start a new thread. If you want to talk about some programme you saw on TV, use the private messaging system or start a thread in 'Entertainment'. If someone else has posted something off-topic, do not point that out in the forum, which only exacerbates the problem. Politely notify them through private messaging or email instead.
3. Do not attack people personally.
On the net, this is called "flaming." Posts should advance the discussion and, while it’s OK for the discussion to get heated, the heat should be directed towards the issues, not towards other members. On the same note, do not refer to specific members of other sites. Try to keep all discussions centred on the issue rather than the person. This is especially true if the person is not a member of [this board] with the right of reply that this affords them.
4. Contribute, don’t reiterate.
A post that says “I agree” is useless. It’s OK to agree with a poster, but rather than simply agreeing, extend what they have to say by locating other examples or elaborating on the point. The same applies to disagreeing; offer reasons WHY you disagree and any counter-arguments you may have. If you have nothing worthwhile to say, then say nothing at all. That way you do not waste the time of other members.
5. Quote messages if you want to reply to them specifically.
However, when quoting, edit the quoted material to make it clear what you’re replying to and to make your own post as brief and to the point as possible. It also helps other members if you identify the source of your quotation.
6. Respect other members of the board.
This includes making your posts easy to read and easy to understand. Remember that other users are using different colour schemes to you, so try to avoid the use of coloured text as it could be invisible to someone else. Keep avatars and other images down to a sensible size; other people might not be running their screen at the same resolution and an avatar which is too big could interfere with how other members view the board.
7. Each member is only allowed one account.
If you are found to have more than one the additional accounts shall be deleted. Accounts that are being misused will be blocked, deleted or restricted.
Thanks for joining and if you have any feedback then please let the admin team know. Enjoy the Board.
forum:
1a. The public square or marketplace of an ancient Roman city that was the assembly place for judicial activity and public business.
b. A public meeting place for open discussion.
c. A medium of open discussion or voicing of ideas, such as a newspaper or a radio or television programme.
2. A public meeting or presentation involving a discussion usually among experts and often including audience participation.
3. A court of law; a tribunal.
Forums are about discussion, not contention and [this] is not a forum with unlimited resources. In order to enable useful discussion and reduce time wasting of members and moderators alike, we hope everyone will abide by these suggested rules of behaviour.
As with ALL aspects of [this] message board, the rules are always available for discussion here. If you think something's not right or want to suggest updates to the rules, please feel free to post or get in contact with a member of the Admin team.
If you see something around [here] that you feel is in violation of any of the rules, or if you simply don't think it has a place on the site, please do not hesitate to get in contact with a member of the Admin team, preferably by PM or email.
1. DO NOT POST IN ALL CAPS.
It’s the equivalent of shouting. This is a general rule of netiquette on the internet. The easier you make your posts to read, the better for everyone.
2. Please do not make off-topic posts in the midst of a thread.
If you have an idea you want discussed that does not immediately apply to the current thread, start a new thread. If you want to talk about some programme you saw on TV, use the private messaging system or start a thread in 'Entertainment'. If someone else has posted something off-topic, do not point that out in the forum, which only exacerbates the problem. Politely notify them through private messaging or email instead.
3. Do not attack people personally.
On the net, this is called "flaming." Posts should advance the discussion and, while it’s OK for the discussion to get heated, the heat should be directed towards the issues, not towards other members. On the same note, do not refer to specific members of other sites. Try to keep all discussions centred on the issue rather than the person. This is especially true if the person is not a member of [this board] with the right of reply that this affords them.
4. Contribute, don’t reiterate.
A post that says “I agree” is useless. It’s OK to agree with a poster, but rather than simply agreeing, extend what they have to say by locating other examples or elaborating on the point. The same applies to disagreeing; offer reasons WHY you disagree and any counter-arguments you may have. If you have nothing worthwhile to say, then say nothing at all. That way you do not waste the time of other members.
5. Quote messages if you want to reply to them specifically.
However, when quoting, edit the quoted material to make it clear what you’re replying to and to make your own post as brief and to the point as possible. It also helps other members if you identify the source of your quotation.
6. Respect other members of the board.
This includes making your posts easy to read and easy to understand. Remember that other users are using different colour schemes to you, so try to avoid the use of coloured text as it could be invisible to someone else. Keep avatars and other images down to a sensible size; other people might not be running their screen at the same resolution and an avatar which is too big could interfere with how other members view the board.
7. Each member is only allowed one account.
If you are found to have more than one the additional accounts shall be deleted. Accounts that are being misused will be blocked, deleted or restricted.
Thanks for joining and if you have any feedback then please let the admin team know. Enjoy the Board.
So, what do you all think? Do these make sense to you? Do they seem reasonable? Would you change anything? Is there anything you violently disagree with? Anything you think is suitable?
Give us your thoughts.
Cheers
