Forum Rules Update

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admin
Site Admin
Posts: 118
Joined: Mon Jan 16, 2012 3:20 pm

Forum Rules Update

Post by admin »

Due to the disruption of the last few days we have been compelled to make some changes to the rules and to the structure of this board.

1. Rule changes are as follows and they will be rigorously enforced.

"There are to be no personal attacks on posters because you disagree with them or dislike them or their posts. That is not to say that anything is off-limits to discussion but that "you are a liar" is abuse whereas "you posted 'xyz' as fact and it has turned out to be untrue would you please explain why this is the case" is discussion.

This is an adult forum for adult discussion and if you cannot express yourself eloquently and with manners then it is not the place for you. Think before you post as the penalty for abuse is suspension and the penalty for continued abuse is banning.

2. In the light of the recent disruption and in order to keep the peace JR has volunteered to give up his position as a forum moderator for the immediate future. There are now only three moderators on this site - who were all democratically elected. JR's name colour has been changed from green to orange to reflect the fact that he is no longer a moderator but also to recognise his contribution to both this forum and the Rnage story so far.

3. There have been a lot of demands from users that JR explain some of the statements that he made on the old RUM boards. Despite repeated requests from moderators that this site is a fresh start unconnected threads are being continuously spammed up with demands for answers. We cannot have this board turning into a playground with every topic being a demand for answers from JR, but if people keep it in the appropriate forum and provide reasoned questions / statements then nobody should be immune from discussion.To solve this problem we have set up a new sub-forum within the range site called "Ask JR". This is designed to be a section where all questions that you have can be raised without spamming up the main board. However we want to make it very clear that this forum is still subject to the site rules. There is a difference between asking for answers to reasonable questions and carrying out personal attacks. Breaking of rules will be met with an instant 2 hour suspension (which happy trader and admin have also been authorised to carry out) and a warning as to why the suspension has occurred. Any repeat of rule-breaking after the initial suspension will be referred to the moderators with a recommendation of banning.

Please note - Just because you put up a question on this site it does not mean that anyone is under any obligation to answer it, JR may not wish to answer them and that is up to him. We would suggest that just like in real life, the more politely you word your question the more likely it is to be answered and the ruder you are the more likely it is to be ignored.

4. Since we have set up this forum for your questions there will be zero tolerance of spamming up other threads with questions that should be on the "Ask JR" thread (ie is is unacceptable to pursue users round different threads asking the same questions). If you do not keep these questions to the appropriate forum you will be instantly suspended for 2 hours. Any repeat of rule-breaking after the initial suspension will be referred to the moderators with a recommendation of banning.

The intention of these rule changes and this new "Ask JR forum" is to ensure that this board goes back to being the sensible place for intelligent discussion that it was at the beginning of the week. The thread "Head Above" has not been deleted but has now been moved into the "Ask JR" section which is the appropriate place for it. This has all been done to try and keep all members happy while allowing the board to continue to be a useful forum for discussion. Please respect this.

5) ver the last few days there have been a number of posts on this site inviting people to come over to other boards. This is against forum rules but we will be flexible about enforcing this. If you keep it low key and occasional then there will not be a problem but if every thread you post is about other boards then there will have to be sanctions.

6) In the event of any member being permanently banned then the community as a whole has the right to rescind the ban. This would be done as follows:

A) If members (who have all been members for at least 1 week before the ban) feel that a ban is unfair or wrong then they can request that the ban is put to the vote.

B) If at least 25 members request this then the matter can be put to the board to vote on by the means of a poll. It will be a simple yes/no question "Do you want ***members name here*** reinstated?" and there will be one vote each. All votes will be anonymous and there will be 24 hours for the vote to be completed.

C) The vote will only be considered valid if more than 100 members vote in it (and this number may go up in future if the board gets bigger). The 100 will be the total of all yes and all no votes - the number is simply there to ensure that the votes really do represent the will of the community and not just a vocal few.

D) A user who has been banned and been voted back in will start with a completely clean slate (no warnings etc) but will not be allowed to hold any moderation position for at least 6 months from being voted back.

All polls will be put in their own special section and solicitation of support for them on the main board will be viewed diml;y and may result in a warning.

Thanks,

Admin.
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