OK, I've drawn up some rules for my board members to follow, please can you guys comment and tell me if I've missed anything out?
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CyberStrike rules
These Rules apply to anything posted on the forums, private messages sent between users and profiles(including signatures and avatars).
The following offenses warrant one warning, or more warnings if repeatedly broken.
1) Do not use vulgar Language or attempt to bypass the language filter by mis-spelling an offensive word.
2) Do not flame, insult or harass other users. You may receive multiple warnings if the offense is a serious case.
3) Do not post unnesessary messages that do not contribute to the topic, such as "lol" etc. We will delete posts like this, and give you a verbal warning. If you continue to break this rule, you will receive a real warning.
4) Do not repeatedly make posts/ topics to advertise your own website.
The following offences warrant three warnings, or more if they are repeatedly committed.
1) Do not imply that you are in any way superior to any Race, religion, gender.
Racist, sexist or homophobic remarks will be dealt with harshly.
2) Do not post links to pornographic, or in any way offensive websites. Yes, porn rules, but it is not appropriate for communities with younger members.
3) Do not steal another member's artwork.
The following offenses warrant an indefinite or permenant ban.
1) Do not post links to sites which could harm another member's computer.
2) Do not attempt to force entry into another member's account by trying to guess their password.
3) Posting artwork containing minors in a sexual context will get you permenantly banned, as well as us informing your internet service provider.
These rules are here to keep CyberStrike a friendly community. If you see a post which violates any of these rules, don't hesitate to PM me.
Warning removal
If you have behaved well, you can ask an administrator if you can have a warning removed. This will only be considered if you have clearly been making an effort to change your behavior.
If the administrator agrees, you can have one warning per month removed. If you break another rule, all of your warnings will be given back. |
That sounds fine to me :)
Do you have bad actors on your forum that require such specific rules?
Sometime I think we can promote bad behavior by making rules too specific because it makes it look as if we expect people to act out....and so they do. Or, its' almost like some people are challenged or even given ideas by it.
There's nothing inherently wrong with your rules list, but most of that stuff is covered in the Invisionfree TOS. I would possibly only repeat the things that have already been problems you've seen happen on your forum already.
And this would be my personal question to you-about spam posts, if I was a member of your board. "This is a games and community forum....what's so bad about LOL'ing at someone's joke? Seems like an extreme prohibition to me. If you are trying to build a community, dont' you want members to react to one another? "
Here on BB, we expect members to be more formal in the support and resource sections, and so discourage double posting and posts that don't contribute to the topiic in those areas. But in the community areas, there's no reason not to let normal conversational exchanges go on, so you won't see us moderating those areas in the same way. We just expect members to have enough maturity to know the difference., and somehow, most do. We seldom have to make corrections.
I'm really proud of the community here....it is characterized by friendly, respectful exchanges the great majority of the time. Of course there will always be flare-ups here and there, but on the whole, it is better to deal with people on an individual basis rather that make a whole bunch of rules in anticipation that someone at some point may break them.
Im not saying have no rules....You do need some basic ones, and guidelines for certain limits, etc. I'm referring to some of the huge lists of rules you see on some forums that go on and on, detailing every imaginable infraction that might occur, and repeating everything already found in the TOS.
Anyway, this turned into a philosophical treatise......so my advice is to take it as that, and try to define your own philosophy of what kind of rules your community needs. Then look at your list again, and see if what you have there is in keeping with that personal philosophy, and not just included because you saw it on someone else's rules list.
I agree with helena. It can be oppressive to tell people how to post. I saw a site once that had a rule about making stupid posts. :lol: now who gets to decide which are stupid?