Forum Rules
Quick Rules Summary
No Personal Attacks - no abuse, or insults.
No Foul Language - no swearing, or covert swearing
No Trolling
No Inappropriate, off-topic or Illegal Material
No Spamming
No Defamatory comments
No Complaints about Moderation
Breaking rules will result in warning, which could ultimately lead to banning.
General Netiquette
Adapted From Netiquette; and the One to Many Communications section of RFC 1855: Netiquette Guidelines.
Remember your audience — present and future!
Be aware that a large audience might see your post, and your words may come back to haunt you. That audience might potentially include past, present and future employers; staff at your place of study; friends; family; etc. And unlike the spoken word, your written posts will exist for a long time.
Challenge arguments, not people
Do not attack other people, attack their argument — and this does not mean changing "you are an idiot" into "your comments are idiotic". If you take issue with someone else's position, try to explain why you disagree with them in a polite and professional manner, providing suitable supporting evidence as required.
Do not start or perpetuate flame wars
If someone insults or attacks you, do not respond in kind. "They started it" is an incredibly lame argument when your post lands you in hot water with a Moderator.
Do not SHOUT
Excessive use of capitalisation and exclamation points (any more than one) is considered shouting and shows that you are unable to adequately express yourself through the use of normal language. Small amounts of capitalisation, when used to emphasise a particular point, is considered acceptable.
Rules
No Personal Attacks
Abuse, insults and personal attacks directed at other people, particularly other users, or moderators, are unacceptable. There is no grey area in what is a personal attack - it is when a negative statement is directed towards another person.
This rule applies to accusations, for example that someone is trolling or that they are involved in viral marketing. Use the moderator alert button and send your comment/complaint to a moderator to investigate, don't post a reponse. If you disagree with someone on a point, do not resort to name calling or personal attacks, rather argue the merits of their points.
The rule also applies to any person, company, club, or organisation/group outside of MUUC that implicates MUUC in any way that could put us in legal trouble. See the Defamation Rule.
No Foul Language
The use of foul language on the MUUC Forum is unacceptable. All users should respect that people of all ages can read and post, from any location (work, home, uni etc). Swearing in another language is also unacceptable. Not that content containing lesser swear words will not normally be moderated provided the words are used sparingly and the content is otherwise on topic and useful. Be warned that non-swear insults (eg. fool, idiot) may be moderated under the Personal Attack rule. It is all about the context in which it is used.
No Trolling
Trolling is the activity of a person who posts in a manner such as to incite controversy, conflict, cause annoyance or offence. Trolling is unacceptable on the MUUC Forum.
No Inappropriate Posts
Posts are to be made in the relevant forum. Users are asked to read the forum descriptions before posting.
Posts that are unnecessarily repeated, new posts created on the same topic as an existing active post, or any such instance where the moderators decide that the post interrupts the normal flow of the Forum shall be deemed "inappropriate".
The determination of what constitutes an "inappropriate" post lies with the moderators. External and subjective factors may alter individual views and the moderators' decision is final.
Furthermore, it is a condition of your use of the site that you will not post or transmit any unlawful, obscene, vulgar, pornographic, profane or indecent information or material of any kind, including without limitation any transmissions constituting or encouraging conduct that would constitute a criminal offence, give rise to civil liability or otherwise violate any applicable law. This means you are also restricted from posting or transmitting any material of any kind which violates or infringes upon the rights of any other person, including material which is an invasion of any privacy or publicity rights or which is protected by copyright, trademark or any other proprietary right, or derivative works with respect thereto, without first obtaining permission from the owner or relevant right holder.
No Spamming
Spam is the abuse of electronic messaging systems to indiscriminately send unsolicited messages. Spamming on the MUUC Forum is unacceptable.
No Defamation
We aim to protect individuals and businesses alike from the threat of defamation and our moderators will use their discretion to remove posts that could potentially be viewed as such. Note that our Moderators are volunteers and whilst all care is taken we do not guarantee to review every post. Anyone who feels they have been defamed, or they believe a post contains defamatory information about another person, should send a Moderator Alert to ensure the post is reviewed.
No Moderation Complaints
Quite simply, if your post has been moderated, or you disagree with the fact that someone else's post was moderated, don't make things worse and whinge about it on the Forum. Check the reason why the post was removed, read the applicable rule and learn from the situation. If you are upset over the handling of a moderated post, respond to the moderator and state your case politely. If you retaliate with threats, you will simply be ignored or banned for a period of time.
Policing
a. MUUC operates a three strike policy. Users will be warned a maximum of three times for any and all offences. If the need arises for a fourth warning a temporary ban will be put in place of between 1 to 7 days.
b. Arguing with moderators after having received a warning will lead to an immediate additional warning. Should this exceed three strikes a temporary ban will be put in place as above.
c. Any attempt to circumvent a temporary ban or other moderator action will lead to a permanent ban of your account(s). Circumvention includes re-registering or using an already registered account under a non-banned username. Other examples include changing IP addresses, using a new email account or other action that can be taken to evade moderator action to hide your identity as the owner of the sanctioned account.
d. An exception to the three strike rule applies when users contact moderators personally (via any method) and post insulting, indecent or vulgar material. Such users may be subject to an immediate permanent ban.
e. Permanent bans are a last resort and thought is given before implementing them. |
