Forum Rules

So what are your forum/community rules? Do you like to outline every possible scenario and explain that it isn't permitted? Or do you remain vague and leave it up to the user's judgment to maintain proper posting etiquette?

Feel free to paste your rules here. I'm interested in seeing what you guys use.

 

I do and don't haves rules in every forum. I think the reason I sometimes will do it is because I actually just want at least one sticky per forum. I think it's weird when a forum doesn't have any stickies at all, especially on very large forums.

 

You're right in that you can't address every possible scenario, but there are forums with rules that are so long and drawn out, it makes you wonder if you even want to participate in the forum.

And I hate it when the tone of rules is so cynical.

 

I have seen countless sites with the same rules rewritten over and over, I think they originated from a web hosting forum but we have used them on our sites too but rewrote them to our own needs. We are very clear on advertising and harrassment on our forums and the actions which may be taken by ourselves if certain rules are broken.

 

These are the rules I had when I first entered Administration. They are pretty crap and I can see why nobody would want to register on the forum. Generally now my rules are just "Have Fun, and use your common sense"

Section 1 General Behaviour

a) Do not post any pornography on the site. This can include pictures, videos or general 'text'. This forum is PG13 and it will always stay that way. Anyone caught doing this will be warned and have their post/material removed. If the material is posted to deliberately upset someone, a user may have their Posting, Private Messaging, Avatar or Signature* privileges removed!

b) Please try and refrain from using swear words. These have been filtered out, but if any user is caught trying to get around the censors, they will be warned, and depending on the seriousness, may have their Posting, Private Messaging, Avatar or Signature* privileges removed!

c) Keep all racist comments to yourself. Any racist comments/material is not permitted on this site at all! Whether it be posted, in your signature/avatar or in a private message. If any of this content is found, it will be removed and the user will be put on a 7 day temporary ban. Upon their return they will have their Posting, Private Messaging, Avatar or Signature* privileges removed for another 14 days.

d) Do not post any material which is linked to warez, hacking, cracking, serial codes or any other illegal material. Anyone caught doing this will be warned and have their post/material removed. If the material is posted to deliberately upset someone, a user may have their Posting, Private Messaging, Avatar or Signature* privileges removed!

e) Please do not spam the forum with junk. If you have a topic you want to discuss, find the appropriate forum and start a new topic. Before you start a new topic, use the search feature to see if a post of the same topic has been made before, if so you should join in this discussion. IF you have a topic and it does not fit into any other forum, post a topic in the "Suggestion Box" asking for a category/forum to be made for your specific topic.
Please note, the Board Administration team can deny any request for a forum.
If a user is caught posting spam constantly, they will have their posting rights taken away for 7 days.

f) Please do not start a flamming war with anyone on the board. This can include using swear words back an fourth, posting hurtful comments or materials. Any member(s) caught doing this will be warned, and may have their Posting, Private Messaging, Avatar or Signature* privileges removed!

g) Do not insult any user on this board! If any user is caught doing this, or is reported then immediate action will be taken by Senior Management. This could be anything from privileges removed to a permanent ban! The Senior Management team reserves the right to, if reported inspect any member's Private Messages. They reserve the right to question members, and they reserve the right to remove any privileges. If anyone has any concerns regarding this, please contact Lord Top Cat via PM on the board, or via e-Mail.
Please note, Senior Management are the only people who have access to read PM's, no other staff group has access to this.

Please note that Senior Management has the final call over any punishment dealt. If you feel you have been treated poorly at any time, by any staff member, then please contact Senior Management as soon as possible. Include as much detail as possible.

Section 2 Private Messages
When using the private messaging system, please follow all rules under Section One.

Section 3 Avatars and Signatures

a) Avatars may be no bigger than 120x120px and no larger than 10kb.
b) Your avatar must not contain any R 18, or racist material whatsoever! Any user caught doing this will have their avatar privileges removed indefinitely!
c) Your avatar must not contain an animated gif, or any kind of moving image. Any user who has this kind of avatar will be asked to remove it. If this is not done within 24 hours, then staff will be forced to remove it. If this gets to this stage, then a user will loose their avatar privileges for 7 days.

The Board Administration has the right to remove any avatar they deem inappropriate or offensive in any way.

d) Signatures may not exceed 500 characters, and have no more than 5 images. (This includes the use of smilies)
e) Your signature must follow all rules under Section One. Any user who fails to follow one of those rules may, depending on the seriousness of the offence have their privileges removed, and may even be warned.
f) Do not include any image that may stretch the layout of the board in anyway. These images will be removed by Administration immediately. If any user continues to add the images to their signature, they will have their privileges removed.
g) Your signature may not have more than 5 links, and the links must either be to your own sites, or to company owned websites i.e. Microsoft, Google etc. Any user who has a link that does not follow these guidelines, will be asked to remove it. Any links leading directly to R18, warez, hacking, cracking or serial code sites will have them removed immediately, and their signature privileges removed.

Please note that any staff member on ‘Talk New Zealand’ has the right to move, merge, split, edit or delete any post/signature/avatar that they deem inappropriate. If any user has a problem with an action taken by the staff, please direct all complaints to the Senior Management team.

 

Personally I think it is very important to have some form of rules clearly posted on your forum. That way if you have to you can make hard decisions without having to explain your self. And I think you should always leave your rules open to you changing them whenever you want to. Here are the rules from our The Biggest Boards site -

 

My forum tries not to itemize if we can avoid it, but rather state the principals to which we moderate. Some rules do need to be rather specific.

We've got a separate web page linked that contains membership info, rules, how-to's, other administrative stuff. Due to our evolution from a nearly-unmoderated forum to a lightly moderated one, we do have a few things spelled out. It's based on that experience and it's also to clarify Terms of Service (TOS) to members - they know what to expect from the forum, even if they aren't rules violators.

main goal

Here is one of our key rules - and it has been the most effective in getting members to mod themselves. Instead of posting anything and leaving it to the mods to clean it up.

Basically, unless language is the issue, we'll post a mod note in an offending post and otherwise leave it as it is. On view.

other published "rules" - some are more like principals

There are a few other administrative things like one account per user, special forums, stuff like that.

 

I don't personally like forum rules. They tend to be dry and very matter of fact. This makes moderating a community more work than it should. However I am a big fan or laying out the guidelines, terms of service and a privacy policy in three distinct documents.

Here are the guidelines that I have been using for ages. I originally wrote them for Sitepoint and have written permission to reuse them. I am not sure if Sitepoint has modified them in the last 5 years or not.

My Terms of Service is pretty boiler plate as well. Where the Guidelines are supposed to be friendly and helpful, the terms of service is the legalese.

The privacy policy is again boiler plate and pretty standard.

 

I just recycled MyBB's boilerplate user registration agreement and that's it.

 

I just changed RCTgo's forum rules today, but the changes were more clean-up than anything else, in response to reading over them and noticing a few things that could be improved. I simplified them significantly a while back to make them friendlier and easier to read and understand. They're pretty basic at this point, but really aren't too necessary - in fact, I just sent out my first warning through the warning system last week, and it wasn't even for a matter outlined in the forum rules.

 

I am enjoying reading everybody's different sets of rules; it's interesting. I try to remain friendly and neutral in my rules; not harsh. Some areas can use a little work though. Here are mine from my Lineolated Parakeet Forum:

My Privacy Policy and Terms of Service are currently being re-worked.

 

I'm currently in the process or rewriting my set of rules - I do this on a monthly basis to keep members up-to-date with the newest changes.

 

I think this area is a mistake which new forums make.

New forums needs to be relaxed. That doesn't mean that they can't ban anyone or warn anyone or that they can't have any rules.

But if you're starting a new forum, I don't think it looks good to look all "official" and outline a set of rules and punishments. Elaborate stuff like that would just turn me off thinking "wow this guy clearly just likes having a forum and just can't wait to close threads and ban people that he was never able to do in other popular forums he frequented".

I don't know if I'm coming off the wrong way, but do you know what I mean?

I think new forums need to focus on being friendly and welcoming discussion and fun. Have a sticky or something which just lays out the general guidelines/expectations. No need for 20 bullet points. Simple stuff like

"Welcome to the ___ forums! We hope you have a fantastic time here. We're thrilled that you've decided to take part in our community. The only thing we ask is that you respect our simple guidelines: no warez, no porn, and please remember to be friendly!! And remember, if you ever have any questions don't hesitate to ask. That's why we're here..."

As your forums get larger and more popular then it will be worthwhile to slowly but surely get a more robust set of rules.



Just my $0.02.

 

It certainly is interesting reading what rules/guidelines other forums have. Sometimes when you write a set of guidelines you may forget to include something important, and reading over others may jog your memory.

A pet peeve of mine is people just copying other's rules, without permission.

 

Mr_Butter, I certainly do understand what you mean. I've seen so many people create forums just to be able to ban and infract, etc. It's the fastest way to kill a community if you ask me.

 

And generally, those forums are created by those who are younger and quite immature - it's a pattern that I've noticed.

 

My forum's TOS was adopted (with CC permission) from the Ubuntu Forums Code of Conduct: Ubuntu Forums - Policy as I felt the Ubuntu COC fit our forum well and it saved me a lot of time in the process.

You can read mine here: Our DJ Talk - DJ Help and Resources Chat! Community Guidelines

It's still not bullet proof and from time to time we'll have a member go over it with a fine tooth comb especially when they've just received an infraction but their "guidelines" forum that reason.. Just a guide.

 

Yeah? I didn't know you still had a forum of your own. :p

I've noticed this too. They're usually a very long and complex set of rules.

 

But of course I do!

Exactly. They're usually not the most well-written, either.