General Guidelines and Provisions

The Golden Rules

The Support Forum isn't run by rules, per se. Rather, it is moderated by a group of moderators who have volunteered to put themselves in the position of making difficult judgment calls.

Most of these Guidelines are geared towards just improving the state of the forum through smart tips (i.e. using good subject lines). Some of these Guidelines are more prohibitive, however, and they function as rules. The rules come in two-forms: the cardinal, and the compulsory.

Cardinal Rules

• No trolling. Don't make posts that are inflammatory just to get people riled up. Substance is the key to not being labeled a troll.
  
• Ad hominem attacks are not welcome. Criticize ideas, not people. Flaming will not be tolerated.
  No member or Moderator is allowed to engage in public personal attacks on any other member or Moderator.
  Personal attacks are defined as Personal, Racial, Ethnic, and/or Gender based insults, slurs, or derisive comments.
  All complaints need to be communicated privately to an Administrator or Moderator using either PM and/or Email, who will pass it on.
  In the event of this, the offending post will be edited or removed, and the offending party shall receive no more than two (2) private Moderator Team warnings via PM and/or Email, and one final Administration warning.
  If the behavior continues, the member/Moderator will be banned for a week, and upon a repeat incident, banned permanently.
  This will apply to all other community members as well.
  Let's strive for a little community kindness and minimal attacks.
• No pornographic, sexually offensive, sexually explicit, or objectifying material. Simple rule. Moderator's judgment applies here. Sexually suggestive images will be heavily scrutinized. We'd like for our readers to be able to read the support forum at work and share with friends without fear of retribution.
  
• Do not post links or requests for warez
  
• Post in the right forum! If it's about VB, post it in the VB forum. Even if it's only humor, an observation, or angst, if it's about something that we have a forum for, post it there Resist the temptation to post something offtopic because you think you'll get "better responses" in a particular forum.
  
• Respect the privacy of others Do not post other's phone numbers, addresses, pictures, etc., without their permission.
  
• Each forum member may have only one account
  
• Do not place foul language in thread subjects
  
• Do not dig up old threads (Chit Chat only) If you want to continue a discussion from an old thread (older than 1 month), create a new thread and reference the old one in your opening post.
  
• Blatant advertising of competing products is not tolerated. We encourage competition but cannot allow free advertising of competing products on this board.
  
• And of course, NO SPAMMING No commercial-oriented posts, and no flooding with useless content.
  

Compulsory Rules

• Use descriptive subject lines and research your post This reduces the chances of double-posting, and it also makes it easier for people to see what they do/don't want to read. Also, scan the subjects of the last several days' posts to make sure you aren't duplicating posts. Also, consider what forum your topic should be posted in.
  
• HTML is currently disabled, but if it is enabled at a later date, the use of iframes, embedded objects, java and javascript are not welcome. Not everyone has broadband! DO NOT attempt to subvert, modify, or disrupt the normal flow or display of the Support Forum or its content.
  
• Restrict the use of excessive foul language Swearing will not be tolerated on this board at all. Because of the fact that it is an Support forum, we need to keep it clean. We aren't saying you can't express your opinion, but there are ways to do so without swearing.
  
• No "Am I Hot or Not", "show me your sexy girlfriend." etc. threads. There are several places for that already. The occasional picture thread is OK (if we're talking about pictures of members), but this is not a dating forum.
  
• No blatantly juvenile toilet humor. Simple rule. Moderator's judgment applies here. Talk about what you do to relieve yourself, although popular (for some odd reason) is not needed here.
  

Finally, remember that we're not the ratings board here. We're not going to give you a PG for four swears and a gunshot, but R for five swears and splattering brains. Not making any hard and fast rules means that the moderators can use their good judgment in moderation, and we think the results speak for themselves.
Bottom line: we always give warnings (with the exception of unacceptable posts-sometimes we need to work fast), but we don't necessarily give them more than twice to the same person. If you are disrupting the community, we will take action.


Ikonboard Signature Guidelines

To curb abuse of the signature feature on this board we have decided to come up with some general signature guidelines, and these will be enforced.

• Signatures will be no longer than 5 lines
  
• Signatures may contain an image, but they can be no larger than 250x100 and you are only allowed 1 image in your SIG.
  
• Signatures may contain a link to your personal site. However, advertising of competing products is not permitted. We encourage competition but cannot allow free advertising of competing products on this board.
  
• Signatures are expected to follow the same guidelines as posts, which means no flaming, no swearing, no personal attacks, and no adult material.
  

If you are seen violating these guidelines you will be asked once privately to change your signature. If you fail to comply, we will change it for you. These guidelines should be easy to understand and easy to follow. Thanks for your understanding in this matter, and have a nice day.