Please read the following
Code of Conduct very carefully ... ignorance will not be an acceptable defence.
Members now are asked to adhere to the following code of conduct or face a
partial or permanent ban from our community.
No negotiations shall be entered into.
Objectives
The administrators are committed to providing an honest, friendly, mature and vibrant online community where participation in not unlike any off-line community. Where we have clear rules and regulations regarding the way we interact with one another. Where we have clear penalties or infractions set in place if you should choose to disregard or defy those rules and regulations.
Infraction System
The following image outlines the infraction system on our boards. The system is base on a points accumulation leading to a partial or permanent ban.
You may view your infractions points on your profile page. No one else is able to see how many infractions you have. If you do not see any infractions listed that means you have not received one. When you do get an infraction, a private message is sent to you. Infraction points expire after a certain number of days, so your point total can go down. Members can get infraction points for the following reasons:
1/
Repeated Disregard For Forum Etiquette - 1 point
Generally accepted Forum Etiquette provided by
Wikipedia, the well respected free encyclopedia.
Certain rules of unspoken etiquette are recommended to be followed when using internet forms. They include:
- One should read all the rules and guidelines established by the community. Some communities may have different regulations on a particular subject.
- One should always be courteous to other forum members.
- Before creating a new topic thread, one is advised to search to see if a similar topic already exists.
- Contributors should follow standard grammar and spelling rules and avoid slang.
- If the forum is categorized, one should strive to post in the correct section.
- When making a technical inquiry, one should include as much technical information as possible, especially in the subject line.
- Contributors are asked to stay on-topic.
- Contributors should avoid double posting.
- To avoid appearing self-absorbed, one should respond to topics started by others more often than starting topics of their own.
- Contributors should avoid the use of all CAPITAL LETTERS in posts. All CAPS is considered "shouting" and causes readability issues.
- One is advised not to resurrect a very old topic if nothing significant will be added. This practice is known as revival or Necroing.
- One should try to refrain from lashing back at a poorly behaving member or participating in a flame war: instead, notify the Administration staff of the event.
- When quoting a previous post, one should only include the relevant portion of that post. Contributors are requested to keep in mind that their audience can likely still see the message they are quoting on the same screen and can read it again if need be.
Continuous bad grammar, "text speak" or bad spelling in posts will not be tolerated. If you aren't perfect with language or foreign and may use some words or grammar out of place, don't worry. Only members who show a total lack of interest or respect for the English language will receive an Infraction. Most web browser have spell checkers please make some attempt to use them.
Typing in all capital letters usually denotes screaming or yelling, and this should be avoided. To convey emphasis in a less drastic manner, one may use these effects:
*bold*,
/italics/. When posting humorous or sarcastic comments, it is conventional to
use smilies, but it is suggested that smilies should not be overused.
2/
Posting Inappropriate Link On Site - 2 points
Our policy on linking to other sites is pretty simple. Members may link to any other site that provides information that helps answer another member's question or is just of general interest to members of that particular forum. One of the most basic principals of the Web is the open exchange of information, and this administration team wholeheartedly support this type of exchange.
Linking that will not be allowed on our site is when members solicit people to leave our site. That's just common sense. We won't allow people to use our site to promote a competing website any more than a brick-and-mortar store would allow his competitor to paste flyers all over his walls. However, people are always welcome to link to any online resource, whether it's on our site or any other site, in order to share useful information with fellow members.
3/
Posting Inappropriate Image On Site - 2 points
It is illegal to post any picture or image that is copyrighted or trademarked, unless you hold the copyright or trademark. Hence pictures or images where the poster does not own the copyrighted or trademark are prohibited in this forum unless they are pre-approved from site administrator.
Approval must be sought via email in advance of posting image or picture.
4/
Posting Off Topic Comments - 2 points
Primarily this forum is about creating a pleasant environment where all members can discuss all AFL football issues, not a schoolyard, or name-calling and rock-throwing festival. Please refrain from hijacking threads with personal or off-topic comments.
5/
Spamming Site - 4 points
Under no circumstaces post links to any of the following sites:spam, warez, racist, un-approved gambling, firearms, adult, porn, erotic, hate, drug, pharmacy, illegal and any other possibly objectionably sites. Non approved advertising links of any other kind of shall not be allowed. This includes (but is not limited to) advertising in posts, banner ads, signatures and private messages (PMs). Should you wish to advertise your site please contact the Admin team prior to posting.
Approval must be sought via email in advance of posting any advertising link/s.
6/
Flamming & Trolling - 4 points
Insulting other member/s by posting abusive, obscene, vulgar, slanderous, hateful or threatening personal comments are no longer tolerated. Irrespective if your were the initiator or just retaliating you shall both be penalised.
This is non-negotiable ... it was just my "sense of humours" or "I was only joking" are no defences.
"Flaming" is what people do when they express a strongly held opinion without holding back any emotion. Don't use offensive language, and don't be confrontational just for the sake of confrontation. If you're here to just troll heated topics to get someone to bite you will be asked to stop.
How will the infraction appear?
If you were given a Infraction, your post will have a Red Card (
) in the bottom right corner of your post.
If you were only Warned, you will have a Yellow Card (
). Warnings are just warnings in the sense of the English language: a friendly reminder to check the rules and stop doing whatever you were doing.
This Infraction System is very easy to use for both moderators and members. When we see a post that breaks the rules, we can click a button, add an Infraction and send a pm all in one move. When a post you made has been found to be problematic, we can either give you an Infraction or a Warning. In both situations you will get a private message linking you to the post and explaining why your post was found problematic.
Banning - Penalties
7 point in 30 days and you get a 5 day ban
Plus you will loss your right to use a hotmail, yahoo or g-mail email address instead you will be requested to provide an email address from your ISP provider .
If anyone tries to circumvent a temporary ban by posting under another user name, they will be banned permanently.
12 point in 30 days and you get a permanent ban from the site
We reserve the right to ban people immediately as we deem appropriate. Please be aware that posters who deliberately and viciously break the rules may be permanently banned with no warning. Ruling on whether a permanent ban is necessary is ultimately left up to the discretion of the board administrators. The administrators also hereby reserve the right to change any of the above rules, regulations, penalties and infractions without notice.
Permanently banned members who create new user names will still be removed from the site without additional warning when they are discovered.
Please remember that posting on this forum (or any Internet forum, for that matter) is a privilege, NOT A RIGHT. Please treat it that way.
Thank you for adhering to these rules & regulation.
We hope your stay at
www.talkingfootball.net is friendly, lengthy and enjoyable.
Kind Regards
Administration Team