07/26/2005
Minerva asked me to set up a message board and I agreed but
there are a few rules:
Moderation:
These message boards are a moderated forum. Moderators cannot be
everywhere and see everything at all times. If you see anything that is
against the rules, please report it immediately. Note that the moderators
will evaluate the situation on a case-by-case basis and take appropriate action
at their discretion.
- What Is A Moderator?
Moderators are volunteers who generously give their time to help board
users with questions about our sites and boards. They also are the
peacekeepers and are here to ensure that all visitors enjoy their stay.
This means enforcing the Board Rules. - What Do Moderators Do?
Moderators monitor board posts and respond to complaints to keep posting
free of undesirable content as described in the Board Rules. They enforce
the board rules, and can delete posts, edit posts as well as remove any
user's ability to visit the boards. If a moderator lets you know you are
close to crossing the line, take heed of the warning. Likewise, if your
thread was deleted or locked by a moderator, do not repost or unlock the
topic. They deserve respect and appreciation for their time. - Bans
If you log onto the message boards and receive a message that you have
been banned, please submit an un-ban request and wait for a Moderator to
get in touch with you. Bans are private matters between the Moderators and
person banned and will not be discussed publicly or through third parties.
It is not acceptable to return to the boards under another username. If
you do, your ban time may be extended. - What If I Disagree With A
Moderator?
Moderators are not perfect and are only human. Disagreements occur. Try to
communicate with them first on a respectful level and settle your
disagreement. They are not targets for your obscenities, flames or general
insults. If you do not agree with a decision, you are not entitled to
start a thread arguing about the verdict or flaming any of the moderators.
Any such messages will be removed. This extends to Private Messages and un-ban
requests as well, and you are not entitled to insult moderators via either
of these methods. Also note that bans are between the user banned and the
moderators, and moderators cannot respond about bans publicly. Any
correspondence about ban length and reason will be handled through un-ban
requests.
If you feel a verdict is unfair, please contact
another Moderator or Mark Clark directly but be prepared to review the Board
Rules again and know that we are able to verify your accusations.
Following are some things you'll
want to keep in mind while posting on the Message Boards. Please read the rules
so you will be familiar with them:
- Copyrighted Material
Message board users agree not to post any material that is protected by
copyright, trademark or other proprietary right without the express
permission of the owner(s) of said copyright, trademark or other
proprietary right. This includes but is not limited to magazine, book and
newspaper scans, television broadcasts and copyrighted photos and
pictures. - Flaming, Bashing, and
Trolling
Hate posts and personal attacks will not be tolerated on these boards.
Treat others on these message boards as you would expect them to treat
you. Talking trash about another user or posting topics specifically to
provoke a negative response from an individual, a group or an entire
community is not acceptable here. These posts will be deleted and may
result in having the privilege of posting on the boards revoked.
Board bashing is also not allowed on these boards.
Please respect the various communities on our message board system. If another
board is not your favorite, there's no need to complain about it. Simply
refrain from visiting it. Board bashing posts will be deleted.
- Profanity
Bad language is unacceptable. Yes, we live in a free country but the
public does not own this message board, it is owned and maintained by
individuals. We reserve the right to moderate or ban users, edit
posts and control the content of these forums in its entirety with or
without the poster's permission. This includes words that have been
edited. Simply editing a few letters with other letters or symbols
isn't allowed. A simple rule to follow is: "when in doubt,
leave it out." You don't have to use profanity to get your point across;
it's better to avoid it altogether. Profanity in posts will be edited out.
Repeat offenders or those who use excessive profanity may lose the privilege
to post - Spam
Purposely spamming a message board with senseless, vacuous, or empty
messages to gain more stars is highly frowned upon! This includes such
things as party posts, chain letters, two-word "I agree" or
"me too" responses, continually posting the same topic on a
particular board, and posting the same question across several boards.
On a similar note, participating in spam attacks on
our message boards or planning a spam attack on them, or any other Website is
unacceptable. These actions will be reported to your ISP.
- Impersonating Other Users
/ Accessing Another User's Account
You may not impersonate another board member or create an account
specifically for the purpose of provoking other users. Also, accessing or
using someone else's account or attempting to access another poster's
account is strictly prohibited. If you engage in this type of behavior,
you will be barred from the boards permanently. - Altering Board Code
Altering or changing code and/or exploiting code bugs for purposes other
than what the message boards were intended to do is strictly prohibited.
On a similar note, using automatic scripts on any part of MinervaClark.com
is also not permitted. Hacking, altering board code, exploiting code bugs
and using scripts are all grounds for an immediate and permanent ban. - Spoilers
Be considerate of the other users who may not have seen a movie or played
a game that you're talking about, and don't give away spoilers in subject
lines that everyone can read. Simply type something eye-catching like
**BEGIN SPOILER** before any text that may give away any significant
information about the plot and **END SPOILER** after the text in a post.
You should avoid posting spoilers in a subject line altogether. - Posting Huge Images / Fake
Signature Pics
Out of respect for your modem brethren, please let them know if your
thread contains a number of large images. A simple **56kers Beware!** in
the subject line will go a long way in helping those who are
broadband-challenged know not to open a thread that might bring their web
browsing to a crawl. Also, if you must use fake signature pictures, please
limit it to one 15k or less image since huge pictures slow down the boards
for everyone. - Questionable Content
Since we can't have a rule to cover everything, this is the rule to, well,
cover everything. These are public boards, so act like you would if you
were in a public place. we reserve the right to choose the guidelines of
objectionable content based on its knowledge of users and personal policy.
These issues are left to the discretion of the individual moderators but
may include any material that is knowingly false and/or defamatory,
misleading, inaccurate, abusive, vulgar, hateful, harassing, obscene,
racist, sexist, profane, sexually oriented, threatening, invasive of a
person's privacy or that otherwise violates any law or encourages conduct
constituting a criminal offense.
By registering at the
MinervaClark.com Message Boards, users agree that any post deemed inappropriate
may be removed at the sole discretion of the owner. The administration also has
the right, at its sole discretion, to revoke board privileges at any time
without notice or reason. Think of these rules as a forewarning and, if you
break them, you're taking your account status into your own hands.
Also note that the Board Rules
extend to all areas of the MinervaClark.com Message Board system, including but
not limited to Private Messages, Signatures and Un-ban Requests. This also
includes asking for or offering anything against the Board Rules via Private
Messages.
MinervaClark.com and associates are
not responsible for messages posted on the message boards or the content
therein. Unless expressly stated otherwise, this includes messages posted by
MinervaClark.com personnel, agents, representatives et al. The administration
reserves the right to reveal the identity of or whatever information we know
about any user in the event of a complaint or legal action arising from any
message posted by said user.
MinervaClark.com administrators
have the right but not the obligation to monitor and/or moderate the message
boards. We reserve the right to change any or all other parts of this User
Agreement at its sole discretion and without notice, including but not limited
to implementing Rules of Conduct, Terms of Service and/or other measures.
So, in the immortal words of
Quills, "Thank you, drive through please."
Dude, I'd watch the backtalk.