Guidelines For Rennlist Posts

[Bob Rouleau]

Folks, as many of you have observed, posts on various forums have been the subject of considerable controversy and numerous complaints. In part this may be due to the fact that many of us don't know the rules. Few if any have looked at the already published guidelines and the Terms Of Service we all accepted when we registered.

Herein you will find a fairly concise summary of the "rules of the road". This Forum will be open for dialog for the moment at least, in the hope that communications between us will foster a better understanding and a stronger community.
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Rennlist Posting Guidelines:

Content: All material posted or linked to, must be G rated. In other words, use only language and post material suitable for the home or office. Do not post foul language, racial epithets or sexually explicit content in any form. At no time will insults or attacks on an individual be tolerated. Racial slurs, epithets or denigrating references to race, color, creed or sexual preference will not be tolerated. This general content rule applies to posts, signatures, avatars and links within posts.

The exception to this rule is in the off-topic section (only available to paying members) whereby the content may be a PG-13 rating (some colorful language may be reasonably utilized), however such content may not be used in an insulting or attacking manner.

Special Rule About Using Rennlist for Buying or Selling Firearms: Advertising, buying or selling firearms on Rennlist is prohibited. It violates IB policy and in addition contraves contractual terms relating to their acquistion of certain other websites.

Advertising by Members: Paying Members (as opposed to “Users”) may advertise or link to an ad to buy or sell personal property. In the case of an item or items offered for sale, the price must be included in the post. Ads may appear in as many as three forums maximum, and repeated not more than once per month.

Neither Members nor users may post ads promoting a business, theirs, or one owned/operated by others either in the body of a post or in the signature or avatar fields, nor may they post links or solicitations to visit competitive web sites. Note that posts by Members advertising items "for a friend" will be treated as posts by a User.

Advertising by Site Sponsors: In order to promote a commercial entity, you must have a contract with Internet Brands. Only site sponsors may promote their commerce on Rennlist. Site Sponsors will be held to posting according to rules established from time to time by Internet Brands covering the type, size and frequency of ads. In general a maximum of two ads per month may be posted. Note that responding to questions by members of a forum is not considered advertising. Threads offering multiple items may be edited to delete items no longer available. Adding items will be considered a new post and count against the 2 per month limit as will "bumping" a thread, i.e., adding a post to increase the visibility of a thread which has fallen off the screen due to inactivity.

Unlike Member ads, site sponsors are not obliged to post prices in their ads although they are encouraged to do so.

Vendors are cautioned not to disparage other vendors, or the products/services they may offer.

Ads by Users: Users are not permitted to make “for sale” or “wanted to buy” posts nor link to ads hosted elsewhere. This is a privilege reserved for paying Members. Note that ads camouflaged as ”feelers” or “how much do you think my “xxx” is worth” will be deemed to be advertising. If a User would like to advertise personal property on Rennlist, please, consider becoming a member.

Promoting Non-Commercial Events: From time to time, posts promoting a not for profit event of interest to the Rennlist community will be permitted. Said posts should appear in a maximum of 6 forums and not repeated more than once a month. Posts of this nature will be closely scrutinized. Any attempt to disguise a commercial venture as a not for profit event will be dealt with promptly. When in doubt consult with a Rennlist Moderator to be pre-cleared.

Promoting a Vendor: Praise and a recommendation of a vendor by users is encouraged as a service to the community. On the other hand, excessive promotion of vendor(s), i.e., cheer leading, will be viewed as advertising. In the same vein, systematic and sustained vendor bashing, i.e., carrying out a vendetta against a particular vendor will result in sanctions.

Signatures and Avatars: Must be a reasonable size and contain only G rated material. Particular attention will be paid to suggestive photos. Furthermore, they must not contain political statements, controversial messages, slurs or any other provocative statements. Moderators are empowered to edit or even delete material deemed objectionable.

Copyright Materials: You may not post any copyrighted material that you do not have rights to. Please link to external articles rather than post them in the forums. Posting or soliciting copyrighted material (Carfax reports for example) is prohibited.

Failure to Comply: With the rules may result in posts/threads being edited, or deleted as deemed necessary. Continued violations of the rules outlined above may result in certain restricted permissions, up to and including permanent banishment from Rennlist. The latest version of the Forum Software includes “infractions”. Individuals who disregard these guidelines will be issued an infraction. Infraction are like demerit points on your driving license. If you get too many you lose you license or, in the case of Rennlist, your ability to post.

Moderators: In the past forums were moderated by one or two people. As of now, Moderators are permitted to deal with any infractions they observe in any forum.

[Fogey1]

May I suggest a link in your "above the fold" announcement?

Rather than making folks first search for and then link to this thread.

"Moderators are empowered to edit or even delete material deemed objectionable."

Fair enough, it's your forum (I guess), but ... I would consider "editing" much more intrusive than "deleting."

[smshirk]

This forum is beginning to become far too objectionable to my sense of fair play, in addition to being far too difficult to reach on a regular basis. I suppose I agreed to these terms when I paid my first dues, but I evidently didn't read them. I doubt I have "broken" any of these rules, but the fact that IB feels the need to post warnings and threats is more than I can stomach. When we began paying for the right to post here, it was a forum for us by us. Now that we are owned by some faceless corporation I have no real or implied affinity or sense of loyalty, particularly when being arbitrarily threatened with demerits or points against my license to post. I suppose I will pick up my marbles and go play somewhere else the next time my dues are due. There are still places that do not resort to threats of its' membership.

[Bob Rouleau]

shirk - sorry if making the guidelines easily accessible has offended you. That was NOT my intent. Since you accepted these terms (more or less) when you registered, I hoped that making them visible might help.

Are you threatened? Heck no! Are we threatened by speed limit signs on the road? Annoyed, maybe. Threatened - not so much. Like everyone else, I do dislike getting a ticket for violating the posted rules.

You do raise a good point about infractions though. Please, look at it this way. In the past, people who broke the rules were given a vacation - sometimes forever. The infraction system provides a middle ground and at least you (and only you) know that you've accumulated some demerit points. In other words we now have (IMO) a more gradual method of enforcing some rules which the vast majority of us never violate. So, the night we have a few too many drinks and post something flat out wrong, you get points instead of a "vacation". Hey, we all make mistakes. On the other hand someone who systematically posts stuff which is objectionable gets too many points and faces the music.

Does this make sense? I'd really like to hear your opinion.

Best,

[Bob Rouleau]

Fogey - Mods will edit things like links to porno sites and or pics which are R or even X rated. Nothing new there, we've been doing it for years. Now, we're hoping that people who post such things will not be surprised and complain after the fact. Same goes for sigs that contain personal attacks of highly provocative political statements. Sometimes I wish everyone could see the "reported posts" list that all mods receive. Some are silly, but most are links to things which are seriously offensive. In the months before the election, things were hot and heavy in a number of forums and to put it nicely, passions ran hot and heavy.

Does this make sense?

Best,

[deep_uv]

Wow. I don't know what to say. Things sure seem to have changed around here. The demerit thing does feel like a threat, no doubt about it.

[ehall]

Where does one go to see their "demerit" number?

[Tom R.]

I said it before and I say it again, when John started this site we were his guests. We paid for the privalege of using his site. we were guests in his site, and therefore had to abide by his rules.

The mere fact that John is now IB, the rules are the same. This is IBs site, IBs home if you want, and we are guests.

You wouldnt walk into my house with dog turd on your shoe, you shouldnt here.

For those that are literary challenged, here is one rule that sums them all up:

If you wouldnt want it said in front of your grandmother and four year old, you shouldnt type it here. how hard is that?

Now i will take my marbles and play in another forum here.

[Riad]

[Shark Attack]

"and he openly mocks me in front of the class"

I was just wondering is this g rated?

Rules are good. Gives everyone a good centerpoint

Bravo bravo

[ehall]

Originally Posted by Shark Attack

"and he openly mocks me in front of the class"

I was just wondering is this g rated?

Rules are good. Gives everyone a good centerpoint

Bravo bravo

Okay! That is some funny shi....errr umm...stuff!

I still haven't found out where to find my demerit count. I expect to be the John McCain of Rennlist!

[Randy V]

Originally Posted by ehall

Where does one go to see their "demerit" number?

You will see it in your User Profile, E - in the Infractions section.

Only Mods/Admins and the individual see those infractions. They are not visible to others.

I could give you one so you can see what they look like.



Send me a PM.

[ehall]

PASS!

[Bonster]

Hey Bob . . . I noticed that you gave some leeway (is that how that is spelled?) to the folks over on OT. I would like to humbly ask for the same leniency on the HWFMR forum. The regular folks there are like family, and they tease and joke around a LOT. To take away some of the humor there would be really sad. If you have ever visited the HWFMR forum, you already know what I mean. Right? Thanks, and do let me know.

[ehall]

Some of us are joking around with these guys. I think they know that pretty well.