Debate Politics Forums and users are not responsible from any and all use of knowledge used, received, or created on this board. This includes but is not limited to: political advice, medical advice, and legal advice. By reading and/or participating on this website, you have agreed to these terms.
1.
Freedom of Speech -
"Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the government for a redress of grievances."
At Debate Politics we see freedom of speech as the right to communicate ideas. With this right comes the responsibility to choose your words carefully and respect the rights of others. Common sense dictates the difference between one expressing themselves and one who is disruptive. If you are focused on contributing to the community, you will not have to be concerned with being a disruption. Disruptive behavior, such as personal attacks, can lead to temporary or permanent revocation of posting privileges.
2.
Spamming - What constitutes spamming can be, but is not limited to, "A message (typically an advertisement) sent indiscriminately to a wide set of discussion lists [forums] or newsgroups."[google] Also, any message or series of messages promoting a product, site or service made by a member who does not demonstrate the intention and willingness to participate in the normal discourse of the DPMB can be considered spamming. Spamming and/or spam bots will not be tolerated and can result in immediate banning of the spammer.
If you are reading these rules it probably does not apply to you.
3.
Flaming - "Originally, flame meant to carry forth in a passionate manner in the spirit of honorable debate. Flames most often involved the use of flowery language and flaming well was an art form. More recently flame has come to refer to any kind of derogatory comment no matter how witless or crude."[google] In a forum with sensitive topics such as this, derogatory flaming is bound to happen. Common sense will prevail, yet this is not an invitation to flame. e.g. "You stupid *****ing moron," is completely unacceptable and could lead to a suspension of posting privileges.
4.
Don't be a jerk - This simply means what it sounds like.
5.
Multiple posts of the same subject may be consolidated or deleted.
6.
Moderators - Moderators are the key to the success of any board. They are expected to live up to a higher standard as such we expect you to treat them with a higher standard. Any rule broken against a moderator could result in immediate banning. Publicly disrespectful behavior from a member toward a moderator regarding moderator actions or decisions may result in a summary suspension of that member's posting privileges.
Please note that the moderating team is under no obligation to read every post.
Occasionally, inappropriate posts will slip by unnoticed by the mods, if you see one of these posts, please report it immediately by using the "report post" button under the offenders avatar. This is the icon:
6a. If there are any concerns over a moderators actions, please address a private message (PM) to vauge or the moderator in question. Your feedback and concerns are very valuable to the success of this board. Each and every PM will be read and investigated. Publicly disrespectful behavior from a member toward a moderator regarding moderator actions or decisions is termed "Insubordination" and may result in a summary suspension or termination of that member's posting privileges.
6a.
Addendum (Rule Changes - 5/21/2008) - Understanding that at times members may need to vent, a
new area in The Basement has been created that is exempt from 6a and made specifically for members wishing to rant about moderator action.
7.
English - All threads will be in the English language. Threads and posts which are not in English may be edited or deleted at the discretion of the moderator.
Please include translations with any posts that are not in English.
7a.
Bypassing the Word Censor - In the interest of maintaining civility, profanity is strongly discouraged here at Debate Politics. As such, certain words are censored by our software. When censored words are entered into a post, they will show as *asterisks*. Attempts to Bypass the Word Censor including but not limited to: letter substitutions, inserting extra letters, using special characters or symbols, using BBCode, or using HTML formatting. If you bypass the word censor - warnings are ensued. If you continue to ignore the word censor you will be rewarded with an infraction. Basically there are two viable choices available. Either choose an innocuous word, or use the intended word and allow the software to auto-mask. If a word is not censored and you feel that it should be, please PM a member of the Moderation Team and we will consider your suggestion.
7a.
Addendum (Rule Changes - 5/21/2008) - The amount of censored words has been scaled back and made more consistent. The “F word”, the “S word”, and the “C word” will be censored in all their varied forms.
8.
Avatars - Offensive avatars will be removed.
9.
Copyrighted Material - All material posted from copyrighted material MUST contain a link to the original work.
Please do not post entire articles. Proper format is to paraphrase the contents of an article and/or post relevant excerpts and then link to the rest(if an online source). Best bet is to always reference the original source.
Title 17, Chapter 1, Section 107
US CODE: Title 17,107. Limitations on exclusive rights: Fair use
** If a source is not available online, is not free to the public (Lexis/Nexis, books, academic papers, etc), or requires registration to be accessed, then a comprehensive citation will suffice. Keep in mind that your position may be weakened if the original source is not easily accessible.
9a.
Fair-Use - A limitation of two (2) medium-sized paragraphs per thread is allowed for the quoting and display of any external "same-source" material. Same-source material is considered to be material borrowed from the same author, the same internet article, the same web page, the same web site, or the same publication. Please do not exceed this limitation, nor attempt to bypass this limitation via consecutive/subsequent/plagiarized thread postings. Proper format is to Copy & Paste a maximum of two medium-sized paragraphs of same-source material and offer a link to the material source page for further reading. Moderator discretion shall prevail here.
10.
Advertisements - If you wish to advertise on Debate Politics - please contact Vauge. Advertisements in posts will be deleted.
11.
Illegal attachments - Any attachment that is illegal to own or trade will be promptly removed and you will be banned.
12. Multiple and Proxy accounts - Multiple accounts of the same user are forbidden. Proxy accounts (specifically utilizing a third party to post) will not be tolerated. Further, sharing of an account/password with other members and non-members alike is prohibited. At the discretion of the moderator, these issues may result in infractions and/or banishment against all accounts.
**If you are having issues with your account, please contact us by using this form before creating another.
13.
Privacy - Posting personal email addresses, full names, places of employment, and phone numbers (etc.) for the purpose of retaliation or revenge will not be tolerated. This is a breach in privacy. You will lose your posting privileges permanently.
14.
Signatures - Signatures taunting another user, large images, or breaking any other rule in this list could result in your account being suspended.
15.
Basement forum - Anything written in the basement forum may not be copied outside the basement forum nor may you link to the Basement forum or you will be banned.
Addendum (Rule Changes - 5/21/2008) ~ The Vegas Rule.
16.
Disciplinary Actions - Users that break any rules may be issued a warning, either in the thread where the offense took place in or via private message (PM)- sometimes both. Repeated violations of the rules can result in a permanent or temporary revocation of posting privileges. Temporary suspension of posting privileges might range in duration from 24 hours to 2 weeks or more. If the conduct is severely detrimental to the board, the account will be banned and posting privileges revoked permanently. This is at the sole discretion of the moderator. You may submit an appeal using the "contact us" link at the bottom of every page.
Not all disciplinary actions will be public. Furthermore, moderators are not obligated to notify general membership of whether a particular member has received a warning. Nor are moderators obligated to discuss any disciplinary actions taken against a member with any other member.
17.
Starting a Thread: When starting a thread it is best to express your own thoughts in your own words. Threads w/o original content may be summarily closed.
It's fitting, fine, well,
and good that the initial, thread-starting post (called the thread's
Original
Post-
OP for short) quotes another person or document. References, particularly in matters of fact, are encouraged.
But they are no substitute for your own thoughts in your own words.
Using your own words in your OP encourages participation. By starting the conversation with a contribution of your own time and effort, you show potential participants you are serious in your intention to engage in dialogue. It says that if they reply to your posts, you are likely to respond to theirs.
18.
Hate Messages
Hate messages delivered via threads, posts, signatures, or PM's are forbidden at Debate Politics. The Moderator Team defines a hate message as any willful wording intended to ridicule, debase, degrade, intimidate, or incite violence and/or prejudicial actions against a group of people based on their race, gender, ethnicity, national origin, religion, sexual orientation, or disability. Determined violations of this rule will be subject to incur an immediate revocation of membership.
The Debate Politics Forum Rules were originally adopted on 11.06.04
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Note: The MPH (Moderator Perma-ban Hearing) thread is also located in this forum.
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