Forum guidelines - Please read.
11-26-2007, 10:34 AM
#1
Forum guidelines - Please read.
The AMA Discussions Forum on RCU has always been given a little bit of "leeway" when it came to the rules of RCU. This was because there was usually a lot of "passion" that came along with some of the discussions that are held here. Because of this I have tried to keep a hands-off approach as much as possible to moderating this forums. Unfortunately that's just not working. There are times that the forum has slipped to an all out war among several members of the forum. This is not a good thing to have going on because it causes many members to avoid participating in this forum for fears of being attacked. In fact, I've received messages from many people concerning this matter. I feel that this forum can be a great asset to both AMA and it's members, but for that to happen we need to clean this forum up so that members aren't afraid of participating in the discussions in the forum. Because of this I think that it's time to make a few changes to see if we can't change the way things are happening here in this forum. The easiest and fairest method of making this happen is to enforce the [link=http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/m_377662/anchors_377662/mpage_1/key_/anchor/tm.htm#377662]RCU Community Rules[/link] . This enforcement is going to be done in a fair and firm manner and will be done evenly to all members participating in the forums. While all of the Community Rules will be enforced, there are a few things that I would like to point out in particular as they are some of the biggest problems that I see in this forum right now:
[ul][*] Topics of discussion - All threads have a given topic. Off topic posts will be removed immediately, so please keep posts to the discussion at hand.[*] Personal attacks - Please ensure that all posts are civil. Any attacks on a person will be removed immediately.[*] Name calling - This is something that I see going on a lot in here. Any name calling meant to degrade or put down a member will be removed immediately.[*] Past Events - Some members have been told privately to not bring up certain past events. Any attempts to bring up the specified event will result in immediate administrative actions being taken.[*] Be civil - I understand that some discussions can get involved and heated, but that doesn't mean that the discussion has to get ugly. Any discussions that get ugly will be dealt immediately[*] All RCU rules in effect. The RCU Community Rules will be enforced.
[/ul]
There is one thing that IS NOT a violation of the rules. That is negative comments about the AMA. I have had members contacting me wanting me to remove posts that the only problem with was that they were saying something bad about the AMA. As long as the post is done in accordance with the RCU Community Rules it won't be removed. No organization is perfect, and the AMA is no different. Problems with an organization can only be fixed if they are brought out into the open and discussed by everybody. This forum is here specifically for discussions of the AMA, no matter if those items are good things or bad things about the AMA. All viewpoints will be allowed to be posted in this forum, as long as they comply with the RCU rules.
When offenses happen I will not edit the post to remove the offending portion. It's next to impossible for me to know what someone was trying to say and my editing of that post could change the message that was trying to be delivered. Because of this I will simply remove the entire post whenever there is a violation of the RCU Community Rules. I am sorry if this causes someone to have to retype a long message, but hopefully this will make members think twice before doing something that is against the rules.
Initially problems arising from this will be dealt with by removing the offending post/thread. But if members continue to cause problems administrative actions will be taken. These actions may included placement on Moderated Status (MS), a partial ban from RCU, or a permanent ban from RCU. I do hope that I won't have to take these actions, but don't think that means that I won't take those actions.
I'm hoping that the AMA forum does shape up because this forum can be such a great tool for the AMA and it's members to use for many things. I'm pretty sure that all of the members that participate in this forum will agree that improving the AMA is their ultimate goal.
I really wish that these actions weren't necessary, but at this time I really see no other options to take care of this problem. It is my goal to get the forums back to the point where such extreme measures aren't needed. But with the help of all the RCU members this can happen.
I thank everybody for following these guidelines and helping to improve this forum
Ken
[ul][*] Topics of discussion - All threads have a given topic. Off topic posts will be removed immediately, so please keep posts to the discussion at hand.[*] Personal attacks - Please ensure that all posts are civil. Any attacks on a person will be removed immediately.[*] Name calling - This is something that I see going on a lot in here. Any name calling meant to degrade or put down a member will be removed immediately.[*] Past Events - Some members have been told privately to not bring up certain past events. Any attempts to bring up the specified event will result in immediate administrative actions being taken.[*] Be civil - I understand that some discussions can get involved and heated, but that doesn't mean that the discussion has to get ugly. Any discussions that get ugly will be dealt immediately[*] All RCU rules in effect. The RCU Community Rules will be enforced.
[/ul]
There is one thing that IS NOT a violation of the rules. That is negative comments about the AMA. I have had members contacting me wanting me to remove posts that the only problem with was that they were saying something bad about the AMA. As long as the post is done in accordance with the RCU Community Rules it won't be removed. No organization is perfect, and the AMA is no different. Problems with an organization can only be fixed if they are brought out into the open and discussed by everybody. This forum is here specifically for discussions of the AMA, no matter if those items are good things or bad things about the AMA. All viewpoints will be allowed to be posted in this forum, as long as they comply with the RCU rules.
When offenses happen I will not edit the post to remove the offending portion. It's next to impossible for me to know what someone was trying to say and my editing of that post could change the message that was trying to be delivered. Because of this I will simply remove the entire post whenever there is a violation of the RCU Community Rules. I am sorry if this causes someone to have to retype a long message, but hopefully this will make members think twice before doing something that is against the rules.
Initially problems arising from this will be dealt with by removing the offending post/thread. But if members continue to cause problems administrative actions will be taken. These actions may included placement on Moderated Status (MS), a partial ban from RCU, or a permanent ban from RCU. I do hope that I won't have to take these actions, but don't think that means that I won't take those actions.
I'm hoping that the AMA forum does shape up because this forum can be such a great tool for the AMA and it's members to use for many things. I'm pretty sure that all of the members that participate in this forum will agree that improving the AMA is their ultimate goal.
I really wish that these actions weren't necessary, but at this time I really see no other options to take care of this problem. It is my goal to get the forums back to the point where such extreme measures aren't needed. But with the help of all the RCU members this can happen.
I thank everybody for following these guidelines and helping to improve this forum
Ken
Last edited by RCKen; 11-19-2014 at 06:37 AM.
