USMB Rules and Guidelines

[cereal_killer]

USMB Site Guidelines and Regulations​

List of Current Active Moderators:
AyeCantSeeYou Dont Taz Me Bro katsteve2012 White 6 OKTexas

Registration Guidelines:
Individuals are allowed only one (1) account. Anyone found to be in violation risk having all accounts banned.

Site Wide Rules And Guidelines:
The following Rules Apply Everywhere unless otherwise stated on USMB, including Posts, Private Messages, Visitor Messages, and Signatures:

• Please post in English. We like having global USMB members, but the use of other languages is too often abused in order to circumvent rules.
• When starting a new thread, please first check and confirm that there are no current threads on the same topic. Please select the forum that best relates to the subject matter of your topic. Opening posts require more than a "Copy and Paste" with a link. You need to include relevant on-topic material of your own. When posting a new topic do not use the CAPS lock.
• USMB is not a "hate" site and we will not condone such behavior. We do not allow posts that include racial slurs, pejoratives, or religiously bigoted statements.
  Such offenses will receive a first time warning and a second offense will result in an extended, if not permanent, ban.
• No attacks on family members. No direct or implied threats of violence/harm towards government officials, another forum member or their family with the intent of interfering in or disrupting their lives. Moderation may act on obvious stalking and harassment of forum members on the forums. Excessive use of negative post ratings can rise to a level of stalking/harassment.
• No accusations of other members relating to bestiality, grooming, or pedophilia. If you suspect a forum member is involved with grooming and/or pedophilia, DM the mods with your suspicions and evidence.
• No discussing infractions, bans, banned members, or specific moderator actions or duties on the open boards. Issues with moderation should be taken up privately with moderators in PM.
• Data mining is not allowed. You may not disclose any personal information about other members. Name, e-mail, phone number, address, occupation, pictures, quotes, etc. that has NOT first been posted here at USMB by the member themselves (include link). This includes links to sites that contain said personal information.
• Foul language (profanity) will be loosely tolerated and at the moderators discretion at any time within any forum and/or sub-forum.
• Copyright: Link each "Copy & Paste" to its source. Only paste a small to medium section of the material. (There is a 15 post minimum for new members before you are allowed to use this feature.) When starting a new thread and declaring something as fact in your opening post, you must link to a source. For example, "Polls say 2/3 of people think x, y, z." You need to link to a source for one of those alleged polls. Telling others to Google it on their own is not acceptable.
• No linking to, discussing, or promoting other message boards anywhere on the site.
• Graphic images, material, or links to images, and/or material whether real, satirical, or implied depicting obscene, indecent (to include human genitalia or human female aureola or nipples), pornography, pornographic acts, or morbid images are not permitted. This includes gifs and cartoons. Please report these posts.
• Editing quotes. You may selectively quote, provided that it does not change the context or meaning of the quote. When you comment on the quote, do it outside of the quote box. Do not post inside of the quote box or alter the member names in "link-back" text.
• No spamming. Multiple posting of the same thing, advertising, and/or links to other sites.
• No cross posting. Cross posting is posting the same content repeatedly or in multiple forums. Pick one.
• Off-topic posts may be edited, trashed, deleted, or moved to an appropriate forum as per administrator & moderator discretion at any time within any forum and/or sub-forum.
• Administrator and Moderator Official Posts are generally posted in red. They are directives. Please adhere to them. Do not comment on them.
• Not all Rules and Regulations are written. Not every circumstance can be foreseen. Moderator discretion does apply. When in doubt, PM an administrator or moderator.
• All violations will be subject to action by an admin/mod. Action taken could range from a warning, infraction, or banning and will be at admin/mod discretion.

We are operating the site under 3 different zones:

• "Zone 1": Clean Debate Zone (CDZ) / Introduce Yourself (Welcome Threads) / The Lounge / Announcements / Race Relations-Racism / Religion and Ethics: Civil discourse is the focus here, regardless of topic matter. No insults, name calling, or putting down other posters (flaming). Consider it a lesson in civics.
• "Zone 2": All other forums not specified as Zone 1 or Zone 3: Baiting and polarizing opening posts and thread titles risk the thread being locked, moved, or trashed. Keep it relevant, choose wisely. Replies must contain significant and specific thread topic content to advance the discussion. No trolling. No hit and run flames. No hijacking or derailing threads. (Trolling means discussing another forum member(s) and not the topic of the thread.)
  • Titles and Opening Posts:
    • Titles and opening posts must be free of INFLAMMATORY words, name calling, and "pet names".
    • Content in opening posts must be 2 sentences or more and must contain the opinion of the member starting the thread. "Get a load of this" is not sufficient topical content. Summarize the topic to be discussed and why you think it needs discussion.
• "Zone 3": Flame Zone/Badlands/Rubber Room: The least moderated area on the site. Refer to stickied threads in each section for Rules. Extreme flaming threads and posts belong here. You must be 18 years or older to enter and participate in these forums. In addition -- you must be a member for 60 days AND have a minimum of 100 posts in order to post or "thank" posts in Zone 3.

Signatures:

• Signatures must be limited to the equivalent of 10 lines standard size type including spacing. Additional sig line vertical space is offered to "Contributing Members". See post below for details.
• No Advertising or Soliciting in signatures.

Titles Under User Avatar:

• Keep it Civil.
• Using the term "Banned" is prohibited in User Titles.

PM Rules:

• Using the PM system will only be allowed after establishing a 50 post count
• Posting information gained through private messages is prohibited unless specific permission is granted in a public forum and/or to a USMB staff member from the member who is a participant in the PM conversation.
• No advertising or promoting other messages boards is allowed.
• PM's are only viewable by the recipients unless reported to the staff. We respect your privacy. Should you have a specific problem or issue, report it. We are here to help.

All members and staff have the right to their own ideas, beliefs and faiths. Members have the right to constructively express these on USMessageBoard.com with equal respect and consideration. If you have a specific question/comment about these guidelines, please PM a moderator of your choice. Thank you and enjoy the forums!

 

[cereal_killer]

Many members have had some questions and concerns as to the rules and the enforcement of those rules. This doesn't answer all of the questions, nor can it, the 'moderator discretion' aspect is a nebulous but necessary tool, as some situations arise where no hard, fast rule exists or can exist without it becoming draconian in nature. This will give everyone a better idea of what to look for.

One:
A member can not infer another member engages in an act of beastiality in any forum

Two:
No, we Moderators cannot read your PMs unless those specific PMs are reported to us.

Three:
Accusing, insinuating or alluding to another poster as a pedophile is NOT allowed. If you think someone is a pedophile and you think you can prove it then call law enforcement, .

Four:
Selective quoting is not the same as modifying quotes and the quote in question will only be considered modified if the original posters user name is attached to it.

Five:
If you constantly attack another poster or an opposing side then you should be prepared to be neg repped, a lot and it is NOT considered abuse of the rep system. If, however you post a simple, how are you, isn't it a nice day type of post and someone neg reps it that IS abuse of the system and if it is reported we will do as the rules state.

Six:
Everyone here will be treated equally, no one will be granted special protection or unduly singled out for any reason. The board Rules and Guidelines apply to everyone, that means if someone can't hack it here they need to find someplace that better fits their temperament. It also means that if someone is found to be attempting to disrupt or undermine the board and it's members, that person will be given the opportunity to find another site to post on.

Seven:
Discussing administrators, moderators and rules in general on the open forum is not a violation of the rules. However, bringing a specific mod action or specifics of a mod action into the open forum IS a violation of the rules and will be dealt with accordingly. PLEASE NOTE: If a mod/admin thread (or any thread for that matter) has degenerated into nothing more than pissing, moaning, demeaning, degrading and insulting staff we will close and/or trash the thread in question at our discretion as indicated in the Rules and Guidelines.

Eight:
I know there have been some questions and concerns about supposed arbitrary mod actions recently, if you have a specific issue with it then contact the Admin personnel via PM and they will review it to determine if it's arbitrary as claimed or not, based entirely on the governing Rules and Guidelines.
All official moderator actions will be in red, all unofficial moderator suggestions are that only, suggestions, and not subject to moderator action, warnings, infractions or banning regardless of what color it is though, in order to alleviate any confusion non-official suggestions should be typed as normal, in black.

Nine:
Socks. If you think someone is a sock by all means report it, we will investigate using the tools at our disposal. If that poster is still around after that then we were unable to determine that poster was a sock and there is no need to continually harangue us over it, I don't care what you believe. Proof, not suspicion is the key.

Ten:
Patience on your parts and a little help will do more to ease this transition and make the board run smoothly than anything else. We will however not tolerate the manipulative little children's games some seem to have a propensity to indulge in at our expense. If we catch you doing it you'll get a vacation, if it happens again you get your permanent relocation notice.

Last order of business is signature sizes. Below you will find the differences in allowable signature sizes depending on ones user group. We do ask that you please remain compliant when it comes to how many lines you use in your signature. If staff request that your signature fall into the acceptable parameters for your user group you will have 4-6 hours to change it. Failure to comply will result in the sig being removed for you.

GUIDELINES FOR SIGNATURE SIZES

Gold Supporting Members

Regular Supporting Members

Regular Registered Members

 

[flacaltenn]

CLEAN START CLARIFICATION

Titles and Opening Posts
1) Title must contain sufficient clues about the ACTUAL expected discussion. Titles like "How stupid are These People" can't be SEARCHED or indexed for search for the use of members or mods to find and manage existing active threads.

2) Titles must be free of INFLAMMATORY words, name calling or "pet names".. Those things are what make a title "baiting".

3) The "user content" in OPs that the existing rules require needs to be "stepped up".. "Get a load of this" -- is no longer sufficient topical content"... Must be 2 lines or more.. The more the better.. Must SUMMARIZE the topic to be discussed and why you think it NEEDS discussion..

To sum that up.. We're REQUIRING the Original Posters to START a clean topical discussion.,. No more juiced incendiary titles and ranting OPs.. If it's important enough for you to dash to a keyboard to poke it in -- need to put in the effort to start the discussion with YOUR views of the topic..

Post Content
Currently the Rules require "specific topical content" in EVERY post.. And the moderation method for that is stone simple..

Post has "specific topical content" --- stop reading, ignore the rest, it's legal.
Post LACKS "specific topical content" -- It's illegal.. Delete and/or warn...

1) That rule will edited to read "must contain substantial and relevant topical content".. This means that unsubstantiated generalizations about groups or political opponents is NOT ALONE sufficient as "specific topical content" anymore.. Yeah, you have to stop and think and spend a few calories composing a post..

2) Repetition, badgering, harassment, and repeatedly ignoring requests to clarify or answer questions MAY get you booted or warned... This may be specified in the official rules in the coming days.

3) Meme pics are OK - if they are about topic and NOT just personal and fit the definition of substantial and relevant.

4) Posts on the 1st two opening pages of a thread will be CHECKED by moderation when they visit.. These will be HIGHLY moderated, because the course of thread is determined largely in the 1st pages... If you're caught dropping into a brand new topic just to attack or flame -- you'll be warned and banned for one day.. Assuming there isn't more damage to the thread later on.. If you don't care to DISCUSS the topic first -- DONT DROP IN.. This is probably the most common issue we have with "tone", anger, and stinkyness of this place lately. It's a personality pile-on on Pg1.. Not happening anymore.. Keep a distance from members you consider "retards or morons".. Just ignore what you consider to be crap.. Don't prance thru it barefoot..