shiawasseecounty.net

Hello, the moderators and I have been working on improving the rules. The following additions to the existing rules are effective immediately and will be added to the general forum rule post later today or tomorrow:

**User guidelines / rules**
These user guidelines and rules apply to all members of the community, and to all content. That includes posts, profiles, and private messages.

Try as we might, these guidelines / rules cannot cover every situation that will come up in our community. We will adjust and clarify the rules as necessary.

**Moderation**
The live nature of our community makes it impossible for the moderators to watch all of the threads, all of the time. Nor can we find every rule violation. If you find a violation that we have not addressed, notify us via the “post complaint” function. Do not attempt to enforce forum rules on your own. This may result in you being warned and/or banned. Notify a moderator if you suspect someone has violated the rules.

Moderators and the administrator have the final say on anything. If you have a problem, you may make a complaint to them directly and not publicly on the website. Creating threads or posts that question or reference administrative decisions or potential administrative decisions, such as post removals and thread closures, is not permitted. We are not perfect and if you feel that we have made a mistake, please privately contact a staff member and we will review the situation.

**Spamming**
Posting multiple threads of similar topic within a short period of time is spamming. Posting the same thread to multiple forums is also considered spamming. Some exceptions to this rule may apply: ask a moderator before doing so.

**Styles of communication**
Do not post in all caps. PEOPLE HATE ALL CAPS.

Do not correct the spelling or grammar of others.

**Profanity**
We want users of all ages and backgrounds here. Profanity is not welcome. Word censors are in place to minimize profanity in posts. Attempts to circumvent our word censors may result in a warning.

**High Maintenance Members**
Any community member who extracts an extra ordinary amount of time from the moderators, global moderators or administration will receive a warning.

An *"extra ordinary amount of time"* is defined as anyone who requires mod or administrative intervention and moderation on a frequent basis.

Among other things, the following activities will put a member into the category of “high maintenance”

• Excessively causing, creating, or adding to difficulties for other members or moderators
• Excessively complaining of being a "victim" of another member or of a moderator
• Starting disruptive threads or posting disruptive content on the basis that the member feels he/she is disliked or will be banned anyway

**Warnings**
When a formal warning is issued, members are informed via Personal Message (PM) and within the thread too.

**Banning**
Three warnings will result in a permanent ban.

When a member is banned, the member may or may not receive notice, but fellow forum users will be notified in the Open Forum.

**Sock Puppets**
A *sockpuppet* is an online identity<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Online_identity>used for
purposes of deception within an online community <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Online_community>. Each member of the Shiawassee Forums may have a total of two accounts: one using his/her real name, and one anonymous account. No member may have more than one anonymous account.

We will issue immediate, permanent bans for spammers and anyone who opens a sock puppet account while suspended/banned.

**On topic posting**
Threads should stay on topic with the original post. If the original poster, or two people that are responding to the original post ask you to stay on topic, continuing to hijack a thread will result in a warning.

**Respect fellow members**
Respect is the name of the game. You must respect your fellow members. Please refrain from inflammatory and defamatory comments as well as flaming, taunting and general disrespect. Do not simply put down the opinion or advice given by others. If you don't agree with it, say why - respectfully. Don't just tell them they're wrong. Do not make uninvited remarks about typos, duplicate posts, posting styles, etc.

When appropriate, we will apply the above sanctions flexibly. We may suspend/ban a member for a serious offense before the 3rd warning. Examples would be extreme racist rants, serial flaming, persistently abusive PMs to other members etc.