Rules & Regulations are as follows:
1. Expletives (swear words) are allowed, as long as no flames are involved and we do have a swear filter engaged to change the spelling to make things more work safe.
2. Spamming, or unsolicited business advertisements by advertisers or businesses or by anyone selling for a business who aren't sponsors are not allowed. Threads determined to be "spam" will be deleted, possibly without notice. Excessive advertisement of other "for profit" forums is also considered spam, and will be dealt with accordingly. If you are interested in sponsoring Obesitydiscussion.com please email inquiries to administrators.
3. Flames, or derogatory insults are strictly against the rules. If you disagree with another member's point of view, do so in a mature and civil manner. If someone posts to discuss their personal problems or seek help from other forum members, please do not respond unless you have something positive or helpful to add. If you find yourself being flamed or insulted by another member, please do not dignify that person with a response. Notify a moderator and let us handle it. If you feel you must respond to a flame or insult directly, please do NOT do so on the board. Use private messaging / e-mail.
4. Threads or replies promoting or expressing racist or sexist views will not be tolerated and maybe be locked and/or deleted without prior notice.
5. Porn is not welcome here. Pictures showing nudity may be allowed in our off-topic general forum section if an appropriate "Not Work Friendly/NWS" warning is posted in the subject line, and the picture is at worst, "PG-13 rated." "X-rated and R-rated" pictures are and will remain strictly against the rules.
6. Signatures & pics: the same rules that apply to your posts apply to your signatures and pics. Please keep this in mind when selecting your pic or signature. Also avatars should not be bigger than 150x150 so please resize them if needed. The pics and verbiage associated with avatars and signatures must not contain swear words or anything NWS.Â* Â*Picture uploads/attachments to posts can be no bigger than 192K in file size.
7. Please post your topics in the most appropriate forum.
8. Controversial topics, such as religion, abortion, racism, etc., *will be allowed. Although these topics usually start out civilly enough, experience has shown that these sort of topics invariably disintegrate into all out flame wars and heated arguments. Please try to remain civil if you get involved in this sort of thread.
9. Threads/replies promoting illicit drugs/narcotics will not be allowed.
10. Threads/replies encouraging other illegal/unethical action (like "Best way to kill neighbor's dog?") will not be allowed.
11. Threads started for the sake of upping post counts, or similarly immature and offensive topics will not be allowed.
12. "Trolling", or making posts with the sole intention of creating problems on the forums is obviously against the forum guidelines. This includes registering an alternate ID for the sole purpose of creating problems on the forums. "Troll ID's" will be locked immediately and permanently, and can be locked without notification to the offender. Trolling posts can be locked and/or deleted without notification to the offender.
13. Threads/replies attacking Obesitydiscussion.com's policies, moderators, or members will not be allowed.
14. Posting a thread or reply to question or criticize moderator or administrator actions is not appropriate in a public forum. Please utilize e-mail, if you wish to discuss these issues. As long as you bring up your concerns maturely and civilly to the moderator or administrator in question, we will do our best to address your concerns fairly and promptly.
15. Using somebody else's account to access the board during a suspension/ban can result in a suspension/ban of your account and/or the account of the person you are using.
Here are the "Do's" and "Don'ts" of addressing your concerns to moderators or administrators:
"Do" be civil and polite. Bring up your concerns in a mature and respectful manner. If you are contacting us because you violated forum guidelines, be adult enough to admit your mistake. If your ID has been locked for some reason, talking politely to us about it in private, via e-mail, can get your ID reinstated in many cases.
"Do not" be derogatory or insulting towards us. You will not get what you want by name calling or bashing us.
All we ask is that you treat us the way you would want us to treat you. If you treat us with respect, we will do the same for you.
If you violate forum guidelines, in most cases, you can expect the following action from the moderators/administrators:
The moderators/administrators should vote on these to make sure they are fair.
1. First offense- verbal warning via e-mail, and/or moderator reply in the offending thread.
2. Second offense- temporary suspension of your user ID priveliges, in most cases a 3 day suspension but that is up to the admin to decide.
3. Subsequent offenses- suspension/banning of your user ID. This will be at the discretion of the admin/moderators, depending on the offense.
Please realize that the nature of the offense will determine the action to be taken. If the violation is extreme enough, or has been repeated enough times in the past, a member can have his/her ID priveliges suspended without warning.
Threads or replies that do not comply with our guidelines may be locked, edited, or deleted, depending on the nature of the offense. We will make every effort to state why such action was taken via e-mail, and/or moderator reply in the offending thread. For this reason, we ask that you check your email often.
The above rules and guidelines are necessary to make Obesitydiscussion.com's message board comfortable and enjoyable for all members. If you feel you can not comply with the rules above, please refrain from using Obesitydiscussion.com's message board. Please also read our website disclaimer
here.
Sincerely,
Obesitydiscussion.com Admin