Rules and Protocols of your forum

[.::Rebecca::.]

As for my board, I basically copied the TOS. You know, the one that comes up when you register the forum? It basically says the main rules every forum should have. I've made a few additions, but tried to keep it short since the TOS is long.

I'm glad you guys brought up the "SPAM" rule. Honestly, I've heard different aspects of SPAM from admins. Some of it really is a matter of just opinions or disagreements.

I completely disagree with netspeak. I simply explain what it is to my members, but I disagree with it because I've seen many introductions include, "Sorry, I'm not good with my English!" Obviously, people that don't know English, don't know it that well, or they're learning it won't learn how to properly write English if there's chat speak all the time. It can confuse them.

I noticed that no one really addressed what netspeak was in this thread. What angers me about netspeak is sometimes you don't know what the abbreviations are. Just imagine if members join your forum and they continue to ask what that meant? I'd be annoyed with it, which is another reason why I try to avoid it.

Chatspeak is one thing, spelling and grammar is another. I don't care for it, but spelling and grammar should definately not be a rule on the forum! This isn't homework. A forum should be fun for the members. Don't forget, some people are from Japan, Chinese, etc. where they write differently too. If I wrote in lower case and got a warning for it, I'd delete my profile from that forum immediately. I've noticed that it's also a way of people just being themselves around you, too. Most of the time I try to write properly, but sometimes I just sit back and not worry about being perfect when I write to someone on the Internet.

I will point out something though. When you write properly, it really helps carry what kind of tone you have. It also makes you sound mature. When you don't use proper spelling and grammar, you look like a child that's typing to me because...that's how someone who's very young would really write.

It really bugs me when an admin demands a member to be on their board. Honestly, those kind of admins sound stuck-up and dominating. I'm a member of a board where the admin says, "You MUST post within 24 hours of registration! You must post within a month, otherwise your account will automatically get deleted." This admin has an excuse since she pays for the forum and it's a waste of space, but making a user come on every day or make them post within 24 hrs, a week, etc? That's coming on way too strong. I've seen too many admins demand, "BE ACTIVE!" You won't get active members that way.

Some members aren't as new to message board's as others. If you don't like similar or repeated topics created, state that in the rules. Another good rule to have is not to double post. Some people can use that as an excuse for a higher post count. Those users tend to ignore a lovely button called, "edit". I know admins can get annoyed with that. I do.

Message boards should come across as a friendly community. I'm apart of this board that's public world-wide, but I think this admin should make it more of a personal community than an open one because the staff can be rude sometimes.

I also see nothing wrong with admins warning members not to ask to become apart of the staff. I wouldn't want to deal with a bunch of private messages where I'd have to tell more than one member "no" for whatever reason. It's actually a friendlier way of putting it instead of bluntly telling them "no" when a member requests it. Of course, that depends on the admins tone. But...you know what I mean?

[Timothy]

Here are mine:

NO use of derogatory comments pertaining to religion, sexuality or race.

*Updated! As of 11/15/06*: I'm going to ammend the rules to reflect my beliefs: You can swear to express your emotions, just do not direct them at another member of the forum... Please try to work out your differences peacefully...For further information, please see the Suggestions/Improvements Forum

NO discussion about downloading cartoons, MP3's, or films!

Sorry, but, I don't want anyone here to get in trouble with "The Law", but, if you feel the need to talk with other members about the above mentioned, please do so by Personal Message (PM) or via e-mail

*Updated! As of 11/12/06*: All manner of Y0uTube videos will longer be allowed to be posted here on DC. For further information, please see the Suggestions/Improvements Forum

Debate the topic, NOT the person/ NO "Flaming"

(Flaming= harassment directed to wards a person)...If you disagree with someone for their views, state your beliefs/ opinions in a non-threatening, non-hostile manner so that everyone benefits without being personally attacked or "flamed"

If you have a problem with somebody, try to resolve it with them, or, contact myself or another staff member

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Have Fun

I know that it may seem like I'm a stickler for rules, but, in the end, I just want to ensure that every member gets the most out of their time here without any major problems...

Let's make these forums one of the best places to discuss any topic appropriately with others!

Simply put, follow the rules and you'll have a good time.

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[tlrlml]

I personally have quite a few rules, but no more then I feel the population of my border require. Being a gaming board I think that I probably have more then you would find on a non-gaming board.

Most of my rules are either focused on the game itself, or on focusing the members on the game. Which I feel is fairly important to the purpose of the boards.

To what Sweet Disposition said; I do not have any rules about grammer, but in some forums (like mine) it does help to have the spellchecker in the posting box and I do encourage my more grammerically impair members to use it.

[HoudiniDerek]

I have few rules on my forum, mainly because most of the people are known and we have operated under a set of friendship for some time. We do have some, just to keep would-be troublemakers honest, but they are fairly straightforward and based on what I would hope is common sense.

Of course, the hardest thing is writing the rules to be explicit enough so foreign members understand the rules. We have one member from Sweden who is learning English and trying to speak with us about the forum, but gets easily confused and posts randomly all over the place. And until we get the next version, which will hopefully have the ability to move one post at a time, we have to deal with the international problem of communication. Does anyone else have a way around this problem?

[gimel]

most of my forum rules are related to respecting each other in some way. the rest are more about what to do in character, since all my forums are roleplay oriented. i often use examples so that its clear what im talking about. ive only had 1 problem on 1 forum that i have so far. and after that i basically made the rules as clear as possible aswell as adding a section in them about the penalties of breaking the rules.

[Kmylove]

When I first started my first forum, WITO, I had only a few rules, and I inspired myself from rules I saw on other forums. After I managed to make things work and gained more knowledge (to say so) I established my own set of rules.
I have more categories of rules:
- first there are the posting rules, which relate to common stuff such as: keeping on topic, flaming other members, spamming, double posts. I'm quite flexible about them and have stated that the first time when a rule is broken I will just draw their attention, and only if it reppeats I'll start giving warnings. So far it was not the case.
- I also have image rules, telling them what size avatars and sigs are accepted and asking them not to post images that are too large.
- in the fan work category each board has its own rules, but they all say pretty much the same thing: to be careful about the content they post, and not to post other people's work unles they give credit.
-rpg rules, basicly explaining what is an rpg
- last but not least I have the rules for the c-box.

On the second forum I made, which I ended up deleting in the end, I had this very complicated rule system, which eventually no member could respect (too hard to explain).

On the third forum, to be honest, I'm not even sure what rules I have, but I think I do have a set of rules there too.

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My general opinion on rules on a forum is that they are very necessary. Even though a forum is meant to be a friendly place, if no rule existed, chaos would be bound to appear. But even so, even if you do have rules, they can still be broken, so here is where it pays off having a good staff and a good "punishment" system.

You can never say whether there are too many or not enough rules on a forum. I think this pretty much depends on the type of forum, on the size of the forum (meaning number of members and activity).
I mean taking PB Support for example: there are quite a lot of rules, pretty much each board has its own specific set of rules which you must abide by. But this pretty much makes a lot of sense due to the high number of members that this forum gets and to the specific problems it deals with.
For a "general discussion" forum I think that few rules are quite enough: rules relating to posting, attitude towards other members and such.
RPG boards might instead use more rules, as they have lots of problems to deal with and lots of things to be respected.

I have also learnt the hard way that a very necessary cattegory of rules on a forum is the one for the staff members because if the staff doesn't do its job, then nothing will work well.

.::Rebecca::. mentioned the type of rules which come and demand members to post on a regular basis. I am against those too. They won't make people post if you threathen them with deleting their account. Such a rule might just make them happy to get out of such a hard community. A rule will never make a member post more, it's the interesting topics that will...

[popstar12]

well the rules on my forum are pretty simple:

no swearing
no being mean to other members
no banning people unless for a good reason
no double-posting
post up to more than 3 words

i know i have more, but i cant think of them!

[Cassiel]

I think that the number and types of rules a forum has all depends on the type of forum. My forum is a Role-Playing one, and some of the rules just wouldn't make sense for a forum about hockey for example.

We started out with about 7 rules, but have since had to add to them as situations arose. There are some members who like to push the limits and do things that are "technically" not in the rules, but that would be common sense not to do. We actually had to tell people to use their common sense.

It doesn't make much sense to post rules that simply restate TOS. Those rules are already in place anyway. What would make more sense would be to post a rule saying, Follow Proboards TOS and have a link where they can re-read what they should have already read when they signed up.

Let's see, what else.... spelling. I understand that there are people from other countries on the forums and that sometimes grammar might not be the best. But one of the things that really bothers me is misspellings. I can understand misspelling (for mistyping) a word or two, but when every third word is misspelled and there is a spell check on the board that is just laziness. We don't have an official rule about that because it is not a problem with most of the members.

I don't think that forcing people to have a certain number of posts a week or a month should be a rule, but at the same time there has to be a policy in place for when an account is able to be deleted. It is very misleading to go to a forum that says it has 100 members but when you sign up you find out that only 5 actually post. The policy put in place at my forum is that if you have a week to post a bio, another week to get at least 5 posts, and then you have to log into your account at least every two months. If you have not logged into your account in two months, it will be deleted unless you contact one of the admins about it. This is to keep people from signing up for the forum, making the member count go up, and then never posting. It isn't about forcing people to post but about getting them started.

I am not usually this long-winded, but after having to explain why we have certain rules to some members (over and over again) I definitely have myopinions. If anyone wants to debate with me, I welcome it!

[The Asylum of the Devitory]

When do you consider a forum has too many or too little rules and what do you think these rules should consist of?

I've never been a big fan of rules myself, but there's a distinct difference between chaos and disorder. F'rinstance, I really don't care if people swear. It's just that when some types out 50 lines of random expletives in place of an intelligent argument that some kind of rule has to be made. That's what 4Chan is for.

Basically, the only rules that I find are necessary are Nothing (too) Offensive, and above all else, Nothing Illegal.

[Shentino]

The point of having rules is to make it possible for your members to predict in advance what sort of conduct will and will not get them in hot water. You should therefore structure your rules to that end.

[WunderBunny]

I have aimed to structure my rules in that direction too. I split them into a list of "Dos" and "DoNots". It is disheartening to tell people what they cannot do without having a few pointers to show what they can do instead.

I am also preparing guidelines to show how members can use the forum to their advantage. I work on a forum which provides information. Some member are too lazy (or inexperienced) to search the boards for basic information. It is not fair to berate members for being lazy if they are inexperienced but willing to learn.

[Weasley Twin]

When it comes to Rules I never seem to get them right, I either add too many or there are too little for members to understand. I would think about 5-10 would be enough rules as long as they aren't, too complicated for members to understand. Not forgetting Signature guidelines which, you could class as Rules also.

What would be a good recomendation for some Rules for a fairly new board, how many do you think they should have?

[Shentino]

No matter what rules you make, you must put your members and staffers on notice, else they will be neither obeyed nor enforced.

Besides, it isn't fair to get slammed with an insta-perma-ban if the rule broken wasn't listed or obvious. This happened to me once on RPGamer, and to add insult to injury, one of the mods was openly breaking the same rule himself as an aid to trolling no less. Very much unfair, and a perfect counterexample for what should NOT be done.

Members have a right to know in advance whether or not they will be breaking a rule. Making them play russian roulette is very much not fun. If you enjoy banning members willy nilly, then being an administrator is not for you.

[Gamoc]

I agree with you very much. The staff and the administrator does need to obey all of your rules.

It is always nice to have a strong set of rules for your forum. Not necessarily a lot of rules, but some strong ones. No spamming, advertising, double posting, trolling, all of those are good to have. There are, though, members who do not know what those mean. So, if you have them, and they start breaking one, and they don't know what it means, then they could get in trouble for something that they didn't know was wrong.

It is also very smart to not have any seriously stupid rules. I have been to a forum that didn't allow you to post in the same thread more than two times or you get a ten percent warning. Obviously, I left. I have also seen forums that wouldn't let you talk about specific topics like pokemon, anime, or something like that because they didn't like that, and admin needs to be accepting of all types of people, especially if they went and registered to your board.

A whole lot of rules will drive members away. I have seen a forum that had so many rules that it took up like 3 pages to get them all, I don't remember if it was a proboards forum, but it didn't have many members, gee, I wonder why. If someone is too strict, they aren't very fit to be an administrator.

Your rules and protocols really do tell if your forum is going to be successful or not. If you have too little or too many, then your forum is not going to be very successful. One more thing, don't be afraid to warn someone for breaking rules.

[Lust del Carrion]

I have no rules at all on my forum. If someone is flaming or just doing something in general that makes the forum not fun for people, then I will let them know. If they continue then they are gone. I am pretty laid back. I don't care about swearing, I don't care if people post links to places where you can download stuff (In fact I encourage that and actually made a board for it.).