Rules & Guests

[NanDee]

Whenever I visit a forum for the first time - the first board I head for is the Rules followed by (if available) the 'About this forum'. For the most part, I get to read the Rules - but on one or two occasions they have been 'hidden' from guests. I am sure the admins of these forums have their reasons for this - I'm just wondering what they are. 

For me personally, I would rather guests read my rules (and the 'about this forum' sections 'before' they commit themselves - that way, if they join up, they do so with the full knowledge of what the forum is about and what to expect. If they don't like what they read - they have the option not to join.

Of course, the rules are not the only factor - but they are the first one on my list when I visit other forums.

So, what do others think about this ? .

[bigballofyarn]

I agree with your point of view. Most of the boards on my forum are private. I keep open the rules/announcements section, the section where people leave positive feedback, and the board of the month. Guests should have a good idea up front of the type of forum they are about to join.

[Sorael]

It seems strange to me to have rules hidden, because you'd want to know what you're getting into before you join I'd think...

[Former Member]

I agree with all of you. I try to stay away from boards Where rules are hidden. Id like to see the water before I dive in. 😁

[Retread]

Apr 2, 2019 8:31:51 GMT -8 NanDee said:

Whenever I visit a forum for the first time - the first board I head for is the Rules followed by (if available) the 'About this forum'. For the most part, I get to read the Rules - but on one or two occasions they have been 'hidden' from guests. I am sure the admins of these forums have their reasons for this - I'm just wondering what they are. 

For me personally, I would rather guests read my rules (and the 'about this forum' sections 'before' they commit themselves - that way, if they join up, they do so with the full knowledge of what the forum is about and what to expect. If they don't like what they read - they have the option not to join.

Of course, the rules are not the only factor - but they are the first one on my list when I visit other forums.

So, what do others think about this ? :).

Rules/Guidelines are rather important. Making them visible and easily understood is a courtesy the forum owner should provide to prospective members.

We might choose whether or not to member-up, based on the particular rules. Or we might adjust our own behavior to fit in with the environment. I prefer to keep things light, breezy, and polite on my home forum. But I have participated in (and thoroughly enjoyed) other forums where the ProBoards ToS is the only limitation. They don't allow people to throw F-bombs around, but any cussing that wouldn't be inappropriate for a 13 y/o to hear is acceptable.

A raucous environment isn't necessarily a bad thing, but knowing what's considered acceptable makes the difference between hurt feelings and people just letting their hair down.

[Sonikku1011]

I definitely agree, I think hiding the rules is strange and might make guests not join your forum. Everyone should be able to view the rules, to get a feel for what the community is like and what is to be expected if they were to join, or if they have joined to continue posting on the forums.

[Shaliza]

I have never had a forum where the rules are not visible to guests. It kind of defeats the purpose if potential members can't see the rules before they sign up.

[VanWoman84]

Reading this, I just realised I don't actually have any rules!
Still, what do you expect from a hippy forum?

[removed - please don't advertise in your posts in Open for Discussion]

[Mandoli]

I need to make the rules open to the public, because people have to know what to expect before they join. If you hide the rules on purpose, you can't feel happy if someone joins and leaves when they don't like how the staff are going to run things.

[Retread]

May 14, 2019 12:43:14 GMT -8 Mandoli said:

I need to make the rules open to the public, because people have to know what to expect before they join. If you hide the rules on purpose, you can't feel happy if someone joins and leaves when they don't like how the staff are going to run things.

There are different ways of making things open to guests. You can have a link on your home page that leads to a Rules post or thread that resides on a board where guests have access. Or you can have that link lead to a custom page and put the rules there. You can even place the rules in your Main Header (or Global Header), but give serious thought to how much you want to say there! Bombarding people with too much information all at once can be a very bad thing. Some guests who are considering joining might be turned away. And if the rules are lengthy, that means a lot of clutter on the main page (or every page) for everyone, every visit.

One way of efficiently using the Main Header would be a brief mission/purpose statement. You can inform about the primary goal of the forum. You can also include some basic posting guidelines.

Since guidelines tend to have a more positive spin than rules, you can encourage potential members on the type of content, decorum, and actions you would like to have from them.

Rules are necessary, but because they are often long lists of what not to do, if the rules are accessed by a link, they're always accessible but members aren't slammed with a long list of negatives every time they visit the home page.

A link to a list or map of the categories and boards might be a nice touch if your boards can't be viewed by guests. You can include instructions on what type of content belongs on each board on the list and even links to board-specific rules for some or all of your boards.

[Radrook]

Easy Access

I agree, each forum should have the rules easily accessible so that no member inadvertently,violates them. This way, if they do violate them, they can't blame administration for keeping them in some obscure-hard-to see or hard-to-reach place.

Readability

Reams and reams of minute details posted in tiny, dimly-colored letters which merge into a similar background shade will discourage reading. So it’s best to make sure that the text is reasonably clearly visible.  Also, a disorganized, convoluted, jumbled mess will discourage reading. So numbered lists separated by spaces will prove helpful.  

Administrative Fairness

Another factor is not to break our own rules or grant the moderators, or other administrators, a free pass to break them and then have these same privileged people jump down the regular members’ throats for the smallest infraction. Members will eventually begin to question the administrator’s motives for setting up the website and will tend to bolt towards more pleasant surroundings.

[aaeiyn]

May 15, 2019 6:31:51 GMT -8 Retread said:

Bombarding people with too much information all at once can be a very bad thing. Some guests who are considering joining might be turned away. And if the rules are lengthy, that means a lot of clutter on the main page (or every page) for everyone, every visit.

I am incredibly guilty of TMI, but I don't want there to be any confusion, on where I stand. I do have my Rules and stuff broken down (kind of) in three separate Threads. I have a "Rules" thread, a "F.A.Q." thread and an "About/Privacy Policy" Thread. To which Guests can read, at their leisure. Without having to read all of it, under one giant thread.

[Joshua Farrell]

With me, it isn't just the boards that have rules and announcements hidden from viewing by guests that annoy me, but if most, if not all of the forum's boards are hidden from public viewing; even if you can see the board listings; annoy me to high heaven. I am not going to join a forum, if I cannot see what a forum is like, and what rules there are on the forum.

[aaeiyn]

Feb 16, 2020 5:20:07 GMT -8 @voxxx said:

ProBoards already have the Terms of Service, all users should respect and abide by.
Therefore, alike most other forum administrators, little point repeating this and boring anyone.

With Proboard's ToS, you're only agreeing to ProBoard's rules, not necessarily the Rules that other Boards (hosted by non-ProBoard Individuals) want you to follow. My Boards run a Points System, and in order to gain those Points, there are additional Rules (not listed in ProBoard's ToS), that need to be followed, in order for that System to work. Along with a couple of my Boards are Team based, and I like to give freedom (to those that join), in that choice, in what Team my Members prefer to be on. It's all listed under my "Rules, F.A.Q. and About" Section.

Feb 16, 2020 5:20:07 GMT -8 @voxxx said:

---

The forums I avoid joining are those with boards with posted content shown hidden from guests.
True honesty stems from openness and transparency, got nothing dishonest to hide.
Each to our own.

Feb 16, 2020 11:34:44 GMT -8 Joshua Farrell said:

With me, it isn't just the boards that have rules and announcements hidden from viewing by guests that annoy me, but if most, if not all of the forum's boards are hidden from public viewing; even if you can see the board listings; annoy me to high heaven. I am not going to join a forum, if I cannot see what a forum is like, and what rules there are on the forum.

I want to address both of these Quotes, at the same time. It's not so much I'm hiding the Topics ('cause I do allow Guests to see how the Board is laid out, and what kinds of Topics are to be expected) but protecting the privacy of my Members. If you're not registered, you shouldn't be allowed to view Members. Everything you need to know, as a Guest, is already provided.

[Joshua Farrell]

aaeiyn, my biff isn't regarding privacy of members, it is regarding forum administrators who purposely hide everything, even the items that should be public. Rules regarding conduct on a forum, forum announcements that are meant to inform, and the like, should be public and not hidden.

Members themselves have privacy settings for their profiles. Infact, they have global settings that they can turn on and off through their global accounts, on what they by default to be private, like birth dates as an example. The individual user can use settings to make their profiles private to certain groups of people.

Now, don't confuse my insistence of what I prefer, as something that people must do. I get why Forum Administrators decide what boards they want people to be members of to see (I am a Professional Community Administrator, so I know a thing or two). The thing I don't get, is why everything must remain private, when the best way to get registrations in general, is to have certain things public that you want all new and future members to know about, when it comes to being on your forum.

Forum Rules, for example, shouldn't be just a item that members agree to follow, it should be something that is public, so that people in general (guests, members or otherwise) know what to expect when they are on the forum. Along the same lines, if a forum is almost entirely private (or private in general), I also expect to be able to find information on WHY the forum is private, so I know what to expect, if I do decide to sign up, to see if I am truly interested.

I am not trying to put you down, but I want to clarify why I prefer to be able to see some basic stuff on a forum, in which those items actually do impact whether or not a guest will sign up.