Rules of Conduct

These Rules Of Conduct have been created in the interest of ensuring that this blog is maintained as a civil and respectful place for members to exchange ideas and debate. Since a wide variety of viewpoints are encouraged, these rules have been created so that these viewpoints can be exchanged without animosity.

The Blog Rules will be applied with the intent of the rule in mind, as well as the letter of the rule. We reserve the right to edit, move, close, split, or otherwise manipulate topics or posts that are in violation of the blog rules or that have strayed too far from the original intent of the thread.

Above all things - civility is required.

This document is broken down into sections based on a member's role on the board, and the consequences of actions by members of this blog.

1. The community expects all members to treat each other with respect and civility. Flaming, insults, threats, harrassment and other anti-social behavior is not allowed.
2. Members may not divulge personal information of other members, nor personal information of non-public figures.
3. Members are not permitted to post spam, porn,or other patently offensive material. Members may not use this board to promote products, sites, or services.
4. No member may post a link which leads to any deceptive, malicious or damaging content intended to compromise the integrity of computers using that link; for example, viruses, bots, spyware, malicious program code, trojans, or other schemes.
5. Professional posters who are paid or otherwise compensated to post specific points of view - regardless of point of view - are not allowed to remain as members and will be banned outright if such an arrangement is discovered.
6. Trolling specifically, and anti-social behavior in general is not allowed. This also means no "conversation killers" like strawmanning, red herrings, and disruptive posting. Posts that violate this rule may be moved to the rubbish bin, and may result in disciplinary measures.
7. Flooding topics, spamming, and other disruptive posting practices are not allowed.
8. Members may not create more than one user account on the board. Doing so will result in immediate termination of the membership for all instances of the member's accounts, unless it's shown that there was good reason for the additional account(s).
9. Hate speech, racist, homophobic, or sexist rhetoric will not be tolerated.
10. All members must be at least 18 years of age, or have parental consent, to use this board
11. These rules apply equally to the blog facebook page, etc., and can result in disciplinary action resulting in anything from an informal warning to permanent banning from the board.

1. Moderators are tasked with a fair and equal application of the rules for all members without prejudice, using their best judgement for situations when the rules don't clearly address a situation.
2. If a moderator feels they cannot enforce the rules without personal feelings getting in the way, then that moderator must recuse themselves from moderating that member or situation, as applicable.
3. Moderators should not enforce the rules for members with whom they are in the middle of a discussion. Another moderator should be asked to step in.
4. Any moderator may perform their duties for the blog without consulting other moderators.
5. If a moderator's actions come under question by any other moderator, it may be brought up for discussion and vote by the other moderators. If a 2/3 majority of moderators vote for a specific change to the action, then that change shall be made.
6. When warning a member, either formally or informally, the text of the conversation with the member must be posted in the moderator's area, so that the other moderators may be aware of the situation and comment on actions being taken.
7. Under extreme situations (spamming, etc.), a moderator may temporarily suspend a member's posting priviledges and/or suspend the account as necessary and post notice in the moderator section of the board so that further discussion can be made, and action taken.

1. Members may be warned formally or informally. An informal warning is usually done via PM, and can be used when a harsher warning seems counterproductive. A formal warning results in a member's warning level being raised.
2. This board employs a "3 strikes and you're out" rule. Each time a member's warning level is raised, it is increased by 1/3 of 100%. Once a member's warning level reaches 100%, they may be suspended or banned from the board by a simple majority vote of all active moderators.
3. Any member previously suspended may be banned by a simple majority vote of moderators if the member acts in a way that would generate another formal warning.
4. If a member has been formally warned, and has shown good behavior for 30 days, their warning level may be reduced by any moderator.
5. Warnings may be issued for "cumulative behavior"; that is - continually skirting around the edges of the rules where any single post may not rise to the level of warranting a warning, but numerous posts taken together indicate a pattern of behavior that warrants a warning.
6. Any member may be suspended for 7 days (posting and/or account) or have their posts subjected to moderator approval at any time if a simple majority of moderators feel it is in the best interests of the board. This can be used to force a cooling off period that might otherwise escalate into a permanent ban.
7. Members may be banned immediately under extreme situations (spam bots, death threats, sockpuppeting) by a 3/4 vote of active moderators.
8. Disciplinary actions will be discussed and carried out in private. There will be no "public hangings", although notices shall be posted when a member is suspended or banned. If a member decides to discuss their own discipline in public, they are free to do so.

1. Changes to these rules may be made by 2/3 majority vote of all moderators.
2. Only active moderators may vote on actions that require a vote.
3. Moderators must post at least once in the blog every 7 days to be considered "active".
4. Adding a new moderator requires a 3/4 vote of active moderators.
5. If a moderator decides they no longer wish to be a moderator, the Admin will move them to the "member" group upon request.
6. In the event that a moderator needs to be removed for cause, it may be done so by a 3/4 vote of all other active moderators.