Board Netiquette Guidelines


Respect and Civility:

Show respect for other posters, they are entitled to their opinions, just as you are entitled to yours. If you don't agree with something that is posted and have a counterpoint, feel free to post the facts supporting your opinion. But, do so in a civil manner. Personal attacks on other posters may get your post deleted. In short, try to disagree without being disagreeable.

One type of personal attack deserves special mention. While the practice of “labeling” other posters is generally discouraged, one type of label – the “true fan” or “bad fan” label - is prohibited. The term “personal attack” includes telling other posters that "not true fans", either directly or indirectly.

Without visual cues from your face and body language and tone of voice, it is very easy to be misunderstood. A joke or a bit of irony can come across as something completely different, and satire can be misunderstood as someone's real opinion. Keep this in mind when reading the Board: you may not be getting the real meaning of the post you are reading. And remember, many Boardites know each other outside of the Board, and have long posting histories - there may be "inside jokes" and other meanings you may not get. So, don't overreact to posts.


Clean Language:

Please refrain from using vulgar language or images in your posts. This Board is read by a broad spectrum of readers, including children.

Folks posting on the Board should avoid using George Carlin's "7 words you can't say on TV". The S-word, F-bombs, and its multi-syllabic variants, will get deleted. And if you keep dropping f-bombs, the moderator will start picking substitute words you may find embarrassing, or your entire post may be deleted. Generally speaking, if you must use profanity, it is better not to use more than one letter - for example, "BS" won't get deleted, while the spelled out version would be nuked. We also ask that you not use that form of “damn” that is coupled with the name of the deity.

In other Boards, language filters can often be evaded by using a substitute symbol, like "*" or "!" or "@" for letters in the offending word. However, this Board is moderated by human beings who are not impressed with single letter substitutions. So, for example, putting a single letter substitution in an “f-bomb” or the “s-word” will not prevent that usage from being a violation of the Board rules on language.

Obscenity does not require the use of specific four-letter words - graphic references or images, particularly of a sexual nature, will be deleted.

Of course, all types of discriminatory/intolerant posts, based on age, gender, race, religion, sexual preference, etc., will be deleted.

The Board is not a "smak" Board. The stylized attempts to establish dominance that are commonly thrown in smak Boards - using homosexual, prison, "you're my bitch" takes, and the like - have no place in the Board. Similarly, "Injury smak" - celebrating or making fun of player injuries - should not be run in the Board.


Spamming The Board Is Prohibited:

Spamming - either through multiple posts, or posts that have a commercial purpose - is prohibited.


Responding To A Post:

The software currently used in the Board does not show what post you are responding to in the "show all" mode that most of us use. Accordingly, it is a good idea to identify who your post is responding to, particularly if you are being critical. Otherwise, other posters on the thread may respond as if you criticized them, even though you actually were responding to someone else.

It is also important, when responding to a post, or a sub-post, to make sure you are responding to by using the name of the person you are responding to. Sometimes context makes the mistake obvious, sometimes it does not. Again, it helps to put in some information about who/which post you are responding to.


DON'T SHOUT!:

Writing messages using all upper case letters is called shouting. Many internet veterans considered all caps posts to be rude and lazy because it is hard to read. Please put in the extra effort to find and use the Shift key


Copyrights:

Posters should obey copyright laws. If a poster wants to inform Boardites about an article that has appeared elsewhere on the Internet -- for instance, at CNN/SI, ESPN, or CBS Sportsline -- they should provide a link to the article, rather than cutting and pasting the full text in his/her post. Legally the article belongs to the organization that wrote and attached it to a website. You can quote a few sentences, perhaps even a full paragraph, from the article. However, if you paste the full text in your post, both you and the site may be vulnerable to a claim of copyright infringement.

Adopted from TheOBR.Com Thanks