Forum RulesPersonal criticismDo not post personal criticism of other members. Do not respond to personal criticism of yourself or other members. This is the biggest problem on OzPolitic. Too many members are easily baited into off-topic personal exchanges. If you participate in any kind of flame war you will be suspended, regardless of who started it or who you think ‘deserved it’.Member run boardsDo not use a member run board if you do not accept the standards applied by the moderator. While the rules outlined here apply to the entire forum, moderators of member run boards may go beyond them and be as strict, biased, vague, or whatever, as they want. Diversity of moderating style is encouraged rather than conformity to universal standards. If you have a problem with the moderation, please take it up with the moderator via PM or on their board. If you do not get a satisfactory resolution, cease using the board. Do not post complaints about moderation on the feedback board. This will result in your suspension from the feedback board and/or the member run board in question.PrivacyOzPolitic values the privacy of all members. Do not post personal information about other members without their explicit permission. This includes the contents of personal messages and emails, photos, names, IP addresses, phone numbers, locations etc. This includes information that can be found online and instructions on how to find information about specific members. Such behaviour is considered stalking.PornographyDo not post pornography. In some cases it may be difficult to judge what is pornographic. We will judge images based on the context and whether they are gratuitous (ie if an image involves nudity, is it necessary to get a point across, and is the nudity 'real' or more like a porn shot?).RacismDiscussion of racism and race related political issues is encouraged. However, politically correct language should be used when making criticism of racial policies or groups. Racism will be judged in a similar way to pornography – that is, is the criticism necessary to get a point of view across, or is it a gratuitous attack on a racial group? Note that race is treated differently from religion, which is a matter of choice and is open to the same criticism as political ideology.SwearingWe have a swear word filter activated. If you would like to have specific words removed or added to the filter, please raise the issue on the feedback board.SuspensionsIn a typical case, a member violating the above rules will be given warnings, then suspended. The first suspension will be for approximately 1 day and each subsequent suspension for double the period (2,4,8 days etc). Do not create additional profiles to circumvent suspension. If more than one person uses the same computer to post on OzPolitic, let the admin know as soon as you are suspended, otherwise it will probably be assumed that you are using multiple profiles. This procedure is likely to change in the future and will always depend on the specific situation. If you believe that your suspension has lasted for longer than it should, contact an administrator by email. Suspended members should get an email letting them know what is going on, so make sure the email address you used to sign up for an account is still valid.Be nice to new members.Signatures and avatarsPlease avoid the use of large images in signatures as they slow the site down. Also, be careful when linking to an externally hosted picture for an avatar. Avatars are small and the image file should take up no more than 10kb, otherwise it will also slow the site down, especially for people on dialup. Please ask for help on the feedback board if necessary. The easiest way to reduce an image size is with the stretch function in MS paint or similar software.Additional informationDiscussion on the feedback boardAd Hominem |