The 'official' rules:
http://www.ozpolitic.com/forum/forum-rules.html
Below is a 'first draft.' All policies are open for debate. Feel free to suggest modifications or additions.
OzPolitic is committed to free speech and open debate about all political issues. We will try to avoid censoring people in any way for merely expressing political views.
If you suspect a person is trolling or wasting members' time, please ignore them. A forum that grants free speech will only function effectively if members are able to control their emotional reaction to inflammatory remarks. Please make an attempt to clarify a person's views via personal messages in case they are joking.
We have a swear word filter. Please do not try to bypass this filter by misspelling swear words. Some words have been taken off the list where it was deemed unnecessarily restrictive. Ask in the feedback board for more info.
Pornography is not tolerated. In some cases this may be difficult to determine. 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?).
Personal attacks (ad hominem) against other members are discouraged and may be censored. They add nothing to the debate. Unless a person uses their own reputation to back up their argument then their reputation is not relvant to the issue at hand. There is plenty of controversy inherent to political debates and there is no need to manufacture it with personal conflict. Remember that others are more interested in the issue, not who is debating it.
While political correctness is not mandatory, members are encouraged to avoid unnecessary use of politically incorrect terms, especially to 'bait' or where the term is likely to 'open old wounds' from recent historical injustices. Members are encouraged to use language appropriate for as broad a cross section of the community as possible and to assume that members of whatever minorty group they are discussing are viewing and participating in a discussion. While OzPolitic is dedicated to free speech, please remember that insensitive language can effectively prevent many people from speaking out and that the OzPolitic community will be poorer for their absence.
Remember that children view and use these boards, as well as foreigners - especially the global issues board. They are encouraged to participate. Please be patient with language barriers with non-english speakers, and also with foreigners who speak English but are not familiar with Australian slang.