News:

Welcome to the Renaissancefestival.com Forums!  Please post an introduction after signing up!

For an updated map of Ren Fests check out The Ren List at http://www.therenlist.com!

The Chat server is now running again, just select chat on the menu!

Main Menu

Forum Guidelines

Started by John, May 13, 2008, 12:27:51 AM

Previous topic - Next topic

0 Members and 1 Guest are viewing this topic.

John

Community Standards
We thank all of you for being a part of this ever-growing community. Our mandate is to provide a safe and friendly environment for our users to discuss renaissance festivals. Freedom of Speech and the free exchange of thoughts and ideas are concepts that are very important. But having said that, there is such a thing as self-control and consideration for others. This is what is called good manners and civility. Some might think of it as respect. Renaissance festivals are known for the intelligent and kind people that attend and participate in them, so we should all be comfortable behaving respectfully.

In order to keep the forums running well and to prevent problems, we ask you to please follow these guidelines when posting here.  Overall content should be kept at a "PG - PG13" rating, the latter being reserved for John's Inn material.


1. Personal Attacks and Arguing
The Number 1 Guideline While debating and discussion is the purpose of this board, we will not tolerate rudeness, insulting posts, personal attacks or purposeless inflammatory posts. Our decision is final in these matters. If you attack someone, don't be surprised if you find yourself banned. If you find yourself opposed to another person's post; debate, do not argue. Above all be polite and respectful of others. Threads that degrade into a head-butting contest will be closed and the participants will receive a warning. This guideline especially applies to arguments where it boils down to just trying to get the "Last word".

Please report personal attacks or arguing to an admin or the moderator of the forum.


2. Faire Bashing
Same as personal insults. This is not to say that a negative comment cannot be made, but rather that if such a comment is made it must be done accurately (don't exaggerate) politely, and with respect. State your issues, but do not vent here. Rants of any kind will not be tolerated. This may include generalities like "The faire is just awful" which is not exactly a rant, but contains no useful information. Anything disrespectful will be removed immediately. Acceptable: I thought there were too many out of period characters, and bathrooms were hard to find, and were not clean.

Not Acceptable: This is the worst faire in the U.S. Don't waste your money!


3. Spam
Spam is not permitted. Spam is... Posting your message more than once. Starting new threads on topics already being discussed. Starting new threads outside of the Merchants forum for the sake of promoting your own website or business. Posting meaningless threads, one word (or short) non-sense posts.


4a. Language
A user with too many **** sequences or "frig"s in their posts will be warned.  Also, please use proper syntax and grammar.  Members want to be able to read a post properly; if it looks like a text message or l33t speak, don't bother.  Failure to comply will result in posts being removed at the moderator's discretion.

4b - R/F.com forbids the posting of or sharing personal communications including, but not limited to, Personal Messages and email.


5. Post Junkies
Some people feel the need to post a lot. This is permissible as long as you do not try and make the forums your own personal soapbox. Rants from people who want to drive home their opinions over and over and over are not appreciated and will be asked to curtail the frequency of their posts.


6. Trolls
Trolls are not welcome and will be banned. An Internet "troll" is a person who delights in sowing discord on the Internet. They try to start arguments and upset people. Trolls see Internet communications services as convenient venues for their bizarre game. For some reason, they don't "get" that they are hurting real people. To them, other Internet users are not quite human but are a kind of digital abstraction. Indeed, the greater the suffering they cause, the greater their 'achievement' (as they see it). The anonymity of the net allows trolls to flourish. They are easily identified by the fact that they are constantly at odds with other members of the forum, and often "poke fun" at individuals they have disagreed with in the past, trying to provoke a reaction.

Finally, trolls create a paranoid environment, such that a casual criticism by a new arrival can elicit a ferocious and inappropriate backlash. When you try to reason with a troll, he wins. When you insult a troll, he wins. When you scream at a troll, he wins. The only thing that trolls can't handle is being ignored.


7. Topic Area
Please stay within the topic area of the forum you are posting a message in.


8. Thread Hijacking
Keep threads on topic. If you wish to start a discussion on a new topic start a new thread please. We all know that conversations take on a life of their own, but we do not want to have thread subjects that have nothing to do with the thread's title. Stay on topic.


9. Illegal Activities
Discussion of illegal activities of any kind is strictly prohibited. This includes discussions of software and music piracy and other intellectual property violations. Do not post links to warez or file sharing sites


10. Classified Advertising
No auction posts please. No affiliate posts please. All ads belong in the Merchants or Classifieds forum. Posting of "commercials" may be considered spam in other forums. Please see Self Promotion below. When posting ads in the Merchants forum: Do provide detailed information about the product(s) and/or service(s) you offer. Please consider adding a link back to www.RenaissanceFestival.com from your website.


11. Posting Links
Links must relate to thread topics. No affiliate links. NO links to nudity.


12 .Self Promotion
If you operate a related business you may post informative, helpful remarks in any thread and include "come and see me for more help" with a link and contact info. You may use your business name as your Username, but no URL's in usernames.

You may NOT pose as a satisfied customer praising a faire or service. Do not make a post that is solely to drive traffic to your website or business. If you have items for sale please post them in the Merchants forum.


13. User Names
User names may be anything other than: Obscenities or variations on obscenities, suggestive, provocative, racist or insulting names, URLs.


14. Multiple IDs
Registering with multiple IDs is forbidden.


15. Profile Pictures
No political or otherwise provocative symbols. National or provincial flags are OK. Any profile picture that is offensive will be removed immediately


16. Posting Images
Photos may not contain nudity, sexually explicit content, violent or offensive material, or copyrighted images. Do not post images of other people without their permission.


17. Signature Lines
At this point, we don't want the forum to look like a Nascar Rally.  No image banners or links, please, until we state otherwise.  Any offenders will have their profile modified without notification.  Text is fine.


18. Expressing Yourself
Do not type your post in all caps, IT IS LIKE SHOUTING. Font sizing is available, but please do not use overly huge fonts. The best way to emphasize something is to bold it.


19. The Topics of Politics and Religion
Due to the sensitive nature of the subject matter, the increased potential for conversations to become inflamed, and in order to maintain a family friendly atmosphere we would like to ask all visitors to RenaissanceFestival.com to refrain from discussing the topics of modern politics and religions of any type.  We understand that this may be a controversial request, however, we feel that this is necessary in order to ensure the best possible experience for the majority of our visitors.  Please be advised that posts violating this guideline will be immediately deleted, and members who repeatedly post such subject matter will be subject to account suspension, or deletion at the Forum Administrators discretion.
Exception: The discussion of historical politics as it relates to the time periods, persons, and social structures associated with your typical Renaissance Faire will be permitted.  However, any discussion that violates other Forum Guidelines will be deleted.

21. Enforcing the Guidelines
Please do not take it upon yourself to confront someone who you feel is violating the forum guidelines. Do not accuse someone of crossing the line. Allow the moderators to do the moderating please. There is a Contact link at the bottom of every page. Use it if you see a problem post.



In most cases violators of these guidelines will be warned, and if the behavior does not immediately improve, the user will be banned.

While these guidelines cover most common situations, they cannot anticipate everything. Consequently we reserve the right to take any actions we deem appropriate to ensure these forums are not disrupted or abused in any way. The moderators shall be the sole arbitrators of what does and what does not violate community standards. We reserve the right to remove offensive posts without notice. We reserve the right to ban anyone who willfully violates the forum guidelines.