Lets start this topic by setting our own policies.

Lets start this topic by setting our own policies.

SO - what should our forum rules be?

Anarachy!!!!

somehow that doesnt look right over your forum name - LOL

Theocracy.

somehow that doesnt look right over your sig either

Hmmm... after a bit of research, I have decided that a "charismacracy" will suit us best.

Defined as a "rule by animal magnetism, sometimes reinforced with erotic presence and/or empath abilities."

OK - well this topic has gone over big LOL..

somehow that doesnt look right over your forum name - LOL

I never said I was religious.. Anarchists can be religious in their own right.

Please... please... not Dictatorial... ;)

How about Pragmatic...?

Yeah - Im thinking - what should our sig rules be - what about usergroup progression by posts - what features shouldnt be given to the 1 post wonders - what about spammers - etc etc. THAT kind of stuff.

Chaotic

Yeah - Im thinking - what should our sig rules be - what about usergroup progression by posts - what features shouldnt be given to the 1 post wonders - what about spammers - etc etc. THAT kind of stuff.


No sig rules , just character limits, and no pics.

Spammers = delete or Miserable User them.

I saw the topic and thought I'd have alot to say, but I don't.

Good Luck and may common sense and humbleness prevail.

IMO you shouldn't limit any features that come with a default install of vb. A member with one post should be valued as much as a member with several hundred posts. -unless you're keen on a small tight nit community. You may consider limiting added features galleries, chat, etc, but with a community of less than 30 users, I'd oper her up. As your community grows, those rules change, but at this point its all about attracting new members and alienating them aint the way to do it.

I agree with rex on the sig rules. Images in sigs are a turn off for me. I even went as far as making smallfont the default class tag on users sigs to try and cut down on the sigs overall impact.

as far as general rules, I'd just think about the top five things that you will not tolerate here... cover the basics like porn, spam, trolling, etc and let the personalities be personalities.

Whats wrong with porn? jk

Your right about the 30 member part - but I think things will change when we get 100 or so - maybe 200 - I'll make a usergroup for all the initial members - and new ones will have minor restrictions - like no sig til 15 posts - things like that.

Here is what I use...

General Guidelines:
No Senseless bumping
No Offensive posts, links, images
No Flaming
No Trolling
No Self-promotion [outside of accepted forums]
No Spamming

Signatures Guidelines:
Not available until X number of posts.
X character limit.
Images not allowed.

But hey, that's just me. ;)

looks pretty good to me -

General Guidelines:
No Senseless bumping
No Offensive posts, links, images
No Flaming
No Trolling
No Self-promotion [outside of accepted forums]
No Spamming


If we got rid of all that I might not be able to post anymore, lol.

On a more serious note, they look good to me. Sometimes t's not so much about the rules as it is how they are applied and enforced.

that is very true

I even went as far as making smallfont the default class tag on users sigs to try and cut down on the sigs overall impact.How did you do that?

search in your postbit or legacy_postbit template for


<div>
__________________<br />
$post[signature]
</div>


Replace with

<div class="smallfont">
__________________<br />
$post[signature]
</div>


Users color and font size selections will override this.

Users color and font size selections will override this.I realized that last night when I installed that same code. I ended up trimming the size options down to [1,2] to get the result I wanted.

Joey, whatever topics you come up with, can I please cut and paste them into my own forum ;)

Not kidding :D

Joey, if forum owners can not conduct themselves properly on a forum, you may as well just shut it down now.

I think you are going to have to let it all hang out here, so a lot of rules will not be good at all, these guys are all going to speak their minds or leave.

Unless someone is insulting the forum or hurting give and take here you should let it fly.

A forum for forum owners should really NOT need any rules :rolleyes:

I don't think you should plan on changing the rules as someone mentioned earlier. I think we can all agree that nobody likes rules....well, nobody that is going to hang out here (from the sounds of the posts I have read). I think common decency should dictate what people do on most forums.

SO - what should our forum rules be?

1. Act like an adult
2. Treat others with respect
3. Don't break any laws so as to negatively impact this forum

--don

All sound good Don, but you forgot my grandmother's #1 rule...







Get your feet off the coffee table!

bubbadog the number one rule is not to mess with your crazy members, your good old granny's is the number 2 rule :p :D

Get your feet off the coffee table!

We have a coffe table here? I didn't even see one! <G>

--don

P.S. An old cop friend of mine used to say, "There is only one law--'Don't be an *sshole in public'--all the other stuff is just detail."

We have a coffe table here? I didn't even see one! <G>




Its under the beer cans - Anthony is kind of a slob

LOL ... sounds like my house "the morning after" ;)

I hope I don't sound too stupid for asking this but can anyone give me the definition of flaming and trolling?


Bob

Basically not contributing but just irritation and attacking people for little or no reason..

Flaming is provoking and trolling acting stupid ... both for no reason.

Ok, that makes sense. I figured it was basically that but wasn't sure if there was more to than that. Thanks. :)

I would play it by ear with the rules ... over-moderation can kill a forum quickly.

I have been thinking up what I plan on doing and to what forums. Everything is still very new at my site so I am still trying to get a feel for what to do and not to do. As someone mentioned over moderated communities can be suicide.

General Rules:
No spam, I just cannot stand it. I do not spam my site and do not expect other people to do it at my site. I am not saying that they cannot promote but I would liked to be asked first.

Flames and fights have a forum, items just get moved there. You cant make people get along so if they need to get something out they have room in a forum that is clearly marked.

No warez talk, just so much BS around the topic I just choose to not let the practice allowed to be public topics.

No open porn, I did include an adult area forum that is password protected and I alone give access. Honestly I figured it would turn into some porn exchange or something but people was serious and the forum is really very decent without a pic one.

Selling in classifieds forums, I have had members who have been beat in the head. I try to make it clear that it is a risk dealing with someone in such a way through my site. So what I plan on doing is only allowing premium members to sell from our site.

Avatars and sigs. Avatars for members is 80x80, staff and premium members are 100x100 with no porn, not sure what the file size is off top of my head. Sigs I am pretty open with as far as size. I have been told a little too open and that some of the larger sigs leave to much dead space, I am still undecided as to what the max sig size will be. Text is sigs is fine and even with site link.

I do not expect staff members to be gone for more then 14 days. That is not saying that they will be removed, however it will be considered.

A forum for forum owners should really NOT need any rules :rolleyes:

Everyone needs rules. :)