Flaming, personal attacks on posters, threats of any kind, blatant racial slurs, and completely off-topic posts are not allowed. Our charter here is to discuss politics and world affairs.

Gratuitous profanity in the subject line is now banned. It gives newcomers a bad impression, and serves no useful purpose.

"Flaming" means posting responses or beginning threads that contain or consist of a disparaging personal comment about another poster.

The term also includes "petty bickering," such as an ongoing exchange, between two posters, of brief comments that are not related or only incidentally related to the topic of the thread, and that are clearly not intended to participate in the substantive discussion.

The term, "personal attack," includes ANY direct name-calling or other forms of attack, like "shut up," or "fuck you."

An "off-topic" post is one that is clearly not related in any genuine way to the content under discussion--which should be politics or world affairs. Off topic posts include, for instance, speculation about multiple handles, guessing who's been banned, or complaining about the rules or policies. We welcome criticism or suggestions--but via inbox, please.

The ban on discussion of the Israeli/Palestinian conflict remains in effect. This is the owners' decision, which we support.

Posting of any personal information, or alleged personal information, of any kind, about any other poster will not be tolerated, and will be dealt with promptly and seriously. That is to say, with a temporary or permanent ban.

The moderators in Community Hall will interpret the rules as narrowly as possible in the interest of preserving an open and unrestricted exchange of thoughts and ideas, but do have the authority to exercise discretion. No rule can draw a perfect bright line between posts that are within the guidelines and those that stray beyond them, and for that reason we will exercise discretion cautiously, with a presumption in favor of not disturbing posts.

The best way to improve and maintain the quality of discussion in Community Hall is not enforcement by the moderators, but rather through voluntary compliance by the contributors to the forum. We ask your cooperation, and we ask everybody who participates in Community Hall to take personal responsibility for staying well within the letter and spirit of the rules.

We will not in general attempt to regulate "good taste," but voluntary and good faith efforts to avoid gratuitously offensive language are always appreciated.

Those who refuse to comply with the rules will receive two public or private warnings. After that, offenders will be banned one week for a first offense, for longer terms or permanently for subsequent offenses.

Your understanding and cooperatiion are solicited and appreciated!

Sincerely,

Your friendly local neighborhood Mod Squad:

FriscoJack, Atticus_Finch, and FrenchKiss

(Special thanks to A_F, who did much of the work on the final draft!)

FJ