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So What should the rules be, anyways?

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So What should the rules be, anyways? Empty So What should the rules be, anyways?

Post by Doc Trock Wed Jul 14, 2010 1:16 pm

For "serious" parts of the forum:

1.)Stay on topic. A limited amount of thread drift will be allowed, but if a thread starts off about Iraq, and turns into a thread about gay marriage, that will not be allowed.
2.)Fair and honest debate only!

Fair: If you are asked a question, answer it. If you fail to answer direct questions, your further participation on the thread will be restricted. On the other hand, if it becomes apparent that a poster is rapid-fire questioning another poster, in order to drown out their response by making them constantly answer "questions" that person's participation on the thread will be restricted.

Cite sources in order to bolster/refute arguments. Making fun of a source is not debate, and posts that are mainly concerned with that tactic will be deleted.

Maintain a decorum that is polite and respectful at all times.

Personal attacks, general nastiness and insults will not be tolerated. Posts that contain such things will be deleted. Members who exhibit such behavior will be asked to leave.

Honest:

If you're wrong, admit it.

Misrepresentation of another's argument will not be tolerated.

Ignoring a key assertion in another's argument in order to "win" the argument will not be tolerated.

Example: Poster "A" says: "I love the republican platform. I agree with almost all of it.....but alas, republicans in power never follow it, and often legislate in direct opposition to it."
Poster "B" says: You're a liberal! You hate republicans!



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So What should the rules be, anyways? Empty Re: So What should the rules be, anyways?

Post by swiftfoxmark2 Wed Jul 14, 2010 3:04 pm

I've pulled this list from the Covert Conservatives forum, which had some good guidelines, they just never did a good job of enforcing them:

1. Cross posting is not allowed and will result in the removal of one or more posts. Cross posting is defined as posting the same information in two or more locations. When posting your topic, please try to post it in the most appropriate place within the organizational structure of our community. Identical topics posted in the same or different forums will be removed.

2. Advertisements are not allowed. Generally speaking, posts made specifically for the promotion of a website, product or service are considered advertising or, at least, posts made that unnecessarily send people to a website that you are in some way affiliated with. It does not matter if it is a commercial website, a personal website, a non profit website, etc.

3. You are not allowed to post an affiliate URL that leads to you earning cash, banner impressions, credits, points, etc. These links are also not allowed in your profile or signature. This includes a link created to simply redirect someone to an affiliate URL.

4. Do not post personal, real life information such as home addresses and home phone numbers. Do not demand of or continually press other users for personal information. Ask once, if you must. If the person you are asking does not want to answer, do not press them further.

5. Vulgar language and inappropriate material is not allowed and will be removed at the discretion of the moderating staff.

We try to maintain a family friendly atmosphere whenever it is possible within the main subject matter of this community. Please keep this in mind when participating.

6. When linking to outside websites, you must ensure that the content of the link is appropriate for our community, in line with the guidelines laid out here. This includes mentioning or referencing a site, even if the mention is not hyperlinked. If you post a link and that link is automatically censored, it is considered to be an inappropriate link and you should remove it from your post immediately. If left, all posts that feature inappropriate links will be removed.

7. Posts that discuss illegal activities, transactions or websites such as warez, cracks, etc. will be removed. This includes the posting of information that you have obtained illegally.

8. Please post discussions in the appropriate Forum. Post made in the wrong Forum may be moved by our Moderator staff.

9. Do not post copyrighted materials (articles, videos, audio, etc.) that you do not have permission to reproduce or distribute. Give credit (post links) to the author/website where you got the article from.

10. When posting and linking to images, videos, files, etc., please refrain from hotlinking. This is the direct linking to of images (.jpg, .jpeg, .gif, .png, etc.), video (.avi, .mov, .mpg, .mpeg, .wmv, etc.), audio (.mp3, .wav, etc.), archives (.zip, .rar, etc.) or otherwise downloadable or streamable files, on servers that you do not have permission to link to, instead of linking to the page where the item can be found. This includes providing a direct link to the file, even if that file is not embedded into your post. This practice costs the server owner money and resources.

11. Respect is the name of the game. You must respect your fellow members. Please refrain from inflammatory and defamatory comments as well as flaming, taunting and general disrespect. Do not simply put down the opinion or advice given by others. If you don't agree with it, say why - respectfully. Don't just tell them they're wrong. Do not make uninvited remarks about typos, duplicate posts, posting styles, etc. This is not the place to aggressively pursue attacks and accusations on one's chosen style or background. We all have different opinions and different backgrounds.

When an opinion based discussion is being had, do not state things like "there is no argument" as if your opinion is the only one or the only one that matters. When someone has clearly stated their opinion, do not say things like "Are you serious?" and "Are you kidding me?" Remember, this is not a debate club. This is a friendly discussion community. Allow people to have their opinion. No one is to act as some sort of opinion judge, responding to each one to say whether they agree with it or not or whether or not it is a valid, well thought out opinion.

12. Any and all health and medical advice and information given on this community is intended for general discussion and educational purposes only. It is in no way intended to serve as actual, individual medical advice. In no way does participating in these forums constitute a formal or informal doctor/patient relationship. These forums are not limited to physicians, doctors or other health professionals. In fact, all members are invited to participate. Because of this, we assume no responsibility for any posts. It is possible that some information may be inaccurate, incomplete or otherwise flawed. No information is endorsed or verified by CovertConservatives.com or any health professionals. Your health is important and you are responsible for your own health care and well being. If you have any medical concerns at all, you should consult a physician or other health care professionals as you deem necessary.

13. Each user is allowed to create one account. If you would like to change your username, please contact us and, most likely, we can do it for you while you can keep all of your profile data, posts and other content.

14. Automated account creation, participation and content scraping is not permitted.

15. We know that people will have to leave our community (of their own free will or otherwise) from time to time. From this point forward we will not delete accounts, posts or other content posted on our community. All content is granted to us with perpetual electronic publishing rights because any content posted on this community becomes a part of the community, even if you no longer are. You may request an item to be removed at any time, but we will decide when and if to remove content from our community. If you wish to no longer be identified with our community, we will be glad to close your account and alter your profile information to remove all identifying characteristics. After account closure, you will no longer be able to participate in this community and this action is not reversible.

16. Moderators and the administrator have the final say on anything. If you have a problem, you may make a complaint to them directly and not publicly on the website. Creating threads or posts that question or reference administrative decisions or potential administrative decisions, such as post removals and thread closures, is not permitted. We are not perfect and if you feel that we have made a mistake, please privately contact a staff member and we will review the situation. If you would like a copy of your removed post so that you can adjust it and repost, please contact us. As long as we wouldn't prefer you to simply start over, we'll be glad to send you a copy.

17. If you ever need clarification on any part of our User Guidelines or have a question, suggestion, a bit of feedback or a problem with the site, please feel free to contact me directly to ensure that it receives the proper attention. Please do not post it in the forums as it will be removed.

18. Whenever you are participating in this community, please keep in mind that we strive to create a fun, friendly and inviting atmosphere. So, please have fun and enjoy the forums!

Feel free to list the ones you think are worthless and the ones that are good.

Doc's suggestions are great too. As for citing sources, I'd say that incessant demanding of a source is off limits as well. If someone states something that requires a source, a single request is all that's needed. If the poster refuses to post a source, then just walk away. You can consider that poster's statements to be discredited if they did not cite a source for their 'facts'. (Perhaps a discredited smiley is required here?)

One the other hand, you can discredit a source, but only if you provide an alternative source that proves your rebuttal. Even websites like the Dailykos, the Huffington Post, and Prison Planet can get things right every now and then.
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So What should the rules be, anyways? Empty Re: So What should the rules be, anyways?

Post by Doc Trock Wed Jul 14, 2010 3:21 pm

swiftfoxmark2 wrote:
Feel free to list the ones you think are worthless and the ones that are good.

Doc's suggestions are great too. As for citing sources, I'd say that incessant demanding of a source is off limits as well. If someone states something that requires a source, a single request is all that's needed. If the poster refuses to post a source, then just walk away. You can consider that poster's statements to be discredited if they did not cite a source for their 'facts'. (Perhaps a discredited smiley is required here?)

One the other hand, you can discredit a source, but only if you provide an alternative source that proves your rebuttal. Even websites like the Dailykos, the Huffington Post, and Prison Planet can get things right every now and then.

Great stuff. I'm in full agreement.

Regarding sources: you source your "facts" at your own peril. If your source is poor, or non-factual, this may very well come out in the ensuing discussion. Do your homework! Political correctness is a non-issue on this forum. If state as fact something from Huffpo or Prison Planet, the other side must rebut, not merely insult the source based on partisan political leanings.

Moderators should moderate! In a real debate, the moderator acts like a referee. If a person goes over time, or fails to answer a question, or becomes abusive, the moderator makes a note of that and deducts time or even points from the offending party. In a real debate, the judges almost always deduct from the nasty side.

Moderators on this site should award a "win," in a contentious debate, to the party that remains polite, rational, and does a thorough job with sources and well crafted arguments. The "Win" smiley should be handed out in the same manner as a "thread locked" symbol and will be used to end a thread with a judgment based on objective assessment of the defense of the positions taken.

For example:

Someone says: "I'm leaving the US and renouncing my citizenship because I want to live somewhere with lower taxes and more freedom."
Another comes along and says: "Where in the world could you go that is better than the US? Where are taxes lower?"

The first person provides facts, and the discussion ensues.

However, another person chimes in by saying: "You're a freeloader! You've used this country to become rich and now you're going to cut and run! Shame on you!"

At this point in time, the burden of proof is upon poster number 3. They must demonstrate how the ex-patriot "used" the country to become rich, and carefully explain why expatriating is "cutting and running." Failure to do so reduces their post to an insult and that post will be deleted.

All deleted posts will have a disclaimer as to why they were removed.
----------------------

These aren't additional rules.....I mention this stuff to point out what "fair and honest" debate looks like, and what moderators should do.

A wide range of viewpoints are not only tolerated, they are encouraged.
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