TOTALLY GEEKED!

This is a board for everyone and everyone to share their views and thoughts. I created it as a haven for Geek Table members just in case it was needed.

This board values free speech and hates censorship, but will not tolerate the following:

Hate speech - hate speech is an attack against a group of people for who they are. 

Personal attacks - personal attacks are when you jump on a poster and attack them personally.  It is not when you disagree with them. 

Please note that quite often personal attacks may only be seen by moderators after the fact.  By this time, the ruckus may have died down, the other members may have put the attacking poster firmly in their place, or it may have occurred between 2 posters equally to blame.  In these instances, it is totally in the moderator's discretion whether to handle the matter privately by PM to avoid bringing it up again, or to handle it on the board if a public warning makes sense or to simply ignore it completely.  This is the real world - sometimes life is just not fair.  I'm very sorry for that, but it cannot always be helped.  

For the most part - my motto is simple, "You are grown-ups; act like it and everything will be fine."

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For comfort and familiarity, I'm mostly just copying the rules from The Geek Table.  A big thanks to PBJ for his wonderful wording skills.

RULES

The main rule: Have fun as you would elsewhere. If it would get you banned elsewhere, it probably gets you banned here. If it wouldn't get you banned on a different general public-interest board, you're probably fine here too.  This includes TROLLING. 

Most of this is covered in the welcome message when you register (below settings like Signature, Name, what-not).

= To reiterate though, hateful speech, libelous conduct, intimidation of any sort, and spamming are all not allowed. The rules are fairly standard for any message board.

= THIS BOARD WILL NOT ALLOW THE POSTING OF PERSONALLY IDENTIFIABLE, NON-PUBLIC INFORMATION ABOUT OTHER POSTERS. Ever. Don't test me. This is the one/only warning that anyone will receive. Disclosure of non-public information is a bannable offense. Don't like it, don't post.  Edit for clarification on 1/19/15 - This includes information about current and former members.

Non-public info includes at the very least: PM's made public, real names or phone numbers of other contributors, any other information that a determined observer could use to find the person. Such info is not limited to this. Bottom line: If in doubt, don't go there.  Please note, however, Contributors (and mods), nothing prevents you from divulging info about yourself, all you like. However, once you open the door to publish something, everyone else has every right to consider it public.

If you value your privacy, be wary of what you share. Once you choose to make it public, far as I'm concerned it's public. If you choose to share private details of other posters, you will be gone from this board in very short order.

= The policy of this board is blanket amnesty, as it regards posters' conduct from other boards.  The one exception to this is that permanently banned members of the Geek Table are banned here as well.  Also - if you "figure out" who someone is on another board - their user name there is private information as to this board.  You may not "out" someone who may be trying to get a fresh start by telling their old user name(s) here.  If they want people to know, they will tell them.  See above for the consequences of sharing private information.

However, if I host a party and some people start a fight, I throw them out. This would be true IRL and it's true here.

= On this board, there's almost no such thing as a bannable opinion. Except in rare exceptions (like racism, anti-Semitism), almost anything can be expressed if done politely. Some topics are just an irreducible point of disagreement. Public nursing and the general use of handicapped stalls are two that come to mind. I'm sure there are others.

If you are speaking in good faith, in a civil manner, you can express almost any opinion (other than hateful ones like racism). Even as I may disagree, if you are being civil then I will have your back.

= Private messaging is allowed. However, if someone abuses this privilege by harassing another, that is bannable. The burden is on the recipient to tell the sender to stop sending. However, if the sender sends again to the recipient, for any reason, if I learn of it, that's a warning to the sender. If the sender makes a like violation with any other recipient, the sender is banned.  Example:

1. John pings Jane, Jane says "Don't contact me," John pings her again.
2. Jane does not delete John's note, tells the admin. I or another mod investigate.
3. Mod reviews, and the mod or admin dispatches a warning to John.
4. John pings Tanya, Tanya says "go away," John pings her again.
5. Tanya saves the note, relays this to the admin.
6. admin: "Don't let the door hit you on the way out, John." And zaps that account.
John is now banned.

For John to be in trouble, the recipient has to actually say "don't contact me" and also save the note. MODERATORS DO NOT HAVE ACCESS TO YOUR PM's; THEY ARE COMPLETELY PRIVATE.

Exception: On this board, you can't stop contact from a mod on official mod business.  Non-mods don't tell mods what to do anywhere, any more than water flows uphill.

By participating on this board, you agree to accept communication from any admin or mod account.

= for the comfort of all posters, glittery and animated avatars will not be allowed.

= Moderators - Challenging the disciplinary actions of moderators on the board will not be tolerated.  Asking questions is always acceptable, but there is a difference between asking questions and attacking a moderator for their decision.   The use of this site constitutes agreement to accept the moderation. This site is very lurkable without registration for a reason, namely that people can size up the forum without registering or posting.  Also bearing emphasis is that the perceived absence of action by any Moderator for any rule violation does not constitute a waiver of the right to such action occurring prior or after by any other poster.  By analogy, if three cars go 90 mph on the freeway and only one got pulled over, that doesn't mean that rules were different for the other two. The other two may yet get pulled over, but that doesn't diminish focus on the one who was.  To that end, if and when a moderator gives you a warning, it is best to listen.  Telling the moderator they were wrong to give you the warning will not end well for you.  The moderators first chosen here will be imported from the Geek Table and supplemented or replaced if needed or if they no longer want to serve as a moderator.  We will have a generic moderator avatar for taking action as needed to cut back on backlash against particular moderators. 

Additionally, challenging moderators from a different forum, who are also members here, is considered a form of harassment and is prohibited. This prohibition extends to public threads, members-only threads, and private messages.

= The importing of drama, from other boards onto here, is also prohibited. If the drama involves elsewhere, it needs to be kept elsewhere. Terms like "there," "elsewhere," and "other forums" are very generic for this rule, not specific for any forum.

However, the mention or even discussion of other forums is not necessarily prohibited. If it's likely to touch a huge conflict, don't post it. If you're seeking info and it doesn't involve someone else's disciplinary action, go ahead.                    

=  DO NOT SHARE A POSTER'S COMMENTS HERE WITH THE OUTSIDE WORLD.  This is a biggie.  People come here to post without real life consequences as a safe haven.  Do not copy poster's comments from here and share them with people in their real life.  This is considered stalking and will not be tolerated.  If you do it, and I find out you did it, I will ban you, and report you to every other moderator I can find in the message board world as well as post it publically on the board.  Capice? 

=  New members have 2 weeks to post their first post and 60 days to try out the board and decide if they are going to continue post.  If they do not post at all, they will be deleted after 2 weeks.  If they post a hello but thereafter have made no meaningful contribution during that time, they will be deleted.  Furthermore, if you have not posted in over a year, you may be deleted.   This is totally a discretionally matter and "meaningful" will be solely in my discretion.  This rule is to prevent the joining simply to troll or to glean information from the members only section, or to spam members.

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That is all for now. Have fun, and welcome!