Views on the Moderation on this Forum (started by STMOD)

[Vaygor1]

To me, when it comes to members (or rather, characters) in a forum of sharetrader's nature, colourful and controversial seem to come in the same package. As such, I will continue to miss many contributors that have now gone.

In line with the intent of this thread I have tried to come up with a draft list of concise rules by searching through the rules of other internet forums/blogs etc. But there are 2 main problems:

1) The human part. On a forum like sharetrader, contributors opinions and experiences are intrinsic to how and why it all works. For ANY given topic, each contributor's take on what is acceptable or offensive is not only unique, but each individual's reaction to anything will also to some extent vary from day to day. Which brings me to the second part….

2) The succinct part. How do you succinctly make rules to cover even 50% of every eventuality when there are no bounds like that on a sports field? Well, you can't - even rugby has over 1000 rules - which helps explains the 1st rule under the 'Long-List' below.

In my searches I have found a few sites that have already searched and collated others' rules. Without reinventing the wheel, I have summarised the most common rules, removing the ones that in my humble and subjective opinion, don't apply to this forum. So, using some of share traders existing rules, and ignoring liability/indemnity/disclaimer/IP issues here they are:


THE SHORT LIST

• Use common courtesy
• Respect others (even when they don't deserve it)

THE LONG LIST

• Mods have total authority over rulings, membership, and site content.
• Moderation appeals by email only.
• No illegal, abusive, hateful, threatening, obscene, violent, or malevolent behaviour/posts/media.
• No misquoting, defamatory content, fraud, libel, slander, lying, impersonating, or deliberate deceit.
• No posts that breach copyright, violates anyones privacy or any 3rd party's publicity rights.
• No posts of any kind exploiting minors or identifying anyone under 18 years old for the same.
• No posts by any licensed investment adviser or representative of the same.
• No selling, advertising, or spamming of any product or services. Refer fee schedule regarding breaches.
• Hyperlinks are forbidden to any site that encourages or includes any issues set out in the above 6 bullets.
• Limited 'adult' behaviour regarding mild profanities, comeback lines, banter, name calling.
• Limited thread-hogging, semi-repetitive posting.

On reflection, the above is not too far removed from the existing rules.
There is however an added element of deliberate vagueness by way of the last 2 points because there's no other way to do it without some subjective wriggle room for fun. It comes back to the first rule which unfortunately can never be applied 100% consistently.

I have not included any banning mechanisms (ie 3 strikes, warning shots, ban periods, breach consequence etc). Perhaps a set of house rules that provide guidance only on what can be expected for each type of breach would suffice?

Feedback welcome… and I know.. there's a million ways to skin a cat on this one. None right, none wrong, just different.