Are there official or un-official rules about what can be posted? for example, I know swearing is allowed (especially in the Pit), but are there certain subjects that are a no-no? What types of things would get a person banned? Is there a place where all these rules are listed? Thanks.
All the rules are listed in the register agreement, which, of course, you read in detail when first registering here. Right?
I’ll sum it up in four words: Don’t be a jerk. We have a relatively narrow tolerance for one-time jerks here, and no tolerance for repeat jerks. Read the forum descriptions, read what has been said before (using the search feature), and respect the fact that everyone here is a human being. The moderators an administrators are not paid (unless you consider a mug payment) and the entire setup here is on a shoestring budget provided by the Chicago Reader (the alternative newspaper that employs Cecil Adams as a columnist). This message board has its share of scars and it is not particularly smart to bring them back up.
But don’t let any of the abovesaid scare you. We are a funloving and intelligent bunch here and can be amazingly supportive of total strangers. MPSIMS and even The Pit is full of Dopers, many of whom have never met in physicality, sharing joys and griefs. So have fun, just do it responsibly.
Swearing: Try to keep a handle on it. Some Pit posts can begin sounding like a conversation 'tween sailors, but it’s frowned upon if every post of yours is a string of swearing.
No personal comments: If you disagree with someone, don’t start into the whole “Your mother wears army boots” crap. Even in the Pit. If you can’t fight someone with the material provided here on the Boards, then don’t even try.
Those, in my mind, are the two big ones. Respect is key… don’t start treating someone like dirt until they REALLY prove that they deserve it, and even then it’s recommended that you ignore 'em.
You’re off to a good start by asking what’s allowed rather than posting something questionable.
It’s always a good idea to just read a forum for a couple of weeks or longer before posting so you can get an idea of what is and isn’t allowed.
If you want to re-read the board rules themselves (as set forth in the registration agreement), TubaDiva has posted them here.
You of course mean the register agreement which I haven’t seen in over a year, right?
It would be very easy to include an icon in the upper right corner labelled “Posting Rules”, linked to a page of the posting rules. My Board has a whole read-only Forum of the Rules, notes about the server and performance, Board cost, etc. It could be done many ways.
I’ve already found from my Board that almost no one reads the Registration agreement, even the bold text on it. So I made the rules easily and prominently available. YMMV.
Hey! I read the register agreement on your board Una.
[sub]Of course, it would probably look really bad if a Forum Moderator didn’t know the rules[/sub]
Don’t accuse someone of being a “troll.” (A troll is someone who posts incredibly stupid and inane things in order to get another doper to respond.)
Don’t call anyone a Nazi, unless they have publicly proclaimed their affiliation with that political party.
Don’t accuse someone of being a “sock puppet,” which is an alternate UserName for a Doper already registered under a first UserName (I think.) This extends to banned posters who return – don’t call them out publicly. Let the mods/admins handle it.
Don’t ask certain questions. Go to the homepage for a link. Here’s another question not included in that link: “Three words in the English language end in -gry. What are they?”
Do use the search function to research whether a thread idea of yours has already been used. While you’re on the search board, look for WallyM7, a dearly departed member of this board.
Do try and keep the profanity to a minimum, unless you’re in the BBQ pit. There, you must use as much profanity as possible :D.
Do research any claims you make, especially in the Great Debates forum. Be prepared to back up your claims.
Do be respectful of the other Dopers, even when they seem to go out of their way to disprove the existence of human intelligence.
Don’t be a jerk.
Don’t mess with Anthracite, jarbabyj, Polycarp, or Collounsbury.
What does it mean to be suspended? I have seen posts from one member who is apparently “suspended”.
I meant to say “banned”, not “suspended”. Perhaps they were banned after the post was made?
yikes, what did that poster say? Lord knows I’ve started pissing people off already…
The poster said nothing offensive. What I can gather is that at some point the poster was banned. When that happened, it changed the status on all prior posts from “member” to “banned”. So, the posts that say “banned” must have been posted before the member was actually banned.
When you are banned, you can no longer post on the Board, and your displayed status changes from “Member” to “Banned”. In vBulletin, this is often done by creating a new User Group called “Banned”, which has no permissions set for it. Then, an Admin with access to the Admin Control Panel goes in and clicks on a little drop-down box to change the User from the “Member” category to the “Banned” category.
And thus, all their posts will say “Banned”. If on accident they were changed to the “Administrator” category, all their posts would say that instead.
Well, yeah, except our labels are custom made. No drop-down gadgets for us, no sirree!The default is “Member”, and anything else has to be put in manually.
BTW, your suggestion about putting a link to the rules in the right top corner is a good one. Thanks.
Coldie, I have a Rules icon for vBulletin the SDMB can borrow if they want. All you have to do edit the “fivelinks” template and add it into there, along with the href to the Rules.
If you want to know why someone was banned, the best thing to do is to e-mail a moderator or administrator and ask them. Other good ways are 1) to look at the banned member’s last posts and see if there are moderator warnings directed at them or if anything jumps out at you as being obviously wrong and 2) to search to see if someone else has already asked about it on the board. It’s generally considered bad form to publicly ask why someone was banned.
On another note, the FAQ thread from March has plenty of good advice.
I love it when you talk dirty. 
Not sure if I understand any of that, but I’m sure our Administrators will.
There ya have it, folks. Any dumb shmoe can be a Moderator. 
(Love ya, Coldy!)
Also, a clarification about “Don’t call people a troll / don’t call people a sockpuppet”: As stated, we very strongly urge people not to make accusations on the board. However, if you do have suspicions about a particular poster, we’d love to hear from you via e-mail. This combines the best of both worlds: If the person isn’t really a problem, then there’s no big deal about it, but if there is a problem, then the people who need to know (us mods) find out quickly.
Also, about profanity: The key is relevance. If there’s actually a good reason to use a particular slang term in a discussion, and use of that term is the clearest way to express a real meaning, then you should feel free to use it. If you’re just using profanity as a general exclamation or intensifier, though, it tends to detract from the discussion.