The Opera Glove Message Board

[jadmire]

Due to recent events, I have unfortunately found it necessary to spell out in as much detail as I can what is and is not acceptable behavior by posters on this message board. Up to today, everyone gets a free pass; but from now on, from the time this message is posted, everyone is expected to adhere by these rules, subject to the disciplinary sanctions enumerated below.

1) Language - As I noted in my previous post, the Opera Glove Talk and General Topics forums are expected to be at about a PG-13 level of discussion (which is to say, equivalent to what you would hear in a movie of that rating). As such, and given that people have different opinions about what is and what is not "bad" language, I expect from now on that everyone will keep the use of certain four-letter (and related) words on those forums to a minimum. Consult Rachel's list in the Grown-Up Forum if you're not sure whether this policy is applicable to a given word.

The use of strong language is not necessarily totally forbidden, but out of consideration for the sensibilities of other forum members with different views on what is "bad" language, please think before you use a word that might be considered offensive. (This rule also applies, of course, to pejorative racial/ethnic, religious, political and gender insults and epithets, across ALL forums, including the Grown-Up Forum. What the author of the Declaration of Independence called "a decent respect for the opinions of mankind" should, furthermore, always be observed when one discusses the habits of a nation or people not one's own on this forum. Gratituous insults to any other country are a good way to get yourself suspended or banned.) As far as the Grown-Up forum goes, registered posters there are free to use whatever language they please providing it doesn't stoop to insults of the type described in the previous sentence.

2) DO NOT, under any circumstances whatever, badger, harass or browbeat any forum member on the public boards about his or her behavior, including actual or suspected violations of board rules. If you believe a violation of board rules has been committed, you are to discuss it with the board administrator or moderator via PM or email and/or with the member that you have a problem with - NOT in a public post. Also, under no circumstances is any forum member to use the PM facility to deliver offensive, harassing/bullying/browbeating, or threatening communications to any other forum member. (Corollary - do not "sass" or backtalk the board administrator when a ruling is issued, either.)

3) The "signal-to-noise" ratio is to be kept high at all times on this message board, especially in the Opera Glove Talk forum. Specifically, this means:

a) off-topic posts in the Opera Glove Talk forum are, from this date forward (21 September 2006), to be kept to an absolute minimum. "On-topic" posts for the Opera Glove Talk forum include any and all substantative discussion about gloves, particularly opera-length gloves. The list of acceptable topics for the Opera Glove Talk Forum includes, but is not limited to (providing that it has to do with opera-length gloves or other types of gloves):

- the history of gloves and glovemaking;
- celebrities past and present who have been especially known for glovewearing;
- sightings of current celebrities wearing opera gloves or other long gloves;
- reports of opera-glove or long-glove scenes in films, TV, the theater, or literature;
- the manufacture and making of gloves;
- personal experiences with glovewearing;
- glove etiquette;
- caring for and maintaining gloves, especially fine leather gloves;
- discussion of glove vendors/sellers, both online and offline;
- links to sites with opera-glove images or glove content (sites of an adult nature should be listed in the Grown-Up Forum).

The board administrator and/or moderators have the sole discretion to determine what is or what is not on-topic for the Opera Glove Talk forum. The mere mention of gloves in a post does not therefore make the post on-topic for the Opera Glove Talk forum; it must either have substantive content or be directly related to a post with substantive content, either as a followup or as a stimulant to further discussion.

4) Do not pester, badger, or harass any forum member for personal information such as pictures or addresses. "Pestering, badgering or harassing" can be defined as continuing to ask a forum member for such information after he or she has made clear that he/she does not desire to make such information public. In that case, all such requests are to cease and desist unless the said forum member chooses, of his/her own volition, to make such information public. RESPECT THE PRIVACY OF ALL FORUM MEMBERS. (Clarification: This policy also extends to respecting the privacy of other forum members' off-board contact information, such as email, AIM, MSN Messenger, Yahoo! IM, or other messaging information. This information is given as a matter of trust and may not be abused.)

5) Flamewars and exchanges of personal insults are completely contrary to the spirit of this board in any context or under any circumstances, and such posts will be deleted and the instigators appropriately warned or disciplined.

6) In connection with rule #3 above, do not make posts simply to "bulk up" your total post count or "fill space" in any forum on this board, especially the Opera Glove Talk Forum. GENERAL CHATTER BELONGS IN THE GENERAL TOPICS FORUM. Excessive "idle talk" will be either moved to the General Topics Forum or deleted. From henceforth, we are here to talk about gloves (especially opera gloves), not to race to see who can post the most. In that connection, from now on, boasting about how many posts one has made (including in your signature) is strongly discouraged, so don't do it! (If anyone has such things in their signatures, they should take them out right now.

Furthermore, one-word posts are henceforth forbidden. Such posts have little or no semantic content and, as a general rule, uselessly occupy board and server space to no real purpose and add nothing to a thread but "noise". Followups should have actual content and not merely be something like "cool" or "okay".

7) Disciplinary measures for violations of the above rules will be, in increasing order of severity:

a) private counseling by the board admin via PM or email;
b) public counseling by the board admin in the offending thread;
c) moving of the offending thread to the appropriate forum;
d) editing or deletion of the offending post(s);
e) deletion of the entire offending thread;
f) suspension of the violator's posting privileges for a set period of time, to be dictated by the severity of the offense;
g) revocation of forum membership with the option to reapply at a later time (again, length of revocation to depend on the severity of the offense);
h) permanent banning from the forum.

Steps (a), (b), (c), (d) and (e) may be executed by the board administrator in any combination deemed proper. For instance, the admin may send a private warning to the offending poster via PM and simultaneously move the offending thread to the appropriate forum, or edit the offending post to remove the content in question.

8 ) Once again, the key words for your behavior on this forum should be consideration and respect for your fellow forum members. With good fortune, it will never be necessary to do anything beyond giving somebody a quiet "talking-to", which is all I ever really want to do.

These rules are effective as of 21 September 2006 at 5:47 Eastern Standard Time and will henceforth govern all posts in these forums. Any alteration or change in these rules will be done at the sole discretion of the board administrator.

-Joe-

Edited at 7:00 pm 10/14/06 to update and expand Rule 6[/b]
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Webmaster, For the Love of Opera Gloves