The Motor Forum

Matt · Posted: Tue Oct 28, 2008 12:49 am Post subject: Forum Code of Conduct

Forum Code of Conduct

By joining the forum you have agreed to the following. Please take the time to occasionally take a peek at this page, so you know what the social norms of themotorforum.co.uk are. Thanks.

Overall Goals for Conduct

For this virtual community to be successful in its mission to promote the general interests of PN patients, all members of this site need to follow certain guiding principles. These are:

A. Respect for each other and our statements (even if we disagree).

B. Discuss and debate important issues without personal attacks.

C. Express differences of opinion using factual statements and reasoned arguments.

D. "Agree to disagree" when an impasse is found.

E. Be supportive and non-judgmental.

F. Focus on how our statements might affect one another.

G. Be able to see things from the other person's point of view.

H. No hidden agendas.

I. Remember that people communicate differently, and that’s ok, as long as the above are adhered to.

Code of Conduct Rules

Rule 1. Respect other people's privacy:

A. Don't share sensitive or personal information given to you via PM, email, phone, or in-person conversations. If you are unsure of what is appropriate to share, please ask permission of the person who shared the information.

B. Don't make assumptions or insinuations about people, members or otherwise, without proof that you are able to share (see A).

Rule 2. Don't abuse your power. Abuse of power includes using "influence" in PNE community and among members to intimidate, or to make one's opinion seem more prominent than the opinions of others.

Rule 3. Be forgiving of other people's mistakes.

Rule 4. Be willing to "agree to disagree" when an discussion reaches an impasse.

Rule 5. Do not use sarcasm, obscenity, or "attack language" against other members. "Attack language" can be defined as straying from maintaining a professional, respectful dialogue, and attacking another individual's person, intelligence, or emotions.

Rule 6. Respect the requests of Moderators when discussions reach difficult points.

Progressive Discipline

Forum Members who are in violation of the Code of Conduct Rules will be subject to the following Progressive Discipline steps:

Step 1. Warning from Moderator via private message. In order to give more control and responsibility to forum Members, any Member in violation will first be asked to edit his/her own post(s), if necessary.

Step 2. Warning from Moderator, to be visibly posted on the thread in question.

Step 3. Vote by quorum of site "Core Group" (Moderators and other site leaders) for short-term banning of one week.

Step 4. Un-banning after period of one week; return of full privileges to member; probationary period of one month.

Step 5. If the member complies with all Code of Conduct Rules for duration of the probationary period, any future Progressive Discipline will begin at Step 1.

Step 6. If the member violates any Code of Conduct Rules within the probationary period, as determined by a vote by a quorum of site leadership, they will be banned for one month from the forum.

Please note that we have rarely had to invoke these. By and large, people on the forum are well behaved.

Responsibilities for Moderators

1. To maintain civil discourse among forum members.

2. To guide heated discussions back to acceptable parameters, as defined by the Code of Conduct Rules.

3. To administer progressive discipline to forum members who break the Code of Conduct Rules.

4. To run their own posts past other Moderators when there is a chance the language might confuse or offend.

5. To respect their roles by adhering closely to the Code of Conduct Rules.

6. To refrain from abusing control of the site to unilaterally ban, edit, delete, censor, etc.

7. Note: Moderators will be subject to the same Progressive Discipline steps as any Member, and will also be monitored by other Moderators.

Thanks,

The moderators
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Small car, big heart.