Forum Rules for your comment...

AlanRatcliffe

Forum Rules

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Renesongs

a. containing vulgar, obscene or indecent language

#$%& I think we all have fallen fowl of that one.

e. explicitly advertise commercial products, manufacturers or their distributors, retail stores or commercial services.

+++ 1 I get tired of people who join up and there one and only post is to promote an obscure album release or some schleppers tribute concert. One of them even had the audacity to spam my email.

offensive statements or language that defames, abuses, harasses or threatens others;

Would that included being flamed or flaming people back because you disagree with the integrity of certain music rights organizations ?

b. having content which advocates illegal activity or discusses illegal activities with the intent to commit them;

I did'nt Bake the Alice B Toklas Cookies - Pick 'n Pay doesn't have any Canibus Sativa in it's baking department.

Seriously a fairly draconian set of rules considering that internet forums are not a legal persona and therefore not eligible for prosecution, but fairly sensible considering that many people are accessing this forum from their draconian workplaces ?

FenderBender

Good set of groundrules that will at least protect the forum if anyone transgresses as well as make things fair across the board for all members.

+1 Alan!

dee

Cool.

Small comment: You have no point 4, but two 6's ?

NorioDS

dee wrote Cool.

Small comment: You have no point 4, but two 6's ?

I fixed that in an email to Alan but he wasn't paying attention ?

AlanRatcliffe

Renesongs wrote
a. containing vulgar, obscene or indecent language
#$%& I think we all have fallen fowl of that one.

Ouch. ? Yeah. I can say that one won't be too vigorously enforced for the occasional "accent", but it's so that we can take action if neccessary. Once again, we have minors here and will probably get many more in the coming months, so rather safe than sorry.

+++ 1 I get tired of people who join up and there one and only post is to promote an obscure album release or some schleppers tribute concert. One of them even had the audacity to spam my email.

Yeah, there's been a lot of stuff I've deleted lately. One of the main reasons I wanted to come up with a concrete set of rules that can serve as a "you have been warned" to new members and that will stop it before it starts.

offensive statements or language that defames, abuses, harasses or threatens others;
Would that included being flamed or flaming people back because you disagree with the integrity of certain music rights organizations ?

Heated discussion I don't mind, but if it crosses the line into personal attacks or what could be construed as defamation or harassment, steps will be taken.

I did'nt Bake the Alice B Toklas Cookies - Pick 'n Pay doesn't have any Canibus Sativa in it's baking department.

You asked? ? That post was actually borderline as it can be taken as humorous.

Seriously a fairly draconian set of rules considering that internet forums are not a legal persona and therefore not eligible for prosecution, but fairly sensible considering that many people are accessing this forum from their draconian workplaces ?

The forum may not be a legal persona, but we as it's owners are. To be honest, I'm not 100% sure of the current legislation, as it is changing all the time, but once again: rather safe than sorry.

Overall, we are not going to be too draconian in enforcing all the rules to the letter, as every case is different. I'm willing to let common sense prevail for most cases, but IMO, it is important to have the rules so that if the need arises (as is happening on a more and more regular basis), we can take action based on them.

Small comment: You have no point 4, but two 6's

Picky, picky ? Six is bigger than four, therefore it's better... Oh, all right... Fixed!

BTW: Some forums I looked at in the last few days have a clause in their TOC which states that all content posted becomes property of the forum and it's owners. I find that pretty ominous as it means that if you post a song or it's lyrics for critique, post a picture or write an article or a review, you cede the rights to it to the forum owners. Nasty...

Riaan

Looks reasonable to me. Things may not always be that straightforward or clear cut...imagine a discussion about Neil Young's Living With War album - hard to discuss that without at least some degree of politics for instance... but I think our moderators (no angels themselves ?) have shown themselves to be sensible, reasonable guys whose judgement I trust.

AlanRatcliffe

Thanks Riaan!

imagine a discussion about Neil Young's Living With War album - hard to discuss that without at least some degree of politics for instance...

It would be an extremely tricky one. Each post would have to be judged by itself I think, and closely watched for anything that crosses the line. I would say that discussion of the music and recording itself, and even of the fact that it is a political album would be fine, but if the posts delve into the politics behind the album (from either side), they would be crossing the line. As I said, tricky...