Read before posting please

[Bondi]

Okay, here's the deal with the Off Topic forum, people. This isn't the Snake Pit, and this isn't a place where a lot of rudeness or hostility is going to be welcome. If you want to be an asshole, you're more than welcome to do so in The Snake Pit, where rules, for obvious reasons, are going to be a lot more lenient.

Threads that are boring and uninteresting:

Just leave it alone if you feel this way about a certain thread. Posting something along the lines of "No one cares" or "this is boring" etc. is pointless, not to mention rude, and as this is not the Snake Pit, posts such as these will be deleted. If others see a post of this nature, ignore it; it will be deleted as soon as one of the moderators see it. Look, guys, I can't count the number of threads that have been posted here that have been of no interest to me whatsoever, but rather than be a jerk and whine about how boring I find it, I simply ignore it. Those who are interested are free to read and respond. Likewise, I'm sure some of the topics I've posted in or started might not be all that interesting to a lot of other people either. Those unnterested can simply lmove onto the next topic.

Disagreeing with someone:

We don't all have to agree with each other here, but if you must disagree with someone, you should do so constructively and politely. Explaining why you do not agree with what someone says in a polite and intelligent manner is okay, but calling them names, etc. is liable to get the post deleted and possibly get you a warning. Remember: This is not the Snake Pit, so flaming is not allowed here.

Flames and insults:

As with the stuff above, no flaming or derogatory comments against any member here are allowed, period. I don't care if you think someone is a jerk, weird, fucked up, stupid, whiny, or whatever else. If you want to bash them in the Snake Pit, by all means do so, but don't do it here. Respect is always required in these parts.

Politics and Religion:

These can be touchy topics, as most of you are probably aware of. You can discuss this stuff here so long as it is done politely. If it's a topic that is likely to break out in a flame war and piss people off, it might be better discussed in the Snake Pit. If you're going to start a thread relating to politics and religion, use your best judgement about the likelyhood of a flame war escalating. Debating inteligently and respectfully is fine, but as I said before, flaming people is not okay.

Posting Images and Links:

If you're going to post links or images here, that's fine, though it is best to keep them work-safe. In other words, if its the type of thing that might get you fired, don't post it in this section. If it's something that could spark some serious contraversy, might be better off being posted in the Snake Pit. And also, no stealing bandwidth from other sites. If you do not have your own server to load the image from, you can use PhotoBucket.

Prejudice:

I don't really care what you have against any kind of group of people, but because the Off Topic section is to remain a frinedly place, please keep negative comments concerning race, ethnicity, gender, religious beliefs, creed, age, sexual orientation, national origin, etc. out of this board.

Not that people would have to be entirely politically correct here, and that the most sensitive people are going to determine the rules, or anything like that, but at the same time, we'd like to maintain at least somewhat of a friendly atmosphere here, and save the rudeness, immaturity, hostility, etc. for the Snake Pit alone. This is the Off Topic area, so please be nice here.

Edited July 23, 2005 by Bondi