BFSG Forum Rules

[JayBee]

Members will know that a recent outbreak of unpleasant and argumentative, if not libellous, postings have been seen on our forum.

This has cost us in terms of members who have been upset and distressed, and, as you know, a couple have left us, hopefully not for long, but left us because of the content and tone of these posts.

Action is required to prevent this from happening again. It is common for forums to have rules and the moderators to enforce them, so we are going to have both.

Any single member of the Moderators Group may temporarily remove any post or containing thread deemed to break these rules from the visible area of the forum pending review. Majority decision amongst that group shall dictate whether the post or thread is restored as is, restored with modifications, moved to a new thread or permanently removed, or whether a thread is locked. Action taken by moderators may or may not be recorded or visible on the forum. Furthermore, sanctions as outlined below may be imposed, again by majority decision, on the member responsible for the post.

Here are the rules that will be enforced with immediate effect

1.   Refrain from personal abuse, and libel. You may express robust disagreement with what someone says, but this can and must be done in a courteous and respectful manner.
2.   Do not provoke nor engage in argument.
3.   Remember that your posts are public. The good name and image of the BFSG  group is formed by what is posted
4.   Stay on-topic. The original point is lost if responses open up new issues. If you have a new issue – start a new topic
5.   Do not post copyrighted material to which you do not own the rights. Sites vary in how strict they are about this, but as well as facing the possibility of legal action by the rights holder, you may also get the site sued
6.   The site's owner,  assisted by two moderators, has the final say in enforcing the rules, and imposing sanctions if the rules are broken
7.   Do not, under any circumstances, edit other people’s posts. If you see a need for a correction, or you have additional information, supply this in a reply within the topic.

You will shortly be required to renew your registration, and this will include a condition that you will abide by these rules. If you do not wish to do this, your membership of this group will be terminated.
Rules have to have sanctions and these will be:
A 14 day ban on posting on the Forum
A 14 day exclusion from all and any online fly-in activities
These sanctions will be lengthened if further breaches are committed by the individual concerned.
If the Moderators decide that it is required, the person may be banned from the group for an indefinite period
These sanctions can be varied by the Moderators at any time.
The moderators will be JB, site owner, Andy Parish and Phil Waller.

[Andy Parish]

This is something I should have attended to before now, but...

Please note that effective immediately, with JB's involvement in the group having waned significantly, the three moderators are Andy Parish, Phil Waller and Pete Allnutt.