A friendly reminder of the FoF Guidelines

[love4ffc]

My wife always says to start with a positive so here goes,

It's a gorgeous day here in the Southern part of the States.  The sun is out and the temp/humidity for once is mild making going outside and getting things done a pleasant thing.  On top of that Fulham just got their first win since returning to the Premier League.  Ahh what a day to be alive. 

With the success of last season and the brilliant return of Fulham to the top flight we once again find the FoF Forum flourishing.  In recent weeks the forum has seen a return of old members who took a break as well as new members wanting to connect with other fans.  Happy days are here again and we at FoF want those days to continue. 

We at FoF would also like those days to be filled with threads of healthy debate and discussions.  Threads that bring in more new members and hopefully, keep all members coming back to participate in those debates and discussions.

So we at FoF feel that this would be a wonderful time to remind both old and new members of the FoF Guidelines for Posting.  The Guidelines for Posting can be found as a sticky in the General Discussion Board however below is the part that we currently would like to reiterate to everyone. 

GUIDELINES FOR POSTING
BE RELEVANT
A thread is generally started for a football-related reason and is intended to generate debate around that topic. Replies should be kept relevant to the topic that the original poster started.

Topics that get started, or replies on threads, that are not related to football will generally be considered unacceptable, particularly if they are likely to cause offence. Examples of topics which will not be tolerated include:
•   Politics.
•   Racist remarks.
•   Sexist remarks.
•   Homophobic remarks.
•   Sectarian and/or religious abuse.
•   Terminal illnesses.

BE RESPECTFUL
Replies should be respectful. The following are examples of what will not be tolerated:
•   Bad language.
•   Personal abuse.
•   Bullying.
•   Provocation of others.
•   Belittling others.
•   Harassment.
•   Slander.
•   "WUM"-like behaviour.

It is understood that from time to time, especially on a football forum, controversial football-related subjects such as Hillsborough, Heysel, Bradford, Ibrox, the Munich air crash etc. will arise. We ask that any discussion is to remain respectful at all times due to the sensitive nature of the topic.

Of course, our hope is that in following the above rules there will also be an element of self-moderation and the need for intervention by one of the mods will be kept to a minimum.

Where some form of intervention is required, the moderators have the following options available to them, depending on the circumstances:
•   Locking threads.
•   Removing threads.
•   Merging threads.
•   Suspending members.
•   Temporarily banning members.
•   A permanent ban.

We hope that by reminding members both old and new of our guidelines that some of the personal abuse on the message boards will discontinue.  This is especially true for replies or ideas that don't always fit into the happy mainstream world.   

We hope and want all members who visit FoF to enjoy their experience.

Sincerely,

The Mod Squad

[love4ffc]

P.S. - I have left this thread open because we welcome questions and comments.  After all you can't have a good forum without healthy discussions  :003:

[Russianrob]

Actually I have re-joined after a 4 year absence and find it much more friendly and amicable than it used to be.I have used the word amicable so apologies to any Chelscum supporters who might be reading this as they won't know what it means!

[One James stannard]

I think this forum is fantastic, It's always nice to hear views from fellow supporters and their opinions BUT what does really annoy me is when certain members CONSTANTLY hijack threads with pure gibberish and poor attempts of humor which has no relevance to the original post. It really does ruin what was an interesting subject.

It's almost like they are just trying to increse their post count!

[love4ffc]

Actually I have re-joined after a 4 year absence and find it much more friendly and amicable than it used to be.I have used the word amicable so apologies to any Chelscum supporters who might be reading this as they won't know what it means!

I think this forum is fantastic, It's always nice to hear views from fellow supporters and their opinions BUT what does really annoy me is when certain members CONSTANTLY hijack threads with pure gibberish and poor attempts of humor which has no relevance to the original post. It really does ruin what was an interesting subject.

It's almost like they are just trying to increse their post count!

Great feed back from both of you and really glad to hear that you come back Russianrob.  As for the hijacking of threads with the poor attempt at humor....well you are correct.  There are some who constantly throw-in what others would constitute as gibberish.  Technically they are not breaking the rules and as mods contrary to what some would believe, we really don't like to sensor members.  Our best advise in those cases are to just ignore those members you deem to add no real content. 

[Lighthouse]

There is an ignore button if you wish to ignore certain posters. Those that constantly hijack threads can be easily ignored if you prefer.

[WhiteJC]

There is an ignore button if you wish to ignore certain posters. Those that constantly hijack threads can be easily ignored if you prefer.

Lighthouse is correct  :54:

I wrote a "how to" some time ago...
http://www.friendsoffulham.com/forum/index.php?topic=7114.0

[KingofCheese]

Whilst I will always agree that being nice to each other is a good thing, I do wonder if we have got the right balance here at FOF. To me, and this is my personal opinion, I sometimes think that the moderation is over bearing and ignores the fact that the vast membership is made up of intelligent adults rather than unruly children that need to be controlled and "punished". I don't know the moderators personally, and I think that overal they do a great job, but I do find I am patronised from time to time. Just for context, I am a father of almost adulthood children, I have an honours degree, four diplomas in various subjects, and am doing a masters, have a wife who is a councillor and is a chairperson of governors at a school and are involved in many organisations that are improving society. Yet on many occasions I receive emails from moderators that tend towards smacking my hand for straying from some imagined "good place". Let's be more adult and less scared of "offence would be my plea. COYWS.