POLITICS CHARTER AND GUIDELINES

This Charter lists the general guidelines on conduct in the Politics General forum and subforums. It is not an exhaustive list and the general rule in the politics forum is "Use common sense when posting". The charter may be updated at any time. Look for the revision dates in the thread title. It is the responsibility of the user to be familiar with the charter. Ignorance of the charter will not be accepted as an excuse for breaking the rules.

Boards.ie General Rules

The following are prohibited under Boards.ie general standing rules.

1. Advertising
2. Racism
3. Porn
4. Copyrighted Material

Further information can be found here.


Politics Forum Rules and Guidelines

The following are general rules on conduct in the Politics Forum.

Starting and Posting in Threads

Topics should be relevant to the politics board.

Topics should not be verbatim quotes from some article without comment from the thread starter. Add a comment before or after the post, offering your opinion and/or analysis on the subject. Articles from blogs, newpapers, magazines etc cannot be put up in full in the politics forum due to copyright reasons. You can provide a link to the article and quote the opening paragraph or one that provides a summary of the key points. When posting or linking to a video please provide a summary of the content as not everybody has access to video sites or the time to view them.

Please do not start a thread with a 2 line thought that came into your head.

Please remember that we are not a blog, a news feed nor an announcement forum - if you are not willing to discuss what you post, then please don't post it. Thread will be locked and posters may face a sanction for repeatedly breaking this rule. This forum is for discussion and debate and we will not tolerate soapboxing. If you are here to "shout everyone down" with your opinions, we will see you as a negative contributor to the forum and will take appropriate action. High standards of debate and quality posts / threads are required. Repeated one liner, low quality style posts will result in a ban. Threads (and posts) that are not based on serious and legitimate Political discussion will be deleted without warning. For the lighter side of Politics we have the Politics Café here. Naturally some posts will be humorous by nature but if they start dragging threads off topic, they maybe deleted.

Thread derailing will be treated particularly harshly. If there's more than a couple of examples of a poster taking an unrelated thread and turning it into a public-versus-private / unionists-versus-nationalists / us-versus-them contest, then expect a sanction. That just creates a partisan atmosphere in the forum and we expect posters to be civil and respectful to each other.

Replies should be kept on-topic. We realise that threads may naturally "drift", but there are limits. If you wish to discuss a separate issue which has arisen in a discussion, then take it to a separate thread, and post a link in the original thread if you feel it appropriate. Feel free to contact a Forum Mod if you need assistance with this, we’ll be glad to help out.

When offering an opinion, please state so. Every poster is entitled to their opinion - whether it is ill-informed or not. Please do not present an opinion as "fact" - it only leads to flaming and a poster/moderator may demand further evidence. When offering fact, please offer relevant linkage, or at least source. If you do not do this upon posting, then please be willing to do so on request.

Allegations of lying are taken very seriously. Simply calling someone a liar is not acceptable without proof, the onus is on you to provide the proof that they are deliberately and intentionally trying to deceive.

Deliberately misleading posts or posters aiming to spread misinformation will be sanctioned. We do not expect posters to be experts in all areas, however, the onus is on all posters to fact check their information. If a poster is corrected, or information corrected in a thread, any poster who continues to relate misinformation as fact will be sanctioned.

No personal abuse. NEVER attack a poster. Attack the content of their post. (You can tell someone that their opinion is based on incomplete or incorrect information, but do not call them an idiot.)
No trolling or feeding the trolls. (including no excuses for joining a flaming match)

Keep your language civil, particularly when referring to other posters and people in the public eye. Using unsavoury language does not add to your argument. Examples would be referring to other people or groups as scumbags, crusties, sheeple, shills, trolls, traitors or saying that recently deceased people should “rot in hell” or similar. Repeated use of terms like that will result in a ban from the forum.

Please note that any post deemed to incite hatred or promote violence will be dealt with in the strictest possible manner. Whatever your politics we expect discussion in a manner fit for adults, but first and foremost human beings. Celebration/promotion/triumphing of murder, violence or aggression will result in an immediate banning from the forum and deletion of your posts.

This is an anonymous board - it's perfectly possible for someone to pretend they are a PS worker posting on work time, a private sector worker doing the same, or to do either and deny that that's what's happening - you have no way of knowing what the truth is. People should not feel under pressure to disclose personal information to defend a point of view.


Reporting & Moderation

No discussion of moderation on thread. If you need clarification of this Charter, or wish to discuss actions taken that pertain to violations, you can PM a moderator or C-Mod privately. Feedback on the site can be provided here, any cards or bans can be discussed by pm with the mod or in the Dispute Resolution Forum here. Non card or ban related decisions can be brought up in the Help Desk here

If you have a problem with a post, use the report post function. Do not respond to the post in question. Do not accuse others of trolling.
If they agree with the complaint, moderators may edit/delete any reported post. Moderators will review all complaints and act at their discretion. Moderators may also edit/delete any post/thread which in their opinion breaks the rules, whether it was reported or not.

When an argument breaks out, we will not care who started it. It takes at least two people to have an argument, and both sides will be dealt with appropriately.

Moderators may warn individuals of unacceptable behaviour, but not on a repetitive basis and if the situation warrants, users may be banned without warning. Repeated infractions will result in bans.


Linking Off Site
Linking to Journals, Blogs or any other forum to insult people, or abuse via signatures will be taken as if the insult was posted on this forum.

Some links to material that some people may find disturbing may arise during the course of a discussion. We reserve the right to edit or delete these links if they are determined to be off the topic or otherwise not relevant to the conversation. We may also pull the link if it is particularly graphic or obscene. If you are going to link to potentially offensive material then be sure to include a clear warning as to the nature of the material you have linked.
It is also advisable to give some information as to the nature of the material to which you have linked.

Any poster that adds a link to an illegal organisation or one that advocates illegal activities will be banned from Politics. This includes any links in users Signatures.


Political Canvassing

Do not advertise your party on here in posts. This is not allowed. Any posts deemed to be solely for the purpose of advertising a party many earn people a ban. If you want advertising, pay for it.