.
.
.  

Forum Rules

This is a private site operated in a public manner. No matter who contributes what to it financially, spiritually or socially, it will remain in the sole ownership of its private owner — which is me.

Rules are hard things to define. The devious will hide behind flawed rules and the wicked will exploit the absent ones. So I will not attempt to define rules. Instead I will outline a few general guidelines and permit myself and the Site Administrators to interpret them as they wish, maybe to contradict them, maybe to add new ones as befits an occasion, and then to ignore them again a week later.
 

It's Up To You

This site is a place where I hope a friendly community, welcoming to each other and to outsiders, will form. It can be a place of enquiry, of answer, of mirth, of sadness. You can discuss anything, not just The Moody Blues, but be respectful to the feelings of others, even if those others are not at this site. It can be a place where you can share your successes and receive comfort for your failures. You can disagree with someone and they with you, and sometimes these will be passionate and strongly put. That's fine. But leave the personal abuse behind. Deliberately annoying someone by constantly needling and/or undermining them will be dealt with. Sometimes we will lose an argument and sulk a little. Well, that happens, but continual sniping becomes very unpleasant indeed and will be stopped to protect its target and maintain the site's atmosphere in a better condition. You'd better read the section on Page Views on the Forum Help page, too.

A whole range of actions may be taken against offenders. At the lowest end: a quiet word perhaps by email. At the other end: exclusion from these boards and a complaint of conduct made to a service provider (all posting IP addresses are logged). There is no tariff rate for a predetermined list of offences. There is no promise that one offender will be dealt with the same as another, or that prior warnings will be given. There will be no assumption of fire because someone yelled "Smoke!" and no assumption made that an argument has to be the fault of both parties, or indeed of only one. If there is trouble, the whole situation will be assessed, and something suitable done about it.

It's a flexible arrangement.

I want people to be happy here, especially I want children to be safe here. So obscene language (words, expressions or ideas) will not be tolerated. But adult humour is, provided that is not taken beyond reasonable limits.

Finally, remember this, please. There is no right to free speech here. It will do no good claiming that censorship is against some perceived right of yours. If you say something I don't like then I can, and probably will, cut it. I will not feel in the slightest guilty for doing that.

For all these words used here, I want the site to be as free as possible. I want people to create and enjoy the wonderful exchanges I know can exist on the Internet, without being hindered by petty rules and intrusive Administrators.
 

Trading

I appreciate that traders are only trying to make a living, but I don't want them doing it on my space and at my expense. Advertisements will get deleted. It's fine by me if a chatting member expresses a want for some item, or someone offers a CD or two to a fellow chatter in course of a conversation, and all that kind of sociable thing. But this is not a place for fly traders to sell their wares.
 
WordSmith, Site Owner