Rapscallion
07-08-2006, 02:13 PM
Took me a little while to find out how to alter the registration rules text. I'll post the rules from the last incarnation here for now, but things will change somewhat, such as the warning system (don't have that feature on here).
In short, play nice, but the rules are as follows:
*********************
Customers Suck! is a site that is dedicated to relieving the stress of the daily grind at work. So please, first and foremost, have fun! Board Rules These rules we expect members to follow for the sake of other members. Please make sure to read them before registering. “I didn’t know I wasn’t supposed to do that” doesn’t get you off the hook after the fact.
A. Formal Terms
1. Intellectual Property
By uploading materials to any Forum or submitting any materials to Customers Suck!, you automatically grant us a perpetual, royalty-free, irrevocable, non-exclusive right and license to use, reproduce, modify, adapt, publish, translate, publicly perform and display, create derivative works from and distribute such materials or incorporate such materials into any form, medium, or technology now known or later developed anywhere. In addition, you warrant that all so-called moral rights in those materials have been waived.
2. Free Speech
This site is owned, operated, and maintained by Rapscallion. While we do allow members to speak their minds the only person that actually has complete freedom of speech on Customers Suck! is Rapscallion. For those interested in the First Amendment, it doesn't cover private arenas and it doesn't cover servers that are not in the US. Take the hint.
3. Site Operations
Customers Suck! operates on software that at times requires updates for security and performance issues. Because of upgrades we can not guarantee that features, sections, or any portion of the database will remain on Customers Suck! There is always the chance that you may have to re-register.
4. Policy adjustments
This Customers Suck! rules and policy list may be adjusted by the site administrator at any time for any reason whatsoever, and is perpetually available for review in this section of the site. It is each member's responsibility to keep current on whatever adjustments are made to the list. In most cases, an announcement will be made in the forums if there are changes to the rules. In any event, please check back here periodically to make sure you're up to date. "You didn't tell me" isn't a valid excuse for breaking the rules of this site.
5. Customers Suck!’s Sucky Customers
People who complain like sucky customers on Customers Suck! will be treated like sucky customers. Yes, the mods will be talking about you...
B. Enforcement
1. Staff authority
Customers Suck! moderators have absolute authority, and are granted unequivocal discretion at editing or striking any post; or warning, restricting, and banning members as necessary if a member breaks any of the rules of the board. Furthermore, Rapscallion has the right to do whatever he wishes. Remember, ownership has its privileges!
2. Misconduct (Warning Points)
This forum operates on a 10 point infraction system. Offenses adding up to 10 points will ban a member, but other levels will enforce moderation status on you. There will be offenses that will get you banned regardless of how many points you have. Warning points and banning that have valid reasons in Rapscallion's eyes will not be removed or expire.
3. Appeal
Should you feel you have been treated unfairly by any Customers Suck! moderator, you may appeal to Rapscallion. Don't do this in the open forums. Instead, please contact him with a Private Message and wait a reasonable amount of time for a response. Remember Rapscallion has a life too and can’t respond to you message within moments. Additionally, if you do want to discuss the pros and cons of a situation with the responding moderator, do so via private message. Openly arguing will risk infraction points.
C. Forum Guidelines
1. Don't Give Out Personal Information
In order to register on these forums, we require an email address. This is so we can verify your account status in case of a lost password, illegal access to your account, etc. Your email address may also be used by the board staff to contact you on issues that require your attention. Please note that ONLY mods and admins have access to your email address, and under no circumstances whatsoever will they disclose it to anyone else. Other members of the board do not have your contact information, unless you provide it to them on your own. Whether or not to share personal information such as your email address, your AIM, your ICQ, your name, your city, your picture, etc., is YOUR decision and YOUR responsibility, so please be careful. We cannot be held accountable for any problems that result from your giving out this information. For instance if you post you picture understand that someone may recognize you. (Due to the nature of this site, we recommend that you give out as little as possible.) By the same token, do not give out the private information of anyone else - be they fellow forumers, SCs, or whatever.
2. No Offensive or Controversial Content
Offensive and controverial content on this board includes derogatory comments directed at any particular race, religion, or sex; excessive profanity; lewd or lascivious posts; plus anything that the moderators may deem offensive to a significant number of our members. If you see a rude or inappropriate post, please report it to the moderators immediately, and it will be dealt with as they see fit. However, keep in mind that due to the vast size of Customers Suck!, we can't promise that every reported post will be removed from the boards. With as many people as visit here, something is ALWAYS going to be offensive to someone else; and whether or not a reported post will be edited or deleted will ultimately be left to the discretion of the moderators. So, if another member's comments consistently rub you the wrong way, it's best to ignore them by adding them to your ignore list. Simply put; while we do our best to keep this board friendly, we cannot and will not remove every single post that ticks someone off. We could put up an extensive list of what is acceptable or not, but you have common sense so use it. If a moderator tells you that you are going over the limit of what we consider acceptable, it's a learning experience. As a good guideline, we will always consider the words 'nigger' and 'cracker' unacceptable unless you are reporting the words of a sucky customer. In a similar fashion, please do not use the word 'rape' to refer to anything other than a sexual assault on another person - people who have been raped don't consider the usage of the word to refer to monetary etc matters. Yes, we know what the dictionary says. Bollocks to that. We also do not want a debate site - there are plenty out there, so keep any proselytising or damning of politics or religion etc off this site.
3. Copyrighted material
Copyrighted material cannot be posted on our forum unless the source is clearly stated and verified, preferably with a corresponding link to the original work. Additionally, please do not cut-and-paste any materials, text or otherwise, from any other web site onto Customers Suck! unless you can show that permission has been granted by the other site's owner. A working link to said material is OK. (If you are unable to link to the material in question, please paraphrase it in your own words, rather than copy it verbatim.) A final word about copyrights: if you're unsure whether or not something is copyrighted, it's best to assume that it is.
4. No Pornographic Material
There will be absolutely NO linking to or posting of pornographic material on Customers Suck!. Violation of this rule will result in an immediate and permanent banning. Links to sites which may contain adult content (i.e., a site with naked people, adult jokes, etc.) must have a warning before the link to warn people that the link may contain adult content. Remember, some of our members are surfing at work and adult images will get them in trouble.
5. No Commercial Posts Or "Spam"
Posting of advertisements for products or services, links to auctions (this does include links to your ebay auctions), affiliate links, links to promote websites, and so forth is not allowed. Links to your personal site that are posted more than once in a week's time frame are considered spam as well. If you are wishing to post a link for a charity event or something of that nature please clear it with Rapscallion first. Simple links to livejournals or non-profit personal pages in your signature are fine. Please don't respond even with disdain to spam. It only encourages them. Just use the report button.
6. No Post Padding, Public Message Requests, Trolling, or Flaming Post Padding
Post padding is worthless posts with no content, and/or nonsensical posts, which are made solely to inflate your post count. Also posting mulitple posts when one post would do it is considered post padding. These are not allowed on Customers Suck! Public Message Requests: Please do not post public requests for anyone to send you email, IM you, or chat with you, save in threads designated by the moderation team. This is a place to exchange information, not a wide-open chat room. If there is some unusual circumstance in which you feel you MUST make such a public appeal, contact Rapscallion and get his okay first. Trolling: Posting of inflammatory messages with the sole purpose of generating an angry response ("trolling") is not allowed. Please do NOT reply to such messages, as this only encourages the troll to post more. Rather, click on "Report this post to a moderator" and they will be dealt with. Flaming: Members cannot post messages with the sole intent to harass, insult, belittle, or threaten another member or guest. By the same token, members who participate in what the moderators deem as a flame war will be punished. If what appears to be a flame war breaks out, do not participate in it. Instead, report it to the moderators immediately.
7. No Malicious Code or Programs
Anyone attempting to post malicious code in an attempt to break into another member's computer, uploading attachments containing viruses, or surfing Customers Suck! where a virus on your computer attempts to disrupt Customers Suck! may result in your immediate banning. Intentional attacks of this nature may also be dealt with legally at the discretion of the site's owner, and the owner of the site's host.
8. No All Cap/Slang/Non-English Threads
Occasional use of abbreviations (LOL, ROTFL, KWIM?, TMI, etc.) is okay, quotes in your signature that are in a foreign language are okay (if verified by a mod), but not entire posts in a foreign language, nor nonsense like "hey w00t I sayz I'm cool cuz I c u l8ter." It's annoying to other members and your ancestors will disinherit you. If you do feel the need to post anything in a language other than English, please include a translation along with it. Otherwise, the post will be edited or deleted.
9. Respect Other Members
Please remember that for every member there is a human being behind the screen name. Please respect them. It's fine to disagree with another member's opinions; but if you choose to debate them, stick to the issue and do not resort to flames, personal attacks, or even grammar flames. If you feel that you couldn't say something directly to a person's face, then it's probably not a good idea to post it as a message. Also, bear in mind that this site is visited by people worldwide. There are people here of many different nationalities, backgrounds, races, religions. Please treat them with the same courtesy you would expect for yourself.
10. No Disclosure of Personal Information
No posting of anyone’s personal information. No exceptions. Posting a member’s and/or customer’s personal information will result in an immediate banning.
11. Signatures, Avatars, and Titles
The code will allow you to put links to personal non-profit sites in your signature. You are not allowed to use 'quote' code in a signature, but we do allow a small number of smileys. You are allowed four lines, with a maximum of one space between lines/brief conversations. We allow you to use avatars, but please do other members and the board the courtesy of nothing too grievous in there, and the same goes for custom titles. The moderating team will let you know if you are pushing it. Quotes that are not in English must be checked by moderators before being used. Talk to the moderators - we're lovely!
12. Other Sites
Don't start fights on other sites in the name of this board. If it can be proven that someone has started to throw crap around somewhere else, we reserve to right to bring down the weight of this board on them.
13. Illegality
Customers Suck! does not condone illegal acts, such as tampering with food, violence against others (save in self-defence), or theft etc.
14. Spoilers
If discussing the latest hot book, movie, TV show, sporting event, etc., and you KNOW you are posting a spoiler, please indicate this in your thread title.
Remember that some of our members are in different time zones, and are not seeing the same shows, etc. at the same time you are. Please be courteous in that regard, and either wait to post, or, again, indicate in the title that there is a spoiler contained. Do not give away the spoiler in the thread title, or your post will be removed, and an infraction may be issued.
If it's a single post in reply to a thread, and it contains possible spoilers, then indicate this at the very start of your post so members can skip over. Some people, as a courtesy, will make their post in a font that's the same color as the background and then indicate that it must be highlighted to be seen.
D. Disputes
1. Member disputes
Whenever possible, disputes against other (non-staff) forum members should be handled away from the open forum. The best thing to do is to place that member on your ignore list. If ever you have a particular problem with another forum member that can't be handled by the ignore button, please email or PM a moderator and explain the situation.
2. Disputes against staff
This forum operates with a clear chain of command, and it shall be used for any member disputes against the board staff. Challenging a Customers Suck! moderator or administrator on the public forum is regarded as the poorest of personal and professional courtesy, and will not be tolerated. If you feel that a mod or admin has treated you unfairly or is behaving in an inappropriate manner, contact Rapscallion and discuss it with him.
3. Reporting abuse
Abuse reporting should be as specific as possible. If there is an immediate or potential problem regarding what someone has posted in a public forum, please advise a moderator. For abuse of forum features (such as spam through the forum PM or email system), please contact Rapscallion.
In short, play nice, but the rules are as follows:
*********************
Customers Suck! is a site that is dedicated to relieving the stress of the daily grind at work. So please, first and foremost, have fun! Board Rules These rules we expect members to follow for the sake of other members. Please make sure to read them before registering. “I didn’t know I wasn’t supposed to do that” doesn’t get you off the hook after the fact.
A. Formal Terms
1. Intellectual Property
By uploading materials to any Forum or submitting any materials to Customers Suck!, you automatically grant us a perpetual, royalty-free, irrevocable, non-exclusive right and license to use, reproduce, modify, adapt, publish, translate, publicly perform and display, create derivative works from and distribute such materials or incorporate such materials into any form, medium, or technology now known or later developed anywhere. In addition, you warrant that all so-called moral rights in those materials have been waived.
2. Free Speech
This site is owned, operated, and maintained by Rapscallion. While we do allow members to speak their minds the only person that actually has complete freedom of speech on Customers Suck! is Rapscallion. For those interested in the First Amendment, it doesn't cover private arenas and it doesn't cover servers that are not in the US. Take the hint.
3. Site Operations
Customers Suck! operates on software that at times requires updates for security and performance issues. Because of upgrades we can not guarantee that features, sections, or any portion of the database will remain on Customers Suck! There is always the chance that you may have to re-register.
4. Policy adjustments
This Customers Suck! rules and policy list may be adjusted by the site administrator at any time for any reason whatsoever, and is perpetually available for review in this section of the site. It is each member's responsibility to keep current on whatever adjustments are made to the list. In most cases, an announcement will be made in the forums if there are changes to the rules. In any event, please check back here periodically to make sure you're up to date. "You didn't tell me" isn't a valid excuse for breaking the rules of this site.
5. Customers Suck!’s Sucky Customers
People who complain like sucky customers on Customers Suck! will be treated like sucky customers. Yes, the mods will be talking about you...
B. Enforcement
1. Staff authority
Customers Suck! moderators have absolute authority, and are granted unequivocal discretion at editing or striking any post; or warning, restricting, and banning members as necessary if a member breaks any of the rules of the board. Furthermore, Rapscallion has the right to do whatever he wishes. Remember, ownership has its privileges!
2. Misconduct (Warning Points)
This forum operates on a 10 point infraction system. Offenses adding up to 10 points will ban a member, but other levels will enforce moderation status on you. There will be offenses that will get you banned regardless of how many points you have. Warning points and banning that have valid reasons in Rapscallion's eyes will not be removed or expire.
3. Appeal
Should you feel you have been treated unfairly by any Customers Suck! moderator, you may appeal to Rapscallion. Don't do this in the open forums. Instead, please contact him with a Private Message and wait a reasonable amount of time for a response. Remember Rapscallion has a life too and can’t respond to you message within moments. Additionally, if you do want to discuss the pros and cons of a situation with the responding moderator, do so via private message. Openly arguing will risk infraction points.
C. Forum Guidelines
1. Don't Give Out Personal Information
In order to register on these forums, we require an email address. This is so we can verify your account status in case of a lost password, illegal access to your account, etc. Your email address may also be used by the board staff to contact you on issues that require your attention. Please note that ONLY mods and admins have access to your email address, and under no circumstances whatsoever will they disclose it to anyone else. Other members of the board do not have your contact information, unless you provide it to them on your own. Whether or not to share personal information such as your email address, your AIM, your ICQ, your name, your city, your picture, etc., is YOUR decision and YOUR responsibility, so please be careful. We cannot be held accountable for any problems that result from your giving out this information. For instance if you post you picture understand that someone may recognize you. (Due to the nature of this site, we recommend that you give out as little as possible.) By the same token, do not give out the private information of anyone else - be they fellow forumers, SCs, or whatever.
2. No Offensive or Controversial Content
Offensive and controverial content on this board includes derogatory comments directed at any particular race, religion, or sex; excessive profanity; lewd or lascivious posts; plus anything that the moderators may deem offensive to a significant number of our members. If you see a rude or inappropriate post, please report it to the moderators immediately, and it will be dealt with as they see fit. However, keep in mind that due to the vast size of Customers Suck!, we can't promise that every reported post will be removed from the boards. With as many people as visit here, something is ALWAYS going to be offensive to someone else; and whether or not a reported post will be edited or deleted will ultimately be left to the discretion of the moderators. So, if another member's comments consistently rub you the wrong way, it's best to ignore them by adding them to your ignore list. Simply put; while we do our best to keep this board friendly, we cannot and will not remove every single post that ticks someone off. We could put up an extensive list of what is acceptable or not, but you have common sense so use it. If a moderator tells you that you are going over the limit of what we consider acceptable, it's a learning experience. As a good guideline, we will always consider the words 'nigger' and 'cracker' unacceptable unless you are reporting the words of a sucky customer. In a similar fashion, please do not use the word 'rape' to refer to anything other than a sexual assault on another person - people who have been raped don't consider the usage of the word to refer to monetary etc matters. Yes, we know what the dictionary says. Bollocks to that. We also do not want a debate site - there are plenty out there, so keep any proselytising or damning of politics or religion etc off this site.
3. Copyrighted material
Copyrighted material cannot be posted on our forum unless the source is clearly stated and verified, preferably with a corresponding link to the original work. Additionally, please do not cut-and-paste any materials, text or otherwise, from any other web site onto Customers Suck! unless you can show that permission has been granted by the other site's owner. A working link to said material is OK. (If you are unable to link to the material in question, please paraphrase it in your own words, rather than copy it verbatim.) A final word about copyrights: if you're unsure whether or not something is copyrighted, it's best to assume that it is.
4. No Pornographic Material
There will be absolutely NO linking to or posting of pornographic material on Customers Suck!. Violation of this rule will result in an immediate and permanent banning. Links to sites which may contain adult content (i.e., a site with naked people, adult jokes, etc.) must have a warning before the link to warn people that the link may contain adult content. Remember, some of our members are surfing at work and adult images will get them in trouble.
5. No Commercial Posts Or "Spam"
Posting of advertisements for products or services, links to auctions (this does include links to your ebay auctions), affiliate links, links to promote websites, and so forth is not allowed. Links to your personal site that are posted more than once in a week's time frame are considered spam as well. If you are wishing to post a link for a charity event or something of that nature please clear it with Rapscallion first. Simple links to livejournals or non-profit personal pages in your signature are fine. Please don't respond even with disdain to spam. It only encourages them. Just use the report button.
6. No Post Padding, Public Message Requests, Trolling, or Flaming Post Padding
Post padding is worthless posts with no content, and/or nonsensical posts, which are made solely to inflate your post count. Also posting mulitple posts when one post would do it is considered post padding. These are not allowed on Customers Suck! Public Message Requests: Please do not post public requests for anyone to send you email, IM you, or chat with you, save in threads designated by the moderation team. This is a place to exchange information, not a wide-open chat room. If there is some unusual circumstance in which you feel you MUST make such a public appeal, contact Rapscallion and get his okay first. Trolling: Posting of inflammatory messages with the sole purpose of generating an angry response ("trolling") is not allowed. Please do NOT reply to such messages, as this only encourages the troll to post more. Rather, click on "Report this post to a moderator" and they will be dealt with. Flaming: Members cannot post messages with the sole intent to harass, insult, belittle, or threaten another member or guest. By the same token, members who participate in what the moderators deem as a flame war will be punished. If what appears to be a flame war breaks out, do not participate in it. Instead, report it to the moderators immediately.
7. No Malicious Code or Programs
Anyone attempting to post malicious code in an attempt to break into another member's computer, uploading attachments containing viruses, or surfing Customers Suck! where a virus on your computer attempts to disrupt Customers Suck! may result in your immediate banning. Intentional attacks of this nature may also be dealt with legally at the discretion of the site's owner, and the owner of the site's host.
8. No All Cap/Slang/Non-English Threads
Occasional use of abbreviations (LOL, ROTFL, KWIM?, TMI, etc.) is okay, quotes in your signature that are in a foreign language are okay (if verified by a mod), but not entire posts in a foreign language, nor nonsense like "hey w00t I sayz I'm cool cuz I c u l8ter." It's annoying to other members and your ancestors will disinherit you. If you do feel the need to post anything in a language other than English, please include a translation along with it. Otherwise, the post will be edited or deleted.
9. Respect Other Members
Please remember that for every member there is a human being behind the screen name. Please respect them. It's fine to disagree with another member's opinions; but if you choose to debate them, stick to the issue and do not resort to flames, personal attacks, or even grammar flames. If you feel that you couldn't say something directly to a person's face, then it's probably not a good idea to post it as a message. Also, bear in mind that this site is visited by people worldwide. There are people here of many different nationalities, backgrounds, races, religions. Please treat them with the same courtesy you would expect for yourself.
10. No Disclosure of Personal Information
No posting of anyone’s personal information. No exceptions. Posting a member’s and/or customer’s personal information will result in an immediate banning.
11. Signatures, Avatars, and Titles
The code will allow you to put links to personal non-profit sites in your signature. You are not allowed to use 'quote' code in a signature, but we do allow a small number of smileys. You are allowed four lines, with a maximum of one space between lines/brief conversations. We allow you to use avatars, but please do other members and the board the courtesy of nothing too grievous in there, and the same goes for custom titles. The moderating team will let you know if you are pushing it. Quotes that are not in English must be checked by moderators before being used. Talk to the moderators - we're lovely!
12. Other Sites
Don't start fights on other sites in the name of this board. If it can be proven that someone has started to throw crap around somewhere else, we reserve to right to bring down the weight of this board on them.
13. Illegality
Customers Suck! does not condone illegal acts, such as tampering with food, violence against others (save in self-defence), or theft etc.
14. Spoilers
If discussing the latest hot book, movie, TV show, sporting event, etc., and you KNOW you are posting a spoiler, please indicate this in your thread title.
Remember that some of our members are in different time zones, and are not seeing the same shows, etc. at the same time you are. Please be courteous in that regard, and either wait to post, or, again, indicate in the title that there is a spoiler contained. Do not give away the spoiler in the thread title, or your post will be removed, and an infraction may be issued.
If it's a single post in reply to a thread, and it contains possible spoilers, then indicate this at the very start of your post so members can skip over. Some people, as a courtesy, will make their post in a font that's the same color as the background and then indicate that it must be highlighted to be seen.
D. Disputes
1. Member disputes
Whenever possible, disputes against other (non-staff) forum members should be handled away from the open forum. The best thing to do is to place that member on your ignore list. If ever you have a particular problem with another forum member that can't be handled by the ignore button, please email or PM a moderator and explain the situation.
2. Disputes against staff
This forum operates with a clear chain of command, and it shall be used for any member disputes against the board staff. Challenging a Customers Suck! moderator or administrator on the public forum is regarded as the poorest of personal and professional courtesy, and will not be tolerated. If you feel that a mod or admin has treated you unfairly or is behaving in an inappropriate manner, contact Rapscallion and discuss it with him.
3. Reporting abuse
Abuse reporting should be as specific as possible. If there is an immediate or potential problem regarding what someone has posted in a public forum, please advise a moderator. For abuse of forum features (such as spam through the forum PM or email system), please contact Rapscallion.