Forum Rules & Infractions

[gnbrotz]

How the Warning/Infractions System Works

Each "point" earned for a rule violation will increase your Warning Level by 10%. As your overall Warning Level increases, corresponding penalties will be automatically implemented as noted below. See the individual infractions below for information on when earned points expire.

• 20% Moderate new posts for 1 Hour
• 30% Suspend posting privileges for 1 Days
• 50% Suspend posting privileges for 3 Days
• 80% Suspend posting privileges for 1 Week
• 90% Suspend posting privileges for 1 Month
• 100% Permanent ban

There are two categories for rules: General Rules & Defined Rules

General Rules

We expect that users will treat each other with the same respect used if they were talking to each other face to face. If you suspect that a particular post might lead to a physical altercation if offered in person, it may be a sign that you want to reword your post. Unfortunately the relative anonymity of the Internet allows people the world over to say things they would never say in real life without fear of any repercussions.

Try to keep debates civil. While it's fairly well understood that 10 people will give you 20 opinions on the same subject, the key to disagreement is to keep it friendly and sometimes realize that the best option is to agree to disagree. Don't let a debate turn into a personal fight, that is childish and benefits no one.
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Defined Rules

The following is a list of the currently defined infractions, how your Warning Level will be increased, and how long it takes for the infraction to expire. Informal warnings prior to an infraction may be issued at the discretion of Staff, but are not required.

IMPORTANT: The list below is not 'all inclusive'. Acting like a general ass then hiding behind "Which rule did I break?" won't fly here. We expect members to act like adults. If they can't, they will be gone. We're here to learn and support each other, and hopefully have some fun along the way.

Gore/Death

(5 points, Expires in 1 month)
Please do not post pictures or videos of car crashes, shooting victims, war casualties or graphic hunting/gutting/skinning images. There are two exceptions to this rule:

1. Pictures of wounds sustained from negligent handling of firearms.
2. Anything from breaking news.

Harassment

Threats - Blatant (8 points, Expires in 6 months)
Feel the urge to hurt someone? Take it somewhere else.

Personal Attacks - Excessive (2 points, Expires in 1 month)
Blatant and derogatory name-calling will not be tolerated.

Personal Attacks - Warning (1 point, Expires in 1 month)
Debate is obviously a big part of how things work on a forum. Just because you disagree on a point doesn't mean you must do so in a rude manner. There is a certain percentage of people who seem to be unable to agree to disagree and debate civilly. For whatever reason the anonymity of the Internet seems to reduce certain full-grown adults to the mental state of children on a playground. Simply put, such anti-social behavior will not be tolerated on this forum as it breeds contempt and ill-will among all members of the community who can behave civilly.

Illegal Activity or Content

Blatant/Willful (10 points, Never Expires)
Are you knowingly offering or encouraging others to partake in a straw purchase? Mail a firearm directly across state lines to a non-FFL? Sell someone a handgun without going through an FFL/Sheriff? We don't want to be associated with you.

Subtle/Unintentional (2 points, Expires in 6 months)
Same as above, but we don't think you did it knowingly and on purpose. However we still really need to drive home the point of how badly such behavior reflects on our overall membership.

Nudity

Blatant/Pornography (5 points, Expires in 1 week)
If you can see body parts that you can't show at the beach - and we don't mean a nude beach - it's blatant pornography. This includes cartoon and 'artsy' images as well.

Mild/Gray Area (2 points, Expires in 1 month)
If in doubt, don't post it. This includes 'naughty bits' being visible through sheer clothing. If it's "covered" but still visible, it's not appropriate. This includes cartoon and 'artsy' images as well.

Spam

Related (2 points, Expires in 1 month)
Currently, we do not have a Classified section, which would be the appropriate place to list items for sale, etc. If you have a special situation like the potential availability of a group buy on a particular item or perhaps a liquidation of your entire firearms collection, contact us, and we'll see if we can work something out. At this time, we don't want to see individual items listed for sale/trade, etc.

Unsolicited/Unrelated (10 points, Never expires)
We're not interested in your great deals on electronic devices or 'herbal remedies'. If you're breaking this rule, it is doubtful you'll ever read this. This does not apply to posting links to legitimate deals or sales that people might want to jump on (for example if a national chain has a great coupon or offer). Please keep this type of information in the Lounge area.

Trolling

General - Blatant or Repeat (5 points, Expires in 6 months)
See below.

General - Warning (1 point, Expires in 1 month)
If your post is intended to solicit a fight, that's trolling. Don't do it. There is an obvious difference between debate and pushing ones buttons or making things up for the sake of seeing what happens. "Social experiments" are not welcome on this board.

Sock Puppet (5 points, Expires in 6 months)
Creating multiple accounts for the purpose of bolstering your own arguments and causing drama will result in all accounts being banned. Yes, we can figure this out pretty easily. For more information please see the Wikipedia entry on Sock Puppetry. This also includes creating a new account during a temporary ban for another infraction. Doing this may result in an immediate and permanent ban.

[gnbrotz]

Bump for visibility.