Forum behaviour guidelines needed?

[cille]

here's something i've been thinking of:


there's been some threads concerning speculations about damien and the band members' (very) personal life, and i kinda think maybe there oughtta be rules for keeping that sort of gossip to a minimum? i remember when i first joined here i was quite shocked that ppl actually discussed wether or not damien and lisa were lovers, as i came from a hawksley workman forum (http://www.papershoes.com/board/) where they have some guidelines (http://www.papershoes.com/board/index.php?showtopic=1036) as to how personal the threads can be regarding hawksley's personal life/sexual orientation, etc., and so i found it outrageous that ppl here even thought it was any of their bid'ness. now i seem to have grown used to it, which bothers me a bit.


should we also have such guidelines here?


i am not sure about it myself, cause of course a lot of us speculate about personal stuff cause we are so fascinated with the music we wanna know about the ppl behind, and complete censoring that out can become to oppressive for the free word here too. on the other hand it isnt our concern us who damien and the band date/screw or what they eat/drink/smoke and why, etc. - those things belong to their private sphere which they're entitled to have to themselves.


censorship would be bad, i think, but maybe some guidelines out of respect for our heros/ines?

[cille]

(ps - that meryle moderator gal at the hawksley soup kitchen *sigh* is keeping a very different, much harshertone than our friendly emmett - bless you, em!smileys/smiley32.gif)

[Vienna]

i think it's a good idea you raise here cille!! smileys/smiley32.gif


and kudos to emmett as always!! smileys/smiley4.gif

[#Ian#]

Well I've always found this forum to be quite self regulating on the "personal info" front. New people come here and ask but generally none of the regulars will comment on it. Telling people to mind their own business just causes unnessecery conflict and keeps the issue to the forefront of people s minds. I think most people here would share my opinion that seeing as they don't use their private lives as a publicity tool their privacy should be respected ( unlike say Posh and Becks who have used their marriage as one giant publicity tool ). The exception to this was the thread about Glen's comments in the independent which seemed to bring the issue into the public domain and even then the consensus was "if its true then good luck to them and thats it", as it happened we got burned on that one and thinking about it now it still sickens me the way that Glen's comments were misrepresented.

I don't take issue with smoking/drinking/drugs threads if its based on established knowledge. Damien smokes hash, he has said so himself and has suggested that Tomo and Shane do to, I'm unaware of any evidence that Vyv or Lisa do but given their ages and the line of work that they are in its reasonable to speculate that they partake on occasion. However if someone were to come here and call Damien a junkie with no evidence to back it up then thats a different manner, personally I was offended when someone said that Lisa looked "spun" at Boneroo.

[Henry]

Damien smokes hash, he has said so himself and has suggested that Tomo and Shane do to, I'm unaware of any evidence that Vyv or Lisa do but given their ages and the line of work that they are in its reasonable to speculate that they partake on occasion. However if someone were to come here and call Damien a junkie with no evidence to back it up then thats a different manner, personally I was offended when someone said that Lisa looked "spun" at Boneroo.


no reason to get offended by that though... if you just mentioned thatit's reasonable assume that she does those sorts of things as well.


for me personally, it's a huge turn off to know (now) that damien and the band gets involved in that sort of thing.. smileys/smiley11.gifhe should keep that to himself, if he does.

[Patricia]

I agree there should be a guideline, thanks for suggesting it Cille. I suggestedseveral rules in Simon's thread that might be helpful.

[Gatsby]

maybe also the idea of having moderators where they could lock topics and direct people where to go... i suggested this a while ago but maybe now we should put it into action with the place getting so busy...

[Patricia]

I thought about it too. Maybe emmett should choose moderators too, but not for the everything else forum.

[#Ian#]

no reason to get offended by that though... if you just mentioned that*it's reasonable assume that she does those sorts of things as well.</font>


&lt;FONT face=Arial&gt;for me personally, it's a huge turn off to know (now) that damien and the band gets involved in that sort of thing.. smileys/smiley11.gif*he should keep that to himself, if he does. </font>

Its one thing to say that maybe she smokes the occasional joint, its another thing alltogether to acuse her of being tweaker.

[Aisling]

i think board mods would be a good idea. but the guidelines sound awful strict

[SisterMidnight]

I'm actually very new to this message board stuff-- Eskimo Friends is the first place I've ever posted (other than the "evil" official site a few times before I found this place). But forum moderators don't sound like a bad idea. But I don't know about guidelines per se-- Emmett seems to do a pretty good job of keeping nasty people in check, but with it getting busier around here maybe the help of a few good moderators is warranted.


That being said I'm totally against censorship in any form!!! When I first came here it really bugged me that my cuss words were bleeped out... no one had ever bleeped me before! smileys/smiley3.gifBut I've gotten used to it and it does kind of set the tone for a friendly exchange... but as one member once said-- you really fill in the blanks (or stars as the case may be) in your head so..... smileys/smiley5.gifAnyway, let free speech and tolerance reign but keep it reasonable and respectful, I guess.

[Kristi]

I think ill add my opinion in here too... a couple moderators would be a brill idea me thinks - as far as "guidelines", i agree with Ian on the notion that the respectful regulars are pretty good at keeping in check when certain unnecessary topics arise, but theforum is reallyexpanding, which is great!,but we cant really control the topics being created andEm does an ace job, buti know there are some eskimos he would trust with some moderator responsibilities! that said,I havent seen simos thread so im not sure what all else has been mentioned on this idea, but im wondering what Em thinks? ... EM! Where arrrre you love??

[Enoch]

Personally I don't thnk we need moderators here. As was mentioned above, we keep each other in check. And there are enough reasonably minded regulars here to form the framework of a decent forum.

[administrator]

well my feelings are... i don't want there to be a tonne of rules regulating everything here. but i think i will add some guidelines for posting in the forum, to make it easier and friendlier for everyone.

i don't like having to interfere with anything that's going on, but i have had to ban some people from using the site for being offensive.

i don't like the idea of having a bunch of moderators, as that seems to cause more friction than is necessary. i don't think there's any big problem that needs to be addressed. if anyone has a problem with any of the posts then tell me and i'll do something about it.

the "everything else" forum is for posting about anything. people might not like some of these threads, but i think that if you find them frivolous or stupid then just stay away from this section. in the guidelines i'll ask people to use more descriptive topic subjects to make it easier to see which topics interest you. as far as i'm concerned, the "damien rice" and other forums do stay pretty much on topic. of course it will tend to get quieter there now that damien is taking a break from touring. so if people have anything they've always wondered about damien's music then maybe now's the time to start a discussion on it.

as for creating guidelines for posting, then i'm open to that. here's what i'm thinking:

-------------------

- Please post in the right forum, and try to keep your posts on topic as much as possible. The Everything Else forum is where you can go as off topic as much as you like.

- Use a descriptive topic subject - to make it easy for people to find a topic they are interested in.

- Eskimo Friends ecourages new members to post! The "Introduce Yourself" section is the perfect place to begin - why not tell everyone where you're from and how you became a Damien Rice fan.

- If you have any questions then try to do a quick search to see if it has been asked before, or consult the Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) page. Links to both the FAQ page and the search page can be found at the top of the forum.

- Personal attacks - I've had to ban some people for attacking people on the forum, so please if you have any criticisms then keep them to criticisms of ideas, not a person's character.

- No pornographic, sexually offensive, sexually explicit, or objectifying material. This includes suggestive images, graphics, and comments. We're trying to keep a friendly atmosphere here for Eskimo Friends of all ages.

- Respect the privacy of others. Do not post other's phone numbers, addresses, pictures, etc., without their permission. Also please respect the privacy of Damien's personal life, and those of his band.

- One account per member please. If you forget your password then e-mail me.

- No Cap Locks. Please do not post messages with the subject or post all in capital letters

[Donsie B!]

smileys/smiley32.gif

[cille]

GOOD GUIDELINES THERE, EMMETT - BUT WHAT'S WRONG WITH CAP LOCKS? i mean, do they mess up the forum or are they just annoying to some ppl?

[Patricia]

They just look offensive. On the internet, symbollically, they mean that the person who uses them is screaming.

[Lemonhead]

smileys/smiley36.gifi hate caps lock!! great words emmett, fair but not too strict!

[cille]

ok. i dont feel like that at allwith caps lock, but fair enough.