Updated Forum Rules and Posting Guidelines

[Irondan]

Please note:
This website and forum is owned by Immediate Media Co., Please read before posting - Terms and conditions. 

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The Big Rules
If you break these rules, you're eligible for an instant and possibly permanent ban.

• Using racist, sexist, homophobic or hateful language.
  
• Trolling -  Do not post in order to anger other members or intentionally cause negative reactions. For a given post, this can be a subjective call, but a pattern of such posting or an especially egregious case could get you temporarily or permanently banned.
  
• Posting pornographic or NSFW (Not Safe For Work) material.
  
• Using the forum primarily to drive traffic to another website.
  
• Users may only have ONE account. Opening multiple accounts will result in a ban.
  
• Posting any member's real life information without permission.
  
• Impersonating Administrators, Moderators, or other forum users.
  
• Once you have received a short term ban, this will be taken into consideration when further sanctions are required and considered. Multiple short term bans may make you eligible for a long term ban
  
• Attempting to smartass your way around these rules.

The Other Rules
If you break these rules, you're risking being banned. Think before you post.

• Remaking or complaining about a locked or deleted thread by creating a new thread.
  
• Complaining or boasting about any ban, including comments in signature text and/or avatars.
  
• Hijacking topic without a good reason and/or new information.
  
• Chasing / harassing / flaming other users, regardless of who instigated it.
  
• Insults - Direct personal insult of another forum member (e.g., "You're an idiot.") and other name-calling. People should be able to discuss or even dispute other people's posts without insulting people. You may dispute somebody's opinion but not attack or flame the person who stated it. There are a lot of other non-direct personal insults that won't necessary get you banned instantly, but depending on the context/nature may lead to post editing, post deletion, board warnings, and forum bans. They include telling people to shut up, describing a member as an ignorant person (rather than ignorant about a particular topic), and being extremely or repeatedly rude or sarcastic. It's not your place to tell other users they are not welcome; if they follow the rules, they are welcome. Bottom line: don't try to tick off others and don't make discussions unnecessarily personal. If somebody else insults you, report their post; but don't respond in kind, their post does not give you a license to break the rules by returning their insults.
  
• Harassing other users by having a continuous negative or bitter attitude towards them.
  
• NSFW content - Posting sexual, hateful, racist, homophobic, sexist, provocative or vulgar content, as well as circumventing the censoring options we have put in place.
  
• Derailing a Thread - Posting in a way that causes a thread to stall, derail, go too far off-topic, or be abandoned by others.
  
• Profanity - The profanity filter is there for a reason. Do not circumvent it by using the language we intend to exclude or disguising those words.
  
• Slurs - Slurs and insults against groups of people based on negative-stereotyping and obvious generalizations fall into the category of trolling and will be treated as such.
  
• Taunting - Mocking or taunting another forum member is not acceptable. Posts that ridicule another member or obviously exaggerate or misstate their views may be edited or removed
  
• Harassing the moderators or administrators - Cooperation with moderators is expected. If you have a complaint about a moderator, write directly to a different moderator.
  
• Cruising the boards looking for a fight.
  
• Wishing injury on a rider or worse, on anyone.
  
• Conduct – Please refrain from inflammatory and defamatory comments as well as flaming, taunting, stalking, bullying, trolling and general disrespect. Personal attacks, aggressive messages, and passive-aggressive behavior are not acceptable. If you don’t agree with someone's opinion or comment, say why respectfully, don’t just put them down, tell them they are wrong or insult them
  
• If you have a complaint, concern, or don't agree with a moderators decision, please post your complaint in the "Moderators" thread located in the "About the forum" subforum. Any comments regarding moderation posted elsewhere will be removed. You can post your appreciation/depreciation of a members ban from the forum in the "Member suspension appreciation/depreciation" thread, also located in the "About the forum" subforum. Any comments regarding a member's suspension posted elsewhere will be removed.

Guidelines for Posting

• Post, not the poster (Play the ball, not the man) - If you don't like what a post says, counter the post. Do not attack the poster. Personal comments, such as "Your mother wears army boots", are considered personal attacks, and thus fall under the "looking for a fight" rule. If you are using the word "you", you are probably engaging in a personal attack.
  
• Humor - Humor is difficult to use in writing, and is subject to personal interpretation. If another poster or a moderator finds your "humor" not to be humorous? Then it is up to the mods.
  
• The Clinic - Doping talk is permitted in the "Clinic" sub-forum only. Any talk, jokes, quips or insinuation about doping, doping products or doping practices taking place outside of the "Clinic" is strictly prohibited and will result in a warning or ban from the forum.
  
• Language - Cyclingnews Forums is an English-language site, so we require that posts in the forums be written in English.
  
• Quoting - Malicious misquoting is considered disrespectful conduct and will be moderated according to the Forum Rules.
  
• Stay On Topic - If you disagree with a post and need to say so, be respectful when explaining why and focus on post content and not the member who posted it. Off topic threads and posts may be moved to a more appropriate place or deleted.
  
• Trolling - trolling is a difficult term, with far-ranging definitions. The bottom line is this question: "is it destructive". If a post, or a poster, is destructive to a thread or the forum, by driving away conversation or other posters, they can be considered for warnings/bans. It can be considered destructive if the intent of the poster is nothing more than to provoke or "make fun of" other posters. Some spirited conversations - for instance, in the politics threads - will easily fall into this category. You have to have a thick skin to hold a discussion in the politics threads. But the moderators are aware of this, and it is taken into account.
  
• Proof of point, opinions, and common knowledge - you can't just say "we know Bobby the Bod is doping". You have to provide some proof using linked sources or verifiable material. Or, you can just state "in my opinion". If, on the other hand, it is in the realm of "common knowledge", then it is acceptable to make an unverified statement. Be careful - common knowledge would apply, for instance, at the time of this posting, to Lance Armstrong. But allegations of current doping, and current riders, would not be "common knowledge" at this point. To be common knowledge, the "fact" has to have been published, widely read, and widely agreed with. This point is particularly applicable in The Clinic.
  
• Politics threads - These threads are not for everyone because political discussion can result in strong or conflicting opinions and we want members to understand that by entering these discussions they're liable to engage in some highly passionate conversations. Moderators still enforce all forum rules in these threads but with a little leeway given due to the nature and topic of the discussion. All members are welcome in these threads as all forum rules apply.
  
• Medical, legal, and financial advice - Cycling News Forums have a broad topic coverage. However, when it comes to financial, medical and legal advice, it's always recommended to seek advice from a qualified professional, rather than asking random strangers on the internet. Due to the anonymous nature of the Internet, please be aware that there is no way to confirm the qualifications or motivations of any respondents. Misinformation or bad advice can cause financial, legal or medical harm. Therefore, members are encouraged to seek their own professional independent advice before making significant decisions based on what they read in the CN Forums. Moderation staff will remove material containing medical, legal and financial advice with no prior warning or explanation. Threads that are opened with the sole purpose of seeking medical, legal, or financial advice will be closed.
  
• Leaving - On registering for a user account you accepted that information you posted publicly will remain in our database and on public record, even if you later decide to leave the site or close your account. If you leave our forum (of your own free will or otherwise), you may request the removal of any personally identifiable information linked with your account or content, however we will not delete your user account or any other associated content you have posted on the site.
  
• Look for announcements stickied to the top of any sub-forum you may visit for additional rules not mentioned here.
  
• Our Rules and Guidelines cannot cover everything so we reserve the right at Moderators and Administrators discretion to edit or remove any content and take any action necessary to ensure the smooth running of the site and the protection of members, staff and forum.
  
• We want an open forum, available to all opinions, with freely ranging topics. Sometimes this means the conversations get contentious. Avoid fights, and respect other posters.

Moderation

Any content that violates our Forum Rules and Posting Guidelines may be removed, and interpretation of our rules and guidelines is at the discretion of the moderators and administrator.

Access to our community is a privilege, not a right, anyone who continually violate our rules will be permanently banned (regardless of any other contributions they might have made).

Volunteer moderators help us manage the forums and enforce the forum rules. The moderators cannot read every message, so they rely on members like you to report problem posts. The point of moderation is not to limit discussion, promote or suppress points of view, or any other bias or agenda. The goal of moderation is to keep the forums enjoyable and free from problems that detract from the experiences of our members.

Please remember that reports do not automatically trigger action to be taken by moderators, and some action taken will not be visible to the public forum (board, PM warnings).

The moderators are expected to stay neutral when moderating forum discussions. They are not permitted to moderate to favor or suppress any point of view. In fact, the moderators themselves have a diverse set of views. Their team approach and supervision ensure that personal opinions do not affect moderation. You can express almost any opinion, whether it's a popular opinion or not, as long as you follow Forum Rules. If you insult someone else while expressing an opinion, any warning or discipline you receive is a result of the insult, not the opinion. Think carefully, before posting, whether your opinion is likely to insult or offend anyone and if you are not sure either don't post it, or contact us to check.

Warnings and Bans are based on the rule involved, the nature of the violation, and any history of prior violations. In most cases users get only board warnings or no-action PM warnings for a first violation of forum rules. For repeated rules violations or violations of the most serious rules (e.g., personal insults), warnings or discipline move up the scale: , one day bans, 3 day bans, one week bans or longer and finally perma bans. The goal is to get all users to follow the rules and if a ban was for more than a day it's to show that you need to take the rules seriously.



Please read before posting - Terms and conditions



The team