Politics Charter and Guidelines - 12 Feb 2011 - PLEASE READ BEFORE POSTING

GuanYin

Politics Charter 11 March 2009

This Charter lists the general guidelines on conduct in the Politics forum. It is not an exhaustive list and the general rule in the politics forum is "Use common sense when posting".

This list may be updated at any time. Look for the revision dates in the thread title. It is the responsibility of the user to be familiar with the charter.

Boards.ie General Rules
The following are prohibited under Boards.ie general standing rules.

1. Advertising.

2. Racism.

3. Porn.

4. Copyrighted Material.


Politics Forum Rules:

The following are general rules on conduct in the Politics Forum. Some points may be expanded in subsequent posts. Please read the entire thread.

1. Starting Threads

Topics should be relevant to the politics board.

Topics should not be verbatim quotes from some article without comment from the thread starter. Add a comment before or after the post, offering your opinion on the subject, or at the very least, your reason for adding the topic.

Please remember that we are not a blog, a news feed nor an announcement forum - if you are not willing to discuss what you post, then please don't post it.

If a quoted article is available online, please supply a link to the article rather than quoting the entire article verbatim.

This isn't AH or Humour. Threads (and posts) that are not based on serious and legitimate Political discussion will be removed without warning. There are other forums for the silly stuff.


2. Continuing Threads

Replies should be kept on-topic. We realise that threads may naturally "drift", but there are limits.

If you wish to discuss a separate issue which has arisen in a discussion, then take it to a separate thread, and post a link in the original thread if you feel it appropriate.
When offering an opinion, please state so. Please do not present an opinion as "fact" - it only leads to flaming and a moderator may demand further evidence.

When offering fact, please offer relevant linkage, or at least source. Simply saying "a quick search on google...." is often, but not always, enough. If you do not do this upon posting, then please be willing to do so on request.

3. Reporting & Moderation

If you have a problem with a post, USE THE REPORT POST FUNCTION. Do not respond to the post in question.

If they agree with the complaint, moderators may edit/delete any reported post. Moderators will review all complaints and act at their discretion.

Moderators may also edit/delete any post/thread which in their opinion breaks the rules, whether it was reported or not.

When an argument breaks out, we will not care who started it. It takes at least two people to have an argument, and both sides will be dealt with appropriately.

Moderators may warn individuals of unacceptable behaviour, but not on a repetitive basis and if the situation warrants, users may be banned without warning. Repeated infractions will result in bans.

The moderators will not discuss their moderating in the Politics threads. If you wish to discuss moderation, there is one specific thread to do so here. This is the only thread in this forum where moderation may be discussed. If you wish to discuss an issue with a moderator privately or directly, either PM the moderators, or take it to the Helpdesk forum.


4. Civility

Every poster is entitled to their opinion - whether it is ill-informed or not.

NEVER attack a poster. Attack the content of their post. (You can tell someone that their opinion is based on incomplete or incorrect information, but do not call them an idiot.)

Humour is not unreasonable, but please bear in mind that the written word conveys less information than the spoken. What you mean in jest may be taken seriously.

Also, bear in mind that this is not a comedy forum - so keep it to a reasonable and relevant amount.

Putting a smiley at the end of an insult does not make it ok.

Keep your language civil, particularly when referring to other posters.

While good-natured abuse will be tolerated to a certain level, it is ultimately the moderator's decision as to when abuse steps over the line. Please bear this in mind.

If you are going to level allegations of lying at another poster, please be willing to prove that they are lying - that they deliberately intend to deceive. Simply calling someone a liar is not acceptable.

Allegations of trollery will not be accepted in-thread - they will be viewed as simply another form of personal attack, and dealt with accordingly. If you believe someone is trolling, and object, then report them as per "Reporting & Moderation above.

This forum is for discussion and debate, so again, we will not tolerate soapboxing. If you are here to "shout everyone down" with your opinions, we will see you as a negative contributor to the forum and may ban you.

5. Linking Off Site

Linking to Journals, Blogs or any other forum to insult people, or abuse via signatures will be taken as if the insult was posted on this forum.

Some links to material that some people may find disturbing may arise during the course of a discussion. We (the moderators and admins) reserve the right to edit or delete these links if they are determined to be off the topic or otherwise not relevant to the conversation. We may also pull the link if it is particularly graphic or obscene. If you are going to link to potentially offensive material then be sure to include a clear warning as to the nature of the material you have linked.

For example:
Warning! May be offensive to some.

Your link here.

Warning! May be offensive to some.

It is also advisable to give some information as to the nature of the material to which you have linked. For example, if it links to a video clip, include a brief description of what the clip entails.

If the poster in question has included such a warning, then it is recommended that you do not click on the link if you feel you are going to be offended by it's contents. Nevertheless, if you feel that a link goes too far, despite the warning, then it is preferable to use the 'Report to moderator' link to other means of highlighting this. Also bear in mind that we may not be able to respond to this immediately since many of us browse boards at work and may not have the luxury of viewing potentially offensive material at work.

Any poster that adds a link to an illegal organisation or one that advocates illegal activities will be banned from Politics. This includes any links in users Signatures.

Linking to sites that break boards.ie rules will result in a ban from politics and escalation for further action with the site owners.


Posting a link to a video hosted elsewhere does not constitute discussion. Not everyone is able to watch videos, for technical or other reasons, and points raised on a video are almost impossible to refute. It's OK to link to a video, but it should be accompanied by a detailed summary of its contents and arguments, and you must be prepared to discuss it.

Also, this forum is not a soap-box or an advertising medium. Posting here for the sole purpose of attracting traffic to another website, including topical petitions, appeals or opinion polls, is not allowed. However worthy you feel your cause is, others may disagree with you.

6. Duplicate Accounts

Any user suspected by the moderators of using a duplicate account on politics will have the duplicate account(s) and their original account banned permanently from the forum. The moderators may also petition the admins to ban the duplicate accounts and original account from boards permanently as well.

7. Political Canvassing

Do not advertise your party on here in posts.

This is not allowed. Any posts deemed to be solely for the purpose of advertising a party many earn people a ban. If you want advertising, pay for it.

Having a discreet link to party material in your signature is fine, so long as it is clearly identified as such. Similarly if you want to have a picture in your signature of your party's logo, that is also fine. If it's overboard we will ask that you change it. Refusal to do so will result in access removal from Politics.

See further information below.

8. Misinformation

Deliberately misleading posts or posters aiming to spread misinformation will be sanctioned. We do not expect posters to be experts in all areas, however, the onus is on all posters to fact check their information. If a poster is corrected, or information corrected in a thread, any poster who continues to relate misinformation as fact will be sanctioned.

For examples, please see below RE: Immigration

9. Trolling and Respect

We expect all posters to extend respect to the rest of the community. This includes refraining from abuse or conduct that will deliberately upset or provoke others.

For examples, please see below RE: Northern Ireland

GuanYin

Political Canvassing

Mostly in response to this thread because there are accusations of bias being thrown around but also a message to the party faithful of all stripes so we'll have fewer repeat incidents of this.


It is not ok to cut and paste party material into a thread without discussion or analysis. This site is not here so you can freely advertise your party. Starting a thread and then just reeling off the party line will just get it locked and your post edited. The purpose of this forum is debate not to act as a platform for recycling pamphlet material. Plus, we've election season is starting again with Local elections in June. You may think I'm being cynical but today I got a handy list of my rights from a local FG councillor, so open season has begun kiddies. Like Christmas, it starts earlier every year...



If you want to generate discussion about your party's new proposal or whatever link to it on their site*, quote the "headlines" of it and offer some analysis and critique of it showing why you agree with it.

If you're into politics and you're a member of a party this really isn't a very onerous task and if you can't analyse and critique your own party's material and show why you agree with it, why on earth are you a member? Not only does this provide a starting point for discussion but it also allows people to engage you and not your party's stance on issues which again is important in the context of a forum for debate.

Some may think this harsh or overly strict but it's applied fairly to all parties and all interest groups and there is no bias here towards one party or another in these rules.

If you've any questions or comments post below.




*If you think about it for a second this is actually a far better idea than simply cutting and pasting it onto here because once they're on your party's site they might actually look around and read more material...

GuanYin

DISCUSSION ON NORTHERN IRELAND - READ! - 10 March 2009
Please note that any post deemed to incite hatred or promote violence will be dealt with in the strictest possible manner by the politics mods.

Whatever your politics we expect discussion in a manner fit for adults, but first and foremost human beings.

Celebration/promotion/triumphing of murder, violence or aggression will result in an immediate banning from the forum and deletion of your posts.

We can discuss issues with decorum and respect and anyone wishing to engage in discussion that does not fit into the manner outlined here, is welcome to do so on another website.

This applies equally to other discussions such as those on Israel, etc.

GuanYin

Links to Petitions
There have been incidents of posts advertising petitions and online campaigns etc etc on recent emotive topics such as politicians' pay rises and provisional licences.

We have deleted all references to these, and will continue to do so. The rationale for this is simple: this is a discussion board. If you want to talk about a current emotive topic, feel free to do so.

nesf

Linking to your party in every second post:

Please do not do this. You are allowed one link to your party's website in your signature, this is more than enough free advertising and there are zero exceptions to this rule.

Scofflaw

Challenging posters to say whether they're PS workers etc

This is an anonymous board - it's perfectly possible for someone to pretend they are a PS worker posting on work time, a private sector worker doing the same, or to do either and deny that that's what's happening - you have no way of knowing what the truth is. If someone is employed (I assume you mostly are), you have no way of knowing their schedules, obligations, breaks, etc.

Posters therefore don't have any right to ask such an otherwise pointless question as "are you a PS worker posting on taxpayer's time" because it clearly puts the other poster in a cleft stick, where they are discredited whether they answer or not. "I'm just asking" is not a defence.

Whether in a larger social context people have the right to know how PS workers spend their time is not at issue here. This is boards.ie, and every member of it is entitled to equal consideration and equal protection at all times.

moderately,
Scofflaw

Scofflaw

We don't allow video-only posts, never mind video-only opening posts, for a variety of reasons:

a. not everybody can watch a video, be it because they are at work or on a slow connection

b. not everyone will watch a video, because they're a very poor way to get a complex argument across, and are usually therefore full of simplistic emotional drivel

c. they're not the poster's own opinion, and there's no guarantee the poster has digested the arguments contained in a video beyond "sounds good to me"

d. videos are almost invariably propaganda of some kind - you can't unpick their arguments without sitting down and transcribing what's being said, and while you're listening to them you're almost invariably being fed a load of emotional cues through music and imagery.

For those reasons, allowing people to post videos instead of making their own arguments leads to a position where some people are excluded from what is, in any case, likely to be a shallow and sloganistic set of propaganda and counter-propaganda videos that may or may not even be understood by the people posting them.

We call it "argument by Youtube", and it's not something we're even remotely interested in encouraging.

People can post a video of a protest (for example) in order to back a factual claim about that protest, and they can also post a video they feel is of more general interest as long as they are prepared to offer at least a summary of the material in the video giving the relevant points of interest, and are prepared to discuss/defend the offered summary without reference to the video.

moderately,
Scofflaw

nesf

Calling a group of supporters idiots is the same as calling individual supporters of the party on here idiots. Please don't do this.