Forum Charter: Please Read - Updated 01/05/15 *names updated*

bonkey

Welcome to the Conspiracy Theories forum. Below you'll find the rules and guidelines for using this forum, as well as useful tips and links.

Site Wide Rules and Etiquette

Please see the Boards.ie FAQ/Guidelines Here.
This includes tips on being a better poster.

Posting Guidelines/Etiquette can be found Here. It covers common Boards.ie rules found on all fora.

They include:

• Be Civil (Don't be a dick!)
• Don't post porn
• Don't spam your message
• Don't advertise your company
• Don't abuse people personally
• Don't backseat moderate
• Don't give / request medical or professional advice
• Not reading the rules is against the rules
• Discretion of the Moderator
• Don't post stuff that is not safe for work [NSFW]
• Forbidden topics of discussion

Please take the time to read these site-wide rules, The Admins and Mods have spent a lot of time on them.

If you have issues with a post or a thread, please use the Report Post function to let the mods know. All you have to do is press this button beside each post - - and we will look at it. Please don't post in-thread, responding to posts you have reported.

If you need to contact the Admins/Owners of the site, you can do this by using the contact page - http://www.boards.ie/contact

Forum Specific Charter

The charter can be updated at anytime, so please check regularly.

Some Useful Info

This forum is for the discussion of Conspiracy Theories, as well as the culture surrounding Conspiracy Theories.

This charter is an attempt to set out how these discussions should be conducted, with the aim of creating a lively and interesting forum, both for those interested in discussing these topics, and those interested in reading about them.

The Mods

The forum moderators are degrassinoel and Overheal.


As a general rule, when moderators post in bold, they're posting in their capacity as a moderator.

The Category Moderators are Scofflaw; bluewolf; mike_ie and Taltos. They oversee all forums in the Society & Culture category (where this forum lives).

If you have an issue with moderation, here's what to do:

• Don't argue with moderator decisions in-thread. If nothing else, you're dragging the thread off-topic.
• PM the moderator in question, or all of the forum moderators. Make your point civilly.
• Having discussed things with the moderator(s), if you're still unhappy, start a thread in the Dispute Resolution Forum

Please do not start threads about grievances in the Feedback forum. Thats not its intended purpose.

Please remember that moderating is a voluntary position, not a paid, full-time job. Moderators cannot be at your beck-and-call, 24-7. It may take some time to respond to any queries, PMs, etc.

The Users

It is almost inevitable that you will see large amounts of the users here falling into two main camps, either in general, or on specific issues. On any issue there are those who support the Conspiracy Theory, and those who do not (referred to as "the skeptics", commonly). Whether you fall into one of those groups, or are more of a "fence-sitter", you're welcome here as long as you treat everyone else with respect.

Rules / Guidelines

This forum is for discussion of Conspiracy Theories. As such, everything which is posted should be treated as being a theory, regardless of how the post is worded. Nobody here has access to every bit of information about topics which means the discussions are to be treated as theories.

Please make sure that threads have a clear forum-relevant angle. If the moderators feel there isn't one, they may ask for it to be clarified, as to understand what direction the thread should go. As such, open discussions of current political events, UFO sightings, spiritual/religious issues, the paranormal etc. are all better suited elsewhere.

Similarly, this is not a science forum (which is why we're under Soc, and not Science). While science may be discussed as essential background for a topic, it should be borne in mind that there should be a Conspiracy in the foreground.

The word "Theory" is not limited to the strict scientific meaning of the word. In general, it should be taken to mean an idea which has supporting evidence, which is neither proven true nor false. (See below regarding proof, evidence, etc).

This is not your personal blog. If you're not interested in discussing what it is that you post, then you probably shouldn't be posting it.

This isn't the Debating forum, but it's also not the Creative Writing forum. We're not looking for flights of fancy, but we also don't think that the minutest details of every claim should be held up to the tightest scrutiny. This forum is for the discussion of certain ideas and theories which may not have full supporting evidence behind it.

If you want to start a thread which explicitly excludes certain viewpoints, please contact the mods by PM to discuss it beforehand.

Please don't post in (or bump) old threads. Bumping old threads is considered bad form for several reasons: the thread can contain out of date information, it can be hard for readers to understand the flow of the conversation on thread, and it drags topics up that some users might consider dead, or already dealt with.

This isn't a competition. If you're here to win arguments, you're probably in the wrong place. If you're here to mock or antagonize others for what they believe, you're definitely in the wrong place. Using "point-scoring" phrases such as asking other posters to admit that they are wrong, admit you are right, bringing up past things where a poster was wrong, claiming they can't answer your question etc will be viewed as being antagonistic towards other posters and will be actionable by infractions or bans. This is a discussion forum, not a competition.

If you're here to discuss why you believe differently to others... Great. However, comments such as "Anyone who doesn't agree with this is an idiot and is blind to the obvious truth before them" etc are not acceptable. Likewise, posting comments such as "So what's the conspiracy?" or "This conspiracy is nonsense" etc are also not acceptable. If you strongly disagree with a theory or find it to be ridiculous, simply do not post in the thread, and allow others to discuss it if they wish.

Don't make the natives restless. This is a catch-all rule for general trolling, bitching and similar. Posting in a manner purely to get a reaction from someone will not be tolerated. If a moderator feels that said poster is doing this intentionally or is the cause of the mess, then that poster can and will be infracted and/or banned.

Please don't use sweeping generalisations which indirectly attack or belittle other posters here. Posts which are insulting to those who believe conspiracies / the mainstream, for example, may be considered to be insulting to other posters, and as such will not be tolerated.

When posting links to documents or videos give as much information as you can. In particular with regards to videos, give the name of the video if there is one or a brief description, the running time and the creator or show it may be taken from if it is known. The more detail that is available for a link or video means it will be easier to search for and other users will also know what to expect from it.

BUT... don't quote a whole article. Due to the copyright debacle earlier this year, there was a bit of confusion as to whether or not quoting articles constituted copyright infringement. As a result, it has been decided that quoting articles is allowed, but only the 1st paragraph or so, or whatever you feel is the most relevant part of the article is. Then link to the article, if possible.

With regards to linked websites, please only discuss the content of the conspiracy and do not dismiss a theory out of hand due to the poster proposing it or the source used. This merely serves to derail the discussion.

Don't post graphic images. Instead link to them with a warning of their graphic content.

The very nature of a conspiracy theory means that it will be unpalatable to some. Individuals, Corporations, Interest Groups, and collectives of all sorts will inevitably be suspected (and accused) of involvement in any manner of activities.

This is not a license for anyone to ignore site-wide guidelines or the rest of this charter.

If you feel that a post (or poster) is doing so, then report the post and do not respond to it.

If you are not satisfied by the moderator response to this, then you should PM all of the forum moderators to discuss the issue. Similarly, if you see no response after a reasonable duration and wish to discuss the issue further, please PM the mods.

Opinions, Facts, Proof and Evidence

There should be a reasonable give-and-take in terms of how strongly someone expresses a belief in the truth (or falsity) of something, and how others react to it.

Everything on this forum should be treated as being a theory. That means there might not be full evidence behind it. If you disagree with the theory, rather than asking for evidence to support it, offer evidence which counters it.

Please remember that there are many forms of evidence. As well as cold hard facts, there is anecdotal evidence, circumstantial evidence, and any number of other things. Some people value these differently to others. Just because you don't find something to be convincing as evidence doesn't mean that it isn't evidence, nor that someone else can't find it convincing.

Some Useful Links:

Other than this charter thread, we've a few stickied threads for some specific purposes:

LINKS: Conspiracy Theory Resources. A Work in progress. This is for you to post your links, book titles, etc. of stuff you think may be worthwhile for others to check out. If you don't want to discuss the topic, this is where you can "spread the word".

Feedback and Proposals This is where we can discuss changes to the forum, and where you can let us know what you think. Please remember that all rules regarding behaviour still apply... Don't try and use this thread as an arena to attack other users.

CT Lounge: The Grassy Knoll This is our off-topic thread for idle chit-chat, humour, etc. As with F&P, you still have to behave here.

Penn

Updated charter:

Changes are in unbolded red text for the next month or so to give everyone a chance to notice it. Though it might be an idea to re-read the whole charter to refamiliarise yourselves with the rules.