NEW CHARTER - last updated 26/11/2020 *Please read before posting!*

Please read the FAQ before posting to understand what the forum is about and to make sure your post is relevant to the forum.

What can I post here?

First and foremost: This forum is for the discussion of topics from a veg*n’s point of view. We do welcome non-veg*n input, but do bear in mind that this forum is first and foremost for the veg*ns of boards to have their say, from their point of view.

You can post anything that is relevant to the forum, as described in the FAQ, once you are obeying the forum rules and user guidelines below.

General Rules

• The boards.ie sitewide rules apply here too.
Briefly, these rules are:
• 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, and don’t argue with mod decisions on thread.
• 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] (If you must post a video showing graphic animal cruelty of similar, label it CLEARLY as NSFW)
• Don't publish private messages
• We speak English, so should you
• Forbidden topics of discussion

Forum-Specific Rules

• This is a forum that caters specifically for vegans and vegetarians, or anyone who prefers to avoid all or certain animal products in their diet. This means that, while others are welcome to post here, the protected view is that of vegans and vegetarians. If you contribute to a thread you are expected to be willing to learn about the issues involved and listen to what is said by members of the community/ies involved.

• A fundamental tenet of veganism is that animals are sentient beings which deserve rights and to live their lives free without being exploited or harmed for human gain. This means that certain aspects of human interaction with animals, both wild and domesticated, which many people see as perfectly fine are seen as unethical by vegans. Vegans appreciate that many people who work with, own or care for animals genuinely love the animals they interact with, but that doesn't change that those interactions may go against vegan fundamental beliefs. This is a Vegan belief system and in this forum that belief can be discussed in a respectful and considerate manner from a vegan and vegetarian point of view without being shouted down.

• If you are a farmer or aligned with the farming community, we welcome your input as long as it is respectful of veg*n perspectives. We will not allow badgering of posters or attempts to brigade the forum in order to promote any pro-farming agendas. Many of the views expressed in this forum will be hurtful to members of the farming community because veg*ns and farmers often hold completely opposing ideologies with regards to animal welfare that cannot be resolved. We would draw your attention to the Farming & Forestry forum, which obviously holds a pro-farming viewpoint and would be a good place to discuss what you feel the positives of farming are.

• Trolling is not acceptable. We consider attempts to convince someone to move back to an omnivore diet to be trolling.

• Whataboutery (the technique or practice of responding to an accusation or difficult question by making a counter-accusation or raising a different issue) is specifically prohibited. We recognise that no-one is perfect and veg*ns simply attempt to do their best to adhere to a specific lifestyle. There is a zero-tolerance policy on whataboutery such as “But what about all the insects that are killed when vegetables are harvested” etc.

• While posting of controversial questions to stimulate debate is acceptable, soap boxing, i.e. constant repetition of a single viewpoint while refusing to entertain discussion on it, is both disruptive and annoying, and will not be tolerated. You are expected to contribute something other than placard proclamations.

• Offensive suggestions such as comparing artificial insemination to rape, or comparing a vegan lifestyle to an eating disorder are not welcome and will be moderated accordingly. Note: We will not and can not create a list of banned words or phrases. We will monitor posts as best we can, but please report posts that you find problematic and do not engage with them directly on-thread or you risk being sanctioned too.

• Attempts to derail discussions in the forum will not be tolerated. See derailing for dummies for further information. It is at the mods discretion to decide if a poster is attempting to derail a discussion.

User Guidelines

Avoid misuse of the terms 'vegetarian' and 'vegan'.

Please read the FAQ to understand what these terms mean. Misuse of these terms is not only insulting, but only conducive to a misunderstanding of vegetarianism and veganism. "I am a vegetarian but I eat fish" is not appropriate. "I follow a mostly vegetarian/plant-based diet with the exception of fish" is. Please don't refer to vegetarianism and veganism as a whole, as a diet. It is not a diet. We all have levels of strictness, so while vegetarian or vegan is not a diet, shaming another user for their level of strictness is inappropriate and won't be tolerated.

Be supportive

This is a supportive community. Boards is a unique online resource in that it is one of the only places online where vegetarians and vegans are not segregated. This is a good thing. We share the same goals, so let's not alienate each other by shaming or assuming elitism. At the same time, please be accepting of our differences and don't be insulted by the truth. Don't view the sharing of vegan information as propaganda, just because you make different choices. Sharing vegan information is not an aim to brainwash you or to recruit you. The power of choice is in your hands only, no need to feel threatened by the truth. Please be tactful with thread titles and posts, your aim should never be to insult.

Report posts, don't backseat moderate

If a thread or post is breaking the rules, if you suspect trolling, don't make accusations on thread, instead hit the report post button. Moderation on boards largely depends on the report post function, use it!

PM function

If you are having any issues, you feel you are being personally attacked, you want to give feedback, you want something stickied, you want something added to a sticky or you want to discuss a moderator decision, pm one of the mods

Forum Moderators
Tar.Aldarion, Ten of Swords

Category Moderators
Big Bag of Chips, bluewolf, Dizzyblonde, Dravokivich, Faith

Be respectful

You know the difference between laughing at you and laughing with you. When you are in this forum, sense of humour welcome, jokes on us not welcome.

Discussion

Boards.ie is a discussion forum! This is not facebook or a blog so don't treat it as such. This forum does not rely on contribution from moderators, it relies on contribution from everyone, including non-vegetarians and non-vegans. This is not my forum, this is our forum. Don't rely on others to make threads, if there's something you want to see then post it!

Starting threads

Before starting a thread, use the search function to check if your issue has already been discussed. If it has then use that thread. If the thread is too old, feel free to start a new thread. Don't bump threads older than a couple of years. If you want to discuss something and you don't feel like it warrants its own thread, try the random question thread.

Penalties

In the event that someone breaks one of the rules above, the specific sanction that will be taken will largely depend on the context. There are several kinds of sanction which moderators may use (along with editing or deletion of posts):
1. A private word by PM with the poster to point out the problem and try to resolve it.
2. A public note in the thread itself (often referred to as a Mod Notice or a Mod Warning) pointing out the problem and requiring that it be resolved.
3. A Warning for the poster.
4. An Infraction for the poster.
5. A ban from the forum for the poster, either temporarily or permanently.
It should be noted that in exceptional circumstances, a poster may be banned from the entire site, though happily this happens extremely rarely.

It should be noted that sanctions are cumulative and incremental within this forum. This means that an escalating severity of sanctions will be applied to the small minority of posters who continually break the rules of the forum.