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Legal Discussion Forum Charter

  • 17-02-2006 08:14PM
    #1
    hullaballoo
    Administrators, Entertainment Moderators, Social & Fun Moderators, Society & Culture Moderators, Paid Member Posts: 18,830 Admin ✭✭✭✭✭


    ***Boards.ie Ltd. (including any associated, parent or subsidiary companies) does not accept liability for any loss or damage howsoever arising as a result of use of this forum and by using, reading or posting in this forum you agree to abide by its rules.***

    Rule No.1 is read the charter.

    General boards.ie rules apply.

    Don't be a dick.

    Forum Rules:

    Clicking [More...] will open a new tab explaining these rules in more detail.

    The don'ts:
    1. No legal advice can be sought or given on this forum. [More...]

    2. No contempt of court or talking about cases that are still in the justice system. [More...]

    3. No flaming, trolling or disruptive behaviour will be tolerated. (See, "Don't be a dick", above.) [More...]

    4. No defamatory posts are allowed. If in doubt, PM a moderator (listed below). [More...]

    5. No bigoted, racist, sexist, sectarian or otherwise prejudiced posts will be tolerated. [More...]

    6. No spam/advertising. [More...]

    7. No inappropriate material [More...]

    8. No advocating illegal or criminal activity. [More...]

    9. No threats of legal action. [More...]

    10. No backseat moderating or arguing with moderators. [More...]


    The dos:
    1. Please be civil to other members at all times. [More...]

    2. Please use the search function to see whether or not your query has been answered before. [More...]

    3. Please be clear when posting - use short sentences and paragraphs to make your post easy to read and understand. [More...]

    4. Please be considerate of other users who may be new to the forum or site. [More...]

    5. Please report problems to the moderators. [More...]


    General
    The forum moderators retain absolute discretion in interpreting the rule in relation to what constitutes seeking or giving legal advice. This rule is enforced using a common sense approach based on a legal interpretation of what constitutes legal advice. Certain threads may be left open even where they look to be seeking legal advice but it is expected that any help given is of a practical or useful nature. Under no circumstances is legal advice permitted.

    Members who are in legal difficulty should be directed to seek legal advice. It may be appropriate to post links to various organisations which provide legal assistance to people in difficulty and this is appreciated.

    Members who fail to follow the rules of this forum will firstly be warned by way of a yellow card, secondly by way of a red card and thirdly by way of a temporary ban. The length of the ban will depend on the severity of the transgression. Following the expiry of a temporary ban imposed upon a member, further transgressions may lead to a permanent ban. At the discretion of the moderators, if the transgressions are dissimilar in nature, a number of yellow or red cards may be issued before a ban is deemed necessary.

    Disruptive members or members who cause a nuisance of themselves may be banned indefinitely without any warning. Should this happen, please discuss the issue via the PM function with either the moderator who banned you or another of the forum moderators.

    If you wish to appeal a warning, infraction or ban, you must first PM a moderator of this forum. If this appeal is unsuccessful, you may then start a thread in the Dispute Resolution forum.

    If you wish to give feedback on the moderation of this forum, please use the Feedback forum. From time-to-time there may be a discussion thread at the top of this forum for discussing forum feedback.


    Forum Moderators:
    The current forum moderators are as follows. To PM any of them, just click their username below:
    hullaballoo
    Tom Young
    Maximilian
    Pat Mustard
    besty
    nuac
    Robbo

    Category Moderators:
    The current category (Soc) moderators are:
    bluewolf
    K-9
    mike_ie
    Toots


    Cheers,
    hullaballoo.
    Post edited by hullaballoo on


Comments

  • #2
    hullaballoo
    Administrators, Entertainment Moderators, Social & Fun Moderators, Society & Culture Moderators, Paid Member Posts: 18,830 Admin ✭✭✭✭✭hullaballoo


    You may not seek or give legal advice on this forum. All comments on this forum are to be regarded as the personal views of the individuals posting. Nothing posted in this forum is to be construed as legally accurate.

    Legal discussion is permitted. However, requests for legal advice or the provision of legal advice is not. A request for legal advice is defined as a specific request for legal advice, assistance or interpretation which is or is intended to be applicable to a specified real-life scenario. The provision of legal advice is defined as the giving of legal advice, assistance or interpretation which is or is intended to be applicable to a specified real-life scenario.

    Threads about being caught with drugs at festivals are absolutely not allowed at any time. Threads about being caught with "small quantities of drugs" are similarly not allowed.

    The discussion and exploration of hypothetical legal scenarios is permitted and encouraged. However, it is not permitted to invent a hypothetical scenario which mirrors an actual real-life scenario in order to request legal advice or in order to provide legal advice. Significant moderation discretion will be exercised in this regard.

    Posters are permitted to post details of their job/careers/qualifications/training. However, when engaging in discussion and exploration of hypothetical legal scenarios, posters are not permitted to hold themselves out as having any particular qualifications and/or to post in their capacity as legal professionals.


  • #3
    hullaballoo
    Administrators, Entertainment Moderators, Social & Fun Moderators, Society & Culture Moderators, Paid Member Posts: 18,830 Admin ✭✭✭✭✭hullaballoo


    This rule includes the following:

    - no disobeying court orders/suggesting others do so;
    - no direct criticism of a member of the judiciary in the execution of their function;
    - no talking about cases currently before the courts;
    - no talking about cases that are under criminal investigation or are likely to be investigated in future;
    - no breaching reporting restrictions imposed by a judge.

    It will be considered that any user espousing and or endorsing the freemen on the land movement as well as the sovereign citizen movement and or any other pseudo-legal movement are posting against the interests of justice and in contempt of the long-standing jurisprudence of the Courts. The moderators will have absolute discretion in dealing with users who fall afoul of this rule.

    Please use your head in relation to this. Threads or posts that fall afoul of this rule or risk doing so will be edited or deleted at the discretion of the moderators.


  • #4
    hullaballoo
    Administrators, Entertainment Moderators, Social & Fun Moderators, Society & Culture Moderators, Paid Member Posts: 18,830 Admin ✭✭✭✭✭hullaballoo


    This rule speaks for itself.

    Wikipedia defines flaming and trolling:
    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flaming_(Internet)

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Troll_(Internet)

    Disruptive behaviour is a pattern of behaviour by a user that a moderator deems to be disrupting the forum. It may include consistently rude, impolite, unhelpful, condescending or aggressive posts, amongst other things.

    Written language is open to being taken the wrong way. Members are expected to think before they post so as to limit the possibility of this. Members will not be allowed to rely on their comments having been taken the wrong way if there is a pattern of posts that are open to interpretation.

    Obscene language is not allowed and may result in immediate moderator action.

    There is one exception to this general rule: users who espouse and or endorse the views of freemen on the land/sovereign citizen movement or any other unlawful pseudo-legal group will not be entitled to avail of the benefit of the rule against flaming and other users will have immunity from this rule for posting against the proponents of this ill-founded unlawful nonsense.


  • #5
    hullaballoo
    Administrators, Entertainment Moderators, Social & Fun Moderators, Society & Culture Moderators, Paid Member Posts: 18,830 Admin ✭✭✭✭✭hullaballoo


    Defamation is defined here: http://www.irishstatutebook.ie/2009/en/act/pub/0031/sec0006.html#sec6

    Threads or posts that have the potential to be regarded as defamatory may be removed.

    Please report report.gif any posts you suspect might be regarded as defamatory.

    If you feel you are the subject of such a post, please see here: http://www.boards.ie/legal/

    Please note that the moderators are not required to consider any aspects of the law on defamation when taking action in respect of a breach of this rule, including whether the statement is defamatory and or whether there is potentially a defence under the above Act.


  • #6
    hullaballoo
    Administrators, Entertainment Moderators, Social & Fun Moderators, Society & Culture Moderators, Paid Member Posts: 18,830 Admin ✭✭✭✭✭hullaballoo


    Comments that are deliberately offensive to groups of society are not welcome.

    This rule is not limited to prominent topics such as those specifically mentioned in this post.


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  • #7
    hullaballoo
    Administrators, Entertainment Moderators, Social & Fun Moderators, Society & Culture Moderators, Paid Member Posts: 18,830 Admin ✭✭✭✭✭hullaballoo


    This rule includes a ban on any kind of advertising, direct or indirect, solicited or unsolicited.

    This rule also means that solicitor recommendations cannot be sought or given. Use the PM function if you wish but please do not post publicly. Do not PM moderators of this forum for recommendations.

    From time-to-time, there may be threads in which advertising may be allowed at the discretion of the moderators. These threads will be clearly marked and it is imperative that any moderator instruction(s) contained therein are followed absolutely.


  • #8
    hullaballoo
    Administrators, Entertainment Moderators, Social & Fun Moderators, Society & Culture Moderators, Paid Member Posts: 18,830 Admin ✭✭✭✭✭hullaballoo


    Inappropriate material includes material that infringes any law of the State or rules of this website.

    Common examples of this include the following:
    - failing to properly cite cases and judgements, reported or unreported;
    - failing to attribute work to the author/publisher;
    - (re-)publishing copyrighted material without providing proper citations;
    - posting articles in full, with or without a link;
    - failing to post a link to an article quoted;
    - posting pornographic or obscene material;
    - posting links or hotlinks to sites that provide or offer illegal content or services;
    - posting links to malicious software or viruses or posting links to sites that expose other users to a risk of infection from such software (including sites that may have been temporarily compromised).

    It is suggested that members here use decent anti-virus/anti-malware software and a browser with in-built protection, such as Google Chrome in order to avoid inadvertently posting inappropriate material, where applicable.


  • #9
    hullaballoo
    Administrators, Entertainment Moderators, Social & Fun Moderators, Society & Culture Moderators, Paid Member Posts: 18,830 Admin ✭✭✭✭✭hullaballoo


    Under no circumstances is it acceptable to suggest that users commit a criminal offence or otherwise engage in illegal/unlawful activity as an answer to their query.

    This includes:
    - suggesting violence or vigilantism;
    - proposing "loopholes" or suggesting ways for people to avoid legal obligations;
    - advocating use of illegal drugs;
    - any pseudo-legal attempts at gainsaying the jurisdiction of the courts similar to those espoused by the freemen and associated or even remotely similar groups.


  • #10
    hullaballoo
    Administrators, Entertainment Moderators, Social & Fun Moderators, Society & Culture Moderators, Paid Member Posts: 18,830 Admin ✭✭✭✭✭hullaballoo


    Never threaten another member of this site with legal action publicly or by way of PM. Users who do so will be banned from this forum and the matter will be escalated to Boards.ie Ltd staff who will take appropriate action.

    A threat of legal action may include a suggestion that a user might be sued for a comment or comments.


  • #11
    hullaballoo
    Administrators, Entertainment Moderators, Social & Fun Moderators, Society & Culture Moderators, Paid Member Posts: 18,830 Admin ✭✭✭✭✭hullaballoo


    This is a site-wide rule but it is important to highlight it here.

    If you believe another member has broken any site or forum rule, please report the post using this icon report.gif at the bottom-left (under the username) of the post you wish to report.

    Never comment in-thread that you believe another poster is breaking site or forum rules.

    It is also a site-wide rule that moderator actions are not to be questioned in-thread. The dispute resolution procedure set out here dictates what you should do if you have had an interaction with a moderator.

    If you have an issue with how a moderator has dealt with another user, please PM the moderator first. If the answer is unsatisfactory, you may feel that either of the Help Desk of Feedback forums are more appropriate.


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  • #12
    hullaballoo
    Administrators, Entertainment Moderators, Social & Fun Moderators, Society & Culture Moderators, Paid Member Posts: 18,830 Admin ✭✭✭✭✭hullaballoo


    There is an expectation that every member endeavours to treat others cordially on this site. This forum is no exception.

    Certainly, arguments can become heated and there is a temptation to post a vitriolic reply but it is not necessary nor welcome.

    Arguments ought to be based on reason, logic and the law.


  • #13
    hullaballoo
    Administrators, Entertainment Moderators, Social & Fun Moderators, Society & Culture Moderators, Paid Member Posts: 18,830 Admin ✭✭✭✭✭hullaballoo


    The search function works well and is there to help assist you with your query. Many queries will have been answered before.

    This is particularly the case for:
    - issues relating to summonses;
    - jury duty;
    - FE1 and King's Inns entrance exams;
    - road traffic offences.

    This rule gives rise to the corollary that resurrecting old threads is generally ok. Zombie threads will only be locked where there is a chance of confusion or further responses are irrelevant.


  • #14
    hullaballoo
    Administrators, Entertainment Moderators, Social & Fun Moderators, Society & Culture Moderators, Paid Member Posts: 18,830 Admin ✭✭✭✭✭hullaballoo


    This is a written-only medium. As a result, misunderstandings and confusion can arise where care is not taken to be clear. Please be sure to read over your posts before posting to ensure they are easy to read and your points are clear.

    To avoid confusion and misunderstanding, try to use the following:
    - short sentences;
    - short paragraphs (separated by at least 2 line breaks);
    - proper spelling (use google or spell check to help with definitions);
    - proper grammar (use online guides to help).
    Here is a list of common misspellings.

    For our purposes, some misspellings/commonly confused words crop up that can completely change the meaning of a sentence. Please learn the differences between:
    - personal/personnel;
    - liable/libel;
    - real-life situation/hypothetical.
    There are more useful examples here.

    DO NOT:
    - use 'txt spk' or any other written language used by children;
    - use acronyms, unless the one you want is the first result when you google it. :)


  • #15
    hullaballoo
    Administrators, Entertainment Moderators, Social & Fun Moderators, Society & Culture Moderators, Paid Member Posts: 18,830 Admin ✭✭✭✭✭hullaballoo


    Many users of this forum are new to the site. We ask that people are considerate of that fact and don't subject new members to being berated for failing to properly understand the site or forum rules.

    Further to this, many of the forum's users are not necessarily familiar with the law. Although this can be frustrating, in particular where users state as fact something which a lawyer will know to be untrue, we ask that members do not resort to abuse or condescension.

    Likewise, new users are asked to be considerate of the fact that many of the forum's users know very well what they are talking about so reacting dismissively to posts into which a lot of effort has gone will get you in trouble with the moderators.


  • #16
    hullaballoo
    Administrators, Entertainment Moderators, Social & Fun Moderators, Society & Culture Moderators, Paid Member Posts: 18,830 Admin ✭✭✭✭✭hullaballoo


    As a first port of call for any issues you have with this forum, please report those issues to the Moderators. You can either report the post using the report icon (report.gif) or PM any or all of us. The current moderators are listed in the first post in this thread, here: http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?p=87521271


  • #17
    hullaballoo
    Administrators, Entertainment Moderators, Social & Fun Moderators, Society & Culture Moderators, Paid Member Posts: 18,830 Admin ✭✭✭✭✭hullaballoo


    This thread has been updated. Please take the time to familiarise yourself with the new rules and re-familiarise yourself with the old ones.


This discussion has been closed.
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