Our Website Code of Conduct

Website Terms of Service

Code of Conduct

Introduction:

To register on the Troop 64/4064 Website, you must agree to this Code of Conduct. This code of conduct applies in any and all areas of the Troop 64/4064 Website, Forums and eMails.

You must also agree to our Scout Behavior Policy.

The purpose of this website is to provide support for Troop 64 and 4064. We also want this to be a place where our community can develop and we can enjoy one another’s suggestions and comments and share knowledge. To achieve this, we strive to maintain an atmosphere that can be enjoyed by all and we ask all members of the community to be respectful at all times. This means please use etiquette and politeness. Treat people with kindness, gentleness and respect. If you do this, the rest of the code of conduct won’t need more than a cursory mention.

All posts made to the website express the views and opinions of the author of each post. Those liable for the content of posts and private messages are the ones submitting the material, and not the administrators, moderators, webmaster, the Troop 64 community, or anyone else.

This is a moderated website, but only in the sense that we act to deal with content that violates the website code of conduct when we become aware of it. The staff of this website attempt to edit or remove any objectionable or illegal material as quickly as possible. However, with the time available as volunteers on our site it is impossible to review every message.

Users agree not to post anything abusive, rude, obscene, vulgar, slanderous, hateful, threatening, advertising or marketing related, or sexually-oriented. Material that suggests illegal activity or contains illegal content is also forbidden. We do not support circumventing TOS, EULA, etc here. Such threads and posts will be closed and offending users will be penalized with infractions and warnings. Also, our website is used by people at work and school and we want to ensure they will not encounter material that will cause them problems or cause their access to our site to be limited, so all content should be safe for work and school.

Users posting any content that violates this code of conduct may receive a warning or an infraction that creates a record of the behavior and will be connected to the account (this record is only visible by the member and staff), may have their posts edited or removed, may have their account or IP address banned temporarily or permanently, and could have a report filed against them to their internet access provider. The IP addresses of all users are recorded to provide evidence or assist in enforcing these rules.

Posts that violate any part of this Code of Conduct may be edited or moved to a special holding area called “The Jail,” where they are preserved as evidence. Posts in The Jail are only visible to staff members and the original poster. The only exception are spam, or advertising-related posts, which are temporarily moved to the trash, which is cleaned out from time to time.

Finally, you agree website staff have the right to remove, edit, move or close any post, topic or thread at any time they see fit following the guidelines outlined below. You agree that the staff of this forum have the right to send a private message with a warning and/or censor any forum user who is in violation of policy.

Section I – General Policy ( some of this pertains only if there is a forum) :

1. Respect the Staff: We provide a service in our free time to keep the forums running efficiently. We are all volunteers. Feedback is welcome and this is also the place to request assistance with forum software issues. If you believe an error has been made in moderation or other staff actions, please post politely and help us understand your perspective.

2. Adult Content, Violence, Illegal Activity: Messages containing violent, sexually oriented, or illegal content or links to sites with this content will either be deleted or saved in the Jail as evidence. Messages with links to or suggesting illegal activity will also be deleted. Posting or linking to any of these will result in a ban.

3. Trolling, Attacks and Flaming: These are always forbidden.

o Trolling is posting in a way that provokes emotional responses.

o Attacks and derogatory terms of any kind are not welcome. This includes references to other members or posters.

o Flames are messages that personally attack or call any people names or otherwise harass. These, along with any generally condescending posts will be edited or removed at the moderators discretion.

o If a thread is flame-bait (appears to be intended to start an argument or is likely to cause an argument rather than enhance discussion, as in trolling), it will be locked or removed without notice. Individual flame-bait comments in a post may be deleted or edited at the moderators’ discretion.

o If the thread turns into an argument, it can be closed to further comment or removed without notice. Sometimes a moderator may split the thread or delete certain portions in order to keep the discussion going, but that is not always possible since we are a staff of volunteers with limited time and numbers.

4. Spam (unsolicited advertising): Spam will be moved to trash and the account posting it will likely be banned. You are allowed to have links in your posts, in your signature, and in your profile, and may post them in threads on occasion (just not often, please) as long as the content of the site linked does not include material that violates this code of conduct and if you are not posting any other form of advertising.

5. Profanity: We have users of all age groups and of all tolerance levels where profanity is concerned. A language filter is in place to catch most major forms of profanity that may accidentally be used. Do not attempt to circumvent the language filter by using variations or slight misspellings of profanities.

6. Politics and Religion: These two topics may cause problems, are not relevant to this site, and are forbidden topics on this site other than discussing logistics for scheduling conflicting events. Please find another venue to exercise your freedom of speech on these topics.

7. Thread Drifting/Steering: Please keep discussions on topic.

8. Report Posts: If you have found a post or receive a private message that you feel is inappropriate or that violates the forum code of conduct, please use the report function to notify staff. Do not attempt to moderate discussions or correct other users yourself.

9. Links: You may post links to sites with content that is acceptable according to this code of conduct. This is most useful when giving tech support or explaining a topic and then linking to a site with more information. You may also link to your personal site.

10. Signatures: Forum signatures are limited to three lines of text, 10pt maximum font size. Signature content must conform to the same guidelines as all content in this code of conduct.

11. Avatars: Images must comply with the content guidelines of this code of conduct. A discreet image from your religion is permissible if it is not ostentatious, disruptive, provocative, or for the purposes of proselytising. Political avatars are not permitted at all.

12. Multiple Accounts: Users may only have one active account. If you feel you have justification for requiring a new account, please contact an administrator to discuss your situation.

13. Editing of posts: When a post breaks guidelines and requires editing in order to bring it back under compliance with this Code of Conduct, the moderator may copy the unedited post to the jail first or issue an infraction which will keep a copy of the original post in the staff area.

14. Thread Closing: Staff are not required to do so, but are requested to post an explanation in a thread that is closed when time permits. This is a non-exhaustive list of reasons a thread may be closed, but will give the general idea:

o The thread has run it’s course and posts have begun repeating themes

o The thread has degraded into an argument

o The thread topic is a duplicate of another current and active thread

o The thread is very old.

15. Jailing of posts/thread: If a post/thread would require a lot of work to bring it into compliance, or if editing the violations would result in a nearly blank post/thread, the post/thread should be moved to the jail instead.

16. Staff: Staff are chosen by the Troop Committee.

17. Staff posting and moderating in the same thread: This is generally discouraged. Exceptions include when no one else is available or when content very clearly violates the code of conduct.

18. Appeals: If you have a complaint about a staff action or believe an action was taken in error, the process for dealing with that is to contact the Staff. You may appeal to the Troop Committee if you are unsatisfied.

Section II – Posting tips for Posts, Comments, Replies:

Quick start link: Suggestions on how to get your support questions answered as quickly as possible.

When asking for technical support:

1. Search for posts on the same topic before writing a new post.

2. Try to give clear, specific information in the title of your post or comment. Also, please resist the urge to use a sensationalist, extreme, and flame-baiting title like “I’ve had it with Troop 64!” “I bet you can’t solve my problem” or “Troop 64 sucks” these will be edited or eliminated.

3. Post a follow up comment or reply with a “Thank you” or “This worked!” It’s always nice to let the people that help you know that you appreciate their help and it lets future readers know the information was useful. You can also mark a thread solved as a courtesy.

4. Write your posts in English.

5. Refrain from using “leet” speak or excessive or unclear slang.

6. Do not shorten your words to acronyms or abbreviations or use URL-shortening services, as is often done when texting or in a Twitter-style update. It is very difficult to read and understand and you are not limited to a small number of characters.

7. Use color and font properties for highlighting portions of your text, and not for all of the text in your post. Please use the default font color and properties unless you need to highlight or draw attention to a part of your post. ALL CAPS is interpreted as screaming.[size=2][COLOR=pink]Funky[/size][/COLOR] non-uniform font size/color is difficult for those who are visually impaired. If you are having problems with reading the font, please adjust your browser.

8. Do not cross post, or post the same thing in multiple locations.

When answering questions or replying:

9. Be considerate to the person asking the question. Yes, some users are harder to help than others, but please be respectful to all users.

10. Try to avoid acronyms and jargon when giving instructions.

11. If the users’ question has been covered in one of the community documents, please give them a description and the links.

12. If you wish to remind a user to use search tools or other resources when they have asked a question you feel is basic or common, please be polite. Any replies for help that contain language disrespectful towards the user asking the question are unacceptable and will not be tolerated. This includes things like STFU, RTFM, and LMGTFY as well as the obvious forms of disrespect.

13. Always assume that the user is a new user unless you’re certain the user is not.

14. To avoid confusion and auto-formatting issues, please use [CODE] tags around terminal commands.

15. Wrap long outputs from commands or other text to prevent users from needing to scroll through the content inside [CODE] tags.

16. Remember to do things the Scouting way.

This code of conduct may change and evolve with time based on constructive feedback and experience. It is our hope that these policies will foster helpful, honest, and civil interaction. It is the users’ responsibility to check this page for updates.

Last Updated: October 30, 2014 by Dale Koop