1. Forums

Please post in the appropriate forums, they all have a brief description describing what content you can expect to find there. If you have any doubts, ask any Administrator or Moderator.


2. Spamming

Not just commercial spam, any time one poster follows up to a post with multiple, long-winded posts, one after the other, it will be considered spamming. Posting nothing but bible verses in a post with commentary that isn't your own will be considered spamming. Spam will be deleted and/or moved, without exception.


3. Advertising

No commercial advertising is allowed. Links to ads, animated gifs linking to ads, etc will be removed without exception. Posts containing historical or current information regarding items specifically related to the New Apostolic Church (eg: NAC items that may have been at one time or currently are for sale) are exempt from this rule as long as the purpose of the post is to generate discussion and not to sell items.


4. Hit and Run posting

We reserve the right to delete hit and run posting without needing to justify the action. Posts which are obviously intended simply to drop links to other sites onto the board, or simply to ridicule or harrass another poster rather than promote discussion, will be promptly removed.


5. Lurking

People are free to lurk, to be a member but not post. There is nothing wrong with it, and some prefer to register simply to be able to read the board more efficiently.


6. Junk Posts

We reserve the right to delete what we consider to be "junk posts", namely, posts that have so little content that they are just clogging up the system without having any merit. Exchanges of catch-phrases or just smileys could conceivably be deleted under this clause.


7. Hotlinked images

Hotlinked images are not allowed. This is one of Yuku's rules, and it is called "Bandwidth Theft". Images must be posted or linked from sites that YOU (or someone who has given you permission) control. There are plenty of free image and file hosting sites on the net, sign up and create an account to avoid any problems for yourself. Hotlinked images WILL be deleted from now on, with no exceptions.


8. Signatures

Signatures are not disabled, but please consider NOT using one. Far too many people write a signature and then plop it into every post they write. If you object to manually typing in the same thing over and over in each post, remind yourself that people have to keep waiting for their browser to load up just so they can ignore the same thing over and over.


9. Avatars

Yuku provides webspace for you in order to post an avatar. This can be set in your Profile at any time. Yuku has several rules regarding avatars, the most important one being the size - it must be no more than 100x100 pixels. Try to keep the file size below 10k, in order that those with dialup accounts don't have to wait for image after image to load. It should go without saying that avatars must not contain lewd or objectionable images.


10. Pictures/Images

Yuku also provides webspace within your profile for some images, as well as the ability to link directly to you Photobucket account, if you have one. Pictures that are displayed within a NACBoard post should be no larger than 700 pixels wide or high at the largest part. Pictures that are bigger than this may be deleted or modified at the Admin's discretion, because large pictures interfere with the flow of text on a given page. Pictures larger than 700 pixels may be linked to, as long as it links to a graphic on a site you control, or the full site where the graphic resides, and it opens in a new browser window. Again, no lewd or objectionable images are allowed. We reserve the right to modify any post that does not conform to this guideline.


11. Deletion and Banning

Several people have managed to get themselves banned permanently or temporarily by being consistently annoying and deliberately provocative. You won't be the first, it's not cute, so there's no guts or glory in trying. People are never banned for what they are arguing or who they are arguing with, only for HOW they are arguing.


12. Complaints/Questions/Suggestions and Censorship

You are free to develop any argument and put forward any case, especially those that may seem to go against the Administrators and Moderators of the NACBoard, as long as it is posted in the "Complaints/Questions/Suggestions" forums. Posting complaints in an ongoing thread will result in those posts being deleted. Posting complaints inside the rest of an on-topic post will result in the complaint being edited out. If you have a complaint, post it in "Complaints". All types of abusive or violent language is unwelcome and may be removed as well. Complaints or suggestions may also be sent via email to the Admins at their email addresses, listed beneath the logo and mission statement on the board.


13. Confidentiality/Anonymity

The admins of the NACBoard treat the identities of our posters with the utmost concern and respect. The real names, IPs, and any other confidential information shared with or discovered by any Admin or Moderator will never be revealed publically. Sometimes, it is necessary for the Admins to share certain information about a poster between themselves - we reserve the right to share information between us if it is vital and necessary to the administration of this forum, with the understanding that no confidential information will be revealed publically. Should you write an Admin but do not want your name/nym to be discussed or shared with any of the other Admins, please state this specifically.

Any poster who knowingly reveals the real name or personal information of another poster will be banned without warning and without exception. This includes Admins and Moderators as well.


Other Stuff

14. Individual posts will be deleted if they are hot-headed and excessively insulting to other members of the board.


15. No opinions or statements posted on this board are protected from scrutiny or criticism. If you don't want people making negative comments about your post or having an opinion that differs from yours, perhaps you shouldn't post here.


16. Any post with more than 3 or 4 giant smileys or images in it may have us reaching for the delete button.


17. Anybody who is consistently aggressive to a particular member will be banned. "Consistently aggressive" means following up to post after post a member makes with nothing but off-topic, snide comments, or worse - icon-only posts. Such posts will be deleted.

Anybody who is consistently aggressive or obnoxious to a particular group (ie: women, Canadians, Jews, Christians, gays etc.) will be banned, the key word being *consistently*. A joke about a particular group is usually okay, as long as it isn't clearly meant to be offensive or provocative.


18. Off-topic posts (and subsequent ones in response) will be moved if these cause disruption to the thread.


19. Moderators and Administrators do NOT speculate about participants' identities in public, thereby showing respect for participants' anonymity. Participants should afford each other the same respect by not speculating about others' identities in public. If this happens, posts will be edited / deleted.


20. The use of multiple pseudonyms is tolerated provided it is NOT disruptive. If any person makes use of multiple nyms to portray conflicting views, this is regarded as "trolling" and can result in all of the nyms being banned. Multiple nyms used by one person that engage in conversations with themselves will be considered "trolling", and may be deleted without warning.


21. Moderators do not discuss moderating-type problems/issues in "public". This should be done in the Admin Only Forum.


22. All discussion is in English, but please remember the whole world is invited to participate here. Because this is an international forum, phrases such as "our nation" or "our Apostle" may not be accurate or appropriate. There are many nationalities represented here, try to keep that in mind when you post


23. Copyright Infringement - NAKI

From: Peter Johanning <peter.johanning@nak.org>
To: Brenda Price <brenda_lk1@yahoo.com>
Sent: Tuesday, February 13, 2007 9:58:30 AM
Subject: Re: Copyright Issues

Dear Brenda

Yes, that would be in order, except one point : never copy ALL of the text; you'd then need a permission. To copy part of it is quite okay.

Kind regards
Peter


Von: "Brenda Price" <brenda_lk1@yahoo.com>
An: "Peter Johanning" <peter.johanning@nak.org>
Gesendet: Dienstag, 13. Februar 2007 08:46
Betreff: Re: Copyright Issues

Dear Peter

Thank you for your reply. The definition of plagiarism clearly states :

"the act of appropriating the literary composition of another author, or excerpts, ideas, or passages therefrom, and passing the material off as one's own creation"

Posts on our board, when referring to articles / sermons, are accompanied by links to the relevant sites and can therefore not be constituted as plagiarism.

I am asking beforehand now : Bearing in mind plagiarism AND Fair Use and unless specifically stated that linking and/or copying is not allowed to certain sites the Administrators of the NACBoard can then assume that it is in order to link and/or to copy part or all of the text on a public website of NAKI?

Thank you, Peter.
Brenda


24. Cursing, profanity and swear words

The NACBoard utilizes filters in order to keep cursing and swearing in check - this is a board which discusses a religion, after all. While there are ways to get around the filters without violating the rules, it is sometimes necessary to edit or remove posts that contain language which may be objectionable to other NACBoard posters. Even though many of us may be guilty of using "colorful" language in our daily speech, every moderator and admin polled has agreed that such language has no place on the NACBoard. Please accept and respect this decision. Also, images containing objectionable language or profanity will be summarily removed for exactly the same reasons.


Last but not least:

It is only fair to point out that people expressing opinions regarding actions taken on the board by the Admins and Moderators have to meet a higher standard of etiquette. The more you disagree with the management, the more polite you need to be. Is that fair? Maybe not, but think about it - would YOU be willing to consider the arguments of someone who is calling YOU names, accusing you of certain motives, and demanding that you do something, when you don't even get paid for this "job", and really can't be made to do anything? "You catch more flies with honey" may be a good phrase to remember and it sometimes makes this rather thankless task of board administration, undertaken by volunteers, a bit easier when action is necessary.