Forumosa’s Rules - The Short Version
[ol][li]This is a message board for people interested in expat life in Taiwan.[/li]
[li]Treat people with respect. Don’t be rude or bigoted. Discuss the message, not the messenger.[/li]
[li]Familiarize yourself with the site before you start posting. [/li]
[li]Respect the wishes of the moderators and administrators.[/li][/ol]
Forumosa’s Rules - The Long Version
Follow the “Short Version” of the rules listed above and you will never have any trouble on Forumosa. Those simple rules are the road map for productive participation on Forumosa.
We also provide this “Long Version” of the rules, dealing with a number of specific issues that arise on this message board. This “Long Version” does not supersede the “Short Version” of the rules. Rather, it is intended to provide specific information about specific situations.
Preface
While we attempt to resolve all problems in an amicable way, we nonetheless reserve the right to ban anyone for any reason, and to delete, edit, rename or flounder any post for any reason, and such reason may or may not be indicated to the general community.
If you think someone is breaking any of the Rules listed here, please PM the moderator of that forum with a link to the offending post.
All issues are ultimately decided by the administrators of this website. If you wish to appeal a decision, send an email to admin at forumosa.com.
Neither Forumosa.com nor any of the individual moderators and or assistants make any warranty or representation regarding the accuracy of any information posted on this site and you agree that neither Forumosa.com nor any of the individual moderators and or assistants will be held liable for the result of any use of any information posted in the forums.
Likewise, you agree that neither Forumosa.com nor any of the individual moderators and or assistants are responsible for the content of any of the messages and or information posted in the forums or of the authenticity of its authors.
Bigotry
Do not post hateful, racist, sexist, homophobic, ethnic, or anti-religious (including anti-agnostic and anti-atheistic) bigotry. Unambiguous expressions of bigotry will be deleted, and will often result in the immediate suspension and possible banning of the individual responsible.
If it is not clear whether a comment is bigoted, we will generally give the benefit of the doubt and assume the least-bigoted interpretation. However, individuals who repeatedly post borderline-bigoted comments will be considered bigots and will be removed.
When discussing race, gender, sexual orientation, ethnicity, or religion, please exercise the appropriate level of sensitivity toward others and take extra care to clearly express your point of view in a non-hateful manner. This will help avoid misunderstandings and undeserved accusations of bigotry.
Personal Attacks, Civility, and Respect
The administrators of Forumosa are working to provide a place where foreigners living in or interested in Taiwan can share ideas and debate in an atmosphere of mutual respect. Despite our best efforts, some posters stray from this ideal and cheapen the quality of discourse for everyone else. Unfortunately, it is simply impossible to write a comprehensive set of rules forbidding every type of antisocial behavior. The fact that the rules don’t forbid a certain type of post does not automatically make an uncivil post appropriate, nor does it imply that the administrators approve of disrespectful behavior. Every member of this community has a responsibility to participate in a respectful manner, and to help foster a community atmosphere where thoughtful discussion is valued. In this regard, we strongly advise that our members exercise a little common decency, rather than trying to parse the message board rules to figure out what type of antisocial behavior is not forbidden.
Do not post personal attacks or engage in name-calling against other members of this discussion board. Do not distort another poster’s name for the purpose of insulting or ridiculing him/her.
If you are going to disagree with someone, please stick to the message rather than the messenger. For example, if someone posts factually incorrect information, it is appropriate to say, “your facts are wrong,” but it is not appropriate to say “you are a liar.”
Do not publicly accuse another member of this message board of being a disruptor, troll, conservative, liberal or any other labels used in a negative sense. Do not try to come up with cute ways of skirting around the spirit of this rule. If you think someone is a disruptor, PM the moderator(s) of that forum with a link to the offending post and let the moderators deal with it. We disapprove of any behaviour intended to stifle discussion, or pre-emptively label a particular point of view as inappropriate or unwelcome as such behaviour makes thoughtful and open discussion virtually impossible.
Forumosa is a “big tent” message board which welcomes a broad range of opinions from posters hailing from many countries and cultures. As such, from time to time you are likely to disagree with many of the comments you see expressed here. Please do not take these differences of opinion personally. The simple fact that someone disagrees with you does not give you the right to lash out and break the rules of this message board. A thick skin is usually required to participate on this or any message board.
Please note that, strictly speaking, sweeping statements about entire groups of people are not considered personal attacks. However, they are often inflammatory and counterproductive and the moderators have broad discretion to remove such posts in the interests of keeping the peace on the message board.
There is a difference between forceful advocacy for a particular issue or point of view (which is allowed), and personally attacking people (which is forbidden). If you can’t tell the difference, you are likely to get into trouble here.
Do not “stalk” another member from one discussion thread to another. Do not follow someone into another thread to try to continue a disagreement you had elsewhere. Do not talk negatively about an individual in a thread where they are not participating. Do not start a new discussion thread with the purpose of “calling out” another member or picking a fight with another member. Do not use your signature line to draw negative attention to another member of the board.
If you just don’t like someone, please be aware that you have the option of putting that person on your ignore list. Just click on the appropriate icon on one of that person’s posts.
We do not typically delete threads which many members may consider to be “flamebait.” However, the administrators will occasionally remove threads which we, in our discretion, consider too rhetorically hot or too inflammatory. Please use good judgment when starting threads; inflammatory rhetoric does not normally lead to productive discussion.
If you are the type of person who just can’t get along with other people, and if you seem to repeatedly cause trouble, eventually we will decide that your presence is a disruption and we will ban you. It doesn’t matter if you are a long-term member of this board.
There are no exceptions to these civility rules. You cannot attack someone because they attacked you first, or because that person “deserved it,” or because you think someone is a disruptor. We consider it a personal attack to call a liar a liar, to call a moron a moron, or to call a jerk a jerk.
For detailed information about how we enforce our personal attacks rule, please read “[url=http://tw.forumosa.com/t/what-is-a-personal-attack/15235/1 is a Personal Attack?[/url]”
Disruption And Inappropriate Postings
Do not post messages that advocate harm or death to anyone, threaten the livelihood of anyone, or otherwise harass anyone.
Do not send Private Messages (PMs), e-mail, phone, or other messages to anyone if your intent is to threaten or harass, and do not encourage others to do the same. Private Messages received on Forumosa are to be considered private and are not to be posted publicly unless the sender of the PM agrees. PMs are private and cannot be moderated. Admin will only get involved in the moderation of PMs under the direst circumstances. We therefore ask that people be respectful when using this function.
Do not take your disagreements off the message board and into the “real world,” and do not do anything to try to harm or harass any member of this message board in the “real world.”
Do not post personal information about any other person even if that information is publicly available. This includes divulging personal information such as the real-life identity of other posters, telephone numbers or sexual orientation. In addition, Forumosa does not condone or encourage efforts by individuals to “dig up” information about other visitors. You may post the public contact information for public figures, but you may not post anyone’s private information without their consent.
Do not post duplicate topics that have already been posted.
Do not post messages that are entirely in capital letters, as this indicates yelling or intense emotion, and is generally considered to be bad netiquette.
Do not make Emoticons the substance of your posts. Posts that consist mainly of Emoticons may be deleted or floundered.
Do not act as a “back seat moderator”. If you see something that is against the rules, PM the moderator of the forum in question. Do not respond to such topics yourself. Members who consistenly “act” as moderators may be warned.
Members should use an appropriate, descriptive title when posting a new topic. Examples of bad titles include; “Help me!”, “I’m stuck!”, “Don’t know what to do!”, etc. Examples of good titles include; “My language school won’t refund my tuition”, “My software won’t display Chinese characters”, etc.
As much as possible, use correct punctuation. Posts with little or no punctuation may be removed. If you are not willing to take the effort to make your message readable, we are not willing to read it.
Do not use excessive profanity. Posts with excessive profanity will be deleted or floundered.
Do not post sexually explicit images or messages. If you wish to discuss topics of a sexual nature, please exercise an appropriate level of maturity and sensitivity. If you post a link to a sexually explicit image, be sure to affix the [color=red]NSFW[/color] (Not Safe For Work) warning on either side of the link. Many of our users log on to Forumosa at their workplace, and we do not want to get them into trouble! Links to hardcore pornographic images will be deleted. We are not a porn site.
Do not post articles - use links instead. Quoted sources should be limited to one paragraph in length, or less. Try to keep the text relevant to the topic as much as possible.
Do not post graphic images of violence. If you have a legitimate political purpose for posting a link to an image of graphic violence, be sure to affix the [color=red]NSFW[/color] warning on either side of the link.
Do not promote illegal activities. Links to warez sites or discussion of warez is not permitted. Breach of this rule can lead to legal proceedings against this site, and will not be tolerated. In cases where the law has been broken, Forumosa may notify the proper authorities if appropriate.
Do not impersonate other users.
Trolling is not permitted. Trolling is the deliberate posting of false information or insincere comments/questions in order to elicit responses from genuinely concerned people. Trolling does not encourage further discussion in the long run, it only encourages personal attacks (if left unchecked). Substance is the key to not being labelled a troll. We ask that you do not make postings which are deliberately intended to upset other participants, start inflammatory arguments or interrupt legitimate discussion.
Stay on topic. Don’t jump into an unrelated discussion and introduce a barely-relevant tangent in order to bring up your pet issue.
Do not spam the message board.
What Is Spam?
Some common examples of spam:
[ul][li]Multiple back-to-back posts are spam. If you wish to add to a post you just made, please go back to that post and use the edit function to add the additional information. Do not create a new post.
[/li]
[li]Cross-posting the same or similar messages in different forums/threads is spam. Post a topic once in the most appropriate forum. If a moderator moves your post to what he or she feels is a more appropriate forum, respect their decision. Cross-posted messages will be deleted or floundered.
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[li]Quoting others without adding text of your own is spam. Try to keep the text relevant to the topic as much as possible.
[/li]
[li]Posting stupidity is spam. Posts deemed by a moderator to have no value to the forum they are posted in may be deleted or floundered.
[/li]
[li]Messages deliberately posted in an inappropriate forum is spam, and will be deleted or floundered. Post in the correct forum. If you aren’t sure which forum to post in then state this in your post and one of the moderators will move it for you, if necessary.
[/li]
[li]Posting totally unrelated material is spam and will be deleted or floundered. Digressions from the topic are allowed so long as it is in direct reply to a previous post, or it is linked in some way.
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[li]Gravedigging is spam. Replying to old topics is spam if you have nothing substantial to add to the topic and are just doing it to bring the topic back up to the top. Gravedigging replies may be floundered or deleted.[/li][/ul]
Overposting
Please refrain from flooding the boards with posts. Currently our “Top 10” most prolific posters have an average posting rate of less than 4 posts a day. While we are flattered when people make extensive use of the boards, we would ask that people keep their posts on topic, and not just post for the sake of posting. Anyone with a posting average of more than 15 posts a day may be asked/told to take a break for a while.
Deleting Posts
Please do not delete or edit the content of your posts to the point that replies to that post become meaningless, as it diminishes the value of the thread.
Multiple Accounts (Smurfing)
Each member is permitted one forum account. If you have reason to require more than one account please check with Admin.
Avatars
[ul][li]Registered members are encouraged to link to an avatar in their profile. This avatar will then be displayed next to the user name in all posts.
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[li]Avatars must not be greater in size than 150x150 pixels, and the width restriction will be actively enforced as anything over 150 pixels will stretch the margins of the page. Please keep the file size of any signature images reasonable so as to facilitate easy loading of the page for Forumosans with slower internet connections.
[/li]
[li]Avatars that are pornographic, obscene or offensive will be removed. Repeated attempts to display unacceptable avatars will result in the poster’s avatar function being disabled.[/li][/ul]
Signatures
[ul][li]Please do not include more than one graphic in your signature at any time. That graphic should be in either .jpg or .gif format, and should not exceed 500 pixels wide, 60 pixels tall. Please keep the file size of any signature images reasonable so as to facilitate easy loading of the page for Forumosans with slower internet connections.
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[li]Signature images that are pornographic, obscene or offensive will be removed.
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[li]Text in your signature must not exceed six lines in length (plus one image that conforms to the above size restrictions, if desired).
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[li]You may change the color and font of your signature line text, but we would prefer that you not increase the text size.
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[li]Do not use your signature line to draw negative attention to another member of the board.[/li][/ul]
Enforcement
In the event that these guidelines are breached, a poster may be warned, suspended or even banned, depending on the degree of offence, and the reaction of the poster to any warnings or communications received from the moderators. We recognize that the degree or even commission of a “posting offence” is often subjective. Forumosa Admin has full confidence in the moderating team and their ability to deal with breaches of these rules.
Failure to adhere to these rules may result in offending posts being deleted or sent to the Flounder Forum, where they will expire after a period of 15 days without replies. If a moderator is sufficiently displeased with a poster, they may propose a ban to the Star Chamber (moderator banning panel). Once a ban has been proposed, the offending user will be notified by e-mail that his/her account has been suspended. After a period of 5 days, the offending poster’s account will be either reactivated, or banned permanently.
Questions about Forumosa’s policies belong in the Feedback & Announcements forum. All discussion topics relating to Forumosa’s policies, procedures, enforcement, etc. which are posted outside of the Feedback & Announcements forum will be floundered or deleted.
The Moderators And You
Treat the moderators with respect.
Do not post messages attacking the moderators or administrators.
All of the moderators at Forumosa are volunteers. They provide their time and their good judgment to this website free of charge. They do not make the rules; they only enforce the rules. They do not deserve to have scorn heaped upon them either publicly or privately.
If you think something requires the attention of the moderators, please PM them with a link to the post in question.
Please be aware that moderators are not expected to be online all the time, and therefore they cannot respond immediately to every problem that arises on Forumosa. If you send a PM or an e-mail to a moderator, please give that moderator sufficient time to respond. Do not assume that a moderator is ignoring your concerns merely because he or she does not respond as quickly as you would like.
When a moderator enforces the message board rules, members are expected to respect their authority and abide by their decisions. If you disagree with a moderator’s decision, you are encouraged to politely explain why you disagree in the Feedback & Announcements forum. All discussion topics relating to Forumosa’s policies, procedures, enforcement, etc. which are posted outside of the Feedback & Announcements forum will be floundered or deleted… Do not send rude, dismissive, or disrespectful responses to the moderators.
If you feel a moderator has acted inappropriately, please contact a site administrator (Maoman or Goose Egg) privately so they can deal with it.
Do not publicly post private messages you receive from moderators and administrators.
Moderators have access to a private moderators-only discussion forum, where they discuss issues relevant to this discussion board.
For a complete list of moderators and moderator duties, visit our [url=http://tw.forumosa.com/t/about-our-moderators/15266/1 Info page[/url].
The Administrators And You
If you have any questions about Forumosa’s Rules, please contact the website administrators by sending an email to admin at forumosa.com, or by posting in the Feedback & Announcements forum. The administrators of this website are Maoman and Goose Egg.
Questions about Forumosa’s policies belong in the Feedback & Announcements forum. All discussion topics relating to Forumosa’s policies, procedures, enforcement, etc., which are posted outside of the Feedback & Announcements forum will be floundered or deleted.
Well, here they are. Feel free to comment, but not in this thread. Who’s going to be the first to start a thread? 
I’d like to thank the many many members of Forumosa who contributed their thoughts and suggestions to the formation of these new rules. The moderators in particular were extremely helpful and I couldn’t have done it without them. 