How (not) To Get Yourself Banned

TreeBay

Pretty much anyone is welcome here who respects the value of the individual and his (or her) opinions. The only real rule here is here is simply to treat others with the same respect you would if you were to meet in a public place for a cup of coffee.

bonsaiTALK is largely self governing. Like any community, we've had our share of blow-ups and disagreements, and folks almost always come away friends, or at least behave as if they were. Occasionally, and I could count on one hand the number of times this has happened in the past three years, someone will take it too far. We can often succeed in steering them gently in the right direction, and this usually works. I am a firm believer in second chances. However some folks view the Internet with the same "Road Rage" mentality that anonymity can provide, and it becomes necessary to put a user on probation, or ban them outright.

To new users who want to avoid problems, my suggestion is that you lurk for awhile and watch for a couple of days or visits. Get the feel of the place and its rhythms, and decide if bonsaiTALK is a good fit for you before registering. When you do register, make a post and introduce yourself and describe yourself and your interests. If you have a question, feel free to post it and be appreciative when someone makes an effort to respond, even if the answer doesn't quite meet your expectation. Perhaps especially so, since that others will be encouraged to offer their help.

What isn't tolerated in the forum:

Threats, abuse, profanity, libel, criticism of individuals (as opposed to criticism of an individual's behavior), posting copyrighted works, cross posting (posting the same thread to multiple forums), and spam.

A Few Potentially Risky Behaviors

1. Insulting a moderator or forum member
2. Using Profanity, Ethnic Slurs or epithets
3. Posting copyrighted material.
4. Complaining when others include a link rather than post the image or text that would violate copyright
5. Single out a members based on age, disability, nationality religion, race or gender
6. Telling a moderator not to move your post to another forum, or complaining when he does.
7. Publicly rebuking the moderators for something they didn't do - like supposedly deleting a post or thread that you simply lost track of.
8. TYPING A LOT IN ALL CAPS or HUGE FONTS. IF YOU FIND YOURSELF DOING THIS YOU SHOULD REALLY THINK TWICE.

Basically, if you have any reason to believe a behavior wouldn't be acceptable in your home, in front of your spouse, your kids and your dog, don't try it here.

Regards,

Matt

__________________

Want to be a seller on bonsaiAUCTIONS? Get authorized today!

bonsaiTALK: Over 100,005.36 Megabytes Served this Month!

Advertisement

FredL

Good rules. I take them to mean it's OK for me to be just as dumb here as I am generally!

Fred

carmi

I would like to add, for the not tolerated list, violence, any kind of violence, and in this forum especially verbal violence..
For the needed list, a lot of patience, as there is more than few members in this forum that their mother tongue is not English.

__________________
Shalom (Peace),
Moshe.

Colors are an optic illusion of light – As viewers for the bonsai creation. M.S.C.