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Message Board Rules

MikeSinger

Recruiting Insider
Staff
Mar 7, 2013
26,972
98,747
113
To begin, all comments for and complaints about the moderators and the site should (please) be handled privately, and not on the forum. The board is not meant to be used as a referendum on staff activities. It is disruptive, and although you think you may know which staff member is responsible for certain actions ... you usually don't.

QUICK START

The Goal: To provide a positive experience for as many members as possible, while still maintaining the mission of this being a college football recruiting board. This board will never be perfect, nor will it please everyone, but it is usually a fun place -- the place -- for fans to get information about Notre Dame athletics and recruiting and discuss other topics of interest. Visiting Rockne's Roundtable should be a positive and enjoyable experience.

How can moderators/staff help? By consistently enforcing the rules, removing inappropriate posts, locking posts that have run their course, and blacklisting disruptive members.

How can members help? We simply ask that everyone act like an adult. Don't be consistently confrontational, don’t be a troll, don't be overly negative and don't attack or harass other members.

Of course, there are other basic rules that need to be followed (listed below), but we're talking about the average day-to-day discussions that take place on the forum. Just as important, members can help by starting good discussions, sharing good info, posting links to interesting articles, helping other members, alerting us to inappropriate posts, etc.

In addition, we need your help to enforce the rules. There is no guarantee of 24/7 moderation or that moderators will read specific posts. If you see something that breaks the rules, please contact the mods (click the envelope on the upper right-hand corner of the board to “start conversation”).

Please don't assume that we are enforcing the rules unevenly and make a post about it. That will result in a timeout.

DISCUSSION TOPICS

Rockne's Roundtable is a place for Notre Dame athletics discussion, first and foremost, but off topic posts are allowed. Please begin those subject lines with the designation OT.

Posts about politics, pornographic or other controversial or contentious topics will be deleted at our discretion. Serial offenders will be given a timeout after a warning (or two). We do not discriminate on political beliefs … it doesn’t matter which side of the aisle you are on. Politics are politics (and as political posts go, usually “you know it when you see it”).

RULES

1. Please do not call out a staff member/moderator or question them for a moderating decision by starting a thread on the board or posting in another thread. The proper procedure is to email the moderators, or preferably use the conversation tool in the upper right-hand corner.

2. No profanity, racist or sexist comments.

3. No pornographic or obscene material of any kind. Any user posting pornographic pictures, or links to such material, will be blacklisted. This includes materials within a signature file or avatar.

4. No attacking other posters. If you feel the need to harass another poster, don't do it, either on the board or in conversation. If you have an issue with a poster, please contact a moderator. Don't take it upon yourself to put the poster in their place.

What is considered attacking other posters?
• Bringing up their name in posts that they did not start or were not involved in, just to get a reaction from them.
• Bringing up a post that a poster made in another thread or from another board in order to attempt to ridicule or attack them.
• Consistently responding to their posts and responding with no merit other than to belittle them.
In short, making a poster a target.

5. No repetitive negative posting. What makes a repetitive post? If you come to the forum and consistently say the exact same thing about the exact same topic day in and day out, that is being repetitive. Be sure to understand that no one is saying that you can’t be critical. But this site will not be overrun by the same people coming on the site day after day saying the same negative things.

6. OT Topics may be locked or deleted based upon the moderators’ discretion. This is first and foremost a Notre Dame athletics board, and the burden for thread deletions will be much lower for any other type posts. The board has a great balance of these posts and topical posts, and as moderators we will try to make sure that it does not become too much of an OT board, especially during football and peak recruiting seasons. We also enjoy many of these OT Topics, but they need to be balanced with posts that fit the mission of the board.

7. No flaming. If a poster comes to the board with the intent only to flame and continues to post nothing but flames or engages in no substantive discussion, the poster's posts will be deleted and the poster will be banned at the mods' discretion.

8. No attacking recruits. Just because a player may choose another school, for example, it does not give you the right to blast them.

9. No posting of commercial offers, competing websites or spamming of the board will be permitted. All threads will be deleted at the discretion of the board moderator.

10. No posting or distribution of any material that infringes and/or violates any right of a third party or any law. Post will be deleted and member can be banned at the moderators discretion. This means no posting of premium information from other web sites. In many cases mods will have no idea what is premium from public. In these cases, we will only act when we are informed by the site. Please email us about the thread and copy the site in question, so we can help get these threads removed.

11. Do not give out your personal information on the message board or chat room. Please keep in mind that whenever you give out personal information (such as your email, phone number etc.) online — for example, via message boards or chat — that information can be collected and used by people you don't know. You give out your personal information at your own risk. We are not responsible for any actions that occur if you give out your personal information.

12. No phishing. Do not attempt to trick fellow posters into posting their email address by promising the inside scoop on a situation. These poor attempts at humor are very disruptive to the board.

13. The moderators reserve the right to remove any post and blacklist any member that they feel significantly contributes to a decline in the overall quality and/or civility of the forum.

The golden rule is a good one to follow: Do unto others as you would have done unto you.

To the vast majority of fans who read this site and already function within this rule set, thank you very much for your adult candor and responsible posting.

HOUSEKEEPING ITEMS

• When a subject begins to dominate the forum (when there are dozens of threads about the same thing), the moderators may start an 'official thread' for that particular subject. Any additional posts about that subject posted outside of the official thread will be deleted. Having an official thread DOES NOT mean we want you to stop talking about a subject; it means we don't want that specific subject to dominate the forum. We may merge threads.

• All posts during a game should be in a single game thread. Other posts may be deleted if it is out of hand.

RECRUITING OR OTHER QUESTIONS FOR OUR STAFF

For all questions for staff, please title your thread with the subject and the person to whom you’re directing your question. If you have a question for the entire staff, write "Staff: __.”

FORUM TIPS

- Err on the side of caution. If you think your post might be borderline, err on the side of caution. Message the moderators to ask before making your post. The burden is on you.
- You don't have to respond to a post you disagree with.
- Don't post when you're angry. It's ok to turn off your computer sometimes.
- Don't click on posts that you know will upset you. Only you have control of your mouse.
- If you don't like what is being discussed on a particular day, please start some new discussions.
- Heated discussions are to be expected at times … but please, stay away from getting personal.
- Feel free to ask questions and start discussions, but please read the forum before posting.
- Do not post using ALL CAPS. It is Internet code for YELLING and is seldom appropriate.
- We all have our pet peeves. When you see one of your pet peeves, just ignore it.
 
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FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS

How long will the blacklist last?

It really depends on the offense and whether or not you’ve been blacklisted before. It’s at the discretion of the mods.

It also depends on the "tone" you use when contacting us. We reserve the right to increase penalties based upon how you deal with us in private. Time spent on enforcing these rules is time away from writing stories, etc. We won't be perfect, but we ask that you try to treat us courteously when contacting us.

How do I contact the moderators?
You may contact the moderators by using the “start conversation” tool or by email.

I've contacted the moderators. Why haven't I received a reply?
The moderator that deleted your post or blacklisted you may not be online or have access to email, or is busy working on a story. Please be patient. Give us at least 24 hours before sending out a new email, although most responses to emails will be received fairly rapidly.

My post was deleted. Why?
Two possibilities. One, your post broke one of the rules or needed to be deleted for another reason. Two, your post may have been fine, but you replied to a post that was deleted.

My post was deleted but worse than mine remain. Why?
We try to keep a close watch on the forum, but missing bad posts is inevitable. Please let us know if you see an inappropriate post by using the “report” button. We don't read every thread and rely on posters emails to help keep things running smoothly.

How do I report an inappropriate post?
Use the “report” button at the bottom of the post to bring it to our attention.

Rule Changes
Please check back frequently as rules may be changed, added, or amended based upon things that we did not foresee while drafting this initial rule set.

It's a free country, why can't I say whatever I want on the forums?
Yes, it is a free country, but this is a privately-owned board.
 
Posters need to be reminded that the constitution applies only to governmental agencies, and not to private institutions. Keep up the good work. Too bad about Shipley
 
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