NEW rules for the General Discussion: 2004 Primary forum

[Skinner]

In our continuing efforts to provide place where progressives can discuss issues in an atmosphere of mutual respect, we have instituted a few rules for the General Discussion: 2004 Primary forum.

Rules for posting any message anywhere in the General Discussion: 2004 Primary forum

1. The moderators have the authority to remove any post of any kind, which they consider to be contrary to our goal of civil discourse.

2. Criticism of Democratic primary candidates, their policy positions, and their campaigns is permitted. However, extreme and inflammatory attacks against Democratic primary candidates are not permitted. The moderators have the sole authority to decide whether an attack is extreme and inflammatory. Inappropriate attacks include, but are not limited to, the following: Attacks involving swear words, long strings of negative words, comparisons to Hitler or Bush, unflattering graphics, etc.

3. Posts about the "messenger" rather than "message" are categorically forbidden in the GD: 2004 Primary forum. You may not make any statement whatsoever about another member of this message board, unless it is unambiguously positive. You may not post anything that is insulting or rude to any other member, even if it is extremely mild.

4. Broad-brush statements about all or some of the supporters or opponents of any Democratic Primary candidate are forbidden. Don't paint people as disruptors or cult members.

5. When discussing any Democratic presidential primary candidate, please refer to that person by their real name; do not use any rude, condescending, or otherwise inappropriate alternate names for any Democratic presidential primary candidate. When discussing a broad group of supporters or opponents of any Democratic presidential primary candidate, do not use any rude, condescending, or otherwise inappropriate alternate names for them. Forbidden nicknames include, but are not limited to, the following: "Deaniacs," "Clarkies," "Kerry Haters," etc.

6. Signature lines relating to the Democratic primary must be unambiguously positive. You may not use your signature line to attack any Democrat, either directly or indirectly. You may not use your signature line to compare your candidate to another candidate. You may not try to bypass this rule by posting a "fake" signature line directly into the text of an individual post.

7. You may not post any material from extreme right-wing sources, specifically WorldNetDaily.com, Newsmax.com, FreeRepublic.com, and their ilk. Material from more "mainstream" conservative writers or sources, such as The Washington Times and Fox News, are permitted as long as the post includes a clear warning about the source. (For example: "WARNING: Please note that this article is written by George Will.")

8. If you make a highly questionable and inflammatory factual assertion about a candidate, you must provide a link to a reputable source to back up your claim. Rumor-mongering is not allowed. Allegedly "innocent" questions which are actually an underhanded effort to spread rumors are not allowed. If you really need to know the answer to your question, try Google.

9. Stay on topic.

10. Do not use excessive capitalization or excessive punctuation in any post.

11. You may not post in this forum if you have accumulated more than 4 moderator warnings since 12:01AM, January 15, 2004. Our software automatically blocks people who don't meet that standard. If you create a separate username in order to bypass this restriction, or any other restriction in this forum, you will be banned from DU.

Rules to start discussion threads in the General Discussion: 2004 Primary forum

1. If you start a thread in this forum, you must present your opinion in a manner that is not inflammatory, which respects differences in opinion, and which is likely to lead to respectful discussion rather than flaming. The moderators have the sole authority to decide whether a thread topic is inflammatory. Extremely inflammatory or inappropriate topics will be deleted rather than locked, and the thread's author will receive a warning.

2. The subject line of a discussion thread must accurately reflect the actual content of the message.

3. The subject line of a discussion thread may not include profanity or swear words, even if words or letters are replaced by asterisks, dashes, or abbreviations.

4. You may not start a new discussion thread in order to continue a current or recent flame war from another thread. The moderators have the authority to lock similar threads in order to contain flaming on a particular topic to only one thread at a time.