Rule change announcements

[ToSeek]

Rule 5 has been modified to note that a PM to a moderator about official forum issues may be shared with other moderators unless there's a prior agreement not to do so.

[ToSeek]

Rule 8 has been modified to cover large images as well as hotlinking:


8. Hotlinking and large images

Try to avoid putting in links to images directly from someone else's website. This can add a lot to their bandwidth, and then the host has to pay for it. In other words, if you see an image you like on an astronomy site, put in a link to that site, but don't use the [IMG] tags so the image loads into your post from their site directly. If you really want an image in your post, put it in a public site someplace and link to it from there. One exception would be from sites like NASA or universities, where bandwidth is not such an issue. If you own the image, then you can upload it to the board yourself.

Additionally, don't embed a huge image (meaning an image that's over 100k or extends beyond the right-hand edge of a typical display) inline using the [IMG] tag but link to it instead. We still have dialup users and others with limited bandwidth for whom downloading a large image would be a significant annoyance.

[ToSeek]

Rule 3 has been modified to cover abbreviated bad phrases:


3. Language

No cursing. This goes along with being polite. This website is read by a lot of kids, including young school kids who want to learn about astronomy, space, and space exploration. The Universe is a marvelous place, full of beauty and wonder, and if you despoil it by using bad language you will quickly invoke the ire of the administrators and moderators. Think of the language used on TV during an after-school special and you'll get the idea. Deliberately misspelled bad words, abbreviated bad phrases, or replacing key letters with different characters or numbers will not be tolerated. Same goes with adult topics -- talk about them somewhere else. If you do need to post something risqué, stick with arcane scientific terminology.

This includes avatars: since you can upload an image to be your avatar, use care in choosing that image. Contact a moderator or administrator if you have any doubts.

[ToSeek]

Rule 0 added:


0. The Spirit of the Law.

The purpose of all of these rules is to ensure that this forum remains a law-abiding, civil, and congenial place to engage in discussion. That a post complies with that spirit is a greater consideration than whether it can be defended as being within the rules.

[ToSeek]

Rule 3 reworded but essentially unchanged:


3. Language

No cursing. This goes along with being polite. This website is read by a lot of kids, including young school kids who want to learn about astronomy, space, and space exploration. The Universe is a marvelous place, full of beauty and wonder, and if you despoil it by using bad language you will quickly invoke the ire of the administrators and moderators. Think of the language used on TV during an after-school special and you'll get the idea. Attempts to express bad words or phrases in messages or screen names, by any means such as (but not limited to): replacing key letters with different characters, misspellings homonyms, sound-alikes, abbreviations, or any other trick obvious enough to be noticed by a moderator will not be tolerated. Same goes with adult topics -- talk about them somewhere else. If you do need to post something risqué, stick with arcane scientific terminology.

This includes avatars: since you can upload an image to be your avatar, use care in choosing that image. Contact a moderator or administrator if you have any doubts.

[ToSeek]

Rule 5 has been updated as follows:


5. Privacy Issues

Do not post private email you have gained access to without the express permission of the sender. There are legal and copyright reasons for this, not to mention that doing so is very impolite. The same caveat applies to private messages, whether they're from this forum or anywhere else. If you receive rude or abusive private messages on this forum, you can report them via the same mechanism as inappropriate posts. Posting private information about forum users that is not available otherwise publicly will not be tolerated.

However, private messages to a moderator about forum administration issues are an exception to this rule. These may be shared with other moderators (but only with other moderators) unless you have a prior agreement with the moderator not to do so. To put it another way, think of the moderator team as a single entity. A PM to one is a PM to all, at least when it comes to official business.

Two changes:

1. Changed "Do not post private email you have received" to "Do not post private email you have gained access to."

2. Noted that PMs can now be reported using the same mechanism as message posts.

[ToSeek]

Rule 5 has been modified to address a situation that has already occurred once with the comparatively recent PM reporting capability:


5. Privacy Issues

Posting private information about forum users that is not available otherwise publicly will not be tolerated. Do not post private email you have gained access to without the express permission of the sender. There are legal and copyright reasons for this, not to mention that doing so is very impolite. The same caveat applies to private messages, whether they're from this forum or anywhere else. If you receive rude or abusive private messages on this forum, you can report them via the same mechanism as inappropriate posts.

However, private messages to a moderator about forum administration issues are an exception to this rule. These may be shared with other moderators (but only with other moderators) unless you have a prior agreement with the moderator not to do so. To put it another way, think of the moderator team as a single entity. A PM to one is a PM to all, at least when it comes to official business.

Note that if you do report a private message that you consider inappropriate, you should provide background information regarding any private discussions that preceded that message, since the moderators (unlike with public message posts) cannot establish context without such information. Members who report inappropriate messages without revealing that they sent messages that might have goaded the sender into writing such a message will be dealt with severely.

[ToSeek]

Rule 17 modified to point out that if you disagree with a moderator post, you're welcome to report it:


17. Moderator Actions

If there is a rule violation, then a moderator will take action. This may include: the deletion of a word or phrase (if it breaks the rules), the removal of an entire post (if it is beyond redemption, or if it's a spam, etc.), the merging of a new thread with an existing one on the same topic, the closing of a thread if it wanders too far off-topic or gets too heated, a gentle warning to a user or users, a not-so-gentle-warning, and as a last resort, the banning of a user. This banning may be temporary or permanent, as outlined above. If a moderator gives you advice, we advise you to take it.

If you disagree with a moderator action, then PM or email the moderator, a different moderator, or an administrator. If it's a post by a moderator that you disagree with, you can report the post using the usual mechanism. We will review the case and take action as needed.

[Swift]

The Advice for conspiracy-theory supporters (http://www.bautforum.com/conspiracy-theories/86593-advice-conspiracy-theory-supporters.html) has been updated, with the addition of Advice # 11.

11. The CT forum may also be used for the critical analysis of websites that advocate specific astronomy and space related conspiracies. Such discussions should be limited to the specific claims of those websites and the scientific arguments against those claims. Such discussions are not an excuse to bash the claimants of such conspiracies.

[Swift]

The moderation team has made some changes to the wording of two Rules (http://www.bautforum.com/showthread.php/32864-Rules-For-Posting-To-This-Board?p=564845#post564845), and to the Advice fro ATM Advocates (http://www.bautforum.com/showthread.php/107271-Advice-for-ATM-Idea-Advocates-Read-before-posting-in-ATM).

The main change to Rule 13 and the Advice is to remove the wording about "attacking arguments with glee and fervor", and replace it with wording that people will "vigorously challenge your arguments". Frankly, some people seemed to be too much into arguing and seemed to be taking "glee and fervor" as an excuse for rude behavior. Challenging an advocate of an ATM idea is not posting "You're wrong", it is having a polite and serious discussion.

We have also modified Rule 3 (Language) to simplify the wording (make it a little "cleaner" - pun intended).

[ToSeek]

Rule 8 has been modified to discourage video embedding as well as large image embedding:


8. Hotlinking and large images

Try to avoid putting in links to images or video directly from someone else's website. This can add a lot to their bandwidth, and then the host has to pay for it. In other words, if you see an image you like on an astronomy site, put in a link to that site, but don't use the [IMG] tags so the image loads into your post from their site directly. If you really want an image in your post, put it in a public site someplace and link to it from there. One exception would be from sites like NASA or universities, where bandwidth is not such an issue. If you own the image, then you can upload it to the board yourself.

Additionally, don't embed a huge image (meaning an image that's over 100k or 800 pixels wide) or a video of any size inline using the [img] or [video] tags. We still have dialup users and others with limited bandwidth for whom downloading a large image would be a significant annoyance.

[antoniseb]

Rule 8 has been modified to discourage video embedding as well as large image embedding:

Another way to think about this is that a rising share of people reading this forum are doing so on mobile devices, and have a monthly limit on downloads before they have to pay. Please help them by giving them the option to download rather than making it part of the post. Someday we'll all be on infinite data plans with super-fast connections, and then we can loosen up on this rule.

[ToSeek]

Rule 17 has been modified to be more explicit about appropriate ways of expressing disagreement with a moderation decision.