Preamble
The aim of these boards is to provide a free and open venue for the discussion of Astronomy related topics. We ask that users try to keep things astronomy related. There are many forums for general discussion on the internet, for Irish users we recommend www.boards.ie for such discussions.
The short version of the rules boils down to just keeping things Astronomy related and being nice to each-other.
Attack the post, not the Poster
- Unwarranted personal attacks will not be tolerated.
- While a certain level of banter is expected between posters, it is not acceptable to attack another poster simply because you dislike or disagree with them. If you think that their comment is nonsense, argue why it is rather than simply insulting them. If you just don't like someone, just say nothing.
- When you arguing with someone about the content of their post please strive to provide links, references or other evidence to back up your points, this makes for a much more informative debate and prevents things spiraling into pantomime like "oh yes I did" ... "oh no you didn't" ... "oh yes I did" ............
This is bad
Poster1: I like Supermegatech telescopes, they are so pretty!
Poster2: Only syphilitic monkeys with ADD like Supermegatech telescopes. You are obviously one of them. Scum I say, scum
Poster1: Well you're a doodie head! I'll be crying into my keyboard all day now!
This is good
Poster1: I like Supermegatech telescopes, they are so pretty!
Poster2: I find the build quality and optics to be of inferior quality. It is therefore ick.
Poster1: Okay, I still like it though.
Spamming
- Complete nonsense Topics/posts will be deleted to save us money.
- IFAS pays by the megabyte our hosting package so we will not waste
money on totally pointless threads.
- Unsolicited advertisements from traders will be removed from all boards except the Buy and Sell boards, please restrict your ads to there and please keep them Astronomy related.
This is bad:
Poster1 Marco
Poster2: Polo
Poster1: Marco
Poster3: Polo
Admin type: If I find you, I'll cut your hands off.
This is also bad:
Poster1: Come to my website where you can buy all sorts of useless Japanese junk! It's cheap!
Family Friendly
- Any content in threads should be 'family safe'.
- 'family safe' means that a parent would not feel bad viewing the content in a family environment. Un-suitable material should not be posted on or linked to from these boards, his includes (but is not an exhaustive list): pornography, images from sites like rotten.com, videos of people being executed, swearing etc..
- This website is viewed by both young and old alike. The use of socially unacceptable language will not be tolerated. Profanities, language of a racist or salacious manner, and similar, is not acceptable.
Off-Topic
- Mods may split threads that split into multiple separate conversations
- While going off topic is part of the nature of bbs, this can lead to informative threads becoming swamped as the signal to noise ratio goes skew-ways. Mods may then split the thread up so that the off topics post can continue without interfering with the original thread.
Poster1: So, yes I believe digital photography is the way forward and that we will be able to take cool images for virtually nothing!
Poster2: Cake is great! I love cake!
Modtype: Er, can we talk about the topic at hand? You could start another thread on cake easily
Poster3: Yes, "wet film" had it's faults and is expensive to develop, but there is something nice about the colours and the crispness of the images that I just don't think you get with a digicam.
Poster4: Carrot cake is ick though
Modtype: Okay, thread is being split into two - one on photography and the other on cake.
Illegal in the real world, illegal on these boards
- Illegal activity will not be tolerated.
- IFAS is bound by the laws of the Republic of Ireland. Posts that break the law will be dealt with in an appropriate manner. Ignorance of the law is not a defence. For details of the laws of the land see here. Some examples to be aware of: Prohibition of Incitement to Hatred Act, Copyright and Related Rights Act.
Examples of bad things to do:
Poster1: Anyone want to buy hash?
or
Poster2: You can download full versions of movies and TV shows from this site!
or
Poster3: Here's a poll to see which poster you hate the most.
Guidelines
* Not everyone has the same sense of humour. Please bear this in mind when posting things you find funny. Someone could take offence. Don't be surprised when someone does.
* Before you call someone a Nazi or compare their opinions to those of the Nazis, please have a look at Godwin's Law.
* Don't post just to increase your post count. It seriously annoys many users.
* We cannot and will not create a rule for every situation. We ask the users to follow the spirit of the minimal set of rules we have laid down.
* The internet is made of real people. Remember that before you post.
* This is a public forum that can be viewed by anyone so for their own safety they should never post any sensative personal information on these boards (phone numbers etc..). Users can share this information with each other if they wish but should do so over Private Messages or Email.
