Trade Rumors and Free Agent Talk board requirements - MUST READ

Please observe the following requirements while using the Trade Rumors and Free Agent Talk board:

- Trade proposals must have the word Proposal in the title of the thread.

- Rumors must have the word Rumor in the title of the thread and a link to a credible source needs to be provided.

- Radio rumors will have to be confirmed by at least another poster, this will serve as the source to separate a legitimate rumor from a rumor someone made up by himself.

- Links to other bulletin boards will not be accepted as a legitimate source.

Threads that do not comply are subject to being edited, closed, or deleted at the discretion of the moderators. The same treatment will be reserved for ridiculous trade proposals.

Consider these requirements as additional rules restricted to the Trade rumors and Free Agent Talk board. Posters failing to respect them on multiple occasions will have to face the same consequence as a poster who breaks the general guidelines.

An addendum, if you make a proposal you know is bad, do us all a favor and don't post it. They can only lead to bad things, ideas, comments and we'll have to close it anyways, and we can only get to it so fast to close it.

Looks like I need to add something else on to this.


DO NOT post entire copyrighted articles, stories, published reports or any of the sort. This is illegal, it is called plagerism, and it is becoming a problem.

The FAQ says:

i) Reprinting (copying and pasting) of copyrighted articles is prohibited. Generally you can assume that anything you find online is copyrighted. We prefer you post a synopsis in your own words and the link to the article, but it's permissible to quote a few lines. DO NOT POST ENTIRE ARTICLES. If you have a question about copyrights see http://www.templetons.com/brad/copymyths.html Brad Templeton's Ten Big Myths about Copyrights

This is what is allowed:

Parts of the article with a link
Bits and pieces of the article with a link
A link.

It is pretty self-explanatory. Any poster who breaks this rule is subject to regular warnings or bans as per the FAQ.

With the end of the lockout, there are not a lot of rumors out there regardling player movement, and as usual, many are associated with high profile players and the Toronto Maple Leafs.


I know a lot of people don't like the Leafs, I'm not a fan either, but there is an insane and inordinate amount of remarks specifically attacking, trolling, baiting and flaming the Leafs and their fans.


This is going to stop. This is a friendly, general warning to everyone. There are a lot of moderators who patrol this board, and the warnings will be handed out, as fast and as furious as they are needed.

It goes without saying that this goes for attack against any fan of any team for any reason by any poster. If needed, we will skip the 2 and 3 point warnings.

If any poster has a problem with a certain post, please use the report post icon on the bottom left corner of of each post. A reply to an attack with your own attack only adds to the problem, and you risk even more points.


It is OK, to make a quick joke. It's all well and in good nature to have fun and joke about other teams. We're not going to cut down anything that is in good nature, but we will be cutting down on anything that even looks like it will cause trouble.


This is going to be a very exciting rest of the summer, and it is truly a unique situation we have this summer to enjoy and we want it to be enjoyable for everyone.

Ok, another announcement. I don't want to single out a member of the boards here but it seems rather necessary nowadays.

The poster Eklund will be given every respect that is given to any other posters. We all know he has a website with hockey rumors. Some may be valid and others may think its rediculous. Be that as it may, he and his website is allowed on these boards as a source. His proposals can be scrutinized but if he is personally attacked, then the mods will take appropriate actions against you.

Hey folks,

People have been getting out of hand when anticipating a thread is getting locked by a Mod will go in and post "i-b-t-l " (in before the lock) or simply just "in before the lock" or something along those lines.

We - and this includes your fellow comrades as I have received several PM's about this - find this 'post padding' annoying especially when a thread does not need to get locked and is then been distracted by this silly nonsense.

It needs to stop. Please keep in mind we have a rule against this...

3) Spamming: Please do not double post or cross-post the same message in multiple forums. You will not mass-PM or mass-email multiple members of this site the same message. This includes "bump threads" and posts intended merely to increase one's post count. Worthless posts with no content and nonsensical posts eat up space and waste everyone's time. These are not allowed on the hockey forums.

http://hfboards.com/faq.php?faq=terms_of_service#faq_hf_rules

We would really hate to give warning for this, please don't make us do it. :)

Thanks everyone,

Lou

And if you do do it, we're not going to be very nice about it.


Sometimes people start serious threads and because others think it is stupid, simply reply with a comment, such as this, which is more inane than what you believe you're replying to.


Like Lou said, this goes for any such comment, we just noted the obvious example.

I would just add that posting something like "in before the thread closes" is tantamount to suggesting to a mod that a thread should be closed. Do not instruct a mod on how to address a post or thread. If you have a problem with a thread/post, either PM a mod or use the Report Post button. That is what it is there for.

All proposals must contain the word "proposal" in the thread title.

...or some other form may be used to show that it is in fact a proposal


It's not a very hard rule to follow, and I stress that it is a RULE, and rules are meant to be adhered to and not be broken.



That is all.

Don't rush here just because you want to be the first to start a thread about a particular signing.


When 60 people try to start the same thread at the same time, that is when we have problems getting around here. And then it takes me an hour to merge them all.


I know people get miffed if not angry when the boards aren't working and we get that white screen of death.



So, everyone, we ask that you do your part, and in turn let us do ours.

From the big desk at the HF home office:
Posts that contribute no content of any value are spam and are infractionable. Users do not want to click on a thread they're following to see that new post when all it says is "me too", "I agree", a bunch of smilies or other drivel. It also generates unnecessary email for those who subscribe that way.
This means that going forward ... any posts in which a poster quotes someone else for the express purpose of showing agreement, or typing the letters "Q F T", "+1", "." or anything similar, will be considered spam and given an infraction.

-- Emoticon-only posts also will be considered spam, as Buffaloed mentioned above.

Rule #4 in the FAQ:

Do not circumvent the obscenity filter by using characters such as ! or $. (Examples are *****, , **** ). Use ######## or ****** if you really think it's necessary to swear.

It's been on the books for a long, long time - for those of you who are doing this, knock it off.

...an infraction.


Unless you're going to post a rational, constructive comment, you're only filling up the boards with inane nonsense. Every thread has such a post in it and accomplishes nothing. Trolling, spam, thread hijacking, take your pick off the list of what that post is (usually spam). Another reason we crack down on spam is because it ties up server load. Think of the avatars, colors, graphics, all the codes that go into creating one post.

It's alright to be funny, but it's not alright to go on and on when the joke is old, or you think it's stupid.

This is just an example, if we know you're contributing nothing to threads, you will get hit for spam. This is not the first time we're making a sticky-warning for spam.

Because the same comments/questions get bandied about every so often, this is the final statement on this topic.

Rumors involving Eklund will NOT be banned from this forum or this site; there will also be no sub-forum devoted exclusively to Eklund rumors, so don't bother asking again. Keep in mind that Eklund posts rumors - the decision of whether to believe any rumor is left to each of you; it's not up to HF to make that decision for you. If we choose to ban or censor rumors from him, then the next refrain will be to do the same for other sports writers ... and we're not getting into the business of making those decisions.

If you don't like him and/or what he does, don't go into a thread and rant about it. That will only get you an infraction and banned from the thread. We're also not setting up a filter so those of you who "can't stand him" don't have to see his name. If you can't practice some self-control, that's not our problem. Saying, "that rumor is idiotic" is fine. Saying Eklund is an idiot is not - as has been mentioned multiple times now, Eklund is a member here and is to be given the same respect as any other poster here; your personal feelings toward him do not change this, and we've given out numerous infractions for this and will continue to do so.

No more outlandish, multi-team proposals.

The first one was funny, the rest are like movie sequels-- all the promise, none of the fulfillment.

What constitutes outlandish will still be at the moderators' discretion, but any more 4-, 5-, 10- and 30-team proposals will be deleted, with infractions issued.

Trade rumors, transactions, and free agent talk. Rumors must contain the word RUMOR in post title. Proposals must contain the word PROPOSAL in post title.

This is NOT the board to ask general questions about the league, especially if you just want to have your thread seen by a busier message board. "How good is Team X", "how good is Player A" are not threads that belong in this forum, that is for the General Discussion. Other examples are talking about the next Winter Classic, or All-Star balloting, which has also made it into this forum.

The same goes for the General Talk forum, where people post trade rumors, and almost any trade with at least a decent player is involved. Trades/Signings don't go there, they go here.

Just please be mindful, because your thread is going to be moved or locked if it's not in the appropriate forum.