HFBoards - Forum Rules

		HFBoards
Forum Rules

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Forum Rules

Unregistered, You must accept the Forum Rules below to be able to use some forum functions.

If you were redirected here it means that the administrator has decided it's time for a refresher of the site rules. This is done yearly or whenever there are substantial changes. Accepting the site rules is a condition of registration. Once done you'll be taken back to the forums and will not be redirected again. Individuals who receive warnings or infractions may be redirected at any time.

Rules of conduct apply to posting on the forums, social groups, blogs, and ALL profile fields of your user account, including, but not limited to username, usertitle, webpage, avatar, signature, and location.

To report a post that violates the rules click on the report bad post icon within the post and give a brief description of the rule being broken. The icon is located in the user information field of each post. It's triangular in shape with a red border, and exclamation mark in middle. DO NOT PM, email, or post in the forums to report offensive posts. Usage of the Report Bad Post feature is the only means of reporting posts that violate our rules. All reports are kept confidential. You will not be contacted regarding your report. Whatever action is taken, if any, will remain confidential.

Federal Law requires that you be 13 years of age or older to register for our forums. If you do not meet the age requirement, do not proceed with registration. If you are already registered and it is determined that you are under age 13, your account will be deleted. Although our content is suitable for all ages we are not permitted to collect personal data required for registration such as email addresses, IP numbers, etc, on individuals under age 13.

Posting Rules: Unacceptable Conduct

Flaming: Do not post any messages that harass, insult (name calling), belittle, threaten or mock other members. Debates are fine, but critique the opinion, not the person. Personal attacks are not permitted. Do not use sweeping generalizations and plural pronouns to cloak personal attacks. For example if a poster(s) states that he thinks 'x' is a good idea, replying that "Anyone who supports 'x' is an idiot" is a personal attack. Do not start threads to call out and embarrass other members or make posts about ignore lists. Quotes by other members are not to be edited. You may reply to a partial quote, but do not change the quoted content in any way. No one likes to be misrepresented or have words put in their mouth.
Trolling: Do not post topics with the sole purpose of starting a dispute. Note that a person disagreeing with your opinion is NOT trolling; keep it civil, even if you're sure the other person is wrong. When visiting the team forums please note that they are fan forums for that team and are here mainly for the enjoyment of that team's fans. Do not visit team forums to cheer against or demean their team, or cheer for their opponent. In other words, if you want to cheer for the Habs and criticize the Bruins, do it on the Habs board. And if someone is doing the opposite on the Bruins board, don't start flaming them to defend the honor of your team. Either ignore it respectfully disagree and move on. Wishing illness or injury on someone will almost always be regarded as trolling or offensive. We do not permit team forums to be used to demean/insult the fans of other teams. That is considered trolling. Bringing posts from one team forum to another for this purpose is also considered trolling.
Spamming: Please do not double post or cross-post the same message in multiple forums. You will not PM or 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. One or two word responses such as "Me Too", "I agree", "great post!", smileys not accompanied by content, and similar responses may be considered spam. Creating large blank areas in posts is spam. These are not allowed on the hockey forums. Fantasy League announcements/solicitations are to be posted in the Fantasy Talk and Hockey Video Games Forum ONLY. If you solicit on our other forums you will be given an infraction for spamming and your posts will be deleted. Moderators on the team forums are permitted to allow a fantasy league thread or two for that team's fans (e.g., NY Ranger Fans Yahoo Fantasy League). Anything beyond that must use the Fantasy forum. Only free fantasy leagues are permitted. If you're charging money for it, take out an ad.
Offensive Posts, Links or Images: No NSFW content. NSFW ("Not Safe For Work") is defined as anything that most people would not want seen by their bosses, parents or teachers. Do not use profanity, racial, ethnic, religious, or other slurs and stereotypes, or post sexually-oriented material, masturbatory and excretory references, or any other offensive material. This includes "Victim Pictures" of people and animals after they have been through some form of bodily trauma, "Goatse" - Photographic picture featuring the rear end of anatomy, "Tubgirl" - Photographic picture featuring creative uses of anatomy and liquids, and pedophilic jokes (ones about having sex with children). Nude and semi-nude images are not to be posted here. That includes your avatar. These are not "Babe" forums for displaying content that belongs in swimsuit calenders or lingerie catalogues.

Do not circumvent the obscenity filter by using numbers or characters such as ! or $. A word's exclusion from the obscenity filter does not mean its usage is endorsed. If it's offensive, don't use it.

We have members from different countries, religions, backgrounds. Even if you express a point of view that is very popular in your culture, it may generate a negative reaction from members in another part of the world so please exercise tact.
Advertising: Posting or private messaging to sell, buy, or trade products or services, links to auctions, affiliate links, links to promote personal or commercial websites, blogs, other forums and so forth is not allowed anywhere without explicit permission. Abuse of the PM system is based on member complaints. The only exception is moderator approved ticket exchange threads. If you have a website or business, you may include the link to your site in your signature ONLY. Signatures are only provided to Sponsors and Staff. Links to other forums or to incentive-based promotions may NOT be included in signatures. Unsolicited advertising may result in a permanent ban and your site being blacklisted. While we encourage posters to cite sources and articles with links to websites, they are not to be posted by members with a vested interest in bringing traffic to those sites. In other words, if you work for a site (paid or not), do not post links to its articles. Photos and photo galleries are not subject to this restriction. If you wish to advertise on HFBoards or Hockey's Future please contact sales@craveonline.com.

Sites that do not have forums are advised to check out our Partners program. There is a link for it in the bottom navigation bar.
No Disclosure of Personal Information: Do not disclose any other member's email, real name, address, phone number, IP address, or other personal information. This includes the posting contents of emails, private messages, warnings, infractions, and bans. Do not bring personal disputes into the forums.
Copyrighted Material: 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. It's permissible to quote up to 20 lines of text and you must provide commentary. DO NOT POST ENTIRE ARTICLES. If you have a question about copyrights see Brad Templeton's 10 Big Myths about copyright explained
Warez: Do not use these forums (this includes Private Messages) to swap/sell/buy illegal software (or other illegal materials), to arrange swapping, or to solicit advice to circumvent copyright protection. No linking to "underground" or "pirate" sites to get copyrighted materials, or asking for said sites. This includes FTP servers, websites, and the like. Soliciting invites to said sites is not permitted. Discussion of widely-known, established filesharing services (such as Kazaa) or websites (Digital Archive Project) is acceptable.
Off-Topic Posting: Posts are to be on the topic of the board description where they're posted. Off Topic posts may be moved or closed at the moderators discretion. All political discussion is to be done on the Politics forum (http://hfboards.com/forumdisplay.php?f=160).
Misleading Titles: On the Hockey Boards, the subject line of the post should be as informative as possible about the content of the post. This also reduces duplicate posts.
Duplicate Posts: Check the first 2 pages of the board before posting and make sure someone has not already done a post similar to yours. Pages can be accessed at the immediate bottom right on the board. Duplicate or similar threads are subject to being merged or closed at the discretion of the moderator.
Libel: Any posts libeling players, prospects, or hockey personnel. It's not acceptable to post that you heard Player X has a drinking/drug/sex/personal problem from a "good" source. Do not post information which can be considered defamatory without a link to a credible media source. Other forums, personal websites, hearsay, and personal testimonials are not considered credible.
Claiming to be a public figure: If you are one and wish to post as such, please contact an administrator for verification.
Outlandish claims of inside information: This is subjective and will be at the discretion of the moderator after consulting with other posters and other administrators. Deference will be given to veteran members who have established credibility. If you're an insider, contact us with proof BEFORE you post.
Playing the Role of Moderator: you're not a moderator so don't correct posters like one. If a thread or post violates the rules use the "Report This Post" button, rather than playing the parent. Editorial comments such as "useless thread", "in before the lock", "this thread should be closed", etc. on the value of a thread or post are not welcome. This may also be considered spam as it adds nothing to the discussion as well as thread-hijacking as it takes the thread off topic. If you don't like a thread and it doesn't break any rules don't reply to it! More often than not, that causes more problems than it fixes. Let us handle what is ours to handle. If you're interested in becoming a moderator you can send your application to moderators@hfboards.com
Moderator Abuse (Attacking/Disobeying the moderators): If you disagree with something the moderators did, fine, disagree and let us know, but do it politely through PM or email ONLY. Complaining on the forums is not permitted. If your thread or post was moved/closed/removed there was a good reason for it. Do not start a new one. Attacking or flaming a moderator via PM is subject to a Moderator Abuse infraction. Be respectful and considerate. Profanity and abusive conduct isn't tolerated.

Do not plead the first amendment and cite your right to free speech. It does not apply to the private sector. This is a privately owned website. Dancing around the rules, purposely skirting them just to see us twitch will not help you out much, either.

Do not post on behalf of someone who's banned. That'll probably get you banned, too. The idea of being banned is that they're no longer a part of this online forum community and are no longer allowed to interact here. No making threads that give glory to banned people. It's not a violation to mention them in passing but no threads that focus on them. ("Ah, Troll du Jour, I miss him so!" "or Hey, it's Troll du Jour's birthday!") Prohibited threads include "What banned member do you miss/would you bring back?" type of threads. They're banned; don't give them that attention. If a moderator gives you specific instructions in a warning, and you blatantly disregard it, you are subject to being banned.
Discussion of illegal drugs should be kept within academic or newsworthy limits only. "How to" discussions and "I'm so stoned" posts may result in repercussions ranging from a warning to immediate and permanent banning, depending on previous history, context of post and nature/content of post. Promotion of anything illegal is strictly prohibited.
Forum Specific Rules: Please check the sticky threads at the top of each forum for any forum specific rules. Make sure you read the Lounge Manifesto, and posting requirements for the Trade Rumors forum.
One Account per User: multiple accounts are not permitted. If you have a good reason for needing more than one account, contact an administrator and ask for permission.
Thread Hijacking: taking a thread off-topic to pursue one's own agenda.
Shouting: excessive use of caps, large fonts.
Circumvention of url filter to post banned links. If you post a link and it comes out with ***'s instead of letters, its use is banned here due to unsolicited advertising or promotion of illegal activity.. Attempting to get around it by using spaces or other techniques will get you banned too.
Circumvention of a temporary ban, infraction penalties, or any other moderation by registering another account will result in a minimum 30 day ban to a maximum permanent ban.
Abuse of Report Bad Post: multiple reports per thread, duplicate or frivolous reports will be deemed abuse and subject to warning. Every report is addressed. Please do not report something more than once.
Promoting or assisting in the use of adblocking software or any other means to filter out our advertisements is strictly prohibited. If you don't want to see advertisements support the site and become a sponsor. It only costs $12/year.
Profile Fields (username, avatar, location, usertitle, sidebar) and Signatures are not to be used to make political or religious statements. Sponsors are permitted to have a signature of up to 5 lines, 1 image and may use up to size 4 font. Video code may not be included in any signature. As stated at the top, all other rules of conduct apply to these fields. Do not use them to flame, troll, insult, mock, display offensive content, or promote anything illegal. URL's may not be displayed anywhere but your signature and on the homepage field in your profile. Use of other profile fields is considered advertising.
Undefined: This is a long list of rules, but obviously it can't anticipate every situation. For that reason, HFBoards reserves the right to remove any user at any time for any reason. If we think you're trying to manipulate the system, you'll be removed.
HFBoards conducts business as an English language site. Just as you must abide by our terms of use, we must abide by our advertisers' terms of service to remain in business. Therefore, other than for the purpose of requesting translation of excerpts, we require posts to be in English.
A note about Blogs: they must be associated with an established media outlet, or the blogger must provide links to previous articles that establish his or her credentials to have their links posted here. Links to article content from blogs by HFBoard users who have been members for a year or more and from those listed in James Mirtle's Blogosphere may also be posted for discussion. Links should go to an article and an excerpt should be posted so our members can discuss it. Links to the homepage of the blog are not acceptable. Blogs which do not meet these standards will be treated the same as personal webpages (advertising).

There are 10 predefined infractions that expire in 30 days and 3 Levels of punishment that incrementally disable privileges. Warnings are the same as infractions but carry no point penalty.

Spam, Ads, Off Topic, Thread Hijacking (5) Warez (5) Flaming (5) Copyright Abuse (5) Trolling (5) Offensive (5) User Title, Avatar, Sig, Location (5) Libel (5) Disclosure of Private Information (5) Moderator Abuse (5) Ethnic/Racial/Gender Slurs (5) Misc. listed in Site Rules (5)

The following penalties are triggered by the point total in parentheses:
Level 1 (10 points) = the following are disabled: search, poll posting, avatar, attachments, email to a friend, profile editing, invisibility, signature, username changes, and post editing. The PM quota is reduced to 10,
Level 2 (15 points) = Level 1 + complete loss of PM + ability to start new threads.
Banned (20 points)

Privileges are incrementally restored as points expire. New members registered 90 days or less who reach Level 3 status are considered 'busts' and are automatically permanently banned.

The "Misc. listed in Site Rules" warning/infraction may be issued for any violation that is contained in our rules but isn't defined in the points system.

Severe offenses may be issued a 20 point, 30 day autoban, subject to review by an administrator. Chronic or egregious offenders are subject to a permanent ban. Permanent means forever. Requests for reinstatement will be ignored.

If you have a question about a warning contact the moderator who issued it by PM or email. Complaints about moderator abuse should be sent to complaints@hfboards.com.

If you're interested in becoming a moderator send your application to moderators@hfboards.com. No experience is required, but you must be a member for a minimum of six months. Simply state your interest, why you want to be a moderator, and which forum(s) you're interested in moderating. The length of time you've been a member, post quality and frequency, history of warnings/infractions, and recommendations from other moderators are taken into consideration.

Emails that do not include your username and registration email address will be ignored. If you are not writing from your registration email address, please be sure to include it in the body of your message.

I have read, and agree to abide by the HFBoards rules.

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