Thank you for visiting our forum policy page. We hope you find it informative and entertaining! If you find something that seems incorrect or confusing, please e-mail spacefem so we can fix it. Other than that, we're glad you're here and hope you stay a long time, all our members are very cool and we like new members.
This is sort of a cultural page about how we feel regarding behavior. For a basic technical explanation of how the forum works (how to login, what's a smiley) visit the boring generic phpbb faq page. It's called "Frequently Asked Questions" but honestly, the questions in there aren't asked all that frequently, it's 2008, most people know how a forum works now. We don't care if you read that page or not.
But you must read this.
Members: edit this if you see a major typo or something, but generally speaking only moderators should edit policies.
The chat room is a really good place to get to know people and start feeling like one of us. There are almost always people in there, especially in the evenings, so if you're bored go say hi.
Please, no! The occasional "lol" is okay, but we strongly discourage using the letter u for the word "you" and things like that.
Making a lot of really short posts using very little english will certainly get our attention, and not in a good way. We'll probably ban you.
If no one has posted to a thread in the last week, it's considered 'dead'. Please do not post in it unless you really have something to say. A real opinion, some insight, constructive criticism that we haven't seen before, a valid addition to the conversation are worth bumping the thread. A simple 'lol ohmigod that happened to me 2!' is not. Repeating an opinion that someone else has already stated is also not worth bumping the thread. We delete these posts to keep things down.
If you run across a thread that's more than a year old, but you think it's really interesting, it's usually okay to re-post the topic and get some fresh opinions.
This rule does not apply to anything in Spacial Profiling. That's a "get to know you" sort of place where we want everyone to answer every thread. New threads aren't added very often and old threads stay active.
We don't delete accounts based on stupidity, we just inactivate them. Any account with more than three posts is never deleted because that would mess up the database. Accounts with less than three posts, however, are deleted after thirty days. This means if you join up, post five times, then go on a month long vacation, you're safe. If you only post twice, you're not.
There are substances that probably make you a better poster here, but alcohol is not one of them. If your blood alcohol level is above 0.08%, you are only allowed to post in hell. Okay, actually, you're encouraged to post in hell, so we can laugh at you.
We at Spacefem.com love freedom of speech, which allows people to express their opinions without fear of penalty from the government. However, there are limits to free speech. You can say what you want, but not necessarily where you want to say it. If we find your comments offensive or disrespectful, we may ask you to say what you want on your own website and leave us alone. We like different viewpoints and there are plenty of members who disagree from the majority of spacefem.com visitors on key issues. The point of the spacefem.com forums, however, is not to give every human in the world an audience to spout intolerant views. We're trying to create a community of thinking, respectful individuals. You do not have the right to say what you want if your words conflict with the goal of this forum. An example of intolerant behavior is name-calling against other users.
This restriction of free speech is necessary for society to function properly. Even the federal government won't let you walk into a session of Congress and say how you feel. There is nothing in the definition of free speech that says people have to listen to you.
Hell is our forum for pointless or stupid threads. Topics in hell are pruned after three days (or when Storage feels like it), at which time any posts you had in there are removed from your post count. If you must post a quiz result or thoughtless link, please do so in hell. If you are drunk, go straight to hell. You can come out later.
If you post something you shouldn't have posted, a moderator will let you know with a PM. Most people react to this with a quick "Okay, cool, I get it" but every once in a while we get the Moderator Martyrs - people who must advertise to the forum that one or more moderators hate them, they are being oppressed, we are all cruel and evil, etc. They PM moderators with flamatory remarks ("you can't control me!!!") and never talk about anything relevant again. These people have control issues, and even though we try to rehabilitate them, most of them end up getting banned very soon after starting their Martyrdom campaign.
Refer to Moderators.
You can only have one account. If you feel the need to start over, e-mail spacefem and talk about it. Don't just start lots of accounts because you're bored, we'll ban them all.
Anyone with less than 9 posts is really a newbie, with the word newbie appearing under his or her name. You should take extra steps to be nice and welcoming towards these people. Anyone with less than 256 posts, or who's been here less than two months, is an unofficial newbie... we're still nice and welcoming, but we don't let them get away with stupidness either. After the two months/256 posts, a lot of people feel like they're really one of us. You're allowed in the members only forum after that.
If you post in a thread, either 24 hours should go by or two separate people should comment before you post again. The forum is supposed to involve everyone, and if only two people are going back and forth, it makes others feel unsure where to jump in. It's also a sign that you're being trolled. You may use the PM system to talk with one person.
Sending excessive unsolicited PMs, personally attacking other members, or flaming the general board population are all heavily looked down on. Treat people with respect, it's a good way to live life and last in the forums.
You may post photos in a thread, if they add to the conversation. The occasional photo thread pops up and is interesting, try not to go too crazy.
No photo-quoting. If you're going to quote another post, edit out the image.
Do not post a photo of someone else without his/her permission.
Posting articles or topics that you steal from somewhere else while passing the work off as your own will get you banned.
In addition, if you write an article or start a lengthy thread here, please do not use the same text to start an article at another website, unless it's your own. You own what you write but we are not a re-hash farm for a manifesto you want spread across the internet.
The poll of the day forum is the source for our Poll of the day blog. You can't post new threads here, you can only vote and reply. Each day, a poll is grabbed from the archives, dusted off, and re-posted. It has to be at least 18 months old. If you are a member of Livejournal, you can add sf_polloftheday to your friends list to see the polls all the time.
There are several private forums you can join. You can only see them if you're logged in, someone has to "approve" you, and the world can't see what you're writing (it won't show up on google, so that's nice.) Private forums are:
You can join private forums through your user control panel (click the "usergroups" tab and apply for a group).
Please do not share what's discussed in private forums to anyone not in them. There's a reason they're private.
We like links. We'd prefer that you post the link as its own topic, and when you do that you must add your own commentary/thoughts... just like we don't allow one-word replies, we don't allow one-word topics either. So if your thread is just a link and "what do you think?" it'll get moved to hell.
If you find a website that's just a page or a stupid quiz or something else that's funny, but doesn't really inspire any deep thoughts, post a thread about it in hell. If we're bored, we'll check it out. We're usually bored so you've got that going for you.
We've found that "random threads" (threads with no particular topic where people can just throw in whatever's on their minds) have a tendency to keep people from posting real threads that encourage discussion. They also make it tough for newbies to know when to jump in, because they're not sure if the need to read 10 pages of discussion or not. So a thread doesn't have a specific-enough topic we'll let it go for a little while, but count on it being locked after 5-6 pages of replies. If we lock your random thread please don't start another one right away, try to start some real topics.
If you're gone from the forum for a period of time (anywhere between two weeks and one year) we'd love to hear an update on what's gone on with your life so we can welcome you back. Please post this in Random Weirdos or Happiness or someplace like that. Do not post in Newbies. You are not new, you do not get the same attention, judgment, and discussion that a genuine newbie gets.
Avoid excessive quoting. Remove extra text inside the quote tags to save space.
Never quote an image. We saw it once, we don't need to see it again.
There isn't an automatic process that keeps these in check for us, we just ask that every member keep his/her signatures within the guidelines as a courtesy. If you mess up, one of our friendly moderators will set you straight by editing your signatures... don't be offended, it happens all the time.
Will get you banned. Duh.
If you talk about a book, movie, or anything with a plot, it's polite to leave out any "spoilers"... tidbits of information or surprises that people are supposed to slowly figure out on their own while enjoying the plot. If possible, we encourage you to try not to post spoilers at all. If you must post a topic with spoilers, put [SPOILERS] in the topic title so no unknowing persons fall victim by clicking.
For the text in your topic, and all other replies, use the bbcode [spoiler] and [/spoiler] around your text so it's hidden. People can highlight it to read what you wrote.
The solid stars under your name represent how many posts you have, and go along with your title. Each time your post count doubles, you get a new solid star. You get your first star at four posts, your second at eight, and so on. Here's the nice little breakdown:
0 posts = Hippified Newbie
4 posts = 1 star = Glorified Newbie
8 posts = 2 stars = Better
16 posts = 3 stars = Groupie in Training
32 posts = 4 stars = Beneficial Pineapple
64 posts = 5 stars = Brave Sayer
128 posts = 6 stars = Achiever
256 posts = 7 stars = Established
512 posts = 8 stars = Very Established
1024 posts = 9 stars = Incredibly Established
2048 posts = 10 stars = Incredibly Established
Your title changes whenever your stars change, but after you've been a member for two months and have 256 posts, you can pick your own title.
Please use a specific, informative subject line when creating new topics. Do not make a topic called "I am so mad!" in Ranting... that's sort of obvious. Never use a subject like, "A question for you all..." or "A thought I had...". Tell us something we don't know.
Use whatever words you feel are appropriate. We don't censor swear words here, unless you're really annoying about them.
When you've been around at least two months and have 256 posts, you can chose and change your own title (the little text under your name) if you make a $5 donation to the forum. Paypal spacefem@spacefem.com.
Only spacefem can change your username, and she will only do it if you follow these steps:
