####BE POLITE AND RESPECT OTHERS
re:politics (formerly, Maple Leaf Web) operates these forums and the weblogs in the hopes that they will promote intelligent, honest and responsible discussion. We encourage you to speak your mind on relevant issues in a thoughtful way. Please respect others using this board and treat them with respect and dignity.
####NO TROLLING/FLAMING
####BE POLITE AND RESPECT OTHERS
re:politics (formerly, Maple Leaf Web) operates these forums and the weblogs in the hopes that they will promote intelligent, honest and responsible discussion. We encourage you to speak your mind on relevant issues in a thoughtful way. Please respect others using this board and treat them with respect and dignity.
####NO TROLLING/FLAMING
Do not post inflammatory remarks just to annoy people. If you are not bringing anything new to the argument, then do not say anything at all.
Some messages are not so much offensive as simply nuisance value. An example would be a person who persistently creates conflict without contributing anything useful. In newsgroup circles, such a person is known as a “troll”. We define “trolling” as a message that serves no constructive purpose and is likely to cause offence or arguments. We define “annoying” as any message that results in a complaint from a registered user — we will then decide whether to take action.
####NO PERSONAL ATTACKS
Please respect others by refraining from personal attacks. There is a huge difference between disagreeing with a thought or idea and attacking an individual. We encourage lively debate and intelligent critiques of others viewpoints, not tirades against another poster.
####TRIM YOUR REPLIES
When posting a reply, quote only what is needed for context. No one is interested in reading the entire post again! Quoting the entire post wastes expensive bandwidth and is just plain annoying. In the forums, after hitting the quote button, please remove those portions of the post that are unrelated to your response.
####INSULTS
Insults are the ammunition of the unintelligent – do not use them. It is okay to criticize a policy, decision, action or comment. Such criticism is part of healthy debate. It is not okay to criticize a person’s character or directly insult them, regardless of their position or actions. Derogatory terms such as “loser”, “idiot”, etc are not permitted unless the context clearly implies that it is not serious. Rule of thumb: Play the ball, not the person (i.e. tackle the argument, not the person making it).
People who have a history of antagonistic behaviour will be treated more harshly than those who do not.
Insults leveled at third-parties (companies, political parties, nationalities) are also forbidden in the forums.
####NO CROSS-POSTING
Cross posting is defined as posting the same information in more then one forum and or weblog on the Internet. It is also considered cross posting if you post the same information in different areas of these forums. In the forums, if you want to propose a new topic, find the appropriate category and only post once. All cross-posts will be deleted without warning.
####RESPECT OTHERS PRIVACY
Do not post unauthorized personal information about anyone on the board. Any posts that contain personal communication (emails, etc) between multiple individuals will be deleted without notice.
####RESEARCH YOUR POST
If you are stating a fact, be prepared to back it up with some official sources (websites, links etc). It is also important to structure your post in a way that everyone can understand. That means writing complete sentences and paragraphs with the appropriate grammar. If for some reason, you enjoy writing long confusing sentences and paragraphs riddled with poor grammar and spelling mistakes, your post, and therefore your opinions, will likely be discarded. Therefore, it is in your best interest to make sure that your post includes sufficient sources and contains a well-researched and well-organized argument.
####POSTING CONTENT
All forum posts or weblog comments must contain some aspect of an argument or attempt to stimulate discussion. Simply posting a URL to an outside source or posting statements that are only one or two sentences long will not be tolerated and the post will be deleted. In addition, use the search feature to ensure that the topic you are posting is not already being discussed somewhere else in the forums.
It is also important that you stay on topic and keep the discussion focused. If the thread begins to wonder off into a new topic area, start a new thread and continue the discussion under the new thread. If you feel a thread is being watered down with too many different topic areas and you do not want to start the new thread yourself, feel free to contact the Admin and request a new thread.
####POSTING COPYRIGHTED MATERIAL
Copyright infringement is illegal in the forums and weblogs. Therefore, please do not post articles in their entirety. In the forums, when posting copyrighted material, please use the quote ([QUOTE] & [/QUOTE]) feature to highlight the important parts of the article and provide a thorough summary for others. You must also provide sufficient credit to the author and a link to the original article in your post. If the article cannot be found online, then at the end of the post provide an appropriate cite using any of the available citing formats, MLA, APA, etc. Find out more information on Fair Dealing in Canada. http://www.robic.ca/publications/Pdf/032E-LC.pdf
Please do not try to pass someone else’s work as your own. Anyone caught committing plagiarism will be dealt with severely.
####FORUM MODERATION AND CENSORSHIP
These forums are not a free-for-all discussion area. re:politics (formerly, Maple Leaf Web) operates these forums in the hopes that they will promote intelligent, honest and responsible discussion. If at any time the discussion cease to be “intelligent” and “responsible” then the discussion will be ended.
re:politics (formerly, Maple Leaf Web) will attempt to monitor the content of the postings and reserves the right to delete any message for any or no reason whatsoever. We will also attempt to use this power judiciously and fairly, but our decisions are final.
If for some reason your post has been deleted and you were not notified, please feel free to [contact the Admin](http://www.mapleleafweb.com/contact) and request an explanation.
####MEMBER SIGNATURE
In the forums, please keep your signature under six lines – the shorter the better. Long complicated signatures do nothing but distract other posters and eat up bandwidth. The content of a signature must be respectful.
####ADVERTISING
Advertising is not permitted in these forums or in the weblogs. You are free to link to other websites (i.e. in your signature) however you cannot use these forums or weblogs to sell anything. When posting about a political event, (i.e. political rally or a march) please seek the permission from the Admin before posting.
####LEGAL ISSUES/ACTION
You remain solely responsible for the content of your messages, and you agree to indemnify and hold harmless re:politics (formerly, Maple Leaf Web) with respect to any claim based upon transmission of your message(s).
By participating in the forums and weblogs, you grant us the right and licence to use, reproduce and display any submissions to the forum without compensation to you or any one else.
We at re:politics (formerly, Maple Leaf Web) also reserve the right to reveal your identity (or whatever information we know about you) in the event of a complaint or legal action arising from any message posted by you.
####POSTING REMOVAL
Any messages that we deem unsuitable will be deleted or edited.
####MEMBER REMOVAL
Any user who fails to abide by these rules will be banned without warning.