Most of this is common sense, but sometimes it just needs to be put down in writing...
* Lurk for a bit before just jumping right in. It always helps to know the users you will be chatting with a bit before you jump in to post.
* It is not recommended that you post personal photos of yourself unless you don't mind finding yourself photoshopped as a Dancing Chicken. There are some photoshop pros here who welcome the opportunity to practice their skills.
* If someone asks not to have their picture posted, even if they were the one to originally post it here, please respect their wishes and do not post, or link to, their picture.
* Act maturely. Don't rise to inflammatory posts. Remember that your opinion is only your opinion, and other people have a right to disagree with it, just as you have a right to have it. Don't turn a difference of opinion into an insult fest.
* If someone does act immaturely - ignore them! Usually they act that way to get attention. Ignoring them may make them rethink their act.
* Treat each other with respect or how you would like be treated: 'do unto others as you would have them do unto you.'
* Again, if the person is acting disrespectful, usually it is because they want attention. So, the best thing to do is to not give it to them.
* No using an anonymous proxy to hide your identity. No spamming, or advertising.
* Think before you post -
http://www.albinoblacksheep.com/flash/posting.php
* Some common sense rules: no posting personal PMs or emails; no posting another user's full real name or address or phone number or email address or picture.
* No nudity. And please do not swear overly much.
* Do not just decide to attack someone. If someone insulted you a month ago, who cares, we don't want to hear about it. If someone insulted you on another site, we don't care, don't bring it over here or you may be told just how much the others don't want to hear about it. If you don't like another user, fine, then ignore them, but don't continually insult them because the rest of us don't want to hear about it.
* No threats of physical violence.
* No stalking - don't take your personal differences from one thread to another. And especially don't take it out of The Lounge.
* No creating accounts under another name (an alias) just to harass specific people.
* Do not disrespect the moderators. They are volunteers and do the best that they can, If you can do a better job, go start your own site and moderate how you want there.
Failure to follow these rules may get you banned from the discussion forums for varying lengths of time. Depending on how many times you've already been warned (banned from these forums), you may be banned anywhere from a day, a week, a month, or permanently (or anywhere in between). This is up to moderator discretion. You may PM that moderator to discuss and resolve the issue. However, insulting them in that PM may not be in your best interests.
The Mods reserve the right to remove any posts that they feel are offensive or against your terms of registration.
modified 2007-08-21, Added rule regarding creating alias accounts to harass people.