Increased moderation of the forum and changes in behavior of members

[Peachy]

To maintain the maturity, not to mention the friendly and helpful nature of our posts, we need to change the way moderation works.

There have been a few examples of bad things happening, such as this thread: http://www.adisc.org/forum/regulars-forum/6172-bye.html

Rather than actually reacting to what the original poster said, people immediately started to ridicule her and went on to compete who could write the silliest, dumbest and most offensive post.
Sorry, kids, but that's the purest form of high-school bullying I can think of - exactly the kind of behavior we do not want here!
That wasn't the only thread, either - look around the forum and you'll see that some threads dealing with slightly controversial issues have been shot down immediately.

That type of behavior has never been acceptable.
From now on, the penalties for this unacceptable behavior will be higher.

New rules for users will become effective immediately, and the moderators will watch the forum more carefully, making sure both new and old rules are enforced.

Apparently, some people fail big time at interpreting ADISC's golden rule ("be tactful") correctly, so let me spell it out in plain English for y'all:

"New" rules:

1. No ridiculing, bullying, or generally making fun of users or the problems they may be discussing in their posts.
2. No random posts in serious topics or generally anywhere outside of the Thread Games forum.
3. No posts that consist of only meaningless pictures!
4. No telling other people what to do or not do on the forum, thus impersonating a moderator. Leave that to the mods!

Instead you should:

1. Treat every member respectfully - do not post anything they may find offensive or hurtful.
2. Voice any kind of criticism or different opinion on a matter in a mature and helpful way.
3. Report offensive posts to the moderators by using the "Report post"-function ()
4. Use the rep system to show people your disapproval of their behavior. Do not use the rep system if your opinion is different (like politics, religion, etc). We will notice the difference!
5. Do not talk or complain about negative rep in the public forum.
6. Any personal differences you may have with specific users must not be dragged into the public forum - deal with that in private!
7. Generally live by the principle "If you have nothing nice to say, don't say anything at all".

The moderators will help enforcing these new rules and guiding people with the following actions:

1. I will personally send out PMs to the worst offenders of the past days. Those who get them: Consider it your last warning!
2. The entire mod crew will keep an eye on the forum and will delete any inappropriate messages.
3. Threads that get out of line will be closed immediately and then either cleaned out and reopened or remain closed.

You can help by:

1. Taking the time to think twice before hitting the "Reply" button. Think if you would feel hurt or offended by your post if you were the original poster. If the answer is "yes" or "maybe", don't post!
2. Thinking about whether or not your message is relevant and helpful to the topic at hand or if it's pure spam and likely to derail the thread. Once again, if you think your message is just spam or total unrelated randomness, don't post.
3. Not continuing, supporting or intensifying any bullying, rude behavior or randomness in a thread. Either try to bring the thread back on topic or report it to the moderators for them to take action.

Consequences:
People who break the above rules will be put on moderation by the mods for a limited period of time.
In that case, your messages will have to be approved by a mod, which means you're not causing problems on the forum anymore.
Repeat offenders will be banned temporarily, and after your third offense you will be banned permanently.

Peachy