SAINTSATIONAL FAN FORUM RULES (AS OF 1 JULY, 2017)

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Saintsational Fan Forum is an unofficial St Kilda Football Club discussion forum open to all ages.

Due to minors being able to access this Fan Forum, respectful behaviour at all times is essential.

Only topics that directly relate to being a fan of the St Kilda Football Club are allowed in this forum. Other forums such as an Opposition & General Sports Forum; Cheer Squad/Morrabbin Wing Forum, a General Forum, even an Administration Forum and the over 18's Animal Enclosure are all available for other topics and discussions. There are different rules in place for each forum on Saintsational. Please be aware of these rules before posting. Not being aware of a rule will not be an excuse.

REPORTING A BREACH OF RULES TO MODERATORS

The forum has a <!> button in each post for ANY poster to report ANY breach of forum rules to the moderators. The reporting poster will only be known to the Moderators but otherwise anonymous.

Use the REPORT FUNCTION <!>to alert the Moderators to a potential rule breach. Where possible, or deemed essential, your report will be acknowledged and/or decisions will be explained to you. Do not make threads or posts requesting the discipline. Only use the <!> function in the offending posts.

The Moderators will assess ALL reports from the Fan Form and Private Messages. The Moderators try to cover different times of each day but do not read and assess each and every post as they are volunteers and cannot spend all of their time on the forum. Reports may take time to assess if they do not fit into the “cut & dry” view of rules and a consensus is required between the 3 Moderators.

The moderation team has the right to edit, split, move to another Forum or delete threads or posts that in their personal opinion breach any rule and according the rules below issue official warnings and / or bans to the offending poster. Otherwise no other content shall be altered by moderators. Should a Moderator be required to edit a post, this will be shown in the post itself and any warning and explanation issued in private to that poster via PM and noted within <> in the original post.

PENALTIES

Please note that a mere Saintsational warning has no lasting effect after 7 days.

It no longer counts in your posting record in terms of further warnings or banning. Receiving a warning is not a disaster and should be used to modify your behaviour and avoid a ban.

If a poster receives three warnings within a seven day period (based on the times you have posted your posts and not the times of assessment / warnings) then a one week ban will be issued.

Repeat offenders will have that ban effectively double each time (2 weeks, 1 month etc) for each repeat offences, with 3 bans in any 12 month period equalling a permanent ban of either the user's nic, e-mail address or IP address.

Exceptions with more severe penalties can be found below for behaviour deemed unacceptable.

Bans will be published for all posters to see in a post at the time of issue in the Fan Forum and later moved to the Administration Forum.

SERIAL OFFENDERS ARE PERMANENTLY BANNED

Please note that if a poster receives 3 bans within a 12 month period, it results in a permanent ban.

There are 3 levels of banning: nic or I.P or both plus e-mail address at the Administrator’s discretion.

RULES PHILOSOPHY: PLAY THE BALL (OPINION) AND NOT THE MAN (POSTER / PLAYER / OFFICIAL)

Vigorous debate and friendly banter on St. Kilda Football Club matters is encouraged on the Saintsational Fan Forum, as long as there is respect for each other and all opinions.

POSTER INTERACTION RULE

No matter how much you disagree, or dismiss the worth of any opinion posted, or dismiss the worth of the poster in your eyes, your response must be respectful. Argue the facts. Post an opposing opinion. Do NOT make commentary about the poster - ONLY make commentary on the post content.

If you abuse, insult, tease, mock, belittle, badger or bait another poster at any time, this is regarded as a breach of rules in the Fan Forum and will result in the issuing of an official Saintsational warning.

ONGOING DISPUTES RULE

If posters repeatedly revisit past disagreements causing or creating an ongoing dispute between one or more posters, these disputes can result in multiple breaches and multiple simultaneous Saintsational warnings and as a result a 1 week ban without prior notice. We strongly advise that ongoing disputes be voluntarily by the posters involved taken to the ANIMAL ENCLOSURE forum, where the rules allow ongoing disputes and more abusive posts, as a closed rather than open forum.

ABUSING OR DEMEANING A SAINTS PLAYER, FAMILY OR OFFICIAL RULE

Commenting on the performance of a Saints player / official is allowed. In cases where posters abuse or demean a Saints player / official / or their family, OR casts dispersions on their character and it is deemed by the moderators to be unreasonably offensive and inflammatory, then the moderators (if all moderators agree) can issue a Saintsational warning, or in extreme cases a 1 week ban of the offending poster.

However, we recognise that match time and match days are emotionally charged. If a post is made that is deemed by a moderator to be highly inappropriate, offensive or inflammatory during match days, the moderator can edit this post and that moderator has the right to unilaterally issue a 6 hour ban, as a cooling off period for the offending poster or posters, but in extreme cases a 1 week ban.

SWEAR RULE

Swearing covered by the swear filter will be published as f***, s***, c***, c**k etc.

The community has been consulted and the word "dick" and "shyte" and the acronyms WTF, FFS, BS etc have been found to be acceptable and as such shall be deemed permissible in usage.

Attempts to circumvent the swear filter with terms with alternate spellings, or any usage of those words within another word OR an alteration of the swear word that may constitute the reader to understand that it is a swear word, will be deemed as a breach of swearing rule and a Saintsational warning will be issued. Sexually explicit posts will fall under the inappropriate post rule below.

COPYRIGHT POLICY

Due to copyright laws, when posting articles from any other website, please only post the URL (the link to the original article) - and no more a selected small portion no longer than one paragraph.

Breaches may result in a Saintsational warning.

Any copyright claims will be forwarded to the poster as the author of the offending post.

MORE SEVERE PENALTY SECTION:

The following rules and breaches carry larger penalties.

INAPPROPRIATE POST RULE

There will be ZERO tolerance for any sexist, racist, ageist, homophobic, religiously or culturally offensive, or highly sexually explicit terms or commentary in the Fan Forum or Private Messages.

Such behaviour is a breach and a Saintsational warning will be issued, OR if severe, an automatic ban of 1 week will be issued without warning.
Repeat offenders will have that ban effectively double each time (2 weeks, 1 month etc) for each repeat offence under this rule.

Serial offenders may also be banned by Forum Administration at their discretion at any time.

PORNOGRAPHY AND SEXUALLY EXPLICIT MATERIAL

As a forum open to all ages, pornographic, or semi-pornographic images, inferences, references and anecdotes, are not permitted. Any such postings will constitute a permanent ban without warning.

THREATENING OR BULLYING BEHAVIOUR RULE

There will also be zero tolerance for any direct (or implied) physically threatening or bullying behaviours in the Fan Forum and Private Messages and such behaviour constitutes a breach of rules and will result in an automatic permanent ban from the Fan Forum either for the poster name, the e-mail address or the I.P. address or possibly all three. Any such posts in the Fan Forum or in Private Messages may also be reported by the administrators to both the State and Federal authorities under the current cyber-bullying laws. See below regarding the laws and penalties involved.

Please make yourselves aware of the seriousness of Cyber-Bullying:

http://www.humanrights.gov.au/cyberbull ... fact-sheet

Please make yourselves aware of the Victorian and Federal criminal penalties for cyber-bullying:

http://www.justice.vic.gov.au/home/safe ... rodies+law

http://www.lawstuff.org.au/vic_law/topi ... r-bullying

http://theconversation.com/bullies-bewa ... n-law-1767

SPAMMING RULE

Do not spam the forum board with multiple posts designed to disrupt the harmony of the board. This may include repeating a point of view over and over, when such posts cause the forum to descend into abuse.

Such disruption may be eligible for an official Saintsational warning, or a ban of what is deemed a suitable length, or account deletion - as decided by the moderators and / or administrator.

TROLL RULE

“Trolls” are defined as posters who have the goal to create friction and anger in our community.

Any poster, who has the aim to create friction and anger in our community may be eligible for an official Saintsational warning, or a ban of what is deemed a suitable length, or account deletion - as decided by the moderators and / or the administrator.

PRIVACY RULE

Do not post private details of other posters in the public forums of this Fan Forum, nor post your own private details. It is not appropriate to post private messages in public on Saintsational Forums.

Breach of this privacy rule will result in a 2 week ban and in extreme cases a higher level of ban will be decided on by the unanimous vote of all Moderators.

MULTIPLE IDENTITY RULE

Posters found to hold multiple forum identities and using them to add support to their own position within a forum argument, OR to undertake any activity that can be constituted as a breach of rules, will be penalised without any formal warning and with an ongoing permanent ban on all identities from the offending I.P. addresses, all associated e-mail addresses and of course all forum identities.

The moderators and administrators (through a majority vote) reserve the right to conclude that the multiple identity policy has been breached by posters that shows a pattern of behaviour that indicates that it is the one individual posting under two or more sign in usernames, even if the posters are posting from different I.P. addresses (by using different devices) or by using multiple I.P. addresses through I.P. masking.

OPPOSITION SUPPORTER RULE

Opposition supporters are welcome to post in a respectful manner and within forum rules, but should their goal be to disrupt our community, they will be banned immediately WITHOUT warning.

Posters ACCUSED of being opposition supporters can contact the moderation / administration team to prove their status as a St. Kilda fan and they will receive endorsement for the whole forum to see.

Continual taunting of a poster who has been deemed not to be an opposition supporter will result in a 2 week ban for the offending poster or posters.

ADMINISTRATION MATTERS:

EDITORIAL CONTRIBUTION DISCLAIMER

The editorial opinion or contributions of the individual posters in no way constitutes the view of the Saintsational website or it's fan forums, or it's administrators, moderators, or voluntary personnel.

GRIEVANCES

The moderators have an enormous task to read and assess posts and make their decisions based on the overall good of the community and purely based on the rules above. The moderators do consult with each other on most occasions, however clear breaches can be moderated unilaterally.

Posting grievances on a Saintsational forum regarding a warning (to you or received by another poster) is strictly forbidden and MAY constitute a Saintsational warning.

Please accept the umpire's decision and move on. If you feel you can prove that you did not breach the rules as outlined above, then PM all the moderators and explain your view WITHOUT abusing, threatening, accusing the moderator of bias or pointing out the actions of others! Please take responsibility for what you post and ensure that it is within the rules of Saintsational Fan Forum. If a moderator feels that your PM on this matter is inappropriate, they can issue an additional warning.

The Moderation team have the final say and are here to provide a fun environment for us to celebrate all things Saints related. Any abuse of a moderator will result in a Saintsational warning.

APPEALING A BAN

In the event that a poster has been unfairly or unjustly banned, the banned poster may e-mail their appeal to saintsationalentry@gmail.com for review and the appeals process will begin.

Bans will be listed in the Fan Forum. The banned poster can request an appeal process be started in the Administration Forum. If the administrators feel the appeal has any merit, it will be listed in the Administration Forum and promoted in Fan Forum to make the other members aware. The appeal will take the form of a POLL where members have the capability to vote anonymously to uphold or overturn the ban. For a ban to be overturned, a 2/3 majority against the ban must be achieved.