BFF Posting Guidelines and Policies Options

[Paul1968UK]

Welcome to BigfootForums.com!
The best bigfoot talk on the web

Use of This Site
Please note that participation in the Bigfoot Forums is based on the sole discretion of its operators. Any and all newcomers are welcome to join in as long as they abide by the guidelines below.

About the BFF - Is it right for you?
The BFF is an independent forum dedicated to the discussion of the bigfoot phenomenon. It's 'independent' in that is has no official ties to any research or investigatory group or organization. Therefore, it has no official stance on any single aspect of the bigfoot debate except that the evidence at hand makes the possibility that these animals do not exist harder to believe than the opposite. That being said, and while it is very difficult to pin any one opinion on a site with members as diverse as ours, there are some generalizations that can be made regarding the feeling of the board:
> Bigfoot are flesh and blood animals, albeit very intelligent and stealthy ones. We do not believe bigfoot are inter-dimensional, of another world, shape shifting, can disappear, are Republicans, Democrats, or otherwise. If you feel they are any of these things, you're still welcome to participate, but don't expect to find many in your camp.
> Extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence. On the BFF we accept very little at face value. We may have a tendency to overanalyze claims and be more skeptical than the average bear, but that's preferable to the alternative.
> Nothing is sacred. While there are groups and individuals highly regarded by many on this forum, we feel that no one is above criticism or questioning. All attempts are made by the moderation staff to keep the conversation fair and balanced, but no one should expect preferential treatment on these pages.
> Skeptics welcome! Assuming you don't come in with preconceived and immovable notions regarding bigfoot and those who discuss them, you'll find a spirited and though-provoking debate waiting for you here.
Finally, understand that the membership of this site is quite diverse. We have those who have dedicated large portions of their lives to the study and investigation of these animals side by side with those with just a lifelong curiosity in them. We have those who have had encounters and those who have not. We have housewives, hunters, those living in urban, suburban, and rural environments, government workers, public service workers (police, fire, and EMT), blue collar, white collar, those with PhDs and those with no formal education, men, women, and people from every part of North America and several other countries throughout the world (but there's always room for one more!). Therefore, the BFF is not of one mind, viewpoint, or experiential background. It is the thoughts, ideas, and opinons of all its members. That is its greatest strength.


If you are planning to post your encounter on this forum, you should read this first.

Members of this forum like to get to the bottom of things, so expect you and your sighting to be questioned from all directions. Many of the members here are used to dealing with bs, and can smell it a mile off - you have been warned.

If you feel that your sighting is not ready for the forum, feel free to report your sighting to an organization such as the Texas Bigfoot Research Conservancy or the Alliance of Independent Bigfoot Researchers, but do your homework on the organization first.


BFF's Golden Rule of Posting
Before posting, please take a moment and familiarize yourself with the BFF Golden Rule of Posting:

Do not post on this site using language or a tone of voice that is different than the language or tone of voice you'd use if the person you're communicating with were sitting right in front of you. Remember that you are a guest here, and your tone should reflect that of a guest at a dinner party, not a wrestling match.

That means:
> Don't call them stupid, ignorant, or in any way question their ability to differentiate between fact and fantasy.
> Do not make fun of members - regardless of how ridiculous they might seem.
> Always respect their opinions and their right to have those opinions.
> Do not use foul language of any kind - remember there are minors here too.
> Never post in anger. If you think someone's slamming you, reread what they've said and make sure you fully understand their meaning.
> Do not make purely argumentative or confrontational posts. If all you want is a fight, take it somewhere else.
> Do not chime in to back up your buddies - hunting in packs is not allowed here.
> If you are coming from another forum, welcome aboard, but please leave any baggage or hard feelings over there. This is a different kind of place.
> Under absolutely no circumstances should a member ask, tell or suggest that another member should leave the forum - violators of this rule will receive an immediate seven-day suspension.

In order to maintain an atmosphere where everyone is always comfortable saying what they think and expressing opinions that others may not agree with, the moderating staff will not hesitate to lock a thread, delete a topic, or warn a member. However, also note that the moderation style of the site is to allow more conversation rather than to restrict conversation. This means that on occasion the tone of a particular thread will exceed the boundaries described here. It is the policy of the BFF to allow threads and members to work out their issues without excessive use of moderation. If a thread is closed or removed from view, it is not our policy to explain why that decision has been taken - please just move on.


Member Warnings
If you feel a member has crossed a line in their posting, please send a moderator either a private message or use the 'Report this Post' button found on every post. After review, we may, at our discretion, take action against the offending member. Action may also be taken against a member absent any other member's complaint. Following is the typical course of action using the board's member warning feature, though we reserve the right to deal with a member in any way we feel is appropriate:

Warn level 25%: Member is given just a warning.
Warn level 50%: Seven day suspension or placed on mod review for seven days.
Warn level 75%: Suspension for 30 days, may be placed on mod review indefinitely following suspension.
Warn level 100%: Member is permanently banned from the forum.

Remember that only you or a member of the mod/admin staff can see your warning level.
All users start with a warning level of zero.

Bigfoot Forums exist for and because of its members, and adopts the tone of voice that we would use discussing issues face to face. We enforce this code of conduct to prevent poor, arrogant and grumpy behavior by our users.

A poster won't necessarily be given a 25% warning for their first screw up. The warning will be set at the level the moderating staff thinks is appropriate for the infraction. Your warning level can go down as well as up - it all depends on your behavior.



While you are a member here, we expect you to consider the following:


1. Respect For Other Users

All members of these Forums will respect the opinions and presence of other members of the Forums. You are welcome to engage in challenging and spirited debate with other users, but no longer will rudeness be tolerated. Name-calling, disrespecting other users or throwing personal insults against them will not be tolerated, either from an instigator -OR- from anyone who feels like they should respond to such instigation. Flaming another user because of their spelling or word choice will not be tolerated, either. Personal attacks of ANY kind are not allowed and users who violate this will have their access removed. If you have an issue with another user, contact a moderator or administrator. Please note that members with large numbers of posts may have contributed greatly to the Forums but are NOT considered more favored than any other user. All members of these Forums are valued equally.


2. Respect For New Members

Flaming new members for their ignorance on proper posting procedures, their grammar or spelling issues, or the content of their messages is expressly forbidden. You are welcome to debate and question them, but not to attack them for being new and unsure of our rules. We appreciate our members' concern for new members and invite everyone to welcome them.


3. Respect For Other People

Disrespectful personal comments about others, including those involved in the search for Bigfoot or not, will not be tolerated. You are welcome to discuss their work, criticize their abilities as investigators/researchers/authors, and comment on their merits/performance, but personal attacks against them -- anything regarded as a personal affront, including criticism of whether or not they conduct field research or not -- is expressly against our rules.

BFF aims to be 'family friendly', there are hundreds of adults posting here - it is not possible for the moderators to read and edit every post, which means that some foul language is inevitable.

With that in mind, this forum has a 'PG13' rating - do not let your children read or post to this forum unless you are happy with its content - the onus is on you as a parent.

Please do not post pictures or links of an adult or objectionable nature either on the forum or in the chat room. Also please keep the conversation away from topics that most would consider obscene or objectionable. We will, at our discretion, close or move from public view any posts or threads that we find to have exceeded these boundaries. In addition, the member responsible may be subject to loss of posting privileges as explained above.

The BFF is unique in the world of bigfoot discussion boards in that people in or out of any organization are free to come here and express their opinions. There is no 'party line' here and disagreeing with those who run the site is perfectly acceptable (and downright encouraged). However, we have had to institute a policy that forbids topics of a political or religious nature (including discussion of any of the various military actions of the United States). These discussions often devolve past the point of usefulness and actually erode the effectiveness of the entire site. Threads that we find to be too political or religious will be closed and possibly moved from public view.


4. Respect For Privacy

Users should not under any circumstances publish the private details of members to this forum or any other website without express permission of the member involved, and we would discourage you from publishing your private details on the open forum too - there are mentaly unstable people in the world of Bigfoot who will most likley start spamming you with garbage or phoning your home.

Users should take note that PM means 'Personal Message', not 'Private' - the admin and mods do not read them contrary to popular belief, unless a member asks us to investigate abusive messages sent to them.

Emails sent via this forum are logged by the forum software - only admins have access to them, and we will never re-post the content, but since the website's email facility has been used to spam and abuse people in the past, we do reserve the right to read emails sent using this website - if we do, rest assured that we will not disclose the details of those emails unless it is beleived that a criminal offence has taken place.

Likewise, BFF will not disclose private details of members unless we believe that a criminal act has taken place. The only exception to this is that we sometimes share the IP addresses used by trolls with other Bigfoot communities so that they can be on their guard. We will never share real names or email addresses with other websites or organizations.


5. Respect For The Forum

Trolling (purposely posting messages designed solely to alarm other users) will not be tolerated. The staff -- not the users -- will determine if someone is trolling. Additionally, our members will practice common courtesy in dealing with the staff, other users and the administrators of this Forum. It is important to remember that this Forum is run solely on a volunteer basis. Also, in consideration of respect for this community and its membership, we will not allow links to other Bigfoot communities except within the confines of a member's profile (i.e. not in open messages or in signature files); we consider it disingenuous to advertise competing Bigfoot communities by taking advantage of the free and open nature of our own.

If something interesting is happening on another forum, then we would expect you to engage in the conversation there, not continue it here. Likewise, we do not expect topics or posts here to be restarted on other forums - if you don't want to talk here, then we think it is disrespectful to routinely steal threads just to keep conversation going on your forum. Cross-posting to multiples forums is not allowed here. BFF accepts that there will be exceptions from time-to-time - what we would like is for thread hijacking to be kept to a bare minimum at all times, both by members of BFF, and members of other forums.

Please do not repost anything from this forum anywhere else on the Internet without checking with the moderators first.


Multiple logins are expressly forbidden on this forum - there is no need for them, and anyone found to have more than one login is likley to be banned with no further warning.

If you have more than one login, please contact a moderator with an explanation, who will agree to an 'amnesty' in order to correct the situation.


6. Respect For Copyright

Substantive violation of copyright in any way is expressly forbidden. If you are the copyright or trademark holder of material posted to this forum, and wish for it to be removed, please contact an Administrator immediately.

Original text posted to this forum becomes the copyright of the operators of Bigfootforums.com. Do not repost it on other forums, blogs or in any sort of publication (print or electronic) without first seeking permission of the forum, and of the person who posted it. Please ask - we will almost certainly grant permission if you do, but will get annoyed if you don't.

Please remember that almost all images posted to this forum have a copyright owner, and that person's copyright is valuable to them. Do not copy or reuse images of any sort from this forum without seeking permission of the copyright owner. By posting your images to the forum, you agree to allow BFF to use your content for non-commercial use.


7. Respect For The Staff (Administrators and Moderators)

The Bigfoot Forums are a privately-owned and operated discussion under the sole authority of it's Chief Administrator, and run with the aid of additional Administrators and Moderators who act on the Chief Administrator's authority. At all times, members of this Forums will follow the instructions of staff members, including these moderators and administrators. They are acting on behalf of the Chief Administrator; questioning their actions or motivations will not be tolerated. Should you have an issue with the way a staff member is behaving or disagree with their judgment, you are required to contact the Chief Administrator via email or private message to express your concerns instead of taking matters into your own hands. Also, while we grant our users the utmost discretion and freedom, there is no guaranteed right of free speech (or right toward anything else, for that matter) in this community, and we make no guarantees at all about its operation, its moderation or its policies; the Forum is operated solely at the leisure of the Forum administrators, in their free time, and no user is guaranteed the right to be here as a participant. We reserve the right to terminate any user's membership for any reason at any time.


8. BFF and other Forums

Members of other forums are welcome here, as are the moderators and admins of other forums, however, they need to remember that they are not moderators and admins of this forum, and as such, we ask them to reciprocate the same professional courtesy we offer them.

Lets put it this way - Consider BFF to be 'Starbucks' - not necessarily the best coffee in the world, but certainly the most popular and best value coffee shop (we also have the comfiest sofas). Much like Starbucks, people come to this electronic coffee shop to talk about bigfoot, and as the managers of this coffee shop, we like to keep the noise down so that the majority of customers enjoy civilized conversation.

If you own or work in another coffee shop (lets call it 'Java Joes' - you also have fine coffee, and we appreciate that sometimes, you like to visit Starbucks to enjoy our blend of coffee. When you step through these doors, we expect you to keep a low profile - that means you do not talk or shout about how crap you think our coffee is, or how you dislike the management, or complain about the way the place is run or that you don't like our other customers - that isn't cool and you will most likely be asked to leave.

We don't expect you to hand out your business cards on our premises either, so don't go emailing or pm'ing our customers without asking us first. We will happily pin one of your business cards up in the links thread if you ask, but that's the only free advert you get here.

We also do not expect you to go back to your own coffee shop and badmouth us there - that would be very childish - we don't put posters up in the windows telling customers how bad your coffee is, and we expect you to be as professional.

Both coffee shops share a small percentage of customers, and sometimes those customers have been known to come here are start to talk loudly about how crap Java Joes is. When that happens, we shut them up fairly quickly, and explain that we don't want that sort of talk here. That's how we do things - you can have whatever sort of conversation you like about Starbucks in your coffee shop - if it does go on, just don't expect service with a smile when you come here.


9. BFF Marketplace

The BFF Marketplace was introduced to allow individual members to advertise and sell items to other individuals. It is not a free-for-all place to advertise your organizations' T-shirts, posters, mugs or videos.

BFF takes no responsibility for items sold through the Marketplace, and do not endorse any products except the BFF's 'official' merchandise.

Posting blatent adverts for your merchandise or links to it outside the Marketplace is not allowed.

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Chat, PM & Email
All guidelines that apply to the larger site also apply to the chat room, PMs and Email sent via this forum. Conversations in the chat room are logged daily. Do not say anything in the chat room you would not say on the forum. Any abuse of chat, PMs or EMails must be reported to a moderator or admin immediately.


Deletion of Content
It is the policy of the BFF not to alter or delete any posts, except as defined in these guidelines. We will, on occasion and at our discretion, modify or remove from public view posts based on the request of a member. These will be considered on a case by case basis and the modifications will, whenever practical, be noted by a board moderator. BFF reserves the right to remove content if it is felt to be in the best interest of the forum.

Members have the facility to remove atachments they have uploaded to the forum - a feature we cannot disable. Members are not allowed to use this feature - any member that removes content without first seeking approval of the moderators will be dealt with accordingly, and potentially banned.

Bigfootforums.com will not under any circumstances 'delete' a user or his/her posts and attachments just because they no longer want to be part of bigfootforums.com - if you do not wish to participate longer, simply don't enter bigfootforums.com into your web browser.


Free Speech
The concept of Free Speech is one that protects a citizen's rights to say what they want in the face of their government's desire to keep them quiet. It is often misconstrued to apply to forums like this one. There is no guaranteed right to Free Speech on the BFF. In much the same way private property owners can limit what is said or done on their premises, the BFF reserves the right to specify what can and cannot be said on these forums. In the spirit the First Amendment to the Constitution of the United States, if you feel these restrictions are too limiting, you are free to start your own forum and say whenever you like.

Using the Identities of Others
Registering using the real name of another person is no longer allowed. Pretending to be someone other than yourself is also expressly forbidden. Users found to be imitating the identities of others will be banned.

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Failure to abide by these rules will lead to your account being terminated and your posts deleted. There will be no warnings or second chances; you will simply be removed from this Forum.

March 2007