GMG Forum Guidelines

[Dungeon Master]

Posting Guidelines for the GMG Forum

The Good-Music-Guide.com Classical Music Forum is a place for all people interested in the discussion of classical music. By "all", I mean "all". Absolute beginners to classical veterans. Our purpose is to share, inform, discuss, help and entertain.

We have developed a set of Guidelines to make GMG a pleasant and informative place for everybody. Please take the time to read through these Guidelines before you begin posting on the forum.

The GMG Golden Rule
Please treat other members of this forum with courtesy and respect. By all means, discuss and argue the topic at hand, but do not make personal attacks, belittle, make fun of, or insult another member.

Don't be a Forum Troll
A forum troll is someone who intentionally posts derogatory or inflammatory messages about sensitive topics in an online discussion forum with the deliberate intent to bait users into responding. This can range from very subtle jibes to outright personal attacks. The sensitive topic can be anything from a member's ethnic origin, religious beliefs, or any deeply held view, including opinions about certain pieces of music.

Again, by all means discuss the issues presented, but do not try to deliberately provoke another member into an ill-natured argument. Trolls will not be tolerated, and any trolling activity will be dealt with.

Spam and Advertising
Spamming refers to posts that contribute nothing to the content of the forum, but aim to advertise or promote the posters own product or viewpoint. These are usually unrelated to the forum's theme.

Please make sure that you are posting for the good of the community, not just for the sake of self-promotion. Spam and other advertising is not tolerated on the forum. Occassionally, if you have a website or service that is directly related to classical music, and you think it may be of interest to our members, please ask the administrator or a moderator for permission to post the topic on the forum. Only with admin or moderator sanction will such websites or products be allowed to be posted.

Illegal Activity
GMG will not tolerate the discussion or promotion of any illegal activity. In particular, GMG should not be used as a means for distributing or sharing copyrighted music files. File sharing is strictly prohibited on GMG. Small music samples may be posted on the forum, but anything that contravenes copyright laws will not be acceptable behaviour.

Pornography and Adult Content
GMG caters to all cultures and age groups. If your post is not family-friendly or not work-safe, then it is not acceptable for posting on the forum. This includes pornography, either visual or text, obscene language, hate-related posts, drug abuse, gambling and links to sites with such content.

Multiple Profiles
Each member on the forum is allowed to have just one username and profile. The registering of several profiles is not allowed. Note that as administrator, I have the ability to detect multiple username from any single IP address.

Position on Religious and Political Posts
By far, religion and politics cause the most heated arguments on most forums. GMG will tolerate religious and political discussion, with the following conditions:

• All discussion of religion and politics shall be confined to the Diner section.
  
• Any insult of a particular member will not be tolerated on this forum. All members have the right to read, post and discuss freely on GMG, independent of gender, religion, race, sexual preference, disability, etc.
  
• Religion or politics is not to be brought into threads in other categories unless it has a very definite and direct relation to the music being discussed. Spamming the forum with religious ideology or political rhetoric will be treated like any other spam.
  
• Repeated posting about religious topics or politics by any single member with the aim of promoting their point of view will be regarded as spam.
  
• As administrator of the forum, I will NOT intervene in discussions/arguments of a religious or political nature, and I will ask the other moderators to do likewise. I am not qualified to do so, have no interest in doing so, and will not waste my time sorting out these discussions.
  
• Do not attack other members of the forum using religion or politics as an excuse. You can say "I disagree with your beliefs". You cannot say "You are an idiot because of your beliefs".
  
  Suggestions for happiness on the forum:
  
  
  
  • This is a forum for discussing music. Discuss music.
    
  • If you feel that a post insults your religion or political views, then ignore it and skip to the next post.
    
  • If you can't ignore it, then feel free to have a civil and intelligent discussion on the topic within that thread.
    
  • If you are so insulted by a post that you can't ignore it and are unable to have a meaningful discussion about it, please do not come to me for help. I believe your religious or political views should be robust enough to withstand the onslaught of others opinions without my help.
    
  The Moderators
  GMG is fortunate to have the help of several moderators. The moderators are regular members of the forum who have volunteered to help with the day-to-day running of the forum. The moderators have some extra powers on the forum to help keep the forum on track and abide by these Guidelines. Please note that due to the large number of posts made on this forum each day (up to 1000 per day), the moderators cannot read every post made on the forum. Also, GMG is very much an international forum with members around the world. Sometimes, an offensive post made in one timezone may not be noticed till many hours later.
  
  If you read a post that you feel is contrary to the Guidelines, please use the "Report to Moderator" link that appears below every post. That will send an email to the moderators to notify them of the post. The moderators, either alone or after a discussion, will decide how to deal with that post.
  
  Moderators have the ability to send PMs to offending member, usually extremely politely pointing out the Guidelines, and how a post has violated them, as well as the ability to edit, move, merge and delete posts. Moderators do NOT have the power to ban members. Only the forum administrator has that power.
  
  Please treat the Moderators with respect. They have a difficult job. Their decisions aim to be unbiased, and for the good of the forum. They can't please all the people all the time, but like the referee in a sporting match, the Moderators decision is deemed to be final.
  
  Also note that the Moderators are also regular members of the forum, and as such can post on the forum as any other regular member. This includes threads about religion, social issues and comments about the forum itself. Their posts and views carry no extra weight than any other members'.
  
  Forum Abuse Policy
  The vast majority of members will never transgress the Guidelines and will never incur the wrath of myself or the other moderators. We all understand that every now and again, we get a little hot under the collar, and post something in haste that we regret in hindsight.  We, as moderators, will often overlook these.
  
  It is the repeat offenders that cause us more concern. Any member who develops a pattern of abusive behaviour will at first get a polite message from the moderators reminding them of the Guidelines and the standards of behaviour expected on the forum. Members who repeatedly ignore such warnings will be dealt with more harshly, which may include restricted privileges on the forum or a complete ban. Such decisions will not be made lightly, and only after extensive discussion and consultation between all moderators and the forum administrator. Note that no single moderator has the power to ban any member - that action can only be taken by the forum administrator, although it may be at the recommendation of the moderators.
  
  Please be aware that any member's standing on the forum (time spent, number of posts, subscriber or not) and depth of musical knowledge is no excuse for bad behavior. With regards to these Guidelines, all members will be treated equally.
  
  Style Guidelines
  
• Please read the Help files, especially the section regarding Posting, which explains how you can format your posts, insert pictures, add colour, change text size, insert hyperlinks  etc
  
• Please do not cut-and-paste large slabs of text from other sites onto the forum. A little excerpt with a link to the site is a better style solution.
  
• No SHOUTING.  Remember, using ALL CAPITAL LETTERS in posts is considered yelling and rude, plus it is difficult to read.
  
• Please keep your signature pictures and other posted pictures small. Many members are on dail-up connection and large pictures interfere with the flow of the page and can take a long time to download.
  
• Please refrain from posts that are intended for just one member. To contact a member, use the Personal Messaging system.