Brent
February 13th, 2004, 10:44pm
They're not actually new, they're the same general guidelines we have always gone by here at OLS, but here they are in printed form. This is just the first of what I'm sure will be many revisions. It will be interesting to hear the comments. :)
Brent
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Online-Sweepstakes.com Site and Message Board Rules
The following are strictly prohibited:
Personal attacks; trolling (http://members.aol.com/intwg/trolls.htm); flaming (http://members.aol.com/intwg/flamewars.htm); and any messages that are knowingly false, deceptive, inaccurate, defamatory, derogatory, abusive, inflammatory, disruptive, insulting, hateful, threatening or otherwise violative of any laws.
Obscene, profane, vulgar, or sexually explicit material or links to such material. If it's anything worse than what you might see on late-night network TV (Saturday Night Live for example) it probably should not be posted.
Affiliate and referral links through which you can earn any kind of monetary compensation.
Advertising and spamming.
Personal solicitations. Solicitations for charitable and/or political causes are only permissible with prior approval of the owner or administrator.
The taking over or hijacking of threads or sweep notes with off-topic or inappropriate posts.
Duplicate, meaningless or nonsensical threads, posts or notes.
Impersonating or misrepresenting yourself as another person, company or entity.
Signing up and registering more than one membership account or username per individual.
Sharing access to your membership account (username & password) to give another person access to features or sections of the Online-Sweepstakes.com web site that they would not normally have permission to access.
Copying any copyrighted material (including sweepstakes and posts) from Online-Sweepstakes.com and posting or submitting it to another web site, message board or newsletter.
Copying any copyrighted material from another web site, message board or newsletter and posting or submitting it to Online-Sweepstakes.com. Quoting news articles and other material is generally permissible for discussion purposes under the principle of fair use. Whenever possible, links to sources should be included in your post.
Publicly challenging the decisions of the owner, administrators, moderators or editors on the web site. This includes any speculation or discussion about why any notes, posts or threads were removed or edited and why specific members have been banned. Such questions, problems and concerns will only be addressed individually and privately through PMs (private messages) or email, only with the person(s) who are directly involved, and only as long as the person(s) involved conduct themselves in a reasonable manner. Continuing to break rules, further antagonizing the problem(s), making threats or false accusations, or any attempts or acts of any other form of retaliation will result in an immediate and indefinite banishment from the site, and without any notice. Respect and consideration will only be given when it is received.
These rules are not meant to be overly strict and rigid. They are not without some give and take. But we (the owner, administrators, moderators and editors) do reserve the right to take any action we feel is necessary to protect and maintain the well-being of our Online-Sweeepstakes.com members, community and web site. We do let our members speak more freely than a lot if not most other message boards and I think most of us like and appreciate that freedom. But just like in any other public situation (bars, restaurants, movie theaters, plays, sporting events), there has to be reasonable boundaries to maintain some semblance of civility. Disturbing the peace, creating problems or otherwise disrupting the peaceful use and enjoyment of others must and will have consequences. Honest mistakes aren't normally a problem, we all make mistakes, but malicious intent, whether it's directed towards the web site, community or a member, will result in immediate banishment for an indefinite period of time and without notice.
Although we do attempt to keep objectionable messages off this forum and web site, it is impossible for us to review all messages. All messages express the views of the author, and neither the owner of Online-Sweepstakes.com, nor Jelsoft Enterprises Ltd. (developers of vBulletin) will be held responsible for the content of any message.
We (the owner, administrators, moderators and editors) reserve the right to remove, edit, move or close any thread, post, sweepstakes, contest or any other such message or submission for any reason.
Individual forums may have their own rules that are unique to that forum and equally binding.
These rules and all rules are subject to change at anytime.
Signatures
All registered members have the ability to automatically add a few lines of text and/or a graphic to the bottom of their posts with a signature.
Edit Signature: http://www.online-sweepstakes.com/forums/profile.php?do=editsignature
All signatures must follow these guidelines:
A signature may contain a maximum of 2 images and/or smilies.
Images in signatures can be no larger than 100 pixels in height, 350 pixels in width and 12k in size. If your signature contains 2 graphics, their combined file size must be 12k or less.
Signatures should take up no more screen space than the equivalent of 5 lines of normal sized text (size=2) with a maximum of 90 characters per line. The screen space that your signature occupies includes all graphics and blank lines. Therefore, the bigger the graphic(s) in your signature, the less space you're going to have available for text. Use of a smaller font size (size=1) will allow you to squeeze in an extra line or two.
Font size should not exceed 3. Keep in mind, that the bigger font size will mean that your signature will take up more screen space which is still subject to the original space limitation of 5 lines of normal sized text (size=2).
You can provide a link to your web site and/or win page in your signature. However, affiliate and referral links through which you stand to gain monetarily are not allowed, this includes links to web pages that are mostly affiliate or referral links.
Referral links or vote for me requests for sweepstakes and contests are generally permissible, but the links must not be deceptive.
Signatures must also be in compliance with all other rules of the forums.
Useful Links
Retrieve a lost username or password: http://www.online-sweepstakes.com/forums/login.php?do=lostpw
Request an email with a new activation link: http://www.online-sweepstakes.com/forums/register.php?do=requestemail
Change your email address and/or password (you must be logged in): http://www.online-sweepstakes.com/forums/profile.php?do=editpassword
Site Leaders: http://www.online-sweepstakes.com/forums/showgroups.php
Common Problems and Questions: http://www.online-sweepstakes.com/forums/showthread.php?t=84851
MySweeps Instructions: http://www.online-sweepstakes.com/forums/showthread.php?t=49525
F.A.Q Forum: http://www.online-sweepstakes.com/forums/forumdisplay.php?f=25
Forum FAQ: http://www.online-sweepstakes.com/forums/faq.php?
Suggested Reading
Internet Trolls: http://members.aol.com/intwg/trolls.htm
Flame Wars and Other Online Arguments: http://members.aol.com/intwg/flamewars.htm
Brent
----------------------------------------------------------
Online-Sweepstakes.com Site and Message Board Rules
The following are strictly prohibited:
Personal attacks; trolling (http://members.aol.com/intwg/trolls.htm); flaming (http://members.aol.com/intwg/flamewars.htm); and any messages that are knowingly false, deceptive, inaccurate, defamatory, derogatory, abusive, inflammatory, disruptive, insulting, hateful, threatening or otherwise violative of any laws.
Obscene, profane, vulgar, or sexually explicit material or links to such material. If it's anything worse than what you might see on late-night network TV (Saturday Night Live for example) it probably should not be posted.
Affiliate and referral links through which you can earn any kind of monetary compensation.
Advertising and spamming.
Personal solicitations. Solicitations for charitable and/or political causes are only permissible with prior approval of the owner or administrator.
The taking over or hijacking of threads or sweep notes with off-topic or inappropriate posts.
Duplicate, meaningless or nonsensical threads, posts or notes.
Impersonating or misrepresenting yourself as another person, company or entity.
Signing up and registering more than one membership account or username per individual.
Sharing access to your membership account (username & password) to give another person access to features or sections of the Online-Sweepstakes.com web site that they would not normally have permission to access.
Copying any copyrighted material (including sweepstakes and posts) from Online-Sweepstakes.com and posting or submitting it to another web site, message board or newsletter.
Copying any copyrighted material from another web site, message board or newsletter and posting or submitting it to Online-Sweepstakes.com. Quoting news articles and other material is generally permissible for discussion purposes under the principle of fair use. Whenever possible, links to sources should be included in your post.
Publicly challenging the decisions of the owner, administrators, moderators or editors on the web site. This includes any speculation or discussion about why any notes, posts or threads were removed or edited and why specific members have been banned. Such questions, problems and concerns will only be addressed individually and privately through PMs (private messages) or email, only with the person(s) who are directly involved, and only as long as the person(s) involved conduct themselves in a reasonable manner. Continuing to break rules, further antagonizing the problem(s), making threats or false accusations, or any attempts or acts of any other form of retaliation will result in an immediate and indefinite banishment from the site, and without any notice. Respect and consideration will only be given when it is received.
These rules are not meant to be overly strict and rigid. They are not without some give and take. But we (the owner, administrators, moderators and editors) do reserve the right to take any action we feel is necessary to protect and maintain the well-being of our Online-Sweeepstakes.com members, community and web site. We do let our members speak more freely than a lot if not most other message boards and I think most of us like and appreciate that freedom. But just like in any other public situation (bars, restaurants, movie theaters, plays, sporting events), there has to be reasonable boundaries to maintain some semblance of civility. Disturbing the peace, creating problems or otherwise disrupting the peaceful use and enjoyment of others must and will have consequences. Honest mistakes aren't normally a problem, we all make mistakes, but malicious intent, whether it's directed towards the web site, community or a member, will result in immediate banishment for an indefinite period of time and without notice.
Although we do attempt to keep objectionable messages off this forum and web site, it is impossible for us to review all messages. All messages express the views of the author, and neither the owner of Online-Sweepstakes.com, nor Jelsoft Enterprises Ltd. (developers of vBulletin) will be held responsible for the content of any message.
We (the owner, administrators, moderators and editors) reserve the right to remove, edit, move or close any thread, post, sweepstakes, contest or any other such message or submission for any reason.
Individual forums may have their own rules that are unique to that forum and equally binding.
These rules and all rules are subject to change at anytime.
Signatures
All registered members have the ability to automatically add a few lines of text and/or a graphic to the bottom of their posts with a signature.
Edit Signature: http://www.online-sweepstakes.com/forums/profile.php?do=editsignature
All signatures must follow these guidelines:
A signature may contain a maximum of 2 images and/or smilies.
Images in signatures can be no larger than 100 pixels in height, 350 pixels in width and 12k in size. If your signature contains 2 graphics, their combined file size must be 12k or less.
Signatures should take up no more screen space than the equivalent of 5 lines of normal sized text (size=2) with a maximum of 90 characters per line. The screen space that your signature occupies includes all graphics and blank lines. Therefore, the bigger the graphic(s) in your signature, the less space you're going to have available for text. Use of a smaller font size (size=1) will allow you to squeeze in an extra line or two.
Font size should not exceed 3. Keep in mind, that the bigger font size will mean that your signature will take up more screen space which is still subject to the original space limitation of 5 lines of normal sized text (size=2).
You can provide a link to your web site and/or win page in your signature. However, affiliate and referral links through which you stand to gain monetarily are not allowed, this includes links to web pages that are mostly affiliate or referral links.
Referral links or vote for me requests for sweepstakes and contests are generally permissible, but the links must not be deceptive.
Signatures must also be in compliance with all other rules of the forums.
Useful Links
Retrieve a lost username or password: http://www.online-sweepstakes.com/forums/login.php?do=lostpw
Request an email with a new activation link: http://www.online-sweepstakes.com/forums/register.php?do=requestemail
Change your email address and/or password (you must be logged in): http://www.online-sweepstakes.com/forums/profile.php?do=editpassword
Site Leaders: http://www.online-sweepstakes.com/forums/showgroups.php
Common Problems and Questions: http://www.online-sweepstakes.com/forums/showthread.php?t=84851
MySweeps Instructions: http://www.online-sweepstakes.com/forums/showthread.php?t=49525
F.A.Q Forum: http://www.online-sweepstakes.com/forums/forumdisplay.php?f=25
Forum FAQ: http://www.online-sweepstakes.com/forums/faq.php?
Suggested Reading
Internet Trolls: http://members.aol.com/intwg/trolls.htm
Flame Wars and Other Online Arguments: http://members.aol.com/intwg/flamewars.htm