Soccer Forum Charter

DM_7

The soccer forum is a private group on boards.ie. Below you will find a summary of the forum charter.

The Soccer Board is a restricted access board. Access can be withdrawn if posters do not adhere to the rules outlined below.

When posting, please be aware of these general rules:

• NEW USERS: New users will have to apply to gain access to the board in a dedicated thread. They will have to be members of boards.ie for 1 month and also require at least 50 posts before requesting access.
• ABUSE: Prejudice will not be tolerated, in any form. Outbursts of personal abuse be it directed at other board members or at non-boards persons, famous or otherwise, is strictly prohibited. Soccer Forum moderators reserve the right to edit/move/delete such posts as we see fit and issue bans and/or infractions to the poster of such. The basic rule is keeping it civil; you can have friendly banter without resorting to personal abuse.
• TROLLING: Posting provocative or controversial opinions with the intention of winding up other posters will not be tolerated. The moderators reserve the right to make a judgement call on a poster's intent, and issue warnings/infractions/bans as necessary.
• THREADSPOILING: If you do not like a thread topic do not post in it. Suggesting a thread is boring or pointless is considered threadspoiling, this includes the use of pictures to derail a thread. The basic rule is if you post in a thread ensure you are adding to the debate and not commenting on it's validity. If you believe a post/thread is in breach of this charter then you should report the post and allow the mods deal with it. Crossthread baiting/flaming is regarded as an attempt at threadspoiling across a number of threads and will be treated as such.
• BACK SEAT MODDING: The mods of the forum are listed, no other user (bar Sports Cat Mods and ADMINS) has moderation rights in the forum. As such we view interference in moderation as a breach of rules. If you have an issue with a post in this forum, the correct procedure is to use the report post function on the left of the post. This is a boards-wide policy.
• RULE DISCUSSION: We do not tolerate discussion of moderation, moderation of posts or reportable posts in thread. If you have a problem with the forum rules, PM the mods or message the Cat Mod.
• MODERATOR WARNINGS: On occasion, a mod may choose to remind users of forum rules with a general post on-thread. We will endeavour to highlight these warnings by amending thread titles to include reference to the warning, but please remember: warnings are based on the forum charter, which all users should be aware of.
• BAN PROCEDURE: If you are considered a disruptive influence by the moderators or the Admins your access to the forum may be removed.
• THREAD BANS: These are separate from the forum bans, and will be used to keep posters out of threads that they are only going in to wind people up.
• UNBANNINGS: If you want to have access again you will need to request access in the soccer forum access thread
• SCORES & SPOILERS: No posting of any scores in the thread subject lines. Such posts will be deleted as soon as they are seen. Remember some people still record matches to watch later.
• SPECIAL THREADS: Some threads serve a specific purpose (big match discussion/ match week discussion / team gossip) please follow the guidelines outlined by the moderators on these threads.
• OFF TOPIC: There is an Off Topic thread for off topic posting, use it. Off topic posts in soccer discussion threads will be edited, closed or moved to the Recycle Bin without warning.
• NO ADVERTISING: No commercial posts unless they are sanctioned by the admins. Posts will be removed and users banned if these occur.
• RULE CHANGES: It is your obligation to keep abreast of the rules of the forum. By posting here we assume you accept the rules, as such we do not view ignorance of the rules as a valid excuse for breaking them. If the rules change and you feel you no longer wish to comply with the charter, please inform the mods and your access can be removed.
• PRIVATE MESSAGES By agreeing to this charter, you agree that any PMs to a soccer mod relating to moderation of the forum may be shared with the other soccer mods.
• SOCCER ONLY: Posts relating to other sports should be directed to the specific relevant board or if one doesn’t exist, the Sport board.
• Online Streams: The posting or requesting of online streams is not allowed be it in the open forum or via PM.
• The Moderators' decisions are final. The moderators reserve the right to make a judgement call on a poster's intent, and issue warnings/infractions/bans as necessary. The moderators will not only be looking at the word of the charter when reviewing posts but at the spirit in which a post or a number of posts are made.

Access to the Soccer forum is based on the notion that you, the user, are an upstanding member of the community who wishes to discuss soccer and not cause trouble. Those wishing to cause trouble by taking advantage of loopholes, such as editing quotes, thanking abuse, changing tags or using signatures to upset other members, will no longer be considered upstanding members of the boards.ie community and will have their access removed until the situation is resolved to the satisfaction of the moderators.

DM_7

Additional Information - Abuse rules

The rules on abuse apply to more than just boards users, and cover players/managers/fans/clubs/sports personalities as well. You may consider certain terms to be a bit of banter, but any nickname or phrase that is even vaguely derogatory may be considered as abuse for the purpose of the charter.

Abusing a player for missing a chance of giving away a penalty is no longer tolerated. "How did you miss that you f***ing c**nt" etc... is not tolerated and will be carded.

Calling a team Manure, Liverpoo, Chelski, Spuds, redsh1te, bluesh1te, the Scum, the Hun, SEVCO (for the purpose of winding up Rangers fans) or any other variant is abuse.

Nicknames like whisky nose, fat Spanish waiter, Fat Sam, Fat Frank, Maureen, and similar is abuse.

Calling Andy Gray or Pat Dolan names is abuse.

This list is not intended to be exhaustive, but it is common for users to misinterpret this rule and assume that language like the above is OK. Please think carefully before posting anything like the above..

However, emotional language is not in itself a problem. It is ok to deliver a point passionately, to swear if you so choose, though you can make a point solidly without having to call people / teams / etc names.

Any abusive language directed towards a player/manager/ref, regardless of what they just did (or how justified it is), will be carded.

The mod team reserve the right to apply their judgement as to a users intent when posting, and issue bans and/or infractions for abuse as necessary.

DM_7

Warnings and the sanctions that they receive.

Yellow means a warning. An infraction is the same as red (or two yellows). Where yellows are discussed, a red counts for two.

1st yellow - Warning

2nd yellow / 1 red - 2 week ban

3rd yellow - 1 month ban

4th yellow - 3 month ban

5th yellow - 6 month ban, and reapply (access at discretion of mods and C-Mods)

6th yellow - Permanent ban

• Minor offence (See list) will result in a yellow card infraction and may incur a ban. Repeat offences may result in a red card infraction and/or a ban of increasing length.
• Major Offence (see list) will result in a red card infraction. A red card infraction will count as two yellow cards for the purpose of point 3 below.In extreme cases, the moderators may deem offences to exceed the scope of the an/infraction system. In these events, the moderators reserve the right to issue a ban of any duration including a permanent ban.
• Should an infraction be removed or overturned, it will not count towards the banning procedure.
• Ban lengths for yellow card infractions are at the discretion of the moderator. Even where no ban occurs, the yellow card still counts.
• Ban lengths for red card infractions are a minimum of 2 weeks at the discretion of the moderator.
• In the case of abuse, should the abuse be a result of provocation, no matter how mild, the initiator will receive a yellow card infraction. Should the initiator be deemed to have purposefully provoked a user in order to report them, the mod may issue a red card infraction (ie. we will examine abuse and if the abuse was provoked, both parties will be sanctioned).

Soccer Forum warnings do not 'expire' within the forum: Following feedback from forum members and admins, warnings are no longer reset at the start of each season. 01/08/2019 was the last reset and any soccer forum warnings applied since that date are included in the totting up process.

Please note, where a warning given in the soccer forum shows as expired on your boards profile it does not mean the warning is excluded from the soccer forum totting up/count back process.

Minor Offences (including but not limited to):

Abuse of players.

Threadspoiling

Flamebaiting in threads.

Debating moderation in threads.

Mild flaming or trolling.

Provocation.

Derailing or off topic posting in super threads.

Accusing a member of trolling/being a troll

Misuse of the Reported Post system

Back-seat moderation

Major Offences (including but not limited to):

Blatant or deliberate breach of charter.

Misuse of tagging system

Abuse of users.

Flaming

Trolling

Breaking a boards.ie rule

DM_7

Specialthreads/Superthreads

Superthreads are threads designed for discussion of a specific team or in some cases a specific league.

They are NOT solely for the fans of that team/league and any suggestion otherwise will not be tolerated.

Following recent feedback, match discussion may take place in a superthread especially where no matchthread exists already and the moderators' decision will be final. Where match discussion takes place in a superthread, all forum members can discuss the match equally in that clubs' thread, whether they are fans of the club or not. However, please note that the guidelines at the bottom of this post apply.

The moderators will try to keep the threads streamed and move posts to/and from superthreads where required. PLEASE help us to do this by following the superthread guidelines. Those who act in contempt of these guidelines will be sanctioned.

If you wish to post on a Superthread, please note the following:

1. Respect the thread subject, respect the supporters - You are posting on a thread where the majority of people who read the thread support the team or follow the league. If you post something inflammatory, you will be held accountable.
2. If you have a problem with a post, report the post. Abusing other posters, telling posters not to post or any other "moderation" of the threads will not be tolerated, no matter how inflammatory. If you aren't discussing the points of a post, don't reply.
3. If you do reply to debate a post attack the post and not the poster, the team or the supporters.
4. Thread spoiling - that is, any action or post made to derail a thread and trolling is prohibited.