Forum Guidelines - please read before posting

[Daedalus]

Guidelines and Rules

The following are intended as guidelines to make the use of this message board as enjoyable as possible for all members and visitors. It will also serve as a reference point should you wonder why one of your posts may have been moderated.

We aim to make these forums a welcoming and pleasant experience for all users, so we would be grateful if you would respect the rules listed below.

Do not abuse other members
There is no place for abuse on the forums, so do not belittle/abuse and/or flame other users. If you do not like a post, we ask that you either a) ignore the post or b) report it to a moderator if it is breaking any of these rules.

Do not swear/purposefully avoid the swear filter
Any use of foul language, even if partly censored or filtered, is not acceptable. If you really feel the need, you can completely star out any rude word.

Do not post with the intention to antagonise others (trolling)
Do not post simply to incite a reaction from a fellow poster. Those who find themselves on the other end of trolling, should ignore posts of this manner. Users who post solely to tarnish the name of the Football Club, the Trust, or volunteers/people who give up their free time purely for the love of the club will not be tolerated.

Always try to be constructive
Posts with the sole intention of 'ranting' will be closed. Constructive criticism however, is always welcome, and the occasional light-hearted post 'letting off steam' is not a problem.

Post in the relevant forum
Moderators will close or move threads that aren't relevant to a forum. Please ensure you read the forum descriptions before posting.

Offensive Material
Users shall not post any material that is likely to cause offence to other users or groups of users (this includes any images/comments of a racist or pornographic nature).


Finally

Moderation on this site will be done with as light a touch as possible. Obviously, for this to continue, we need your support by adhering to the guidelines and rules.

If someone continually breaks the rules, the following actions will take place:

1) A warning issued.
2) Temporary posting ban.
3) Temporary or Full access ban. This ban could be via email address or IP address, or both if necessary.

Persistently infringing the guidelines may also lead to any one of the above.

If you have any problems at all while using the forum then do not hesitate to contact one of the moderators to discuss the issue via the Private Message facility.

That's enough of this boring stuff. We hope that you have a good time on the 'Saints Chat' forum and enjoy your 'stay' here.

COME ON YOU SAINTS! No images allowed -http://i811.photobucket.com/albums/zz40/Crouchaldinho_SACFC/gialloblu.gif

Regards to all,
Saint, COYS and D.

Should you have any problems accessing the forum, note that you can contact us via e-mail at [e-mail]. We are also available on our Twitter account: twitter.com/SaintsChatForum.

[Daedalus]

Additional information (01/04/11):

It has recently come to our attention that an existing user has created a second account in order to post under another name. Creating an alias in order to make posts on a second account is something that we consider to be an improper use of the forum. If you have something to say that you feel you cannot say using your existing account then you are advised not to say it at all. I'm sure you can all see that such a situation is not conducive to creating a friendly and welcoming environment. Therefore, any instances of an alias account will result in an immediate ban.

This is a difficult time for the Football Club and all supporters have different views of what should and shouldn't be done at this time. We are not always going to agree with each other but it is important to come up with a constructive argument when you disagree with another poster. If you cannot do this, feel free to ignore them. This is far better than responding with personal comments or abuse. RESPECT is the key word, so to use a football metaphor, please ensure you PLAY THE BALL (the issue) and NOT THE MAN (a fellow poster).

If you disagree with a mod decision, you should contact us via the private message facility. You shouldn't create a thread or post about it on the forum (any such posts or threads are likely to end up deleted and/or locked). We're a fair minded bunch and we will always try our best to get things right. All we want is a friendly and welcoming environment so that we can all talk about this Football Club. So far, it has been absolutely great and I've personally enjoyed reading and contributing to the forum.

I hope that is all clear. So enough of this boring stuff and let's get back to the important thing: football.

COYS!

[Daedalus]

Hi everyone, what follows is just a quick announcement regarding recent activity on the Saints Chat forum.

As most of you will know, the Saints Chat forum is run by Daedalus (that's me), COYS and Saint. The three of us are just ordinary supporters and we wanted somewhere to talk about the club. What has followed since Saints Chat has come into existence has been a very positive experience from my perspective and I think we've built up a great community of St. Albans City fans on here. From a personal point of view, I wanted the club to have a forum to be proud of, with passionate fans, as I thought having a positive online message board might even encourage new and old fans to get behind the club.

Unfortunately, just lately, this forum has had a number of problems and has not quite been the positive and friendly atmosphere that all of us hope for. The other moderators and I have decided to make some small changes which we hope might improve the situation.

First of all, it has come to our attention that one individual on the forum has used the private message facility to send intimating messages. This user has been banned from the forum.

Secondly, we have had some issues with users making multiple accounts on the forum. We feel that this really needs to stop as it is spoiling things for genuine users of Saints Chat. From this point onwards, we propose to take a zero tolerance approach to this issue. Existing alias accounts have been removed from the forum. In addition to this, a new sign up process has been introduced, which will require that any new user is approved by a moderator before their account will be activated. This is actually common practice on many Internet forums but we have always wanted to make it as easy as possible to sign up to post on Saints Chat so have never activated this option. However, this easy sign up option has been abused too many times, and the approval system will now be switched on.

Finally, one of the major issues has been that of 'trolling' which is an Internet slang word that I'm sure many of you are aware of. If not, you can check this Wikipedia link, which defines 'a troll' as: 'someone who posts inflammatory, extraneous, or off-topic messages in an online community, such as a forum, chat room, or blog, with the primary intent of provoking readers into an emotional response or of otherwise disrupting normal on-topic discussion'. Trolling will not be tolerated on Saints Chat and 'troll accounts' will be banned. Personally, I always worry that 'trolls' are very off putting to supporters of the club as they create a negative atmosphere and one that reflects poorly on the quality of passionate supporters at St. Albans City FC. We want to keep the quality of discussion on Saints Chat as high as possible and encourage the genuine posters and fans of the club to post their views and to enjoy using the forum in a welcoming and friendly environment.

St. Albans City FC is a great club with lots of good, friendly people. There are lots of genuine fans posting here on Saints Chat and I can say that I, for one, enjoy reading their posts. Long may these valued members of the forum continue posting here.

I hope many of you will be going to Clarence Park on Saturday to support the Saints. If you aren't able to make the game then I hope we'll have some updates on Saints Chat. COYS! No images allowed -http://i811.photobucket.com/albums/zz40/Crouchaldinho_SACFC/gialloblu.gif

Should you have any problems accessing the forum, note that you can contact us via e-mail at [e-mail]. We are also available on our Twitter account: twitter.com/SaintsChatForum.