A quick glance at the forum rules again -
AudioKarma Rules
Welcome to AudioKarma!
To help AK be a safe, fun place for everyone, we reserve the right to restrict and edit content and to refuse service to anyone.
The Basic Rules:
- Be respectful and use common sense.
- Don’t try circumventing the rules.
Specific Rules:
- Don’t insult others, or engage in name-calling.
- 'Thread-crapping' (meaning disrespecting the topic or intention of the thread or forum) is not allowed.
- 'Spamming' results in immediate and permanent banning.
- Post in the one best forum for your topic; one thread per topic, no duplicates.
- No political, religious, racist, sexist, pornographic or excessively profane content.
- Snobbery and reverse snobbery are equally not allowed.
- 'Trolling' (inciting controversies) and 'Crusading' (aggressive proselytizing of anything) are not allowed.
- Conflicts or gripes with other people or other forums do not belong on AK.
- All questions of value and links to auctions or ads belong in the Dollars and Sense forum.
- Only one account per user. If you have an account problem, contact an administrator.
Forum Rules:
Many forums have additional rules or guidelines posted at the top of their pages as ‘Sticky’ threads. Some forums, such as "New Gear", "Dollars and Sense" and "The Cutting Edge", have very strict rules. Please check each forum's 'Stickies' before posting. For questions PM the forum moderator.
Advertising:
No advertising of any kind (even give-aways) is permitted on AK except under these rules, which are strictly applied:
- You cannot advertise or promote any business without pre-approval as an AK Vendor.
- All ads or offers to sell, buy or trade anything must be in Barter Town.
- Non-Subscribers cannot make offers to buy, sell or trade anywhere on AK.
Solicitations:
- No solicitations, personal pleas or charitable requests of any kind are allowed, anywhere on the site, and don't reference ads elsewhere.
- AK does not qualify or endorse any charity or personal cause, except those AK supports directly in the 'AK Charities & Christmas' forum.
Application:
Everything above applies to every aspect of AK: your avatar, user title, signature, content of posts, the chat room, visitor and private messages, and emails sent via AK. PMs and AK-emails remain private unless we receive a copy in a complaint. Links in posts are also covered, so in general you can't link to an ad for a business, a porn site, offensive material, or for the purpose of getting around someone's copyright.
All posted content is licensed to AK, for permanent use on this site. AK may restrict, edit or remove content at will. Posting anyone else's copyrighted material must fall within the copyright fair use rules. If the owner offers the content anywhere else for a charge, it cannot be re-posted in substance here. AK will not assist in violating a copyright, and will remove content upon receipt of a demand by anyone who can demonstrate actual ownership, without argument.
All rules are applied with common sense. If it's really intended to generate business, it's an ad. If it's a link to a funny ad for something not offered for sale on the internet, it's not. If a topic is so controversial that it draws many political responses, it's political. On the other hand, asking for prayers for a loved one isn't a religious controversy.
Moderation:
What may happen if you violate the rules?
- Your post may be edited or removed.
- Blatant or repeated violations can result in being suspended, or permanently banned.
The volunteer moderation staff does their very best to enforce these rules fairly. All questions on AK policy, moderation or staff members must be addressed via AK's Private Message function to a moderator or admin, and comments on moderation may never appear in the public boards.
Thanks for your cooperation and enjoy the forums!
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My favorite is #2 where it states. ..... ""
excessively" profane content is not allowed." The rule makers are allowing for some mildly profane content haha
I think where we crossed the line (again) here is #9 discussion of value. While no specific mention of cost was mentioned, that is likely where dlucy stepped in when I made a comment about it sold for a "very pretty penny".
Some of these rules are, in my opinion, an encumbrance to a flourishing forum. For instance if you post in thread "I am looking for XYZ outputs for this unobtanium JDM amp" and someone posts a "hey I have a few left over my project I could pass on to you" that is a violation. Or if you post in a thread "hey I am looking for a schematic for my CA-303" and you post that schematic that is a violation. Oddly if you post "where did you find those nice CNC'd feet for that SR-838" and you post a link to the vendor's website that is not a violation (because it is not self promotion, I assume).
The other challenge here is enforcement of forum rules which are at the discretion of the forum moderators. Often this enforcement can come across as inconsistent. These guys can't be everywhere at once. Mods are also tasked with enforcing the forum rules, not making them. So it is not on a forum mod to debate or change the rules. That kind of conversation can be facilitated to the AK owners privately, through a mod.
At the root of this I believe the intent here is to keep commercial activity out of the forum, which is fair. AK also wants to keep any documents isolated to digital docs forum, which I personally don't agree with, and have been given the opportunity to make my case to the forum owners.
This a great thread. Hope it lives on.
