*Old outdated* Rules Thread

[voodoochile]

Okay, we decided to redo this and make it a bit easier to follow. We also reduced rips for minor infractions and formalized them for more consistency. If you're a long standing member, don't assume that means you get a freebie just to prove a point :wink:

First familiarize yourself with the following information:
Code of Conduct (http://www.flyingsock.com/MainPages/ConductCode.htm)
WSI Dictionary (http://www.whitesoxinteractive.com/vbulletin/../glossary/) - slang terms, nicknames, etc.
FAQ's (http://www.whitesoxinteractive.com/vbulletin/faq.php?faq=vb_faq#faq_vb_user_maintain) - Answers to technical questions
Home Page (http://www.flyingsock.com/) - Regular weekly articles, historical articles, interviews with Ex-Sox players, broadcasters and members of the mangement team, game recaps, trivia, polls, etc.
photo gallery (http://www.whitesoxinteractive.com/vbulletin/../4images/) - Sox related photos, WSI members and historical pictures. Feel free to add your own.Here are some expanded rules not covered above but which you need to know:

MAJOR INFRACTIONS:

No Warnings will be issued. You risk your membership permanently by violating these rules even one time and minimum suspensions will be measured in weeks/months at the discretion of the Mod/Admin who deals with the Post/Thread:

Selling Pirated Material or Telling others how to circumvent Copyright laws is a fast way to get this website in a lot of legal trouble and violators will be dealt with harshly. These violations include - but are not limited to:
Selling, trading or otherwise distributing pirated copies of copyrighted material. That includes all games the White Sox played in that were taped by a member of these forums. Please do not ask if anyone can send you a copy nor offer to distribute copies you have made. Not for free, trade or profit.
Linking to Sites that facilitate the illegal exchange of copyrighted material. Movies, music and other copyrighted material are protected. Don't provide links to sites that allow users to circumvent those laws.Posting Pornography: This includes but is not limited to:
Images of scantily clad human beings. Women in Bikini's, Men in underwear and obviously anyone engaged in any sex act.
animated computer gifs which depict sex acts.Selling anything for profit or linking to sites where you have an auction going on. No one is allowed to sell anything through the WSI website. If you have a question regarding exceptions to this rule or want to know if you are violating it in advance, contact an Administrator and we will make decisions on a case by case basis, but in general the answer is NO. You are allowed to sell tickets in the WSI Ticket Exchange Forum (http://www.whitesoxinteractive.com/vbulletin/forumdisplay.php?s=&daysprune=30&f=19) for face value only. See the rules in that forum for details.

Political Discussions: We tried it before. It didn't work. There are many places on the Internet you can discuss politics, this isn't one of them. Don't start that thread, don't hijack that thread, just don't.

Making claims that decisions about Sox player personnel or the playing time they receive is based on racial bias: Be prepared to back it up with some kind of evidence other than your opinion.

Personal Information: Don't post personal information about anyone other than yourself on these forums. That includes last names, address, phone numbers or anything else which could be used to identify that person in the "real world".

MINOR INFRACTIONS:

Penalties will be enforced as follows:

First Offense: Warning issued in the form of a Private Message or E-mail. Learn how to retrieve these messages and keep your e-dress up to date so you can receive these. If you don't it won't affect the ban you receive when you violate a rule a second time.
Second Offense: 1-3 day ban depending on the seriousness of the violation and whether it was viewed to be intentional.
Third Offense: See the rules for MAJOR INFRACTIONS.WSI uses language filters. These filters automatically delete swear words and replace them with stars. Don't attempt to self filter your swear words, just type them as spelled and let the filters do the work. Posters should not attempt to use mis-spelled profanity in an attempt to circumvent the filter. This includes typing things like F*** and S***. Type the words you want exactly as it is properly spelled and let the filter do it's job. People who attempt to self censor are the ones who end up getting in trouble. If the censor takes your word out, you are not in trouble. If the censor does not take your word out, you are not in trouble. If you screw up while attempting to censor yourself, you are in trouble.

Violating Copyright laws: This can lead to legal troubles for the website. In order to avoid such problems, you will not be allowed to quote from copyrighted material. Instead, you may do one of the following:

Paraphrase a portion of the article and post a link. Do not quote directly from the article, and keep this part short, like a paragraph.
Provide a summary of the article in your own words and post a link. Again, do not quote directly from the article, but feel free to make the summary as long as you wish.
Only post a link. You might actually want to include in your title what the link is about or perhaps explain briefly in a phrase or sentence leading into the link.
In particular, the Tribune has formally requested that WSI not allow reposting of their images or to allow quotes from their articles, so please do not do so. Feel free to post a link.Using female names as an Insult. Yes, this includes calling Jon Garland, "Judy." It belittles women by implying they are inherently inferior to men and we don't allow it.

Discussing Attendance - no one wants to hear about it. We all go to as many games as time and finances afford. Making broad sweeping generalizations about Sox fan loyalty is trolling. We don't allow trolling.

Replying to a thread simply to say, “I hate this topic” or “Why are we talking about this at WSI?” It is considered trolling. Yes, that includes Fenway’s Red Sox threads provided they are in the appropriate forum. If you feel a thread violates the rules, feel free to report it, but just because you don’t like it doesn’t mean it’s a violation.

OTHER INFORMATION:

Signatures should be monitored by the poster who chooses to have one. Failure to do so risks your signature privileges. Here are the rules:
You are allowed pictures up to 15KB and roughly 5 square inches in size - so long as they all fit on one line. You are also allowed up to 2 lines of text no greater than font size 4 on the font size drop down menu. You are not allowed excesive carriage returns, so even if you don't have text, you cannot have more than two blank lines below your signature. It's simply two lines, NOT two lines with 3 empty lines before, between and after. You CAN have text on the same line as your image before or after. This does not count toward the two line rule previously stated.
Posters who opt for an all text signature will be allowed up to 5 lines of size 4 text or 8 lines of size 2 (default size) text.Posting images-is allowed. You may add one picture per thread. For more than one post links to your images instead. Not everyone surfs WSI on a monster broadband connection and multiple images slow down the load times for everyone.

The only threads guaranteed to be left open on these forums are Sox related threads. All other topics of discussion are at the discretion of the moderators and administrators. Off-topic threads are always subject to review and will be closed at the discretion of the Mods/Admins.

Any thread that exceeds 500 posts will be closed and a second thread started with a link to the original thread in the first post of the new "Thread II: Return of The Thread" thread. This is to limit strain on the server and keep the site running smoothly.

Please treat the Mods and Admins at WSI with respect. All of us do this not only for free, but actually pay for the privilege of running this site out of sheer love for the White Sox and because we enjoy having a community where everyone feels welcome to talk Sox baseball and many other topics. If a Mod or Admin asks you to stop doing something, please just do it. None of us look forward to banning people - especially long time posters, but none of us are afraid to do it if the situation calls for it.

Thank you.

-WSI Staff

[TornLabrum]

Please note the changes in the WSI rules for quoting of copyrighted material. You will no longer be able to quote directly (or paste) from copyrighted articles. Rather you may do any of the following:

Paraphrase a portion of the article and post a link. Do not quote directly from the article, and keep this part short, like a paragraph.
Provide a summary of the article in your own words and post a link. Again, do not quote directly from the article, but feel free to make the summary as long as you wish.
Only post a link. You might actually want to include in your title what the link is about or perhaps explain briefly in a phrase or sentence leading into the link.The rationale for this is quite simple and comes from the U.S. Copyright Office:

The distinction between “fair use” and infringement may be unclear and not easily defined. There is no specific number of words, lines, or notes that may safely be taken without permission. Acknowledging the source of the copyrighted material does not substitute for obtaining permission....

The safest course is always to get permission from the copyright owner before using copyrighted material. The Copyright Office cannot give this permission.


When it is impracticable to obtain permission, use of copyrighted material should be avoided unless the doctrine of “fair use” would clearly apply to the situation. The Copyright Office can neither determine if a certain use may be considered “fair” nor advise on possible copyright violations. If there is any doubt, it is advisable to consult an attorney.

Rather than worry about whether a user here has overstepped the boundary of what constitutes fair use, we've decided to simply disallow quoting any copyrighted material.

[voodoochile]

Just a note for people who need help recovering passwords etc.

You can do most of this on your own, but you need to have access to the e-mail address you have in your profile. It's one reason that it is important to keep your e-dress up to date.

If you absolutely have to contact us, please include the following information automatically so we can better help fix your problem:

Your User Name (hard to believe how many contact us forms come in without this basic information)

Your User E-mail address - especially if you are writing from a different one. This will allow us to confirm you are who you say you are, but best bet is to change your e-dress so it matches the one you contacted us from.

The nature of the problem - please be both detailed and brief.

[voodoochile]

Just a reminder to try to say something meaningful in the majority of your posts. One liners are becoming a problem again. Please don't make us crack down on them. If you are going to make a crack, at least try to keep it on topic. If it's only a crack and it's completely off-topic or simply an obscure reference that only you and a handful of friends know, please don't post it.

[voodoochile]

Bad E-mail addresses are getting out of hand. When your e-mail address expires then every time you get anything from these forums, it kicks a message to the Admins.

Sometimes we get 20 messages in a few days because of some setting in your account requiring e-mail notification for one thing or another.

This is the last warning. If you want to post here, keep your e-dress up to date. If your account is out of date, you will get banned when your messages bounce and we won't rush to reinstate you when you come a crying.

[Daver]

Please note the changes in the WSI rules for quoting of copyrighted material. You will no longer be able to quote directly (or paste) from copyrighted articles. Rather you may do any of the following:
Paraphrase a portion of the article and post a link. Do not quote directly from the article, and keep this part short, like a paragraph.
Provide a summary of the article in your own words and post a link. Again, do not quote directly from the article, but feel free to make the summary as long as you wish.
Only post a link. You might actually want to include in your title what the link is about or perhaps explain briefly in a phrase or sentence leading into the link.The rationale for this is quite simple and comes from the U.S. Copyright Office:



Rather than worry about whether a user here has overstepped the boundary of what constitutes fair use, we've decided to simply disallow quoting any copyrighted material.


What part of this is so hard to understand?

Anyone that can't comply with this will suffer the consequences, no more warnings will be issued.

[FarWestChicago]

If you try any "fixed your post" crap you will get up to a 3 month ban. You are not only unbelievably lame, you are also deceitful when you alter another member's post in that manner. It will not be tolerated anymore.

[voodoochile]

Gameday threads are for talking about the actual game in question. That includes in game and post game threads.

Please don't post Twinkie/Bosox/Toon/Kitten/etc. game updates in the Sox post game thread.

Feel free to open a game/series thread for whoever you would like to follow in the Talking Baseball forum (well, flubbie game threads go in WTS, but the rest of them go in TB).

Thanks.

[voodoochile]

Hey folks, just a reminder, you are limited to 50 PM's in all your folders. You automatically store a copy of everyone you send in your "sent" folder. If you are at or near your limit (and a bunch of you are) you should try to clean things up a bit.

Go to your PM page. This takes you to your inbox.

Click the boxes in the right column you want to delete (top box is master check will turn on all boxes to check marks).

Scroll to bottom of page - change "move to folder" to "delete" and click "go".

Then scroll back to the top of the page and in the middle you will see another drop down menu that reads "inbox" change "inbox" to "sent items" and you will automatically be taken to your sent items mailbox. Repeat the steps above to delete unwanted messages.

If you have some messages you really want to store and are afraid of messing up when deleting in the future, you can create a new folder for "saved stuff" by clicking on the "edit folders" option in the left column and adding a folder to hold stuff you want to save for the future. Those items still count toward your total, so only keep what you really need to.

Thanks.

[voodoochile]

No politics means no politics. Yes, we all know that the current President Elect is a Sox fan and while that might be an exciting thing for Sox fans not all of our posters are happy that the Sox fan won the election because they disagree with his political views.

Out of respect for the those posters, we ask that you refrain from posting about it here at WSI.

We don't allow discussions about the current Mayor of Chicago either and he's a Sox fan too.

If you simply have to talk about how excited, disgruntled, discombobulated, bewildered or bamboozled you feel because suddenly one of us is the new Commander in Chief or simply want to give a shoutout to the most powerful Sox fan in the world, please register at Politically Incorrect (http://www.wsiforums.com/index.php) and go nuts. Your user name and e-mail address must exactly match that information here at WSI for your registration to be accepted.

Thanks and of course... GO SOX!

[voodoochile]

No politics means no politics. Yes, we all know that the current President Elect is a Sox fan and while that might be an exciting thing for Sox fans not all of our posters are happy that the Sox fan won the election because they disagree with his political views.

Out of respect for the those posters, we ask that you refrain from posting about it here at WSI.

We don't allow discussions about the current Mayor of Chicago either and he's a Sox fan too.

If you simply have to talk about how excited, disgruntled, discombobulated, bewildered or bamboozled you feel because suddenly one of us is the new Commander in Chief or simply want to give a shoutout to the most powerful Sox fan in the world, please register at Politically Incorrect (http://www.wsiforums.com/index.php) and go nuts. Your user name and e-mail address must exactly match that information here at WSI for your registration to be accepted.

Thanks and of course... GO SOX!

I'm tired of moving and locking threads about this topic. Everyone should be well versed on these rules by now. All future Obama threads will be given a one week minimum rip.

[Daver]

A couple of months ago I took measures to stop a new type of spammer that evades the built in protection and then launches their spam bot, it has worked well and is now standard policy. All registrations are subject to review, and any that are made from proxy servers or known spamming ISP's will not be approved. WSI is not a blocked site on any of the services I have checked, and therefore no one that is registering a legitimate account need do so through a proxy address, any questions on this can be sent directly to me at daver@whitesoxinteractive.com .