New Year's Amnesty

[The Barrow-Wight]

We have decided to celebrate the New Year with a general amnesty for all members who have been banned in the past months and years. This means that all accounts are open, and all are welcome to post and PM again.

Of course, all members, whether old or new, are subject to the rules set up by the forum’s owner. Spamming, trolling, flaming, nonsense posting, and posting of inappropriate content will be subject to the control of the administrators and moderators. Posts of such nature may be edited or deleted without warning, and members who flagrantly and/or repeatedly ignore the rules can be banned. (You may have noticed multiple spam posts by new ‘members’ who come here only for that purpose – those posts are deleted without delay, and the ‘members’ are banned immediately.) However, anyone can make innocent mistakes, and we will PM those who do, so if you’ve come here to enjoy the discussions, there’s no need to worry!

Please read the FAQ and Policies threads, where you will find more information. Here, for example, are two crucial paragraphs:

SPAM

Spam is any unwanted request for people to visit a web site. Such posts are not allowed on the Downs and will be quickly deleted. If you have a site that you feel would be interesting to the visitors of the Downs, please send an e-mail or PM to the moderators. If it is deemed something our members might enjoy, we will add it to the LINKS page on the main site.

Another way to advertise your site is to put a link to it in your signature and then join in the discussions. Your signature (and your link) will be seen by everyone, as long as you're not just posting nonsense (in which case... ah, you get the picture).

FLAMING, TROLLING, AND INSULTING

In an online forum, feelings are easily hurt. It's imperative that you not be combative in your responses to others.
• Don't comment on other members - comment on their posts.
• Make an effort to defend and support your point rather than attack the points of other members. If you do disagree on a point, debate it in a civil manner.
• Don't name call.
• Don't intentionally bait others into bad behavior.
• Don't bring private quarrels or chat quarrels into the forum.

Happy New Year!