Over the past several weeks I have noticed that there is a lot of unrest on the forum and there have been a lot of arguments, fights, and threads created that break forum rules.
I wanted to remind everyone of a few things:
1) Having your own opinion is fine, but being rude and disrespectful of other members due to their opinions--whether they differ from or are the same as yours--will not be tolerated. This means no flaming other members, no condescending comments, no creating threads just to provoke or flame other members, etc. Discussion of why you disagree with someone is fine, but threads that degenerate into "You're stupid, go away!!!!" or "you're an idiot" etc. will not be tolerated.
2) If someone is acting out of line report it to a moderator. Don't take it upon yourself to drive the person away by being mean and condescending to them as they have been to you. If someone is making inappropriate posts, report them. You have several options to do this. You can either use the report button (the "!" button on that person's post), PM a moderator, or talk to a moderator via e-mail, aim, etc.. If you do not want to see a specific poster's posts, you can use the "Ignore" button on one of their posts to add them to your ignore list.
3) Don't feed the trolls. If you respond to the inflammatory comments of trolls, they'll keep posting trollish stuff. If you don't feed the troll and just ignore them or report their activity to a moderator, they will either go away or end up being sent away for conducting activity which breaks forum rules.
We do try to be lenient with people and allow them to have second chances if they break rules, but anyone who knowingly continues to break rules time after time will be banned.
Finally, as Vanessa gets back into the mainstream, there will be more trolls that come through here no doubt. Instead of keeping them coming back by acknowledging their actions, turn them over to the moderators and let us handle it. It will make everyone's lives a lot easier and board discussions a lot more enjoyable.
-B
