Iowa Sportsman - Site Rules

Site Rules

Iowa Outdoors has grown from a small outdoor community to the fun and active site it is today. This outstanding growth does come with a price, however. It has become increasingly difficult for the administrators and moderators of this site to be able to police the site because until now, there were no stead-fast rules. The administrators and moderators of this site have discussed this issue and we have come up with the following set of rules. These rules are aimed at keeping the interaction on this site topical and cordial while allowing for differences of opinion to be voiced. Similarly, these rules will provide the administrators and moderators a guide on how to take disciplinary action in a consistent manner. NOTE: While Iowa Outdoors tries to honor your freedom to speech, we reserve the right to remove any post for any reason regardless of the rules below. This site is for focused and constructive discussions on hunting and fishing and posts that can't meet that basic requirement are subject to being deleted.

Iowa Outdoors will not tolerate discriminating or disrespect for any race, gender or religion. Anybody making such statements will be banned immediately with no warning.
Members who use profanity or childish name calling are to be warned one time. Also, masking the words constitutes cussing. If the member repeats this behavior within a month they should be banned. If the offending member can go a month without another infraction they will be given a clean slate. Any posts breaking this rule will be deleted as they have no place on this site. Profanity does include the *censored* string which is clearly something that the bad-language filter caught. NOTE: There is no exception to this rule. Newcomers and long standing members are both subject to the same interpretation. So while it is OK to debate and disagree with others on hot issues, do so without using poor language. Iowa Outdoor admins will determine on behalf of the ownership what are profane words. Users of this site should use caution while in discussions or face the consequences.
Profile pictures, posts, images or links of a member containing pornography will get the member banned immediately. The offending post/picture/etc will be deleted immediately as well.
Members who post a thread that touches on politics or religion and doesn't relate to the outdoors are to be warned one time this isn't allowed. Furthermore, political discussions are only allowed if it involves game laws or the views a specific politician has on hunting and fishing. We've tried to be more accepting in the past and it only results in unwanted anger. We will observe the same one-month probationary period described in item 2 above. The thread will get locked after one of the administrators or moderators post to the thread explaining why it got locked.
Story submissions and forums must not contained copyrighted work (this includes images and text). If you are unsure if something is copyrighted then you should assume it is as the administrators and moderators will assume it is as well. Instead, you can paraphrase the text (or image) and then paste the URL to the content in the article or forum post. To be clear, you are not allowed to cut-and-paste any text from any online source short of small quotations (and such quotations should give the author credit and be included in quotes). Infractions of this rule will observe the one-month probationary period outlined above.
Solicitation of money or other goods and services is strictly prohibited. If you are an outdoor enthusiast with special needs or represent an outdoor oriented organization you should first send any such requests to iowaoutdoors-staff [AT] iowaoutdoors [DOT] org.. Infractions of this rule will earn the offending member an immediate ban.
Posts in all forums other than "The Battlefront" forum are to be constructive and should aim to expand on the given topic. If a controvesy occurs, with a heated debate starting moderators can, at their discretion, ask members to move the debate to the "The Battlefront" forum where those interested in the debate portion of the discussion can continue following it yet allowing members not interested in the rhetoric to ignore it all. It is up to the moderators descretion on what is moved to "The Battlefront". Once moved to The Battlefront, any subsequent posts must be back on topic and not attempt to restart the debate. Infractions to this rule will observe the one-month probationary period outlined above.
Advertising products or services in forum posts either in the user's signature line or the post itself is strictly prohibited. Iowa Outdoors generates over a million page views per month and provides cheap exposure to companies and organizations willing to formally advertise on this site. If you are interested in advertising, please go here. However, putting information about a company or organization in the user's biography section only is permitted. Infractions to this rule will observe the one-month probationary period outlined above.
Members who admit to trying to cause trouble either via email, in our forums or even other sites will be immediately banned. No point in us keeping self-proclaimed trolls around..

NOTE: All warnings will be given via email by at least one of the administrators or moderators. If the member's email is not valid, a warning will be given via private message. Any posts that violate items 2 or 4 above will be deleted.

All photos submitted to www.iowasportsman.com become available for Heartland Communications Inc. to use in any promotional items.

Locking Forum Threads

Forum threads will only be locked when at least three administrators or moderators agree the thread should be locked or when at least three posts within a thread break one of the rules above. This is a bit arbitrary but it takes the decision to lock out of one persons hands and allows some discussion amongst the administrators and moderators to occur first.

We hope you all agree that these new rules will help steer members of this site in a direction that will allow the site to enjoy continued success yet give the administrators and moderators a consistent set of rules in which to deal with any infractions. Any questions regarding these rules are welcome at iowaoutdoors-staff [AT] iowaoutdoors [DOT] org

Update History

Version	Date	Description
1.0	9/5/2005	Initial Release
1.1	9/7/2005	Added update history
1.2	9/13/2005	Added clarification to what constitutes profanity
1.3	9/15/2005	Had to tighten the rules around politics since it is still getting everybody worked up
1.4	9/27/2005	Add restrictions on pasting potentially copyrighted text into stories and/or forum posts.
1.5	10/12/2005	We not strictly prohibit solicitation.
1.6	11/07/2005	Put an emphasis on the language rules.
1.7	12/02/2005	Make rule #5 even more clear.
1.8	07/16/2006	Added Battlefront Rule
1.9	08/04/2006	Added Advertising rule
1.10	09/15/2006	Added 'self proclaimed troll' rule

Last Updated 11/16/2008 @ 02:29 PM; 19,797 Hits

Locking Forum Threads

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