To all new members:

When you register on the forums, you agree to abide by the rules HERE.
Lately there has been a lot of new members sign up, which is great - but a lot of you are disregarding these rules.

It has got to the stage where the other admin and I have to remind people of this rule every day.
It's a small thing to ask, please do not use text speech on the forum
Examples:
dat, wot, y, fink etc.
If members continue to ignore this and post like it all the time, your ability to post will be revoked for a period at our discretion.

CAPITAL LETTERS are something which are also mentioned in the rules. We don't allow posts/topics to be consisted of all capital letters. Of course you can use them to enhance the odd word, but there's no need for a whole post to consist of them.

This morning I had to delete 7 posts that were insulting members of the forum. I know people don't agree on certain subjects, we don't live in a perfect world - but there are ways and means to expressing your feelings.
Also posts which insult the housemates are not allowed. I understand that people dislike housemates, and of course you can post that if you want - but the profanity and aggression being posted will not be tolerated.

One last thing: Try to keep your posts on topic if you can! A lot of newer members are posting things not even related to a certain topic - which can lead to confusion.

Rant over. Please abide by these rules or we will take action, either by removing your ability to post - or by banning you.

- Mark

Please pay particular attention to what it says above about insulting or disrespecting other forum members. This even includes calling another member, for example, 'an idiot' or 'a fool'. Dismissing another post by saying something like 'that's complete rubbish' counts as not treating a forum member's opinion with respect. If you disagree with a post it would be better to explain why you disagree. Don't automatically assume because you disagree with someone's viewpoint that it is wrong.

Insulting posts are simply not allowed and these type of posts will be edited or deleted from now on and more warnings will issued.

The housemates do put themselves up for criticism when they enter the show. But that does not mean anything goes. You can express an opinion about a housemate but don't go over the top. That means not using very strong and aggressive language to describe housemates. These types of descriptions only lead to more arguments and insults being exchanged between members and a generally negative vibe on the board. Another no-no is advocating violence against a housemate, or saying a housemate should be physically attacked when they get out, or something similar. Any kind of prejudice is not allowed either.

Another issue is the amount of swearing being used on the forum. Swearing encourages a hostile and negative atmosphere and lowers the tone of the forum. There are filters in place that replace swear words in posts but the bottom line is that there should be no swearing used in posts. And don't try and defeat the censor by replacing one or two letters in the word.

If you think that any post breaks any of the above please use the report button. If you don't use the report facility then a moderator might not get to see it.

We may not allow in the future 'I hate X' threads. These threads are incouraging too many arguments among members.

About racism threads.

These threads are causing huge problems. If you are going to accuse a housemate of racism you must be prepared to back it up with a pretty good argument.

Observing that one housemate has a problem with, or does not like, another person and concluding from that fact alone that (either party) is racist is insufficient.

Also, if remarks have been made by Big Brother housemates which are questionable do not automatically assume that these comments are racist. In this year's Big Brother many of the controversial remarks made by housemates are open to interpretation. They could be racist, or they could be insensitive or they could be neither and completely innocent.

Important: do not assume you that other forum members are in the wrong if you disagree with their interpretation and calling other forum members racist because of this not acceptable.

Can I just remind people of this part of our rules as people seem to be taking things a little too far language wise on particular housemates please remember this rule.....

Thanks.