[Amy]

As we're leading up to Big Brother I think it may be best if I remind you all of the TiBB.com Board Rules, this will then, hopefully, save us having to tell people off.....

These are the rules that you must abide by, to be able to participate on the ThisisBigBrother.com Forums

Updated: James

These are the rules that you must abide by, to be able to participate on the ThisisBigBrother.com Forums:

Main rules...

1. Treat other forum members with respect, no insults. *Important*

2. Type posts properly and don't use text speech.

3. Don't post anything offensive.

---------------------------

Long version of rules

Here - http://www.thisisbigbrother.com/foru...age=forumrules

[Mark]

To all new members:

When you register on the forums, you agree to abide by the rules HERE.

i) We do not allow 'text speech' to be used on the forum. Text speech was designed for mobile phones, not online communities. Please read http://www.thisisbigbrother.com/forum/topic29297.htm which will give you more details. Also, we do not allow posts written solely in CAPITAL LETTERS. Not only is it annoying to read, it disrupts the flow of the forum.

It's a small thing to ask, please do not use text speech on the forum
Examples:
dat, wot, y, fink, u 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.

j) Posts which insult or direct profanity towards another member, will immediate be deleted, or edited out. This may lead to a ban.

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.

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

- Mark

[James]

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.

Also, no 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 swearing 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 encouraging too many arguments among members.

[James]

If you have a problem with a user's posts relating to the above rules and guidelines please use the report button rather than having an argument with the particular person on the forum.

Taking a thread off-topic in that way spoils it for the majority of users.

A forum moderator will be able to deal with the reported issue as quickly as possible.

(The report button is at the top-right of every post and looks like this if you use the default theme.)

[James]

There's an awful lot of new threads being started.

It would help if you add to existing threads wherever possible unless the topic is actually diffferent to one's already on the forum.

[James]

Please read the above about respecting other forum members' opinion.

Spent ages there reading arguments, give warnings and bans.

Instead of keeping arguments going it's better to report offending posts and consider using the Ignore feature.

[James]

We have decided to change the warning system:

From now on the first formal warning a member receives will result in an automatic 24 hour ban from posting.

The second warning will mean a 48 hour posting ban and the third will result in a 7 day ban.

(these lengths of bans might be changed later)

Hopefully the immediate bans should act as a 'cooling off' period.

Warnings now expire and are deleted after 4 months.

A couple of extra guidelines...

If you have issues with another forum member don't carry out an argument with that person on the forum. These type of comments should be dealt with by u2u and any posts like these are liable to be deleted from the forum.

Try and post constructively about Big Brother and the housemates instead of just posting the same old comments over and over again especially in threads where these comments are off-topic.

[James]

Need to point out something...

I don't think many people here are interested in reading personal feuds between members, so if you have a problem with another poster please deal with it privately using the u2u messenger system and not on the public forum.

[Amy]

We know the final is only a week away

With this in mind, can we please remember that although we may like/dislike different housemates we do NOT need to resort to insulting each other. It's ok to have a opinion on people that others disagree/agree with but lets remember to not upset our fellow forum mates in the process with swearing etc... Have a debate by all means but lets not get nasty.

Also, Remember that only one thread is needed of support for each housemate you may well like. In future threads will be merged if there are more than one vote so and so thread. Please also remember to post these threads in the contestants forum.

Sorry to moan but lets just remember that it's only a game show

[Amy]

Hey again all

Can I just add something to my little peace making thread. no? Tuff, I am

Please remember that this week will be a tough week and that we all like certain house members. However, lets not forget the rules and try as hard as we can not to insult our fellow members with swear words and insults... I'd much rather keep bumping this thread and the forum conduct thread than issuing warnings... So, lets remember that this week is not only the final week for the housemates but the final week, for a while ,that we can watch BB and have fun debating it.

Happy posting peeps and debating.

[James]

Moved this topic into 'BB10'. Some good advice in the posts above. Worthwhile having a read.

[Benjamin]

Just a reminder to all to look back over the rules. Some of you are feeling the need to break these rules on a regular basis.


Also, with regards to the report button, please don't keep reporting the same post over and over again. Although it may not be dealt with immediately, it will be dealt with as soon as a moderator can get to it.

And remember guys this is a gameshow, don't take things too seriously, just have fun, watch and debate.