Forum & Discord rules

[smilodon]

"forum" = 'forum and Discord'

As a gaming community the dMw are an ever evolving group. Players come and go as do the games we support. As the forum is an integral part of the community it too will change over time. Back in the past the dMw were a group of just a couple of dozen people all of whom knew each other well and so there was no real need to formulate a forum policy (apart from our acceptable use policy). However as we grow and we include an ever wider group of people we need to make sure the forum and Discord reflect the community. Part of that is providing a framework for acceptable behaviour and posting standards.

Almost all the content posted is both positive and useful  and only very occasionally will there be posts that are critical or that  become argumentative and or confrontational. After some thought as Forum Administrator and ultimately the person who has to arbitrate what is and isn't posted here, I've decided the best policy going forward is to take a hands off approach when it comes to threads that contain disagreement or argument with other community members. Posters should be responsible for their own comments and thoughts, both when they start a forum thread or when they choose to reply to one. It's not for me to decide what they can and cannot post. However this freedom does not extend to abusing other community members, rudeness, threats or extreme language (yes we can all get round the word filter if we want to). Our posts will need to have a point and be constructive. Flame wars, trolling, abuse directed towards any community member and general rants will not be allowed. And of course the same freedoms apply to those wishing to respond to posts.

The over riding desire of this community is to develop and promote a friendly, inclusive and mature place for us to come together, game, chat and have fun. We should always remember there are real people behind the user names and avatars. What we say on this forum can amuse, entertain and inform others. But we can also just as easily hurt, upset and distress those same people. There are consequences to what we say on this forum just as there are in real life. So while I'm happy to allow people to discuss, argue, disagree and thrash out their disagreements on this forum, once the line is crossed posts will be deleted and bans considered.

So remember
1. No abusive or threatening language.
2. No actual threats to anyone.
3. No negative comments related to race, gender, sexual orientation or any other form of bigotry
4. No posts designed simply to annoy or antagonise another community member.
5. Defamation. libel or slander. This is illegal in the UK (where the forum is hosted), EU and most other countries.

But most of all take a moment to think about what you are about to post, how it might be received or interpreted and most of all how it might affect another community member. The dMw is where we come to play games and as any child will be happy to remind us "Games are supposed to be fun"

Thankyou

(This is a news thread and so locked. Feel free to PM me if you wish)