PLEASE READ CAREFULLY

In order to facilitate the free and respectful exchange of opinions about all things Mac, the following board etiquette should be observed. If you ever have a question about why a post was removed, please consult this list. This board is monitored by a team of unpaid administrators. This team is responsible for keeping this message board fun, informative and clean. We expressly reserve the right to deny authorization to any person at any time, for any reason, as well as to delete in its entirety any post or link to material which we, in our sole discretion, deem to be offensive to the sensibilities of ordinary persons, or which might subject us to legal liability.

These Guidelines apply only to The Ledge. We cannot monitor or be responsible for discussions in emails, on other message boards, newsgroups or mailing lists.

In general, you are expected to respect your fellow Ledgies. Lively heated discussion is encouraged, but please use common sense, good judgment, and treat others as you would like to be treated. Not everyone is going to agree, but if that's the case, just agree to disagree and leave it at that. If you have a valid argument in support of your view, please contribute. If all you have to add are harrassing, insulting, taunting, nasty remarks or name-calling, you'll be asked to go somewhere else. Taunting is defined as "aggravation by deriding, mocking, criticizing or carping". If someone has annoyed you to total distraction, but has not been abusive, it is suggested that you use the “Ignore List” feature for those people whose messages you wish not to read. By adding someone to your ignore list, messages posted by these individuals will be hidden when you read a thread.

Now, What's Cool to Post?

• Feel free to post anything that relates to the topic at hand. If it doesn't pertain to the specific topic, try to find a forum where it might and start your own thread.
• If you are in disagreement remember you are attacking people's viewpoints and opinions, not the people themselves. Don't let the discussions get personal.

What's Not Cool:

• Contents of emails, posts from other message boards, newsgroups or mailing lists authored by anyone other than yourself. Personal feuds will not be tolerated.
• Any statement that defames, abuses or threatens others
• Derogatory statements that could be construed as bigoted, hateful or racially offensive or comments defaming sexual orientation
• Material that advocates illegal activity or discusses illegal activities with the intent to commit them. This includes any threats including death or bodily harm
• Photos or addresses of a band member’s residence and/or photos of their automobiles are not permitted. This would apply to any “friends of the band” also.
• Messages that are simply quotes of other messages without any additional comments
• Unauthorized copyrighted material
• Material that contains vulgar, obscene or indecent language
• Sexually explicit language, images or other content (pornography). Obscene language and/or graphics are not acceptable. No pornography or photos depicting explicit nudity (this includes, but is not limited to, photos that show full frontal or rear nudity).
• No Attacks / Retaliation of any kind. Either against a member or group of members. Doing so will result in a warning. If you continue, you WILL be banned. This is a situation in which the argument, “He/She started it,” won’t be considered a valid excuse.
• Advertising or any form of commercial solicitation for sale products, services or other websites
• Repeated messages a.k.a. Spam. This also means no repetitive posting to increase your post count. Also, please do not post the same subject on more than one forum board; cross-posts will be removed
• Fan Fiction. (There are other sites and mailing lists where this is enjoyed)
• Posing and Shilling. Always post under your own username: do not share logins with other users. Do not pose as another user with a screen name well-known to the group. Do not register multiple screen names in order to post under different identities (shilling). Do not register for banned users. Misuse of logins may result in removal of posts and board access
• No trolling. A troll is a person who enters an established forum and intentionally tries to cause disruption, most often in the form of posting inflammatory, off-topic, or otherwise inappropriate messages
• Posts in specific forums should stay on topic. If you want to talk about something else, please take it to the correct forum
• No Avatar & Signature Abuse. These are a luxury and abuse of them will result in them being disabled for you
• Other Online Etiquette to keep in mind: Posting in all CAPITAL LETTERS is most often considered shouting, so keep it to a minimum please. The Ledge Management and Moderators reserve the right to ban users, remove individual posts or revoke posting privileges of users who violate these guidelines. For more about “netiquette”, see http://www.albion.com/netiquette/corerules.html

How Do I Report An Offense?

Although the Moderators survey the message boards regularly, they do not read every single post. You can help monitor your community by alerting a Moderator if you see threatening, offensive or spam messages on the boards. If you take offense to a particular post, or feel it is inappropriate in any way based on our established Guidelines, use the "Bad Post" link that is in the upper right hand corner of every post. It will then be decided what action should be taken, if any.

While the Moderators will definitely review any messages brought to their attention, it will be their decision whether to remove or edit the message, or, ultimately, revoke posting privileges. Keep in mind that The Penguin reserves the right to edit or remove any posts or the posting privileges of users who continually abuse the boards. You can spout the First Amendment, Free Speech rhetoric all you'd like, but once you hit that "Submit" button, your message becomes the intellectual property of The Penguin. Period, 'nuff said, end of story.

Three Strikes, You're Out!

As a general rule, The Ledge will operate on a three-strike policy, similar to baseball and California. The first two times a user violates any of our established guidelines they will be warned via e-mail, on The Ledge, or both. Each strike will be accompanied by a minimum 48-hour temporary ban. If the problem persists beyond the second warning we will remove their access to The Ledge. However, no one is promised "three strikes." Not all violations are equal. Sometimes outrageous and egregious conduct is involved, warranting the strictest response. The moderators will review infractions on a case by case basis. The Ledge reserves the right to ban members permanently and immediately, without any prior disciplinary warnings or action at all. Simple enough.

SOME POSTING POINTERS

Each Forum has a Moderator who is responsible for fielding any complaints concerning posts in that individual forum. If necessary, Forum moderators may contact posters privately through e-mail, possibly remove offensive posts and, in very rare and extreme circumstances, with the permission of the Ledge owners, suspend or ban posting privileges temporarily or permanently. There is a link on the main screen to the list of Forum Leaders, along with contact information.

In general, the main "rule" for posting on The Ledge is the Golden rule--"do unto others..." An attitude of respect toward each other and the members of Fleetwood Mac should be maintained always.

Each Forum has a focus. Essentially, while posting in that Forum, you are in an "audience" of very devoted fans of that person, or group of people. Discussing a band member's personal life in a judgmental way usually only engenders negative emotions and harbors bad feelings. While this is a public board, and such discussion is not "banned," respect for others should also include a respect for ALL of the members of Fleetwood Mac, past and present. As you would probably not like parts of your personal life publicized on the World Wide Web, we recommend you extend this courtesy to the members of Fleetwood Mac in your speculations about theirs. As the FM subjects are segregated, if you basically detest one member of the band, it's quite easy to avoid those forums that worship the same member. If conflicts begin to arise, it's probably best that you do.

• If you post something you feel is potentially controversial, or if you are responding to a potentially controversial post, it is your responsibility to keep the focus on the subject at hand. Don’t let your arguments get personal. Any disagreements, past or present, should be dealt with privately, not on The Ledge.
• We know the sense of community that has developed on The Ledge is why many of you make your home here. We respect and cherish that. However, sometimes the personal banter, inside jokes and teasing are daunting for occasional visitors who are only here to learn more about Fleetwood Mac, not to socialize. Therefore, if board exchanges because too personal and exclusive, they should move to PM or to Chit Chat. Comments should be general enough for "the whole class to enjoy." If only a couple of readers will understand or appreciate the posts, then they should be exchanged privately.
• In expressing your devotion to one member of Fleetwood Mac, please try to avoid belittling the accomplishments of the others.
• Since people of all ages post on the Ledge, we would remind you to avoid sexually explicit posts and the use of profanity.
• As there is more chance for misinterpretation in the written word, if you are unsure whether your sense of humor will be interpreted in the spirit intended, there are a number of emoticons that can help clarify your meaning.
• If you are a senior member, it would be appreciated if you would lead by example and help (rather than attack or encourage) other, newer members who may not be following the the proper etiquette.
• If you have nothing to add to a post, a one word comment can usually be misinterpreted and probably should be avoided. If you have something to say, say it. If not, let it go. Additionally make sure when replying that your post actually contains original content rather than just agreeing with another post. 'Me too' or LOL posts (with nothing else added) are annoying, time and space-consuming, and considered bad netiquette.

In addition, there are some technical points that might improve the "readability" of the Ledge:

• Use short subject lines and place your message inside the body of your post.
• Don't use all caps. Message or subject lines with all caps are difficult to read.
• Use (nt) in your subject line. If your post has no text other than the subject line, please let everyone know with an (nt).
• Off topic posts should have OT in the subject line whenever possible.
• Do not abuse the "Delete Post" option. We all need to delete our posts occasionally, but deleted posts tend to clutter the thread stream. Don't make temporary posts with the intention of removing them later. Deletions should be used in exceptional circumstances and should not become part of your regular posting pattern. If we see a chronic deleter, we may disable that poster's ability to delete his or her own posts.
• Please communicate with The Penguin and/or the Forum Moderators by private e-mail and not by posting a message on The Ledge.

Posting on The Ledge should be fun and relatively stress free if we all treat each other the way we would want to be treated. You are encouraged to be tolerant of differences in the ways that people express themselves.

Based on past experience, these guidelines and posting suggestions have been deemed the most important by the majority of Ledge posters and support the high standards this site strives to maintain. Everyone may not agree with them, but it is virtually impossible to please everybody. There is rarely any reason to interfere with messages and we do not anticipate that that will change. We will, however, not tolerate posts that bait and attack.

The board administrator and moderators cannot be held responsible for anything posted in the Ledge forums. Because participation on the Ledge is purely voluntary and can be discontinued at any time, threats to sue the board administrator and/or moderators because of words exchanged in a personal disagreement with another Ledge poster are baseless and frivolous and will subject the person issuing the 'threat' to immediate banning - 3 strikes you're out. Moderators can and will only take action on those posts that occur on the Ledge that violate the guidelines explained here.

Do not use the Ledge's private messaging system to harass or threaten others. If the administrator or moderators receive complaints, private messaging capabilities will be taken away from anyone violating this guideline.

Contributions can be conveniently and securely be made via Paypal in the Paid Subscription section of your User CP. Subscriptions can be purchased for either $6 for 6 months or $12 for 12 months. That only a dollar per month -- less than a cup of Starbucks coffee!