The following rules have been established to help maintain a civil and friendly environment, allowing everyone to enjoy the discussions found here.

Please read this post completely in order to prevent any potential rules violations.


FORUM RULES

1) Do not attack/slam/insult others. You can discuss the message or topic, but not the messenger - NO EXCEPTIONS. If you are attacked by another user, use the Report Post link within that post. If you reciprocate instead, YOU will also be subject to the same consequences as the attacker. Defending yourself, defending a friend, etc. are NOT excuses. Violations of this rule are taken very seriously and may result in being banned without warning!

2) Topics which are started with the intent to denigrate, belittle, disparage, or exclude another Mingle2 member or members, or specific groups or classifications of Mingle2 members, either directly named or through enough descriptive commentary to be possibly identified, are prohibited. Such topics will be instantly deleted and may result in the banning of the original poster. This includes following another poster around in the forums, posting about past events gone sour, divulging personal information, spreading gossip or rumors, posting email exchanges between users, etc. Keep the drama off the forums!

3) Do not post an email or mail message from any other Mingle2 user, moderator, or administrator on the forums at any time.

4a) No explicit, sexual, offensive, insulting or vulgar language. The Mingle2 forums are rated PG-13.

4b) IMG links that link to controversial/disturbing/offensive images will be removed immediately and the poster will be suspended or banned. No nudity, obscene gestures, suggestive photos, or images of illegal activities are allowed. Images must be PG-13 on the entire site, NOT rated R or X. We will be very strict on this policy, and violators will be treated harshly.

5) No derogatory or offensive references to sex, gender, ethnicity, religions, sexual orientation, body type, or intelligence level.

6) Pity-seeking or attention-seeking topics which serve only to draw attention to yourself are not permitted on the forums. The forums are provided for the enjoyment of all members. They are not about you. The only exception to this rule is the New Members Welcome Area where posters are permitted to introduce themselves to the community, and the Rate My Profile forum where you may ask for feedback about yourself and your profile.

7) Hijacking a topic by making posts which are off-topic and unrelated to the original post is considered rude. Please try to keep your posts pertinent to the topic at hand. We will allow some leeway in this area, as there is some amount of "topic drift" that occurs in a normal conversation that we will permit. However, members who we feel are continually and intentionally hijacking topics, especially after having been warned by a moderator, may have their posting privileges suspended. We ask all users to do their best to stay on-topic.

8) For your safety, do not post personal information such as telephone numbers, email or mailing addresses, instant messenger IDs, etc. All of these items can be traced using free methods such as search engines and other sites. It is only safe practice to list your address and phone number on secure sites denoted by a lock icon somewhere on your browser. The same precautions should be used when posting contact information on your profile of an email account.

9) Do not post messages that violate federal, state/provincial, or local laws which include, but are not limited to, anything that violates a copyright, trademark, patent, trade secret or is bound by NDA (non-disclosure agreement)

10) Do not spam the forums with advertisements for other services, websites, etc. URL links that are being used to promote other websites will be removed immediately. No advertising or self-promotion is allowed on the Mingle2 forums. We may allow certain links in the interest of discussion, such as links to current events, music videos, and other non-promotional sites. We will handle this on a case-by-case basis, but any link which leads directly to a sales page will promptly be removed. Links which lead to questionable content may be temporarily removed from the board for review.

11) Post topics in the appropriate forum. For example, a chat topic like "I'm bored" belongs in the Chit Chat forum and a "Goodnight everyone" topic belongs in the Well Wishes forum. Members who repeatedly post topics in the wrong forum could lose their posting privileges.

12) Multiple profiles are not allowed. You may only have 1 profile per user. Users who are found to have created multiple profiles may have all of their profiles banned.

13) Please do NOT post suicide notes or threats (or posts which could be interpreted as such) on the forums. This can be incredibly damaging to members and the staff, and we are NOT trained in counseling to deal with such things. If you DO feel suicidal, please contact a real life counselor or support helpline. Here are two useful web sites, each with a number of resources that may help:
http://www.suicidepreventionlifeline.org/
http://www.sprc.org/
We do care about you, but we are not equipped to deal with such a situation. If you post such a note, it will be immediately deleted from the forums and your account will be removed from the site.

14) "Goodbye" and "I'm leaving" posts where a user is declaring that they are leaving the site are not allowed and will be deleted from the forums. You obviously are free to leave the site at any time, but if you wish to notify your friends that you are going, please do so using the private messaging system.

15) If you have concerns about another poster or wish to report a rule violation, the ONLY appropriate venue is to use the Report Abuse feature or to message Charles. You may NOT air such concerns on the message boards themselves. If you have a general concern that does not involve a specific member, you may post your question in a civil manner in the "Feedback" or "Help" forums.

16) Protesting a moderator or admin action is not allowed on the forums at any time. Anyone that creates or participates in a protest topic, outlines any protest in their profile, posts any negative commentary with regards to moderation or administration, or discusses emails/actions between moderators/admins and themselves in their profiles or in the forums will have their posting privileges suspended or may even be permanently banned from the site. The forums or other public venues are not the appropriate place to lodge a complaint. If you have a question or concern about a moderator or admin action, you should email one of the moderators or an admin with your concern and we will investigate the matter promptly.

17) In general, you absolutely should feel free to report a post even if you are unsure if it violates the forum rules. A moderator will review it and determine if a rule has been broken. Like anything, though, this feature can be overused. A very small group of members have abused the Reporting functions of the site by submitting an excessive number of frivolous abuse reports. Overusing the Reporting functions in such a manner may be considered a violation of the site rules.

18) Please use formatting codes (bbcodes) IN MODERATION. Users who abuse the new codes by using them excessively in an annoying posting style will be warned and could lose their privileges to use the codes or post on the forums at all. We'll be somewhat lenient on this, but we just don't want people abusing the codes to make very difficult to read/annoying posts. Please be polite in your use of the codes.

19) We do not allow posts in search of "nsa hookups" or "friends with benefits." We understand that some of our members may choose to go this route once they meet (we are all adults here). That said, it is not the primary goal of this site and we don't want to encourage people to complicate the already-complex nature of romance.

20) In the end, this list of rules is a guideline for the moderating team. Since the Mingle2 terms of use may also have to be taken into account, this set of rules can't predict every conceivable scenario.


Thanks for your cooperation, and we hope you are enjoying the site!