Official Message Board Etiquette Rules

OFFICIAL MESSAGE BOARD ETIQUETTE RULES

First things first. To begin, please take a look in the help section. There is lots of great info in there on how to use these forums.

In order to keep things flowing here on the iCue forums, we wanted to advise you all on how to help.

To avoid multiple posts on the same topic, either do a search or look beyond the first page of posts (on the bottom left is the back pages links). Any posts that are discussing the same will be merged and will be marked as merged. Please note that some merged topics may have a changed title to reflect the topic better.

Regarding board rules:
All posts will be moderated following the rules dictated by NBC (see etiquette and legal stuff below). If you break any of the rules, your post will be locked or deleted and you may risk being banned from these forums. If you feel that a post or if a poster is offensive or breaks any rules, please use the nifty "Report" button which can be found on the bottom right of all posts.

ALL CAPS
I know, I know...everyone wants to be heard. With so many topics and posts, it's hard to stand out from the crowd. But did you know that TALKING IN ALL CAPS online indicates that you are shouting? It's a very aggressive way to post and it doesn't come off as being very friendly. Moderators can (and do) delete any topics or posts that use ALL CAPS.

SPAM
It's not just weird meat in a can...it's also annoying online behavior that creates a lot of static in message boards. Spam, for those of you who don't know, can be described as this: the posting of advertisements, abusive, or unneeded messages on forums. You may think it only applies to junk mail or ads, but it also applies to the unnecessary posts that don't contribute any useful information to a topic. Simple rule: don't do it. Ever. Moderators can (and do) delete any topics or posts that are considered spam.

PERSONAL INFORMATION
I think it's great that many of you have found meaningful friendships with other iCue users. I know some of you may want to connect with your new friends outside of iCue. However, you need to know that these forums are accessible to everyone in the iCue family. To protect the privacy and safety of our members, and especially for those of you who may be under 18, we ask that you do NOT post any personal information such as your full name, phone number, address, or other information that may allow people to find you in “the real world”. We also ask that you do not ask other members for their personal information. Any personal information posted on the forums will be deleted, and members who continue to ask other members for personal or inappropriate information will be banned. Let’s all be safe out there, OK?

INNAPROPRIATE LANGUAGE AND TOPICS
iCue is primarily a learning environment, and many of our members are under 18. Not every conversation needs to be “educational”, and we encourage you to talk about pop culture, current issues, and other topics from the Student Center, or anything else that is on you mind. But we do need to make sure that this is a safe and friendly environment for ALL of our members. Obscenity and other inappropriate posts will be deleted by our moderators. Please do not use obscenity, or words that are stand-ins for obscene words. And if you want to talk about things best discussed in an “adults only” atmosphere, please do so somewhere else, OK?

OT POSTS
I think it's great that you want to engage your friends in conversations that have nothing to do with iCue (OT = Off Topic...in other words, a conversation that is not relevant to the topic.) I've noticed a number of similar OT topics in forums which end up burying the pertinent on topic information. For newcomers, this makes for a very poor user experience. Moderators have been instructed that they can (and should) merge similar topics, so please don't panic if you notice that your conversation was merged with another similar one. We're just trying to keep the information as easy to find as possible.

FLAMING AND BULLYING
We want to see you all engage in real debate, and we encourage friendly disagreement and vigorous discussion. But flaming and bullying of other members will NOT be tolerated! “Flaming” is posting comments directed at another user that are disrespectful or hurtful. If you disagree with someone, direct your comments at the argument, not at the person. If you attack or bully other members, your comments will be deleted from the site, and you could be banned from iCue. So keep it civil, alright? If you see a comment on the Forums that you think is inappropriate, or if you feel like you are being treated badly, please send an email to feedback@icue.com.

TROLLS
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. If you're a newbie and you want to establish yourself as a regular poster, please read the conversations and post relevant questions or posts in response. And you know, it never hurts to introduce yourself when you first join a new forum to let people know you're new and interested in joining the community. A little friendliness goes a long way. Don’t be a troll!

If you need any assistance, please feel free to contact one of the moderators on this forum.

On behalf of the moderating team here, thanks for your participation. Please, buckle up, keep your hands and feet in at all times, and enjoy the show.

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The legal mumbo jumbo:

"Portions of this Site provide you and other users an opportunity to submit, post, display, transmit and/or exchange information, ideas, opinions, photographs, images, video, creative works or other information, messages, transmissions or material to us, the Site or others ("Post" or "Postings"). Postings do not reflect the views of NBC, and NBC does not have any obligation to monitor, edit or screen any Postings, but may do so in its sole discretion. Notwithstanding anything else in these Rules of Conduct, NBC should not be seen as endorsing any Post in any way. Neither NBC nor its parent company, its respective officers, directors, and employees, subsidiaries and/or affiliates shall be liable for any Posting that is in violation of this agreement.

You acknowledge that anything you submit to an NBC Site by way of any Posting is routed through NBC's servers and the Internet and that, therefore, you have no expectation of privacy with regard to any such submission. You acknowledge that the Posting and features on NBC Sites are postings for public and not private communications. Please keep in mind that whenever you give out personal information online, for example, via message boards or chat, that information can be collected and used by people you don't know. We cannot guarantee the security of any information you disclose online; you make such disclosures at your own risk. (Users under the age of 18 should be especially careful not to provide any personally identifying information while using chat rooms or message boards. As set forth in NBC.com's Terms and Conditions of use, users of chat rooms and message boards must follow acceptable standards of behavior when posting messages online.)

If a Posting originates from you or your account, you hereby agree not to post any materials that (1) interfere with anyone else's use of the Site; (2) are abusive, illegal, defamatory, libelous, indecent, obscene, offensive, or threatening in any way; (3) encourage anyone to break the law; (4) violate anyone's copyright, trademark or other property right; (5) interfere with the privacy of any other user; (6) contain a virus or any other harmful component; or (7) contain false or misleading statements of fact or descriptions of the origin of the material or the communication. You agree to comply with any additional terms which are referred to on this Site or any subsite within the website.

The message boards provided on the NBC Site are for the purpose of exchanging views and information about television programming. NBC reserves the right to terminate the account or suspend the posting privileges of anyone who Posts materials unrelated to these topics. In accordance with NBC?s Terms of Service, NBC will not accept or consider creative ideas, suggestions, or materials of any kind. Accordingly, while we value your feedback, we must ask that you do not send original creative materials of any kind including concepts or ideas for programming, sketches or other materials. If you send creative submissions, ideas, notes or concepts or other materials (collectively, "Comments"), they shall be deemed, and shall remain, the property of NBC. You represent and warrant that you are authorized to grant all rights in the Comments to NBC. Disclosure, submission, or offer of any Comments shall constitute an assignment to NBC of all worldwide rights, titles, and interests in all copyrights and other intellectual property rights in such Comments. NBC may edit, copy, publish, distribute, translate, and otherwise use in any medium any Comments that you forward to NBC and will own exclusively all such rights, titles, and interest and shall not be limited in any way in its use, commercial or otherwise, of the Comments. NBC is and shall be under no obligation to: (1) maintain any of your or any user's Comments in confidence; (2) to pay to you or any user any compensation for any Comments; or (3) to respond to any of your or any other user's Comments.

You are prohibited from posting or transmitting any defamatory, libelous, obscene, pornographic, profane, threatening, or unlawful material or any material that constitutes or encourages conduct that would be considered a criminal offense or give rise to civil liability, or otherwise violate any law. Although NBC may from time to time monitor or review bulletin boards, chatrooms, discussions, postings, transmissions, and the like on the Site, NBC is under no obligation to do so and assumes no liability or responsibility arising from the contents of any such communications or for any defamation, error, inaccuracy, libel, obscenity, or profanity contained in any such communication. NBC may change, edit, or remove any user material or conversations that are illegal, indecent, obscene, or offensive, or that violate NBC's policies in any way. Further, NBC reserves the right to remove or edit content from any Forum at any time and for any reason although we have no duty to do so. NBC will fully cooperate with any law enforcement authorities or court order requesting or directing NBC to disclose the identity of anyone posting such materials.

Posting is for noncommercial purposes only and you may not Post in any manner which does or is intended to promote or generate revenue for any business enterprise or commercial activity.

If you believe that any content on the Site (including, without limitation, Postings) violates any of the terms of this agreement, please click here to send us a message about it. We will not respond to your message and we reserve the right to take or refrain from taking any or all steps available to us once we receive any such message.

For more information, refer to the iCue Privacy Policy and Terms of Service.

iCue: Official Message Board Etiquette Rules - iCue