As many of you may already know, I’ve started a forum board. It’s here:
https://www.public-spectacle.com/smf
at least for now. (I’m thinking of moving it to a spiffier URL, but these things cost money, so I thought I’d see how it was going first).
Since I really don’t know what I’m doing, I hope you will give me some help. The most important thing you can do is tell me what I’m doing wrong. And you can begin today, by reviewing the “charter” (I have to put quotes around the word because it’s not really well-formed yet) of the site, and telling me whether it’s already soured your interest in reading any more.
Here it is:
I’m glad you’ve come to take a look at this forum. I hope you like what you see here–and if you don’t, I hope you’ll tell me, so that I will have an opportunity to make things more to your liking.
If you would like to register for this forum, your are welcome to. There are no restrictions on registration; all are welcome to join and participate. Depending on the final security policy (which is still under consideration) it might be necessary in the future to register in order to read postings here, if people decide that they wish to post information that they don’t want the general public to read, or for Google to index and share with the world, but for the meanwhile, anyone can read anything here. Please do not forget that fact–what you write here is, for all practical purposes, searchable and discoverable by any interested parties. If you wish to share information about yourself that you would not want known, please register with an alias instead of your real name, and select the appropriate privacy options in your account settings.
A very important point about the freedom to post is that it is a privilege and not a right. I am not the government; your first amendment rights do not apply here. You are here as my guest, but if you become a troublesome guest you will be asked to change your manners, and if that does not remedy the problem, your registration will be revoked. Rather than try to articulate a complete policy that lists every possible transgression you can make, I will keep the policy simple: if I conclude that your posts are contrary to spirit of camaraderie and, where appropriate, discussion or debate in good faith, I will ban you. Personal attacks, insults, or hate speech will not be tolerated.
If you are banned for inappropriate behavior, I hope you will not be offended, but will quickly find a more welcoming and sheltering home in another forum. There certainly are plenty of them out there.
