Our Community Guidelines

[gyso]

To no one in particular and everyone in general.

Conviviality is the rule here.  That being said, a sense of humor and a little humility is important and you will need to look past the wording of a post and take into consideration its intent.  In a twist of the definition, conviviality here does not mean that only happy, smiling and positive comments about the Celtics are acceptable.  That would be too boring.  It does mean no ad hominem attacks, i.e.: nothing personal.  Vigorous debate and opposing views are always welcome, especially if they are supported by evidence and/or fact-based argument.  Be reasonable in evaluating and re-evaluating your own posts, as well as those of other members.  Oftentimes, the best policy is to write it, read it and then delete it instead of posting it; thus avoiding the addition of fuel to an ongoing flame.   If that proves too difficult, then perhaps this place is not for you.

Expressing an opinion or making a prediction and then posting it as fact over and over is offensive to other members.  Adding this kind of post across multiple unrelated threads is likewise offensive to other members.  If you cannot state your case a handful of times and then agree to disagree (in other words, move on), then perhaps this place is not for you.

Politics, religion and social issues have no place here.  If you feel that including them in a post to make a point is in any way necessary, then perhaps this place is not for you.

Questioning or hinting at anyone's lack basketball knowledge in order to bolster your own argument is not allowed.  There's more than one way to learn, understand and appreciate the game of basketball. Having been a player at any level in the past or claiming more years or decades of being a fan is not the end all to being a fan.  There is no place for fan snobbery here.  If you feel that you need to go down that old tired road, then perhaps this place is not for you.

An on-going relentless attack of another member because they are a fan of another team is not allowed.  Likewise, the habitual support of another team or the denigration of the Celtics in a taunting or excessive dimension is not allowed.  If you feel uncomfortable with fans of other teams and your automatic go-to is to insult and attack them, or you like to constantly demean the Celtics at every opportunity, then perhaps this place is not for you.

Continuation of any argumentative relationships started on other boards and bringing them here is frowned upon.  If anyone feels the need to carry old grudges to this board, then perhaps this place is not for you.

If your go-to move is to continually attack a member because you don't like a comment they made to a post of yours, then perhaps this place is not for you.

Complaining when we step in to moderate a troublesome thread and calling it censorship is insulting to the moderators. That includes calling other members or moderators hypocrites, etc.  If you do not like how this board is moderated, then perhaps this place is not for you.

The breaking any of the above Community Guidelines may lead to deletion of posts, warnings and/or outright banning.  The continual public posting of your complaints to our moderation of this board will not help your cause and may lead to an unsatisfactory result, at least to you.  Complaints are better received in a PM and will be addressed in a timely manner.

I hope that these Community Guidelines are taken seriously.  Sometimes threads start to go down a path that gets tiresome to many of our members and people need a gentle nudge to get back on track.

gyso

[bobc33]

Thank you GYSO and all the other moderators.

This is the place for me.

[Ktronic1]

To no one in particular and everyone in general.

Conviviality is the rule here.  That being said, a sense of humor and a little humility is important and you will need to look past the wording of a post and take into consideration its intent.  In a twist of the definition, conviviality here does not mean that only happy, smiling and positive comments about the Celtics are acceptable.  That would be too boring.  It does mean no ad hominem attacks, i.e.: nothing personal.  Vigorous debate and opposing views are always welcome, especially if they are supported by evidence and/or fact-based argument.  Be reasonable in evaluating and re-evaluating your own posts, as well as those of other members.  Oftentimes, the best policy is to write it, read it and then delete it instead of posting it; thus avoiding the addition of fuel to an ongoing flame.   If that proves too difficult, then perhaps this place is not for you.

Expressing an opinion or making a prediction and then posting it as fact over and over is offensive to other members.  Adding this kind of post across multiple unrelated threads is likewise offensive to other members.  If you cannot state your case a handful of times and then agree to disagree (in other words, move on), then perhaps this place is not for you.

Politics, religion and social issues have no place here.  If you feel that including them in a post to make a point is in any way necessary, then perhaps this place is not for you.

Questioning or hinting at anyone's lack basketball knowledge in order to bolster your own argument is not allowed.  There's more than one way to learn, understand and appreciate the game of basketball. Having been a player at any level in the past or claiming more years or decades of being a fan is not the end all to being a fan.  There is no place for fan snobbery here.  If you feel that you need to go down that old tired road, then perhaps this place is not for you.

An on-going relentless attack of another member because they are a fan of another team is not allowed.  Likewise, the habitual support of another team or the denigration of the Celtics in a taunting or excessive dimension is not allowed.  If you feel uncomfortable with fans of other teams and your automatic go-to is to insult and attack them, or you like to constantly demean the Celtics at every opportunity, then perhaps this place is not for you.

Continuation of any argumentative relationships started on other boards and bringing them here is frowned upon.  If anyone feels the need to carry old grudges to this board, then perhaps this place is not for you.

If your go-to move is to continually attack a member because you don't like a comment they made to a post of yours, then perhaps this place is not for you.

Complaining when we step in to moderate a troublesome thread and calling it censorship is insulting to the moderators. That includes calling other members or moderators hypocrites, etc.  If you do not like how this board is moderated, then perhaps this place is not for you.

The breaking any of the above Community Guidelines may lead to deletion of posts, warnings and/or outright banning.  The continual public posting of your complaints to our moderation of this board will not help your cause and may lead to an unsatisfactory result, at least to you.  Complaints are better received in a PM and will be addressed in a timely manner.

I hope that these Community Guidelines are taken seriously.  Sometimes threads start to go down a path that gets tiresome to many of our members and people need a gentle nudge to get back on track.

gyso

As long as criticism, warnings or/and structuring are distributed evenly across the board, no matters who one might be or how long that person has been a member then its fair. I see no problem with any of they guildlines.
Finally, I have PMed Moderators/administrators in the past with questions and never got a response.
EVERYone following these guild lines should have no problem enjoying the C’s and having a good time watching the games together and commenting along the way.

[dbrown4]

Thank you, gyso.  This comes up from time to time on this site.  It reminds me of where this site came from and out of, all the way back to the BDC days at the Boston Globe.  Sam was always an incredible writer of everything Celtics.  When I first came on to the BDC site, he stuck out far above everyone else as knowledgeable (bobheckler was not far behind) yet he did it in such a caring manner that no matter who posted, you felt apart of his thought process and a valuable member of this forum.  I'm pretty sure he answered thoughtfully EVERY ONE of my posts.  And I do remember him warning me once because I dropped something political into the discussion.  But again, he warned me in a way that was not offensive and I really didn't mean anything by it, but it was made clear like gyso just said that comments like that had no place in this forum.  

And he was right.  It is good to review the guidelines every so often just as a refresher.  This site has always been a great place to come to and come back to for everything Celtics.  Thank all of the moderators and board members for their tireless efforts continuing in the vein Sam started many years ago.  It is greatly appreciated!!

db

[dboss]

Like any family, we need to be reminded from time to time to maintain a certain level of decorum with one another.  And we need to be reminded that the content that we post here should by in large be related to the Celtics in particular and the game of basketball in general.

Thanks to gyso for once again bringing this to our attention.

This forum is not designed to be some wide open social platform.  We only seek to connect with other Celtics fans  for the sole purpose of engaging with one another about all things Celtics and basketball.  

There exists a deep appreciation and understanding about how to make this work.  We have agreed to disagree on all things Celtics and related to the game of basketball.  Every board members contributes to our library of knowledge.  We work hard to refrain from extraneous and divisive content that tends to undermine the fabric that binds us together.

We have learned that we must move on from our own opinions and conclusions that reach a non-conclusive stalemate as they tend to bring about unattended consequences.   Figure out when we have arrived at that point and let it go for the sake of this forum and all who choose to participate.

[RosalieTCeltics]

Thanks Gyso, it is really too bad that this had to be addressed at all, we have not had many issues over the years. You know I appreciate all the hard work that the moderators put into keeping us on an even keel.

Again, thanks

Rosalie

[gyso]

I think some of us need to look at these guidelines again and reflect on the words they chose to include in their posts.  I don't understand the need to turn the corner down Troll Lane to make a point or support an opinion.

This one comes to mind:

Be reasonable in evaluating and re-evaluating your own posts, as well as those of other members.  Oftentimes, the best policy is to write it, read it and then delete it instead of posting it; thus avoiding the addition of fuel to an ongoing flame.

[RosalieTCeltics]

Sometimes even adults need to be reminded that there are rules Gyso. Thanks for the note! I will be careful not to overstep.

Rosalie

[Sponsored content]