Major Rules and Consequences

[Admin]

1. Don't argue with the Admin when asked/told to do something.

2. Do not threaten or imply that you will bring a lawsuit against us. Doing so will result in your account being immediately closed. We do not extend the courtesy of posting privileges to people who threaten to sue us. We occasionally get a poster who wants a post removed and thinks to improve the chances by saying something to the effect of: "I don't want to bring the lawyers in, but if this post isn't removed, I will". If a post warrants removal it will be removed, however if you make a statement like that, so will your account.

3. Copying any article from any source, anywhere, and posting it in full or in substantial part on the forums, is not allowed.Maximum amount of copying allowed is one paragraph (five sentences) plus a link to the original source.

4. Don't slander/libel people and don't use insults based on race, orientation or gender.

5. Don't create multiple user accounts. If you suspect someone is a sock puppet, PM the administrator. Do not make a public accusation on the boards.

6. Do not engage in personal vendettas or harassment. To wit: people will disagree, sometimes vehemently, however, if you have a personal distaste for a particular poster/ theory/topic, ignore them/it. Do not follow them/it around the boards, do not engage in never ending commentary after their every post or every time the subject is raised, do not take every opportunity to attack them/it. To prove harassment, there must be a pattern established. Having an argument with someone (or even a series of arguments) does not constitute harassment. If you are responding to a poster in kind, you are not being harassed, you are having an argument. If you are not responding and they continue to harass you, you may invoke the harassment rule. If that occurs, neither one of you will be permitted to respond to the others posts. If you have a particular distaste for a topic, to the point that you will not allow others to discuss the theory without resorting to ridicule or derailing the thread (and again, if there is a pattern established) you might also be prohibited from commenting on that theory.

7. Do not engage in overt sexual solicitations of other posters on the boards or make sexual innuendos about posters. The boards are not a pick-up place and people might find it deeply disturbing to have someone attempt to pick them up on a board devoted to serial killers. Save it for the conferences. In addition, do not threaten other posters with any form of physical violence, even if you think it's clear you are joking.

8. Do not engage in trolling behavior. For the purposes of these forums, trolling is defined as any behavior designed to disrupt a thread. If you believe a thread is too silly, stupid or offensive to be discussed seriously, ignore it. Remember, just because you don't find a topic worthy of serious discussion, doesn't mean there aren't others who do. Disrupting someone's thread with off-topic posts because you personally don't agree with it is trolling. Abide by the OP's stated intentions in starting the thread. This does not mean you can't take issue with the thread or point out silliness or flaws in the topic as long as your posts are on topic.

We rely on our members to assist us in policing the boards. We cannot be everywhere and we cannot read every post. Also, we presume to some extent that if no one is complaining, then there are no problems. If you see a post that violates one of the rules, please use the Report Post button. People occasionally make a post on the message boards asking for Admin intervention. As just indicated, we do not read every post made on the boards and such a post can be easily overlooked. If you need moderator attention, the only guaranteed way we will see your request is if you send a PM to the Admin account or an email to administrator <at> casebook.org or by using the Report Post button (this is the preferred method).

The Report Post button is a white triangle with a red border and an exclamation mark inside and is located in the top right hand corner of each post. When you report the post, please reference the specific Rule that the poster has violated. We ask that you do this because we often get Report Posts that say "this post was rude". Rude is not necessarily against the rules of the forums. However, some rude posts are also off-topic. It is the off-topic part that is of interest to us. If a post contains nothing but rude insults to a specific poster, that is off-topic and against the rules. If a post is rude, but germane to the thread, it is not as much of a concern. If a poster is impolite, we presume all are adult enough to handle it without moderator intervention. The best way to handle it is to ignore the rude poster, and not be drawn into an off-topic argument. Our main focus on the Ripper related threads is that they remain Ripper related. These posts are archived and saving off-topic sniping matches is not worth the server space. Occasionally if we receive multiple report posts from the same thread, we may temporarily (or permanently) close the thread while we attempt to sort it out. We occasionally re-start new threads with strings of posts that are off-topic in one forum, but on-topic for another, say a string of suspect posts that are occurring in a police officer's forum. If posts have no redeeming value, they are usually deleted. If a topic you are posting on is closed, do not continue the argument/discussion on another thread. We will either eventually open the thread once we have properly reviewed it or decide to close it permanently at which point we will post a notice about its permanent closure.

Report Posts are confidential. We do not divulge who reports a post to the one reported and we do not divulge what action, if any, we choose to take to the the person who made the report. We will judge the validity of the Report and act accordingly, but we will not discuss disciplinary matters with anyone other than the person they involve. If you report a post for deletion (especially one that is personally hostile towards you) and then proceed to reply to it, we will consider that you decided that your response was more important than any action we might have taken and ignore your report post. If it proceeds to a lengthy off-topic argument that requires our intervention, you will BOTH receive infractions for wasting moderator time. Reporting a post and then responding to it is usually a poster's attempt to have the last word. This doubles the amount of deleting we have to do if a post is deemed worthy of removal. So decide before you report a post which is more important: our response or your own.

If one of your posts is reported, you may receive a PM from one of the Admin stating that you have received an infraction. Infractions are the way we keep track of issues, major and minor on the boards. The PM will detail the nature of your infraction and what we wish you to do to remedy it, if there is a remedy needed. The post will also state that you have received a certain number of points with an expiration date. Please note: the points and expiration are a built in feature, but they are largely meaningless. We do not ban based on points. You are far more likely to be banned for giving us attitude or arguing with us over receiving an infraction than you would be for any accumulation of points. It is simply to keep track of various actions and warnings given to individual posters. If you have broken a major rule, and received a warning or infraction notice, you can generally expect a 1-2 week suspension from posting.

We rarely issue infractions. Most arguments that occur on the boards are considered to occur between willing participants and not something we need to involve ourselves in. Occasionally we get a report post where Poster A insults Poster B, then Poster B retaliates and poster A reports B because "his insult was worse than mine". Unless it was an insult completely beyond the pale, we consider such arguments to be consensual on both sides and these are the usual types of Report Posts that we get. So in general, we don't issue a lot of warnings.

When we do contact you regarding an issue, one of two things can occur. Either you reply, "Ok, sorry," or the equivalent and we say no problem, people are human and we all move on. Or you reply something along the lines of "How come Poster B gets to get away with x, y, or z" or "How come you are picking on me, when so and so did this" or "God, can't you take a joke" or the equivalent in which case you get to enjoy an immediate and non-negotiable 4-6 week (or longer, possibly permanent) suspension from posting, depending on the nature of your response. To repeat: You are more likely to be banned for giving us attitude or argument when we ask you to quit doing something than you would have been for the offense in the first place. Everyone will probably receive an infraction from us at some point or another, and receiving a warning leaves no lasting grudge or consequence against you. But the nature of your response will absolutely determine your continued future on the boards.

Occasionally, you may dislike a decision we make. You may then feel that you have the right to tell us how we ought to run the boards, or what we ought to allow, or what we should do in a particular situation. You may then have the urge to go on a public rant about what we are doing wrong or attempt to start a public debate on how it ought to be done, in your opinion. Resist this urge. You are entitled to any opinion of our operation that you like, but you are not entitled to use the server space we provide you to tell us how to run it. Keep in mind that you do not own these forums, you are a guest here and no one is forcing you to remain. Guests who violate the rules of hospitality are shown the door. Occasionally, posters wish to express their angst by starting a thread and stating how they are leaving forever, etc. Such threads will be construed as your desire to have your account rendered inactive and, should we see them, we will act accordingly. There are generally two different levels of suspension that comes with violation of the rules: Suspension and Banning. Suspensions are usually for shorter lengths of time, and we usually restore posting privileges within weeks (though not always). How you act when receiving a suspension generally influences how long your suspension lasts. Bannings are usually for longer periods of time (years), or permanent.

Not every rule can be covered in this short list. This is a guideline. Occasionally you may be asked to cease and desist in a behavior that is not explicitly outlined here or in the Minor Rules Section. Once the Admin has asked you not to do something, consider it a rule. Failure to follow the rules will result in your account being banned. Any post that violates the rules is subject to deletion without notice or warning. If you have a question regarding a post being deleted, or any disciplinary action taken, PM the Admin.