Following the events of the last few weeks, it appears that a few things regarding acceptable conduct on an all ages board need to be cleared up.

Firstly, please refer to the Code Of Conduct - http://forums.downloadfestival.co.uk/conduct/

This explains most unacceptable things quite clearly; however, this is a guideline. Some of it may seem harsh or overboard, but that is simply to cover extreme examples - it's common sense to let some of the milder stuff fly, but if we need to we'll implement the COC in full. To clear up exactly where things stand on a few recent issues;

Harassment

Harassment occurs when someone faces a barrage of posts and/or pm's insulting them or threatening them. People who have been harassing others will have their accounts set so that all their posts must be moderated (or approved), though if the harassment has been serious it may lead straight to a ban. Depending on the malicousness of the harassment, a warning may or may not be given.

Jumping on someone's case and calling them a "noob" is also a form of harassment, but a fairly mild one. Accusing someone of a crime without hard evidence, insulting their religion, sexuality or nationality or threatening them with violence is more serious and will be dealt with less leniantly. Distributing intimate details about someone is also harassment and sits somewhere inbetween.

Obscenity

Posting obscene images or links to obscene sites is prohibited. Threads with such images and links in will be deleted. Please remember that this is an all ages board, and some people may be accessing the board from work. Anyone judged to have been posting such an image or link in a malicious manner may be banned without a warning. Less malicious intent will more likely result in posts being moderated.


Incitement

Anybody posting a thread inciting people to go and cause disruption elsewhere - either online or real world - will face an instant ban. We don't want idiots like them around, they'll only bring problems down for the rest of us.

Drugs

Discussions about drugs, whether about smuggling them into the festival, administering them to others (voluntarily or otherwise) will be deleted. Persistent offenders will suffer the penalties listed above.

Discussing disciplinary actions

This is something people don't seem to get. Disciplinary actions are private matters between an individual and the moderation team. They will not be discussed with others, either in the forum or in private. Anyone starting threads asking about a specific case or commenting on one in their sigs will find the thread deleted, their posts may be set to moderation only and offending items removed from their sigs.

The moderating team have never asked for your unwavering support. Yeah, we'll make the odd mistake and if you wanna take up an issue with us, do so privately and in an adult fashion - we're here to moderate for the community, so if something comes up that you're not happy with, we can consider sorting things amicably.

Dragging names through the mud in the public spotlight and basically accusing the team of hypocrisy is not going to get anything done. It does nothing positive for the community, and in fact only serves to reiterate things.

This is not all encompassing. Use your common sense. Those found to be posting with malicious intent, or people who have had cause to come to the moderation teams attention in the past may find their accounts restricted or locked without warning, as these individuals are quite aware of what they are doing and we will not waste our time chasing after people who are intent on causing disruption.

Safety

The gigs and meet-ups forum has been made so that only registered board members can see it. It has come to our attention that some random guy turned up at a meet, and no one knew who he was. Caution should always be excercised when meeting strangers - no matter how well you may think you know someone online. But the fact that people you don't even know from the boards can find out where you are going to be is quite dangerous.

Privacy

We would appreciate it if discussion of unpleasant matters was kept at a minimum - there is no need for ****, sexual assault, drink spiking or other horrible subjects to be discussed - certainly not in jest - and anyone found doing so may have action taken against them.

Please also remember that most of this forum is open to guests and is Google-indexed. While you may feel that you are amongst a group of close friends sometimes, the truth is that many unwanted eyes may be viewing your posts. We really don't know who is browsing, so try to refrain from leaving comments that could be taken out of context - if only for your own sake. The last thing many of us would like to see is a tabloid paper running a front page story about the satan worshipping, drug taking, sexual deviant and downright strange alternative lifestyles of "heavy metal fans". It would be all too easy for a jounalist who has an axe to grind and looking for an easy scoop to do a little lazy research and take things out of context on purpose.

Music Downloading

This site is owned and hosted by a major music industry company. Regardless of your opinion of corporations and such like, torrents of unreleased albums and other copyright works can not be posted on here. We are all well aware of where such stuff is available, so there is really no need to so blatantly flaunt illegal links on a forum where it is not permitted. This is a hugely sensitive subject at the moment for bands and labels alike - let's not take any risks.

Due to continued distribution of these links via pm - threads that 'announce' these links are also banned from the forum.

However, where a band has freely made available music for download, or streaming, or even sanctioned the torrenting & peer to peer (p2p) downloading of their music that would be ok. Contact a member of the moderation team if you want to link something up and make it available. Myspace, pure volume and other links where music may be downloaded or listened to for free are perfectly acceptable.

Insults to Live Nation

No one is saying you have to like the bill that has been put together, or the way the festival is organised, or the way that announcements are made. You are free to express your opinion about the organisation and so on freely. However, personal insults and threats to Live Nation staff are not acceptable. Insults and threats will simply not be tolerated.

Time Wasting

If you insist on wasting our time, trying to prove a point, being unnessassarily pedantic or making a protest then you may find the usual good nature of the moderator disappearing. We are a volunteer team who do this in our own time. If you waste our time, you may find us unwilling to waste any further time on you. Persistent time wasters may find their accounts restricted or closed without explanation. This is because you are more than aware of what you are doing and do not deserve any such explanation.

People will no doubt start banging drums about free expression - and we're not here to stifle that. But, on a board with kids and people browsing at work, if you cannot stay within the above, very reasonable rules then you are not mature enough to participate in the community.

If you can't express yourself without offending or upsetting others then you should simply find another venue for that expression, as it will not be welcome here.


We're sorry that it's come to this - the forums should run perfectly smoothly, with little need for us to moderate. Lengthy posts outlining DOs and DON'Ts aren't fun for anyone - but recent behaviour suggests that some parties really do need it spelled out for them. The rules and guidelines are there - so long as you stay within them, we don't really care what you do!

We are here to assist, and want all members to be able to express themselves freely. And that is ALL members, be they new or old, popular or otherwise.

If there's any questions or concerns about the above or the forums then please contact a member of the moderating team.

Cheers
The Moderation Team