Forum Rules
501st Legion Forum Rules
2022 revision
The use of the 501st Legion Message Boards (Forum) is a privilege of Legion Membership. As such, access to the Forum can be temporarily suspended or revoked for violations of the following Forum Rules. Please review all of the sections below (Expected Conduct, Utilizing the Report Function, Disciplinary Action, Election Ban Lift, and Moderators) as all of these sections together form the Forum Rules. By using this Forum, you agree to comply with these Forum Rules.
EXPECTED CONDUCT
In order to maintain a safe and welcome Forum for all members, Forum users are able to report posts that they believe violate the Expected Conduct. Reported posts will be reviewed and acted upon by the Moderators.
Excessive use of the report function, also referred to as weaponizing the report function, will not be tolerated. If the Moderators believe that a user is using the report function in a way that is excessive and/or in a way that is unreasonably targeting (a) specific user(s), the Moderators may respond with Disciplinary Action as defined in the following section.
DISCIPLINARY ACTION
Violators of the above Expected Conduct will face Disciplinary Action depending on the number of violations as outlined below, except in the case of item 11 as detailed below. Violations are recorded and tracked by the Forum Community Team and reviewed by Team Advisors (LCS, LAS, LCOG). Violations will be removed from a user’s record when there has been a six-month period of violation-free behavior for the user since their most recent violation.
Action on Expected Conduct item 11: Posts reported or found to be containing spoilers will have their subject lines altered to indicate "SPOILER" and these reports will be closed without a warning being issued. A note of this change will be sent to the author by the Moderators.
First Violation: Warning
Violators of the Expected Conduct will receive a warning from the Moderators for their first offense within a six month period. Their offending posts may be edited or removed by the Moderators.
Second Violation: Restricted Access
Users who violate the Expected Conduct for a second time within a six month period will receive notice from the Moderators and will be assigned to restricted access to the Forums. Restricted access removes the user’s ability to post/interact on the forums, but maintains their ability to view content. Restricted access will last for a seven (7) day period. At the conclusion of this seven (7) day period, full access to the Forum will be restored.
Third Violation: Lengthened Restricted Access
Users who violate the Expected Conduct for a third time within a six month period will receive notice from the Moderators and will be assigned to restricted access to the Forums. Restricted access removes the user’s ability to post/interact on the forums, but maintains their ability to view content. Restricted access will last for a fourteen (14) day period. At the conclusion of this fourteen (14) day period, full access to the Forum will be restored.
Fourth Violation: Restricted Access and Disciplinary Hearing
Users who violate the Expected Conduct for a fourth time within a six month period will receive notice from the Moderators and will be assigned to restricted access to the Forums. Restricted access removes the user’s ability to post/interact on the forums, but maintains their ability to view content. Restricted access will last until the conclusion of the following Disciplinary Hearing process.
Upon a user’s fourth violation, a Disciplinary Hearing will be initiated for a Lesser Offense for this user (see 501st Legion Operations Protocol, Section 1: Code of Conduct). If the LCOG team finds merit in the charges, then a hearing will be conducted per normal process. If no merit is found, the Fourth Violation will be removed from the user’s record. If merit is found and the user is absolved in the hearing, the Fourth Violation will be removed from the user’s record. If the hearing results in a guilty verdict for the user, full access to the Forum will be restored after the user’s sentence has been completed.
Subsequent Violation(s): Restricted Access and Disciplinary Hearing
Users who violate the Expected Conduct five or more times within a six month period will receive notice from the Moderators and will be assigned to restricted access to the Forums. Restricted access removes the user’s ability to post/interact on the forums, but maintains their ability to view content. Restricted access will last until the conclusion of the following Disciplinary Hearing process.
Upon a user’s fifth (or greater) violation, a Disciplinary Hearing will be initiated for a Lesser Offense by the LCOG team for this user (see 501st Legion Operations Protocol, Section 1: Code of Conduct) and will include the sentencing options available for a second or subsequent guilty offense. If the LCOG team finds merit in the charges, then a hearing will be conducted per normal process. If no merit is found, the Fifth (or Subsequent) Violation will be removed from the user’s record. If merit is found and the user is absolved in the hearing, the Fifth (or Subsequent) Violation will be removed from the user’s record. If the hearing results in a guilty verdict for the user, full access to the Forum will be restored after the user’s sentence has been completed.
ELECTION BAN LIFT
Legion Elections
In order to promote a fair election process that is available to all members, Forum users who have had their access either restricted will have their account temporarily returned to full access during the election process. Full access will be returned on the first day of the nomination period and will remain through the end of voting (Day 11 of the election process). After voting has concluded, the restricted access will be reinstated for the remaining duration of the disciplinary action.
Violations of the Forum Rules during the elections process will be acted upon after the conclusion of the voting period.
MODERATORS
The Moderators of this board have been selected based upon their sense of community and their demonstrated history to act in a fair and unbiased manner. Please understand that moderation is not performed in a vacuum and is a team-based affair. Rulings made by the Moderators are to be considered final. The use of Disciplinary Hearings for fourth (or further) violations is intended to ensure that violators are treated to a fully unbiased disciplinary experience to uphold the Expected Conduct. Moderators do not have the ability to permanently ban a 501st Legion member from the Forum.
2022 revision
The use of the 501st Legion Message Boards (Forum) is a privilege of Legion Membership. As such, access to the Forum can be temporarily suspended or revoked for violations of the following Forum Rules. Please review all of the sections below (Expected Conduct, Utilizing the Report Function, Disciplinary Action, Election Ban Lift, and Moderators) as all of these sections together form the Forum Rules. By using this Forum, you agree to comply with these Forum Rules.
EXPECTED CONDUCT
- No vulgar or violent images, pornography, or profanity.
- No flaming, trolling, or baiting (i.e. intentionally provoking negative responses).
- No personal attacks directed towards a member or entire unit.
- No hijacking. If you want to change the subject, please start a new message thread.
- No excessive use of the report function. (See the Utilizing the Report Function section below)
- No racial, ethnic, gender, or culture based insults, nor any other personal discriminations. This will not be tolerated and be treated as a second violation (as indicated in the section below) as well as referral to the LCOG for review and further disciplinary action, if necessary.
- No topics or posts on Politics or Religion. Topics related to anti-discrimination, equal treatment, diversity, and inclusion (or where specific political issues or laws might have an impact on the club) do not fall under this rule, but must directly pertain to the Legion and shall be monitored carefully.
- Media or transcripts that include the content of any private or non-Legion communication / conversation will be removed.
- Keep topics relevant to their sub-forum; moderators reserve the right to split, merge, and move topics as appropriate.
- Controversial topics needing resolution at Legion Council level should not attempt resolution in general discussion areas. Posts that bring attention to these issues are permitted, but Moderators reserve the right to lock topics that are no longer productive due to excessive heated or repetitive posts.
- Posts that contain new costumes or possible spoilers for new movies or tv shows must have a SPOILER Tag in the Title.
- Keep all "non-501st" sales/trades posts limited to our "For Sale/For Trade" forum and the rules listed there. Official and approved 501st merchandise should only be offered to 501st members through the "Legion Merchandise Forum" of this board and other unit forums in non-public areas and must follow Legion Merch Rules. In this case/area the LMBOs word is final.
- Avatars and Signatures (both images and text) must be in good taste and are limited to the use of only one image. Those found to be inappropriate will be removed at the discretion of the Moderators.
In order to maintain a safe and welcome Forum for all members, Forum users are able to report posts that they believe violate the Expected Conduct. Reported posts will be reviewed and acted upon by the Moderators.
Excessive use of the report function, also referred to as weaponizing the report function, will not be tolerated. If the Moderators believe that a user is using the report function in a way that is excessive and/or in a way that is unreasonably targeting (a) specific user(s), the Moderators may respond with Disciplinary Action as defined in the following section.
DISCIPLINARY ACTION
Violators of the above Expected Conduct will face Disciplinary Action depending on the number of violations as outlined below, except in the case of item 11 as detailed below. Violations are recorded and tracked by the Forum Community Team and reviewed by Team Advisors (LCS, LAS, LCOG). Violations will be removed from a user’s record when there has been a six-month period of violation-free behavior for the user since their most recent violation.
Action on Expected Conduct item 11: Posts reported or found to be containing spoilers will have their subject lines altered to indicate "SPOILER" and these reports will be closed without a warning being issued. A note of this change will be sent to the author by the Moderators.
First Violation: Warning
Violators of the Expected Conduct will receive a warning from the Moderators for their first offense within a six month period. Their offending posts may be edited or removed by the Moderators.
Second Violation: Restricted Access
Users who violate the Expected Conduct for a second time within a six month period will receive notice from the Moderators and will be assigned to restricted access to the Forums. Restricted access removes the user’s ability to post/interact on the forums, but maintains their ability to view content. Restricted access will last for a seven (7) day period. At the conclusion of this seven (7) day period, full access to the Forum will be restored.
Third Violation: Lengthened Restricted Access
Users who violate the Expected Conduct for a third time within a six month period will receive notice from the Moderators and will be assigned to restricted access to the Forums. Restricted access removes the user’s ability to post/interact on the forums, but maintains their ability to view content. Restricted access will last for a fourteen (14) day period. At the conclusion of this fourteen (14) day period, full access to the Forum will be restored.
Fourth Violation: Restricted Access and Disciplinary Hearing
Users who violate the Expected Conduct for a fourth time within a six month period will receive notice from the Moderators and will be assigned to restricted access to the Forums. Restricted access removes the user’s ability to post/interact on the forums, but maintains their ability to view content. Restricted access will last until the conclusion of the following Disciplinary Hearing process.
Upon a user’s fourth violation, a Disciplinary Hearing will be initiated for a Lesser Offense for this user (see 501st Legion Operations Protocol, Section 1: Code of Conduct). If the LCOG team finds merit in the charges, then a hearing will be conducted per normal process. If no merit is found, the Fourth Violation will be removed from the user’s record. If merit is found and the user is absolved in the hearing, the Fourth Violation will be removed from the user’s record. If the hearing results in a guilty verdict for the user, full access to the Forum will be restored after the user’s sentence has been completed.
Subsequent Violation(s): Restricted Access and Disciplinary Hearing
Users who violate the Expected Conduct five or more times within a six month period will receive notice from the Moderators and will be assigned to restricted access to the Forums. Restricted access removes the user’s ability to post/interact on the forums, but maintains their ability to view content. Restricted access will last until the conclusion of the following Disciplinary Hearing process.
Upon a user’s fifth (or greater) violation, a Disciplinary Hearing will be initiated for a Lesser Offense by the LCOG team for this user (see 501st Legion Operations Protocol, Section 1: Code of Conduct) and will include the sentencing options available for a second or subsequent guilty offense. If the LCOG team finds merit in the charges, then a hearing will be conducted per normal process. If no merit is found, the Fifth (or Subsequent) Violation will be removed from the user’s record. If merit is found and the user is absolved in the hearing, the Fifth (or Subsequent) Violation will be removed from the user’s record. If the hearing results in a guilty verdict for the user, full access to the Forum will be restored after the user’s sentence has been completed.
ELECTION BAN LIFT
Legion Elections
In order to promote a fair election process that is available to all members, Forum users who have had their access either restricted will have their account temporarily returned to full access during the election process. Full access will be returned on the first day of the nomination period and will remain through the end of voting (Day 11 of the election process). After voting has concluded, the restricted access will be reinstated for the remaining duration of the disciplinary action.
Violations of the Forum Rules during the elections process will be acted upon after the conclusion of the voting period.
MODERATORS
The Moderators of this board have been selected based upon their sense of community and their demonstrated history to act in a fair and unbiased manner. Please understand that moderation is not performed in a vacuum and is a team-based affair. Rulings made by the Moderators are to be considered final. The use of Disciplinary Hearings for fourth (or further) violations is intended to ensure that violators are treated to a fully unbiased disciplinary experience to uphold the Expected Conduct. Moderators do not have the ability to permanently ban a 501st Legion member from the Forum.