Rules of play - please read

[Danzar]

Hi folks

Please keep in mind these RWO community rules that have stood the test of time for 14 years: Announcements - RWO Swans Chat

From time-to-time I need to ban members when they regularly breach these rules. I honestly hate doing it, so PLEASE take a few minutes and read this thread and the rules above. Come back to it when you need to double check anything, and PM me if you don't like anything.

Some additional points I'd like to make:

RWO is a community of diverse minds united under a common purpose
You're obviously here to discuss the Sydney Swans Football Club, AFL football and local NSW/ACT football, and so is the rest of the community. Not everyone will align with your football or world views. Embrace that diversity - ask questions, follow lines of inquiry and if you hit a dead end, agree to disagree. As Frog says in the rules above - play the ball, not the man.

Arguments are totally cool, we're not a nanny forum
I don't want you to think that you cannot challenge another member's position, in fact, I encourage it. Just do it with respect, no matter how strong your feelings. It's easy to get pissed off, hard to get yourself out of it, so please take a breath and wait before responding. You're not alone on this, I need to heed my own advice sometimes.

Not one person on this forum knows another person's life story
If someone is pissing you off, consider this point because it's important. Everyone on here is notionally anonymous - I can't see you, you can't see me, so it's natural to personify. I guarantee you that the real person behind the keyboard is completely different to what you imagine.

Our mods are volunteers who work hard to maintain RWO's community standards
If you have an issue with any decision made by a moderator, please consider this first - mods are only maintaining the standards that have been set by the RWO community. Mods have normal jobs outside RWO, they have family, they have lives. The mods would love to spend less time modding and more time participating, so please respect that.

If you actively choose to hurt, snipe or troll other RWO members with enough consistency, you won't last one more minute on this forum. You will be banned.

Despite appearances, RWO is highly respected by the Bigfooty community
Yes, they don't like us much, but they do respect us. I've seen plenty of BF comments about how we're 'snobs', we're a 'talkfest', we're 'wankers' etc etc. While I completely disagree, this is the highest compliment they can give us because it means that we rise above the petty bickering, sniping, trolling and abuse that you'll see on other forums. It will be a sad day - and possibly the end of RWO - if we ever got to that point. Plus, RWO is Australian owned , unlike some footy forums

Lastly, no one on RWO is bigger than RWO.
This includes me, you, mods or anyone else. RWO is a community. Be wary of getting ahead of yourself. It doesn't matter how small or large, what you say has an impact on the community. Please keep that in mind and have respect for people's feelings.

Thank you for being part of the RWO community - it's nothing without you.

Dan

[liz]

Just want to remind people that the RWO main footy chat forum is, as suggested by the name, for talking about footy. If you want to steer the conversation in other directions, please take it to the appropriate forum.

Sometimes threads gradually meander off-topic, in which case posts will be split into a new thread, either on the football forum or another forum, if more appropriate. However, posts that deliberately and blatantly shift the topic away from the thread topic will be deleted. Post them in the correct forum to start with and they won't unless they breach the posting guidelines of RWO (above and here Announcements - RWO main footy chat).

[liz]

I'd like to draw people's attention to the announcement at the very top of each forum (originally created by Frog), that sets out the rules for posting on RWO.

Announcements - RWO main footy chat

In particular, I'd like to draw your attention to 7a).

RWO is not an appropriate forum to repeat gossip that you have read on other sites, and that cannot be substantiated with reference to a credible public source. Other social media platforms may have the finances, time and legal clout to defend a potential defamation action. RWO does not.

[liz]

A thread ("The Final Quarter / An Australian Dream (AG documentaries and related discussion") has been created from various parts of the "Adam Goodes - Swans Legend thread", and the thread that was once residing in Open Chat as a place to continue discussion about The Final Quarter (which many people will have an opportunity to see for the first time this evening on C10). This frees up the "Adam Goodes - Swans Legend thread" ( Adam Goodes - Swans Legend) to track what he's doing post retirement, without everything getting lost amongst the discussion on the films and, more broadly, the circumstances around how he departed from the game.

The less constructive posts from the discussions have been weeded out and are no longer accessible.

This is a Swans forum for Swans fans. The overwhelming majority of posters on this forum are sympathetic towards Goodes and the stand he took. If you choose to post an alternative point of view, bear this in mind. Keep your posts civil, constructive and on topic. If you respond to someone who has posted a point of view that you don't agree with, keep your response civil, constructive and on topic. If you read a post you don't agree with, think about whether not responding at all is the most appropriate response. Very often it is the most effective response. No-one will assume you condone someone else's opinion just because you haven't responded.

Posts (and responses) that don't adhere to these standards will be deleted - in full, even if only a small part fails to meet the standards.

If you see the deletion of posts that don't adhere to the above as censorship, so be it. Participation in RWO does not provide you the absolute right to free speech. RWO posting rules take precedence over your right to express any opinion in any form. This includes not accusing other RWO posters of being racist. Those exchanges go nowhere and don't adhere to forum posting rules.

The above applies to discussions on any topic, but is particularly pertinent to the Goodes topic because it is one that evokes strong opinions and reactions from many of us, and a large number of recent posts on the topic have failed to adhere to these standards.

[barry]

There has been no distruction (sic) of any discussion. It has just been moved to the forum dedicated to discussing non-football topics. The access to, and functionality of, that forum are identical to the football forum.

You know my views on the non-footy sub-forums. Its where unwanted discussion is buried.

[liz]

You know my views on the non-footy sub-forums. Its where unwanted discussion is buried.

This is simply incorrect. The non-footy forums provide the same functionality and access as the footy forums. It is just as easy to post there as it is on the footy forums.

There is no such thing as "unwanted discussion". RWO members are free to discuss what they want, when they want so long as it is within the posting guidelines, including:

- it is civil
- it is posted in the correct forum

These two broad principles are about showing respect to all members of RWO, including those who wish to read about just footy on the footy forum.

Please respect this and post your thoughts in the relevant thread on the relevant forum. I have moved a few posts to the Open Chat forum. Further non-footy related comments in the footy thread are likely to just be deleted.

[liz]

I'm pretty busy right now. I don't have time to babysit this forum constantly. Those posters who choose to believe that the forum posting rules don't apply to them are shortly going to find their posting privileges suspended indefinitely so that the rest of the members can continue to enjoy talking about footy.

[liz]

I've just removed completely (rather than soft deleted) more than two dozen posts from the match day thread that I deemed to be "bickering" or "complaining about bickering" or "complaining about other posters". I'm a tad disappointed that the thread descended to that after such an entertaining win yesterday.

Some posts containing footy chat as well as some of the above have also been removed. I couldn't be bothered to go and edit that many posts individually to retain the footy stuff.

It's been suggested before, but maybe a reminder is timely: If you think a post represents a troll, just don't respond.

If you no longer find the forum an entertaining, enlightening or enjoyable place to participate, either add something yourself that you think others will find entertaining, enlightening or enjoyable, thereby elevating the overall quality, or stay away. Coming in just to comment that you don't enjoy hanging around the forum is of no interest to those of us who still want to hang out.

[liz]

I beg everyone to please re-read Dan's opening post in this thread (and especially the final paragraph) and to reflect on how this shapes the manner in which we post on this forum.

To the vast majority of posters who consistently respect the spirit of community, thank you. You are the lifeblood of the RWO community and the reason for its existence.