EXEWEB.COM FORUM GUIDELINES (updated 10 July 2019)

Times have changed, Exeweb has evolved, its’ owners have changed and the laws surrounding social media have come firmly into focus since the last guidelines were published – so we’ve taken the opportunity to refine them.

Internet forums are covered by several laws and it is important that you stay on the right side of them. Everyone on Exeweb including moderators and administrators have a legal obligation to not post or publish anything illegal or defamatory. As well as that, the moderators and administrators have a duty of care to all users equally and an ambition to ensure Exeweb is as inclusive as possible whilst being tolerant of everyone’s differing views. We want to instill a culture of mutual respect for each other – even where we disagree – and these guidelines support this mission. At worst, disobeying the rules could land you or the administrators in court. But the moderators will also stamp out anything that they consider a form of unnecessary personal abuse or attempts to derail discussions.

Please remember that what you post is your responsibility!

EXEWEB.COM BELIEVES THAT THERE IS NO PLACE FOR VIOLENCE OR RACISM IN OUR GAME AND, AS SUCH, OPERATES A ZERO-TOLERANCE POLICY TOWARDS BOTH. ANY USER POSTING MESSAGES RELATING TO EITHER WILL BE BANNED FROM THE MESSAGE BOARDS.

Defamation
You MUST NOT post anything purposefully defamatory. The term defamation means the following:
Any intentional false communication, either written or spoken, that harms a person’s reputation; decreases the respect, regard, or confidence in which a person is held; or induces disparaging, hostile, or disagreeable opinions or feelings against a person.

As you can see, with such a broad definition, it can be very easy to make defamatory statements without even realising it – so if you’re unsure exercise caution in this respect! It is not OK to try and skirt around identifying individuals, groups or entities in order to make statements or comments about them if it can reasonably be worked out which person, group or entity your comments apply to.

Defamation is a serious offence and as such the moderators will not tolerate it in any regard. Continued flouncing of this rule will result in infraction points and, ultimately, a ban from Exeweb.

DiscriminationPersonal Abuse
No abuse of any kind will be tolerated anywhere on Exeweb. We ask you to bear in mind that the moderators of Exeweb will be the judges of what constitutes abuse! Dishing out personal abuse could result in infraction points being issued and persistent offenders will end up banned. It is not OK to abuse someone or put them down just for the sake of it or because you disagree with their point.

Inciting Violence
Inciting violence is not tolerated at all and will result in an immediate and permanent ban being issued.

Multiple Accounts
If you are subject to a ban and create a different account then this account will be banned and you will incur extra infraction points.

Illegal material
Any inclusion of or linking to illegal material on the boards such as, but not limited to, ‘warez’, copyright infringement, ‘hacking’ or threats will result in the immediate removal of your account, and in most cases you being banned. This includes links to watch football streams online from unofficial sources. We also apply this rule to the website registered in your profile, forum posts, private messages or emails through the board – so if you’re sharing this information elsewhere online – don’t link to it via Exeweb!

Adult content
So, pornography isn’t strictly illegal – but we still don’t allow you to share or link to adult content through Exeweb. This includes displaying/linking to images and videos or to pages with images or videos containing: Strategically covered nudity; Sheer or see-through clothing; Lewd or provocative poses; or Close-ups of breasts, buttocks, or crotches.

External monitoring of the website
Police have been known to monitor this website in the past and Exeweb will co-operate with investigations where appropriate. This could include passing user details to investigating officers where a reasonable case is presented that a crime has been committed or the user has broken the law.

Warnings and Bans
Despite what some posters may think, we do not enjoy or like to ‘ban’ users – and indeed it is a very rare event! Infraction points have been replaced with warnings  that allows us to penalise users without necessarily banning them right away – if we feel it appropriate. They give users a chance. Warnings  will not be seen by anyone but the moderators and yourself. They will stay on your profile for varying lengths of time depending on the rule-break committed. If you collect 3 warnings a ban will be issued with a length that takes into consideration the offence committed. Users can be temporarily banned twice but on the third occasion the ban will usually be permanent unless the moderating team collectively agree otherwise. Serious rule breaks may result in an immediate ban without warning. This is particularly used where users incite violence.

Reporting Problem Posts

The Moderators don’t get to read every post, if you’re unhappy with a post (or personal message) because you believe it is abusive, spam or is a serious breach of forum rules then there is a facility to report it, which is then emailed to the moderator team. However, please think about what you’re reporting first, this is a football forum! Also, the facility is not an alternative way of abusing or harassing the Moderator team. Neither should you sit trawling through threads just to report them, infractions points may be given out if we think your use is excessive.

Keep it relevant
Make sure that your post is relevant to the forum and the thread. There are forums covering many topics and people will only access those that they’re interested in. Please don’t start chats with your mates on here – remember that this is a public discussion.

Cross-posting
Please do not post a thread to more than one forum. Cross-postings will be deleted. We will lock or merge threads where the discussion is the same as that going on in another thread with the first one taking precedence.

Keep it on topic
Attempts to derail a thread will not be tolerated, particularly if it is purely because you do not agree with the thread contents. If you want to talk about something else – post in another thread or start a new one of your own!

Anonymity
Exeweb prides itself on being an anonymous forum, where people can post without fear of their real identity being revealed. Some posters are happy for their real identity to be used on the site, others, often with very good reason, are not.

Please therefore respect the anonymity of posters by not referring to them by their real identity if they post anonymously.

Bumping
Please do not respond to a topic just to “bump” it back to the top of the forum. If people are interested – they will respond!

Language
Bear in mind that exeweb.com has a broad spectrum of users and as such you should avoid using offensive language. Words deemed offensive will be altered by the message board software. Please don’t try and get round the system by using alternative spellings as you will be just as likely to be punished.

Txt spk
Most users find text message abbreviations very irritating. Please avoid them where possible.

Spelling and grammar
We all want to read well-written debate on these forums, but mistakes do happen. And just because you may think one user’s execution of the English language may not be as advanced of your own there is no need to make an issue of it. Doing so can derail a thread from valuable discussion and can be offensive.

Search
If you have a really obvious question, try running a search of the forums – an often overlooked, but very powerful tool.

Post count means nothing

Length of membership, number of posts, prior experience or who you know count for nothing – attitude counts for everything. At all times, every member should be treated respect. Make new members feel welcome and Exeweb will prosper for everyone’s benefit.

User profiles
Avatars (profile pictures), user names and titles are all enabled on the message boards. But the use of offensive names or images will result in deletion.

One word responses
Please only post if you have something to add to the debate. Most users find one word responses or a reply containing just a smiley most frustrating! There is little point in merely adding “Agreed” unless you have something more to add.

Quoting
When responding to a specific message you are able to add a quote from it. Please do not quote the entire message if you only wish to respond to one point. The quoted text can be edited in the same way as your message.

Remember the Personal Messages system (Conversation)
You can contact any registered user of exeweb.com via PM – unless that user has elected not to receive them. If you want to address one particular user, please avoid posting on a forum “FAO So and So, Please call me.” We don’t all need to see that.

Plugging yourself/spamming the boards
Please don’t use Exeweb as a platform to simply plug your website, blog, product or business without checking with the moderators first. This is especially important for new users. The exception to this is within the club shop forum – if you are shifting ECFC or football related products or memorabilia on a personal basis.

Sticky threads
Please do not ask for threads to be made “sticky”. Your thread has more chance of being read if you just post as normal. The best way to influence the perceived importance of a thread is to use the “Rate Thread” option. The system will display an average star rating when five or more votes have been cast.

While this list of rules is fairly exhaustive, we have to cover all our bases and hopefully it will be several years before we need to update them. Thank you for reading them. With this knowledge behind you we hope that every contributor and reader can enjoy Exeweb and get the most out of it. We want everyone to enjoy the message boards and all we ask is that you think before you post and treat each other with respect.

If you have any comments regarding the site, rules, bannings or the behaviour of the moderators, please contact any of the admin via PM.