Updated March 20, 2006
Please read the following rules and
guidelines very carefully. By posting you agree to these
guidelines and must obey them at all times. Refusal to obey
these guidelines will result in the appropriate responsive
actions.
Privacy Guidelines
are printed here.
Help Files
Before you contact a moderator, please check the
Help files and the information found in your "My
Controls" section near the top of each CatBox page. In most cases your questions will be
addressed.
Our Community Forums: Forums
attached to Articles and
The
CatBox Forum
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You may not
advertise or promote other companies or their programs or
spam
without the express consent of
Dr. Irene. |
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If you have an
issue concerning our services, policies, or staff, please
contact a moderator. We take serious complaints to heart
and will do our best to address them. |
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Please do not post your identifying information (real
name & address, email address, etc.) in any of the boards or
The CatBox. |
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You must be over the age of 18 to
participate. |
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We reserve the
right to ban any member who violates our guidelines or
disrupts our community. Say what you want, but
please do so responsibly and with respect for others.
Free speech is not an excuse for irresponsible
behavior. We will be fair and provide warning in most
cases. More specifically:
CatBox Rules
The following rules are intended as a guideline for the
members of this website to interact and support each
other in an enlightening and productive manner. As with
any type of communication which is not face to face, it
is sometimes difficult to understand another poster's
intended message, which creates a bit of a chasm in a
dialogue between posters.
While we endeavor to protect freedom of speech, there are
certain behaviors which are not allowed on this board and
constitute an infringement of board rules.
The
Administrative Team (AdminTeam) may update this policy
at any time.
Rules and Violations
Number 1: SLANDERING - No slandering another Catboxer
(calling names, personal attacks). It is okay to
respectfully disagree with a person, but it is not okay
to personally attack. Any person placing offensive,
obscene, abusive or derogatory posts on the board or
sending them to board members in PM form will be
automatically banned.
If you are faced with this on the board, report any
posts you feel are offensive to administration. Please
remember that when you use the "Report this post"
option, it is sent to the AdminTeam.
Number 2: THREAD ALTERCATIONS - Differences of opinion
will occur from time to time and this is understood.
Threads that generate into fights between posters will be
locked. Depending upon the nature of the thread, it may
also be deleted and upon request, the original poster
will be informed of the reason.
Number 3: TARGETING OTHER MESSAGE BOARDS - Please do not
post your anger at other message boards by naming them.
Admin will delete these type of posts with no warning. We
have many links to other websites featuring specific
message boards which are very helpful to those posters
who need them. This website and the various message
boards we employ, is not in competetion with any other
website. Take what you need and leave the rest.
Number 4: POSTING PUBLIC ADMIN CHALLENGES: To repeat the
above, we do endeavor to protect freedom of speech;
however, when admin have to step in and make a decision
on a certain post, it is generally after much thought and
discussion amongst all admin available at the time. We
make every attempt to address issues in a timely manner.
If a poster disagrees with this decision and wishes to
add another piece of information previously unknown to
admin, in order to perhaps amend the decision, they are
welcome to privately contact admin for this purpose. Any
reasonable, but brief debate will be considered. However,
public posts concerning admin decisions will be deleted,
as will posts questioning the integrity of admin. This is
a privately owned website and the admin have been chosen
by the owner.
Number 5: PROFANITY - Profanity is prohibited.
Number 6: IGNORING ADMIN EDITING REQUESTS - If we think a
poster has overstepped a boundary and time permits, admin
will request the original poster to restate the post in
more proper language and/or tone. However, if time is of
the essence or the poster refuses, admin may edit posts
to help the smooth flow of the board. Upon request, admin
will notify the original poster of the changes and the
reason for the change.
Number 7: REPOSTING DELETED POSTS - Reposting deleted
posts serves no other purpose than as an attempt to cause
trouble in order to gain attention.
Admin will try to tell the board a reason for deleted
posts but in some cases this may not be done. Sometimes
people post stuff that just is best deleted and the right
to delete without explanation ( which can cause more
complications than the original deletion) is reserved. An
example of this might be a post we feel will cause
serious offense to readers of the site or is deliberately
provocative.
Number 8: MULTIPLE PERSONAS - As this website primarily
deals with abuse and its residual effects, trust among
the members is paramount. IT IS PROHIBITED to create more
than one persona. If you choose to change your user name
for either safety reasons or it just doesn't describe you
anymore, THIS IS PERMITTED. If for safety reasons, please
notify admin of the change and we advise you to private
e-mail anyone you want notified of the change. If you
feel comfortable to publicly announce it - please do so
to avoid confusion for the other board members.
Number 9: PASSWORDS - If you request and receive the
password for a certain board of this website, you are not
to provide it to any other member. This protocol again,
addresses the issue of safety - both physical and
emotional for our posters.
Number 10: COPYRIGHT INFRINGEMENT - Please give proper
credit to the authors of original material, whether you
bring it to this website or whether you take it from this
website to another.
It is an infringement of copyright of this board to take
posts to another board and also a breach of
confidentiality. If you wish to show a post from here on
another board then a link should be provided.
Banning
Admin operate a three strikes and you are out
warning system. If you get a warning from admin to modify
the way you are talking to others please remember to take
it seriously –
First warning is by Private Message (PM).
Second warning puts you on admin watch. Again, you will
be notified of your status by a PM.
Third warning is a ban. This ban may be for a certain
time period (i.e. - 2 weeks or three months) or the
violations of the banned poster may be so egregious to
indicate that it be permanent
and the poster's ISP
provider may be contacted, if deemed necessary.
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Banned users who create new usernames or personalities
and return will continually (and permanently) be banned
and WILL be reported to their ISP provider and/or
employer (if ISP address routes back to employer). Note
that we do not take contacting one's employer lightly.
This measure is reserved for those who do not respect
being banned.
In addition to the above, any new poster deemed to be
here purely to create disruption, or post spurious posts
will be banned with immediate effect. This includes all
"fake" posters and comes with the automatic approval of
Dr Irene. Again, if action taken is mistaken, the poster
concerned can always e mail Dr Irene directly.
Any
person placing offensive, obscene, abusive or derogatory
posts on the board or sending them to board members in
PM or email form will be automatically banned.
Miscellaneous
I'm Locked Out and Can't Log In?
If you find yourself locked, please do not automatically
assume you are banned. The board can do funny things at
times and it may be admin just need to discuss a
particular post. Email Administration if you are locked
out and unsure as to why.
Flirting
Please be sensitive - mild flirting is fine if you have
to but remember boasting about sexual conquest may
trigger pain for some.
Tips for Good Communications
If you need to send a tough message and you are worried
about how it may be perceived - Write it, then read it
carefully. Look at the content, watch for particularly
emotional words that may trigger. If necessary, get
someone else to read it as well.
Respond in much the same manner. If you're on the
receiving end of what you consider a personally offensive
or triggering post, be careful about any immediate
reaction that will only inflame matters.
Instead, carefully write a response, and do it in a
word-processing program or on a sheet of paper to avoid
inadvertently sending it before you intend to. Give it 24
hours, then look over what you put on paper to see if
you're saying something that's really useful or not. It
is tempting in this time of instant communication through
cyber space to zip something back, but sometimes
proofreading a post or response will avoid setting a
house of cards on fire.
To paraphrase Soren Kierkegaard: "People demand freedom
of speech as compensation for the freedom of thought
which they should have used in the first place."
Don't feel you must respond to a post on the board. Just
because you get a nasty message doesn't mean you have to
send your response through the same medium. If you feel
comfortable doing so, contact the person via email or PM
to resolve personal disputes. On the other hand, if the
post is particularly vile or obnoxious, don't respond
either. Refer it to Administration. It is what we are
here for.
REMEMBER it simply isn't necessary to respond every time
we read something that bothers us. It is an important
step to learn when and how to disengage from a debate,
whether it be on a message board or in our every day
lives.
If you have found that you have inadvertently irritated
someone, say you're sorry. As highly intentioned as many
of us can be with so many real life issues, we all too
often can goof up and be unintentionally hurtful to
others. We all hate hurtful posts, but we can all end up
sending one as well.
Never forget the first option of going to the person to
whom you sent it and apologizing. It isn't an easy thing
to do in some cases, but can be particularly critical in
restoring peace and healing among members.
In Summation
The decisions of Dr Irene and the AdminTeam are
final. If you feel you have been unfairly treated then
please write directly to the admin or to Dr Irene
herself.
Both abused individuals and those who feel they are abusive may post
on the board.
All members must maintain respectful communication.
And finally, be considerate of the fact that members may
be at different stages in their path to recovery.
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More Golden Rules
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There will be no racial, ethnic, gender
based insults or any other personal discriminations.
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Spamming is not permitted; please keep all
your posts as constructive as possible. |
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Pornography, warez, or any other illegal
transactions may NOT be linked in any shape or form.
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Pictures may be posted as long as they are
not explicit or offensive. If you plan to post more than one
image, or the topic is based on graphics, please link the
images rather than screening. |
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Signatures may contain images, but may not
be any larger than 300x100; 468x60 banners are also permitted
(within reason). If your signature is larger than the
allotted size given or deemed unacceptable by staff, you will
be requested by a moderator to resize or change your image.
Please also try and keep text signatures under 5 lines.
Failing to comply with a moderator's request will result in
the removal of your signature. |
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Advertising, commercial-related or
competing products are all forbidden in any relation to your
account. |
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Remember to post in the correct forum.
Take your time to look at other topics and see where your
topic should go. If your topic is placed in the wrong forum,
it will be moved by a moderator. |
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Any impersonation of a user from these
forums, in any mode of communication, is strictly prohibited
and will result in a banning. |
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Linked and locked topics are pruned
regularly to reduce page clutter. If you have a question
about where your topic went, please PM a Moderator or
Administrator before starting a new topic asking where it
went, or posting a duplicate of the original topic. We will
be happy to provide you with a link to the new location, or a
reason why it was locked and/or removed. |
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If you are linking to external content,
you should link directly to that content. It is unacceptable
to use link-thru systems to mask the originating URL, and
cases where this is found to be happening may be edited or
removed as appropriate. |
Violation of any of these rules will result in
consequences determined on a case-by-case basis. Thank you
for The CatBox Forum, and we hope you enjoy your stay.
And, don't forget to take a look at the Site's
Privacy Policy.
Many thanks to The
CatBox Admins who jointly wrote and update the content of this page.
Thanks to Invision as well for excerpts from their Forum
Policy page. Dr. Irene |
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