NJFBOA - Home of New Jersey's Camaros and Firebirds - The NJFBOA Rules, Infraction System, and You

The NJFBOA Rules, Infraction System, and you

The goal of the NJFBOA is to be one of the premier regional F-body clubs in the nation with a powerful online presence. Membership in our online forum has always been free and open to the public, and as such a certain degree of civility and order must be guaranteed to our users to encourage active participation. We welcome people from all walks of life and plan on keeping it that way.

In the past, rules have been in place as an attempt to foster the growth and participation of a high quality club, but enforcement has been viewed as subjective to many of our members. While this is not and has never been the case, we recognize the need for more formality regarding the management of content and behaviors on our online forum to prevent confusion.

Over the past few months, management has revisited the current rules that are in place and has made a number of revisions. Below you will find a copy of these new rules.

Quote:

FORUM POSTING RULES

• Respect for other members

- No personal attacks or otherwise acting like a fool.
- No racial, anti-Semitic or other hate/offensive speech will be tolerated.
- No physical threats towards other members.

• No threads about politics, religion, the death penalty or abortion

- Why not? Because these discussions always start out well enough, moderate and civil, but cue a couple of bad apples or offensive statements (whether they were meant to be or just interpreted as such) and the condescension begins. Feelings get hurt, attitudes flare, true colors come on display. We do not need that here; plenty of other websites exist for such discussions.

• Nothing illegal

- No discussions advocating street racing, use of illegal drugs, stories of underage drinking, etc.

• No profanity, nudity, risqué pictures, etc.

- Not really hard to understand. Don’t circumvent the word censor either.
- This includes pictures, links, signatures, avatars, etc.

• Grow up, no drama

- Take your drama somewhere else. No one cares. Attention whore whine fest threads like you’re all meanies so goodbye, that member is a wiener, I’m drunk, the mods are the 2nd coming of a group that killed millions of innocent people, it’s been 37 minutes why hasn’t anyone answered my tech question, etc., are unwanted. No whining about Johnny Law. Save your drama for your momma.
- While we allow members of any age, this is first and foremost a car forum. Threads that members deem childish will be axed. This includes post whoring and excessive stupid/useless posts.

• Tech is for tech

- Do not off topic post in tech threads.
- In general please post in the appropriate forum. Don’t post tech questions in the Lounge, etc. Also try to basically stay on topic regardless of forum.

• Respect for Sponsors/Vendors

- Our sponsors also help keep the lights on, so to be fair to them there will be no non-sponsor advertising allowed. No trolling for paid work via the forum or the PM system. Don’t make $$ on the club’s dime. The leash on this is very short.
- No Sponsor or Vendor Bashing. This also means non-NJFBOA sponsors. This may better fall under the no drama rule. You have better had tried to resolve whatever your issue was other than an email or PM. Telephones still work. Personal visits work ever better. And you better be able to back up your assertions. Expect moderation.

Enforcement of these rules will also no longer be subjective. When disciplinary action is taken, a user will receive an infraction as described below along with a private message explaining which of the club's rules has been broken and what the consequences are.

Code:

Infraction                Points        Days        Corresponding Rule

Insulted Other Member(s)1        10        Respect for other members

Racial, Religious         2        90        Respect for other members

or Other Offensive Speech

Inappropriate Content         1        10        No threads about politics, religion, the death penalty or abortion

Illegal Activities        1        90        Nothing illegal

Inappropriate Language         1        10        No profanity, nudity, risqué pictures, etc.

Pornographic Content         3        15        No profanity, nudity, risqué pictures, etc.

Excessive and / or         1            15        Grow up, no drama

Useless Posts

Off Topic / Bad Info         1        15        Tech is for tech

in Tech Section

Non-sponsor Advertising        1        10        Respect for Sponsors/Vendors

Classifieds Abuse        1        10        Classifieds Rules

Abuse of the Military Recognition system 3 15  Respect for other members

When you receive an infraction, your account will be assigned the number of points associated with the rule that you have broken. These points have a "shelf life", which is the number of days they will stay on your account. If you reach a certain number, the following will occur:

3 pts = 2 day ban
5 pts = 2 week ban
8 pts = 2 month ban
12 pts = permanent

After the life of the points passes, it is removed from your account and you are back to normal with one exception- the points will be documented in your infraction history so we can take note of repeat offenders. You can view your infraction history by going to your user profile and clicking on the infractions tab.

In addition, the existing 2 week/2 month/Permanent ban system will still be in place for flagrant violations - this will be handled with custom infractions.

These rules and the infraction system will go into effect immediately, however they will not be retroactive.

What will also not change is how we value every single member and what they have to say, our club is made up of our members and we are grateful to all of you.