This took longer than I'd intended to get around to. Sorry, work has been fairly busy lately. I'd also like to thank Supertails for coming up with an initial draft of this stuff, which I've then edited somewhat to produce the below.
I'm trying to keep these minimal. We can add more rules as we come across situations that highlight the need for them, but I'd rather not start with rules covering every possible circumstance under the Sun, as nobody is going to read them and they will be difficult to enforce. Let's start with some obvious ones and go from there.
Please post any comments or suggestions regarding these rules. I don't want to implement rules that aren't going to be for the benefit of the community, so feedback is definitely something you should err on the side of giving more rather than less of.
No personal attacks.
The Flat Earth boards are a place for debate, and debate is often heated and tense, but don't handle this situation by lashing out at others. Keep your posts civil and to the point, and don't begin insulting others. If you have run out of valid arguments, simply do not post. The exception to this rule is in Complete Nonsense and Angry Ranting, where personal attacks are par for the course. If you do not like this, then don't post in those fora.
Anyone seen personally attacking another member will be immediately warned. After two warnings, a ban with length determined by moderator discretion will be issued.
Stay on topic.
If what you're discussing isn't related to the thread's opening topic or a natural progression thereof, it's off-topic. Minor derailments will be handled by splitting the off-topic posts into another thread (possibly in another forum); repeat offenders will receive a warning. Depending on the frequency and severity of derailments, a short ban or restriction from specific subfora may be imposed after at least three warnings.
Do not disclose personal information.
Do not post any personal information relating another member without their express consent. Any post containing such information will be deleted immediately and a warning issued. A second offence will result in a ban, the length of which is up to moderator discretion.
Post in the appropriate forum.
Read each forum's description and ask yourself if your thread fits. Have a question about Flat Earth Theory? Post it in Flat Earth Q&A. Want to talk about Breaking Bad? That goes in Arts & Entertainment. Have casual discussion in The Lounge and rant about how your day went in Angry Ranting. If you have a suggestion or a concern to do with the forum, such as possible improvements or bugs, post it in Suggestions & Concerns—we'd appreciate it! See? That wasn't so hard.
For the purpose of handling offenders, this rule will be treated as a special case of the "stay on topic" rule.
Keep alternate accounts within reason.
We will be taking a very relaxed policy towards alternate accounts ("alts"), provided that people do not force us to take a stricter stance by abusing this policy. Alts are allowed, and will be permitted free reign across all fora, provided that they follow the rules for the forum they are posting in. FES has a history of alts that contribute to discussions in addition to the usual complement of spamming and trolling alts, and it would be a shame to try to restrict this.
There are two exceptions to this policy: one, an alt that is used for the purpose of furthering a main or another alt's argument without itself contributing a unique point of view on the situation ("sockpuppetting") will be immediately banned; two, an alt that is intended to impersonate a member either here or on the old FES will be immediately banned, and deleted if it is occupying the username of an old FES member, as otherwise it would bar them from registering here.
An alt breaking any rule that would ordinarily result in a warning can (at moderator discretion) be handled by immediately banning the alt account, and instead warning the main account of the person controlling it.
Use appropriate channels for seeking help.
If you have concerns about a member, a thread or specific posts, you have a few options. You can use the report post feature to alert the moderation staff to your issue; you can PM a moderator directly if you'd rather have a discussion with someone about the problem; or you can create a thread in Suggestions & Concerns if you'd rather open the situation to public discussion.
Posting complaints directly into the thread in question is only going to escalate the situation, and this will be treated as off-topic posting.