Unless otherwise specified, the below rules apply to all fora except Complete Nonsense and Angry Ranting. They will be enforced to a more relaxed degree in The Lounge, but are still enforceable as necessary.
Where an associated penalty for a rule specifies that it applies after a certain number of warnings, that means you will have that many warnings without that penalty. For instance, if a rule says you will receive a ban after two warnings, then you get a second warning without a ban, and on the third offence you will be banned.
1. No personal attacks
Keep your posts civil and to the point, and don't insult others. If you have run out of valid contributions, 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.
2. No harassment of other members (applies in all fora)
If another member makes it clear to you that your behaviour toward them is making them uncomfortable, take that as a signal to back off. If you continue to harass that member after being made aware of this fact, you may be officially warned by forum staff. After two warnings for this offence, you will receive a week-long ban, with increasing ban duration for repeated offences upon your return.
3. 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.
4. Do not disclose personal information (applies in all fora)
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.
5. Post in the appropriate forum
Read each forum's description and ask yourself if your thread fits. Are you here to investigate and question mainstream authoritative claims? Post in Flat Earth Investigations. Are you looking to critique the Flat Earth Theory? Flat Earth Theory is the board for you! 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.
Many boards come with a stickied "read before posting" thread to help clarify their intended use. If you have any doubts, just ask!
For the purpose of handling offenders, this rule will be treated as a special case of the "stay on topic" rule.
6. Avoid including material which does not contribute to the point you are making
This is a fairly vague rule, and as such, it will not be strictly enforced on a per-post basis. Rather, members who repeatedly make posts with a large amount of extraneous material will be asked to stop, and if they fail to do so, given a warning. After no less than three warnings for this offence, members may be restricted from posting in certain fora in order to prevent their verbosity from cluttering up debate threads.
7. Do not post NSFW material (applies in all fora)
Do not post material which is overly pornographic, shocking or otherwise inappropriate for being viewed without warning in a public or work place. As much as we would like for you to be able to post freely, we also want to keep this website a safe places for people of all professions and ages to use.
Material of this nature will be removed on sight, and the offending poster warned. On your second offence, you will receive a month-long ban, with increasing ban duration for repeated offences upon your return.
8. 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.
9. 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.