Recipezaar Forum Rules

(Last updated: 4/25/05)

Check the box at the bottom of this page to signify that you have read and agree with ALL of these rules below in order to participate in the Forums. If you are seeing this page for a second time, it is because Recipezaar Staff felt it was necessary to remind you of these rules and penalties associated with breaking these rules.

1. Be polite and respectful to all members, including Recipezaar Staff, at all times. Insults, name-calling or belittling of other members is not tolerated. You can discuss and disagree without being rude, hostile or disruptive. If someone posts something that makes you angry, the best thing to do is step away from the computer for a bit and/or ignore them. We often misinterpret other people's intentions and make mistakes in the heat of anger. Without the body language available to in-person communications, sarcasm or jokes can be taken the wrong way -- we encourage you to label attempts at humor with ;-)s so folks will know. If someone misinterprets your words, an apology goes a long way.
2. Political and religious ideology debates tend to cause inflamed discussions, anger, hurt feelings which put you at risk of violating these rules, and are therefore discouraged. Our forums are NOT designed for debating abstract philosophy, "winning" online arguments, or ridiculing others for their beliefs, backgrounds or speculated motivations. This is a cooking site, after all, not a political or religious site.
3. No obscenities or pornography or adult humor. Recipezaar is kid-friendly (it's a cooking site, after all), so ALL material must be clearly suitable for children. There are plenty of places on the internet that welcome adult jokes, this isn't one of them.
4. No spamming or advertising. Linking to commercial content related to the current thread is acceptable, but everything else is probably spam. You can pay for advertising on Recipezaar like everyone else; there is a link at the bottom of every page to advertise on Recipezaar.
5. Keep topics on-topic. Start new topics for new discussions. If you don't like what is being discussed, the best thing is not to say anything at all. "Hijacking" threads to talk about something different is neither polite nor respectful.
6. Our forums are also governed by our Terms of Service, which contains more rules about not posting other people's copyrighted material here or libeling others, etc., or you will be held responsible for damages.

7. Please report violations. We do not monitor every post, so we ask our community to let us know of problems: click the link at the bottom of any topic to "Notify us of inappropriate posts".
8. No discussing penalties or punished members in the forums. Recipezaar goes to great lengths to keep private our penalties in order to avoid member embarrassment -- an excessive sanction. If you agree or disagree with our actions in a certain situation, we require that you also deal with the matter privately (use our Contact Us link at the bottom of the page). Please remember that you do not know all of the circumstances or possess all the evidence with regard to any situation, and we might not be able to share all of the evidence with you for privacy reasons. We are always fair and will listen to appeals. We make difficult decisions and rein in rule violators in order to protect the public mission of our forums. (Everyone is welcome to discuss our rules in our Suggestions & Comments forum, as long as you are speaking generally about the rules and not specific members or situations.) We encourage those with different ideas about how our forums should be structured and managed to start their own.
9. Do not create fake accounts to skirt these rules. The use of multiple accounts or the use/theft of other people's identities when posting is strictly forbidden and has special penalties.
10. Posting here is a privilege, not a right. The privilege to post can be suspended or revoked at any time and completely at our discretion.

Violations

Violators will immediately lose all Forum privileges without notice (as well as the ability to send or reply to Private Messages). If you would like these features reinstated, you must submit a request for reinstatement. No privileges will be reinstated unless you can demonstrate your ability to comply with these Rules, as well as offer assurance that the situation will not re-occur.

Serious offenses will result in the deactivation and closure of your account (any content posted by you, recipes, cookbooks, etc., will be removed from your account and moved to another account).

Minor transgressions (or close calls) will cause this page to be displayed to you again and you will be required to re-acknowledge these rules before posting.

Acceptance