Our forum rules are on the page reached by the 'Rules' link near the top of the forums page.

The following was agreed formally by Naspir some time ago:

'you must not insult other members or question their motivations or character, and must focus in a calm, rational, non-abusive manner on the issue and not the person.'

As we had agreed this formally, I was happy to add it to the terms and conditions that are part of the required tick box when registering for membership.

This was also agreed formally after discussion some time ago:

'Reference in Naspir email lists and discussion forums to sources that are contrary to the purpose of Naspir should be within an overall framing that serves the purpose of Naspir and that does not promote the anti-progressive cause of that source. It would be appropriate, for example, to alert the list or the forum to the propagandist and anti-progressive character of the source, and to direct members to sources that provide refutation of it.'

I also thought it helpful to summarise our long-standing moderation practices:

'The moderators will exercise judgement on whether or not particular posts violate this rule. They may make suggestions or issue a warning off list or on list, delete posts, require moderator approval of all posts by that member, suspend their membership and ultimately expel them. The moderators will report their decisions and the reasons for them to the membership as a whole so that their actions are accountable and subject to review.'

I have added the following:

'Any post that appears to the moderators to be libellous will be removed immediately.'

I regard this as a sensible precautionary statement due to the serious legal liability involved.

I also added the following, adapted from the Medialens website. While they were not agreed by Naspir formally, I put earlier versions of them forward in an earlier discussion and received only positive responses and hence hope that they are seen as unproblematic:

'When you are writing a post, think about whether it could come across as aggressive or disrespectful. If you think it might, even if you have no such intention, stop, rewrite it or don't send it. If you read a post which appears aggressive or disrespectful, do not retaliate: indicate your concern with care if you are unsure or report it as abuse if you are sure. More than 80% of communication is lost in written form - body language, facial expressions and voice are all missing. This means that it is easy to misunderstand and be misunderstood.

Members who wish to withdraw from any particular discussion are entitled to do so. Once they have signalled that desire explicitly or implicitly by ceasing to engage, they must not be harassed for doing so and efforts must not be made to provoke them into re-entering that discussion.'