Forum Policies, Code of Conduct & Moderation

[Malf]

About LLL
This board was originally created on the sole purpose of keeping the community together that would by now be dispersed elsewhere due to the closing of the original UK Lush Forum in September 07. A few months later, there was a new international Lush forum up and running - however there were enough requests for this one to remain open, so we kept it running and has now become independent of the Lush Forum and has developed its own identity and community.
This forum is not frequented by Lush staff or Management. To contact Lush Management (AKA the 'mafia' ) please visit the International Lush forum to get a contact email address or leave a message there.

Staff on this forum are/were Lush customers and Lush forumites and not representatives of the Lush Community as a whole.

Unfortunately, we have no control over server issues or terms of service on this forum as it is hosted (freely) by ProBoards and not privately.

I would also like to mention that this site is not and never will be a 'hate' site against any company, service or person.

We also do not discourage members from going to the new international Lush Forum and no rivalry is intended.


LLL Staff
This forum is lightly moderated. Moderators here are members of the community with moderator status. They were chosen to moderate because they are considered generally to be fair and level-headed and have accepted this sometimes challenging position in order to help with the smooth running of the forum.

English Rose, Kenney and snowkitten are all Global Mods, and Oprah, Spangly Dottery Potter are Swapping mods. Zannah is the 'Days of our Lives' moderator. I am the forum owner and admin, and must be made aware of any serious issues or technical hitches regarding the forum.

For more information about Moderation, please read the next post on this thread.


Forum Policies/Code of Conduct
1. Every member has a right to express their opinion freely here and should be able to without fear of personal attack. In the cases of threads involving heavier subject matters (eg. politics, religion) or sensitive topics, we ask you to be respectful of others' views if they differ to yours. Debates are healthy - being challenged on your views is healthy (and to be expected!), but please avoid turning it into something personal or driving it off topic in order to initiate a personal slur on someone. If you get involved in a heavier debate, don't be surprised if it turns into a passionate discussion with strong opinions flying around, and if someone disagrees with your view, it does not mean they dislike you, or are 'bullying' you. We as a forum are fully capable of these type of discussions without descending into a fight and this has been proved many times with the wide range of discussions we enjoy.

If there is a personal issue evident in a thread between 2 members that is clearly not constructive to the discussion, we do encourage it to be settled between the involved parties. To avoid uninvolved parties getting in the mix or any unhelpful comments that may add to the conflict, we ask you to settle it privately, either via the PMs or email. We understand this may not be the right answer every single time, but may help avoid exacerbating the situation in public and adding to a general sense of negative atmosphere. Saying this, I am aware that on occasion, tensions build to the point where a public discussion becomes necessary - in which case all may voice their opinions, we'll thrash it out hopefully with a general courtesy in tact, and then once the discussion is over, the air is cleared and the forum may return to a pleasant, balanced environment.


2. The following behaviours are disallowed at LLL and may result in a warning from a Moderator. Repeated offences may result in a ban from the forum.

Trolling www.techterms.com/definition/troll

Flaming www.techterms.com/definition/flaming

Baiting www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=flame%20bait

Cyber-bullying www.direct.gov.uk/en/YoungPeople/HealthAndRelationships/Bullying/DG_070501


3. Proboards have their own Terms of Service. It is my duty as forum owner to make sure these are adhered to. Please make yourself familiar with them:
www.proboards.com/tos.html

The ToS is aligned with my own policies for this forum - that it is a family friendly community, potentially with 13 year old members and lots of mums who have young children in the background. The very strongest swearwords have been filtered, please do not find a way around them, nor post nudity and other 'adult content' (think strictly 18+ material). I am sorry if this causes any ill-feeling - I know some people do not like being censored.
Please note that the odd blip may slip through the net when it has been 'missed' by a moderator and we do not chase up isolated incidents of it (ie. we are not pendantic!), however if we see it's becoming a habit, a member of staff may politely make a request to tone it down.

Breaches of ToS may put the forum at risk of being deleted by Proboards. This does happen and is a very real risk - I have seen it many times on Proboards Support Forum. I would feel uncomfortable at any slight risk of it, so I'd rather be safe than sorry.

4. Please heed the moderator warnings and requests. The moderators are here to protect members and ensure the ToS and forum policies are being adhered to as much as they can. We try to moderate with a light touch and much prefer threads and arguments to be settled among yourselves - therefore official warnings (in most cases are sent via PM to avoid public embarrassment) and locked threads should be considered a last resort action by a moderator or myself. It is an offence to ignore a moderator's warning or request. With warnings, you always have the chance to express your side of the story, and if you feel you have been warned unfairly, this is taken into account and discussed with you until an amicable middle-ground can be reached. Please note that if you blatantly breach the ToS you may only get only 1 warning (depending on the severity of your breach) prior to a repeat offence resulting in a ban and if your breach compromises the existence of the forum, we will be forced to edit or delete your breach from view. Again for more detailed info on moderation, please read the next post.

5. A note on privacy and confidential information.
This forum is unreadable by 'guests' (unregistered members) except for the Xmas Market boards and the Welcome board (this one).
Unfortunately I can't stop anyone signing up an account and reading what you may have written in one of the closed off boards - so please be aware that sensitive information about your private lives can potentially be read by anyone. This especially may harm your case if you are involved in any legal proceedings. If this worries you and you still want to discuss with your friends via LLL, please PM the group of friends you most trust and have the discussion privately.

Please note that any private information that can be 'seen' by a moderator will remain private - for example if you are 'invisible', your DoB, your email address etc. Staff do not know your login password and therefore cannot access your PMs. If you think your account has been hacked please change your password immediately and alert me or a moderator. Also please alert us if you feel your privacy has been breached. On this note, it is discouraged to publicly publish anything that was otherwise intended as private, like a PM or email.


6. Multiple or Anon accounts It is not against policies to have anonymous accounts here at LLL - we understand this is handy for extra confidentiality when asking for advice, for example (please bear in mind point 5 about posting sensitive information about yourself on a public forum). We also allow it for secret friends and a jokey celeb RP account for a bit of light humour.

Any other kind of anon accounts here are disallowed. This is to help protect the forum against trolling and you as a member can have more confidence that when we do get a 'newbie', it is a genuine newbie.

Please be assured that the staff will not divulge your previous forum names in public, but be aware that they may know your true identity/former IDs.
The anon account allowance should not be abused at any time, and may result in a warning or suspension if any intent other than an innocent one is obvious.


7. Many people find having a break from the forum is beneficial, especially if being here is causing more stress than good, and like other online communities, lots of people come and go. We do feel sad when we lose members and hope you will come back again soon. I just want to remind people that there is the option of contacting a moderator if anything about the forum or a member, concerns you, and especially so if you think we can do something to help you, even if it's just make us aware of a situation.

As a side note, if you want any of your threads deleted and are sure you would like to delete your account, please do this or ask a mod to do it before you delete your account. If you've started many threads or made lots of posts, we can't actually physically do it when your account is no longer active.

NB. There should be no 'accidental' deleting of accounts anymore - there is a 'Are you sure?' prompt if you click on the delete button.

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Thank you for reading. Any questions please PM me.

[Malf]

Update for March 2012

Clarification about the moderation guidelines.

About moderators
a. Moderators are members of the community who happen to have mod status when they need to use it, which is thankfully not very often! Please note, that a lot of staff involvement is done discreetly 'behind the scenes' so that it is efficient and non-disruptive.

It is important to note that their posts or personal views do not hold any more weight or power than anyone else's, UNLESS they have specifically made a 'moderation post' with a request within it.

When a moderator posts, they are always speaking 'as themselves' and not as a 'moderator' UNLESS they state clearly otherwise, see below for example mod posts.

A moderator post should always look like the following in terms of format and tone (it may not be in green as some of you won't see colours if you are on a phone app - but it will always be titled as a 'mod post' or 'mod request) -

Example 1.
A polite moderator request:
It appears [name] is a troll. Please do not be tempted to feed, bait or be baited, even if it seems like fun. We are currently dealing with the situation.
Thank you.
[mod name]

Example 2.
A moderator post:
It feels as if the thread has gone overly off topic and heading into personal issues territory. If there is a matter that can be dealt with via PM directly between involved parties, or mediated through a moderator or admin, please consider this option.

If anyone feels another thread needs to be started to have an open discussion about the new topic, of course you may do so, but may I gently remind you to ensure you refrain from comments that may be considered or interpreted as a personal attack on another member.
Thank you.
[mod name]

b. A moderator post should not include any expressing of personal views on the topic being moderated, must remain neutral and fair, and only concerned with resolving any issues considered a breach of forum policies. 'Naming and shaming' type posts from moderators are also not common nor encouraged practice.

A moderator involved in discussions 'as themselves' and 'as a moderator' within both the same thread should be avoided where possible, and in cases of it happening within the same post is not allowed.

If a moderator is involved personally in a thread, and they find the same thread is needing a moderator's input, they are encouraged to seek another uninvolved moderator where possible.

Only one moderator is needed per thread at one time and moderators should not repeat requests or comments already posted by another staff member without the thread first being given a chance to adapt and move on.

Reporting to staff
a. Please do not be afraid to PM a moderator if you feel uncomfortable with anything happening at LLL. If you need to do this, please cite examples and give links to posts and threads as much as possible, so that we can easily find and view the issue and look into it in context. If you need to express a view regarding a moderator, please contact me (username: admin) and again cite examples and links where you can. Please be aware that any reports that go to staff may be shared and discussed with one or more of the other moderators. We sometimes use each other as sounding boards and for 2nd opinions in order to ensure we are addressing the problem as neutrally as possible. If you do not want your report shared among any other moderator, or a particular moderator please only report via PM and state this request clearly in your PM.

b. Please note PMs from staff are confidential and only intended for the recipient. The policy applies both ways - your PM was only intended for staff, and we will keep it that way.

c. There is a 'Report post' link to the lower right of all posts in threads for you to report particular posts. When you report a post, there will be a comment field for you to write why you are reporting it. Only the moderators and myself are alerted to this report. When a post is reported, the moderators will discuss the best course of action, but the reporter and the 'reportee' are not privy to this discussion. However this may be followed up via PM or you may receive a PM to discuss it further.

d. Equal treatment is paramount to me, and gives you the confidence we are running the forum fairly. Moderators are not immune to the forum policies just because they are staff members, nor friends just because we like them more. Who you are is irrelevant. I'd ban HRH the Queen herself if she came on here and started on any of you!
If you feel any unfair treatment is happening, please use one of the reporting methods as mentioned above.

About warnings.
If on the very rare occasion we have to give a warning* to a member, it will be done by an (uninvolved) moderator, or myself. It will be sent via PM and clearly stated as a warning in the subject title. If it is not stated in the subject title, it should not be interpreted as a warning, but as a polite request or discussion opener. If you receive a PM from a moderator or admin discussing something you had said or done, you do have the opportunity to tell us your side of things and hopefully we can arrive at amenable solution that satisfies all parties without there even being the need for a warning. A warning is a last resort, when all other efforts to resolve a situation have failed and the offence continues.

*In short, offences include but not excluded to 'flamebaiting', 'flaming', 'trolling' and any breach of Proboards ToS. See the first post on what you may receive a warning for in more detail, and why.

Final warnings and bans
As a general policy, you will get 2 official warnings before you are considered for banning on your 3rd strike. You may or may not be given notice of your suspension/ban, depending on the severity of your offences. The 2nd warning will come if you have ignored the requests in the first warning. The amount of PMs from a moderator do not apply to the warning count. For example, you may receive 1 first warning, and then a request from a moderator in another PM, or a response to your reply about the warning - this does not make 2 warnings.
We endeavour to stick to this system, however please note that outright bans are an option if the offence is a blatant breach of the Proboards ToS - common examples of when an outright ban may be given:
- a spammer that posts pornographic material or a virus
- a troll posting a profanity-filled vitriolic post.

Members returning after having previously been banned are treated on a case by case basis, depending on the severity of the original offences and their attitude upon returning. In general, if less than a year has lapsed since the original banning, they may find themselves re-banned automatically. However, after a year has passed, they may return as long as it is evident they are not here to re-offend or repeat their previous behaviour. Repeatedly re-signing up after being banned each time is considered an offence and may result in an indefinite ban and a report filed to Proboards Support.

In essence, if they're here to be a genuine member of the community and not causing grievances, they will be allowed to stay. I like to think, as a forum, we are generally forgiving and everyone has needed second chances in their lives at one point or another.

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All current moderators have given their written agreement to these guidelines.

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If you have any further questions about this or I haven't covered any area you think I need to address, please feel free to drop me a PM.

You may also be interested in reading the FAQ thread.

Thank you for reading,

Malf