What follows are the policies you must keep in mind when using the Chiff and Fipple Forums:<ul><li><a href="#RPP">The Reasonable Person Principle</a></li><li><a href="#multiple">Multiple Accounts</a></li><li><a href="#email">Valid Email Addresses</a></li></ul>See also the <a href="http://chiffboard.mati.ca/viewtopic.php?t=10315">Policy on Commercial Posts</a> posted separately due to its length.
<a name="RPP"></a><b>Reasonable Person Principle</b>
The Reasonable Person Principle is <i>the</i> rule which you <i>must</i> abide by when posting to the forums. Put differently, following the Principle is your <i>obligation</i> to your fellow community members.
The Principle was borrowed from Carnegie Mellon University, who use it as the governing principle for access to their computer systems; since it works for a whole University, we hope it will work for a message board with a few thousand participants.
From Carnegie Mellon University's own explanation of the Principle:<ul><li>Everyone will be reasonable.</li><li>Everyone expects everyone else to be reasonable.</li><li>No one is special.</li><li>Do not be offended if someone suggests you are not being reasonable.</li></ul>
Reasonable people think about their use of these facilities, and the needs of others, and adjust their behavior to meet the goals of a common good for the community, i.e., expressing what you want to say, but accepting and accommodating the needs of others.
<a name="multiple"></a><b>Multiple Accounts</b>
Due to extensive abuse in the past, you are not permitted to post from multiple user accounts -- you may only have one account per user. If you wish to change your username, or if you have forgotten your password, contact the administrators via the link at the bottom of every page.
<a name="email"></a><b>Valid Email Addresses</b>
Because the forum software occasionally needs to send you mail, and in case the administrators need to contact you, you must supply a valid email address in your profile. If you would prefer not to show your email address to other users, you can choose not to display it in your profile settings, but you may not put an invalid email address in your profile. (Since the forum software must use that address, this includes addresses made invalid with anti-spam parts that humans can understand.)