#MacRumors Channel Guidelines

The rules below apply to everyone on MacRumors IRC.

1. Be respectful - Be respectful, courteous, and patient Being a member of this community is considered a privilege and is not a right. We ask everyone to be courteous, patient, and have respect for others, but not to let that get in the way of enjoying the general discussion.
2. Safe content Ensure that all content you post in the channel is family friendly and suitable for all ages. Part of being courteous would include mentioning when a link is NSFW (Not Safe For Work). Whilst it should still not be vulgar or graphic, some links can be inappropriate at work whilst still civilised enough for the chat.
3. No offensive behaviour - No abusive language or actions toward other individuals What you believe not to be offensive may be perceived as offensive by others. If an OP believes your behaviour may be offending others, action may well be taken to prevent it from continuing.
4. No discrimination of any sort This includes racism, sexism, homophobia, or any other sort of prejudice. If you are found to be discriminating against a particular group of people you shall be kicked immediately.
5. No harassment Whilst what goes on in Personal Messages or on other channels is technically none of #macrumors' business, if we hear reports of a member of our channel harassing another member of our channel, action will be taken to keep them from being part of #macrumors. Harassment is not acceptable at all and we don't want the sort of people who might do that to be in our channel.
6. No excessive use of CAPITAL letters Using CAPITALS in an excessive manner implies you are yelling and annoys everyone.<
7. No flooding - Extreme word repetition If you want to post something type up all that you want to post and then make a single post. Do not post many short lines in quick succession. Additionally do not spam the channel. You will annoy everyone when you break this rule.

If you need to show people in the channel a large block of text please use a service such as www.pastebin.com.
8. No advertising Advertising is not allowed in this channel. In this instance, the definition of advertising is as follows: describe or draw attention to a product, service, or event in a public medium in order to promote sales or attendance.
9. No third party bots Users are not allowed to bring bots into this channel. Both the bot and the user will be banned.
10. No swearing This channel should be fit to accommodate people of all ages, so the chatter should contain no foul language. Some words have more impact than others, so punishment for breaking this rule can vary.
11. Language - English only This is an English language channel, and as such only English should be spoken in the channel.
12. No discussions of illegal activity - No discussing software piracy, criminal activity, etc. This will not be tolerated. Talking about warez or criminal activity in public through #macrumors is prohibited.
13. Asking questions and patience You do not need to ask whether you can ask a question, just go ahead and ask. Additionally due to timezones and the fact that people are not always at their computer, you may need to wait for a while before receiving a response from someone who knows the answer. Do not repeatedly ask your question, however if you haven't received an answer it is recommended that you wait at least 30 minutes before asking again.

Questions and answers should be given in the channel. Asking people in the channel to answer questions via private message (PM) can be considered rude, as it excludes the other people in the channel.
14. Connection problems If you join and reconnect repeatedly either due to connection problems or any other reason, you will receive a temporary ban. This ban will be lifted later on, or if you have fixed the issue you should contact an operator directly via private message (PM).
15. No testing the rules or question their validity The rules have been set for a purpose: to allow members of the community to have a pleasant and enjoyable experience. Our operators will not tolerate anything that can take away from this goal. We have a right to change these rules without notification and will do so to account for anything that we might have missed that is taking away from our goal.

Please Note: Operators will take action against you if you break the rules. Depending on the severity of the incident, this can include a warning, a kick or a ban. If you continue to break the rules above you will be banned permanently. This also applies to offenders that have been unbanned and given a second chance.

Circumventing temporary bans will get you permanently banned.
Who to contact If you have any concerns/issues, please contact one of the operators.