[Paul]

GeekSmack Community Rules and Guidelines

In order to promote a healthy community, we have put in place rules/guidelines for our members to follow. Compared to many other sites, we're generally more lenient on moderation and our goal is to promote a relaxed, close-knit feeling throughout the boards. With that being said however, we also need to enforce a basic set of rules where, if members commit serious offences against them, we issue warnings, suspensions, and even bans depending on the severity of the violations.

An Introduction to the GeekSmack Community

The GeekSmack community forums are a place for geeks who wish to discuss and further their knowledge on the technology scene. Whether you're a Windows user, a Mac user, or a Linux user, whether you prefer AMD over Intel or vice versa, we welcome you to participate in our community. We don't discuss one specific hardware company, or one specific operating system; instead, we discuss the technology scene as a whole.

We wish to provide you with a "home" on the internet, and we promote a relaxed, close-knit family feeling on the boards. We hope you enjoy participating on GeekSmack, and feel free to share any suggestions or constructive criticism with us in the Feedback forum.

Member Ranks

The member ranks on GeekSmack are as follows:
New Member - 0 posts
Member - 10 posts
Geek - 50 posts
Bronze Geek - 100 posts
Silver Geek - 500 posts
Elite Geek - 1000 posts
Keyboard Addict - 5000 posts
GeekSmack Veteran - 10000 posts
Elite - The Elite rank is one reserved for exceptional contributors on the forums. Respected members in the community who greatly contribute to the site, along with VIPs chosen at the staff's discretion receive this special rank.

Staff Ranks

As it stands, GeekSmack site affairs are basically split off into 2 branches; the community management branch and the editorial branch. The editorial branch is in charge of all content affairs, and the community management branch handles all community operations. The Management rank overlook both branches of the site, and the Developer rank does as well, as they develop for both our front page and community forum.

Management - The Management rank is the highest staff rank on the site, in charge of day to day community and content operations, overlooking the staff, handling site development logistics, publishing content to the front page, and running the site as a whole. The current Management staff are Chris123NT and Paul, and Ryan Price.

Developers - The Developer rank is given to talented coders and/or designers who work to ensure that everything is functioning normally, that we have a feature-rich community/front page, and that we have a good design. Developers work on new site releases and work throughout the life of GeekSmack to improve it feature-wise. They report to the staff as a whole, particularly the Management. Our current Developer is Eric.

Community Management Staff

Supervisors - Supervisors are lower-level Management members that play a larger role in member relations and assisting the Management in their duties. They overlook the Moderators and ensure that all site moderation is running smoothly, as well as patrolling the forums themselves and taking on additional roles. They report to the Management. The current Supervisor is Asad.

Moderators - The Moderator rank is an entry-level staff position on the community management branch. They patrol the boards for violations of the rules, and pin/delete/move/merge posts and topics. They report to the Supervisors. The current Moderators are Mitchell and Tyler E.

The Editorial Team

Senior Editors - Like the Supervisor rank on the community management branch, the Senior Editor rank is basically low-level Management and it entails more public relations/company relations duties, as well as generally overlooking and publishing content. Senior Editors report to the Management. The current Senior Editors are Eugene C and Patrick Laughner.

Editors - The Editor rank is an entry-level position on the editorial team. Editors are on the front lines, working to ensure that there is a constant stream of content on our front page by publishing news, reviews, and editorials. Editors report to the Senior Editors. The current Editors are Alex Warren, Braeden Petruk, Michael Trout, and Chase.

Community Rules

1. No flaming, personal attacks, or flamebait - Treat all members on the site with respect and refrain from insulting members by posting racist, sexist, or just generally hateful comments towards members or in general.

2. No graphic/inappropriate content - As our community is family-oriented and we have members of all ages, we don't tolerate any inappropriate images or media in any shape or form, such as pornography, generally graphic images, images promoting racism/sexism, shock images, or anything that may be deemed inappropriate.

3. No discussion of piracy/warez - While we are tolerant of discussing beta builds of software and operating systems, we are not tolerant of discussion and links to pirated material or methods of pirating software.

4. No spamming - Spamming, referring to posting useless posts along the lines of "lol", or "agreed", etc., intentionally posting an array of topics and/or posts, perhaps containing inappropriate material or other questionable content with malicious intent in mind, promoting a site that is a direct competitor to GeekSmack that isn't an affiliate, or trying to sell a product/service to our members is prohibited. Links to personal blogs/websites and social networking sites are allowed, however.

5. No excessive swearing - While we have a swear filter in place and are tolerant of cursing every now and then, we do not tolerate excessive swearing in a post where there are more asterisks than actual content. Posts along the lines of this will be considered spam, and will be deleted.

6. Please try to stay on topic and contribute to the topic at hand -While we're tolerant of a few off topic posts generally, if a topic drifts too far off from the topic at hand, posts will either be split off into a topic of their own, deleted, or moved to the Random Outbursts thread.

7. Don't create multiple accounts - If you cannot access your current account for any reason, then email our Supervisor Asad and he will resolve the issue.

8. Respect staff decisions - If moderator action is taken against you, please don't question it in public. If you have a question or concern about any staff decision, please take it up with an appropriate member of staff. If it has to do with the content, send a PM to a Senior Editor. If it is a moderation decision, please PM a Supervisor.

9. Remember to keep common sense by your side at all times, and to think before you post. Often, common sense is all that's needed to promote a healthy community and be a good, rule-abiding member.

The GeekSmack Management reserve the right to make changes to these rules, member accounts, and the website as a whole with or without notice.