National HSFB Message Board Guidelines

NationalHSFB.com is operated and moderated by a group of individuals who have a passion for discussing high school football.  We believe our members, and those that visit this site, share the same passion.  We all enjoy the freedom to discuss high school football with like minded individuals all across the national football landscape.  As with any discussion between two or more individuals, we recognize there may be different opinions.  We understand that differing opinions may create contentious disagreements.  In order to establish clear boundaries for members, NationalHSFB.com has created a set of guidelines for posting on this message board.

To avoid potential conflicts, members should exercise a modicum of logic and common sense when dealing with others on this message board.  Please take advantage of the tools available through this site such the “Ignore” and “Report Post” features.  Moderation should be used as a last resort after member self-governing measures have been exhausted.

As a general rule, most of these Guidelines are provided as a way to improve the state of the message board through smart tips.  Some of these Guidelines are more prohibitive, however, and they function as rules.

Here are the Guidelines.

1.  No trolling.  Trolling is frowned upon by everyone.  So, do not create posts that are inflammatory just to provoke a reaction from others.  

2.  If you must disagree on a topic, with the author of a topic, or with another site member, that's perfectly fine.  Make it a practice to disagree with the message and not the messenger.  Challenge ideas and comments, but don't attack people.  Flaming is prohibited.  Flaming is the act of posting insults, often including the use of profanity or other offensive language directed at an individual or groups of individuals on this site.  

3.  No member is allowed to engage in public personal attacks on any other member.  Personal attacks are defined as personal, racial, ethnic, and/or gender based insults, slurs, or derisive comments.

4.  All complaints should be communicated privately.  Use personal messages, the "Report Post" feature, “Contact” and/or email.  If these features are not working on the site, contact the moderator or administrator.  The moderator/administrator will evaluate the complaint against these rules.  If the moderator finds the post(s) violates these rules, the offending post(s) will be edited or removed and the offending member warned/notified.  An offending member shall receive no more than two (2) private warnings via personal messages and/or email, and one final Administrative warning.  If the efforts above are not successful to deter the behavior, the member will be banned for a week, and upon a repeat incident, banned permanently.  NationalHSFB.com seeks to foster a community of mutual respect.  A little kindness by all members goes a long way to minimize conflict.  Please cooperate to the best of your ability with these guidelines so all members will find this forum enjoyable.

5.  Absolutely no pornographic, sexually offensive, sexually explicit, or objectifying material is allowed on this site.  This rule is a simple one.  No pornography means no pornography.  Administrators or any moderator may use their discretion and decide to delete these types of posts or topics.  Please refrain from posting sexually suggestive images.  Do not post links to pornographic or sexually explicit sites.  We aim to keep this a site that anyone can visit at any time without the fear of seeing sexually suggestive or pornographic images.  Any violation of this rule may, at the discretion of administrators or moderators, lead to you being banned from the site.

6.  Do not post links for personal gain.

7.  Generally, non-football related topics are discouraged.  NationalHSFB.com is meant for high school football discussions.  If you post something off-topic, let others know by placing the words "off topic" in the subject line.  Topics not related to football may get deleted.  Moderators have the discretion to keep, edit, or delete non-football related topics or posts.

8.  Please respect the privacy of others.  You would expect the same courtesy from others on this site.  In that regard, do not post phone numbers, personal or business addresses, photos of other members, drawings or sketchers of others, health related information, or any other private information of others without their permission.

9.  Do not post topics with profanity or bad language in the subject line.  Bad language, whether spelled correctly or purposely misspelled with letters or special characters, is frowned upon.  Refrain from the use of excessive profanity in your topics and replies.

11.  Spamming is prohibited.  Commercial posts are prohibited.  Moderators reserve the right, and at their discretion, to edit or delete topics or posts that contains spam or commercially related information.

12.  In conclusion, these guidelines are not intended to stifle free speech.  We welcome the exchange of ideas.  However, we also seek a balance to ensure all users enjoy reading and posting on this site.  Therefore, these guidelines may change from time to time, and without notice.  In the end, all moderators have the discretion to enforce any and all guidelines as they deem necessary.

We value your time and want to offer each member the most enjoyable high school football conversation in the nation.  So, this site was built for you, the high school football fans across the country.  Disagreements may and will happen between members from time to time.  Please keep all disagreements civil.  We will do our best to give warnings when we notice someone has violated our Guidelines (except when we have to act quickly).  Sometimes our moderators may miss something.  If that's the case, then send a complaint using the Support Option on the front page and we will look into your complaint.  If you're a repeat offender of the guidelines, we reserve the right to issue warnings, remove your posts, and/or ban you from the site.  Please understand that when someone engages in disruptive behavior on this site, it may lead to an unenjoyable experience for our users.  In that case, action may be taken.  That action may lead to topics being locked or deleted.  It may lead to replies to a topic being deleted.  As a last resort, an extreme action such as a user being permanently banned from the site may occur.  Use of this site is completely voluntary.  The administrators reserve the right (at their discretion) to ban any member from the site for any reason.  So please do not be disruptive.  We don't want to ban anyone but will if it's necessary.