Clarification of Rules

While believers are not prohibited from sharing their faith, preaching as a replacement for discussion is disruptive and as such is not allowed. Such behavior may result in posts being edited or deleted. Theists are welcome to introduce themselves and socialize with other users, but not to proselytize, preach, witness, or otherwise promote a theistic viewpoint without rational discussion; such posts are unwelcome here and will be subjected to heavy-handed moderation.

IIDB has zero tolerance to proactiveness of pedophilia and hebephilia, inclusive of text, pictures and articles (news, links, etc). II/IIDB has no sympathy towards any persons who have or desire to undertake any form of sexual relationships with a minor (a minor being a child/youth aged 17 years of age or under). These topics will be removed from public and the person may face penalty for posting any such material.

1. Not to violate any applicable law, code, regulation or rule or to plan, encourage or help others violate any applicable law, code, regulation or rule;

Members are not to violate any laws within their country and any laws applicable to the United States of America. Examples such as "we should go kill those people" or "pedophilia and/or hebephilia should be allowed or encouraged" are not encouraged at all. Images or scenes depicting murder, torture, or any other heinous act will be removed. Members will be in violation and moderators will infract accordingly.

2. Not to post or transmit unlawful or pornographic information.

This is absolutely inclusive of child pornography, rape scenes, snuff, scat, golden showers, etc. IIDB does allow some nudity and specific areas are set up for that - specifically being Media & Culture Gallery. Any images, videos, or links to images/videos that contain models or persons that could be perceived as younger than 18 years old are not allowed. Our staff does not have time to research every image to ensure the model and/or person is of legal age. (also see: Note 2)

3. Not to post any or provide a link to any material that infringes upon any third party's copyright, trademark, patent or other intellectual property rights;

Members are to check the information that they provide from any website or book ensuring that copyright are intact.

4. Not to plagiarize.

Plagiarism is theft. If you are citing material ensure that you cite the link the information comes from, and/or the name of the person the information belongs to.

7. Not to goad, harass, insult, flame, spam, falsely quote, or invade the privacy of II or any other registered member of this board;

Calling a fellow poster a liar, deceitful, or making a similar accusation, is not acceptable even if you believe that your fellow poster really is a liar or deceitful. This kind of accusation never furthers the debate. Some people sincerely believe the strangest, most illogical things, and they aren't 'lying' when they express those irrational beliefs. They really believe them to be true, even when they obviously contradict other things they have said. The only acceptable response to what appears to be a lie from a fellow poster is to present evidence or argument to contradict what your fellow poster has said.

Similarly, hyperbolic or overly emotive language and imagery, such as unwarranted comparisons to Nazi Germany, are generally discouraged and will be deleted if they appear to serve no purpose other than to inflame the discussion. We strive for rational and civil discussion here at IIDB, and if the moderators believe a post or a part of a post is counterproductive to that, they may need to edit.

Falsely quoting posters by using the quote function and changing the text is not acceptable. Do not edit other people’s posts when you quote them except when using the "FIFY" format of striking out removed text and bolding inserted text, or some other method, to make it clear what are your words and what are their words.

For the most part, any personal remark about another member, including modifying their user name to mock them, or deliberately and repeatedly using a gender different from their expressed wish, may be subject to edit/infraction. Address the content of the person's post; refrain from making comments about the person.

9. Not derail threads or detract from board discussions;

Off-topic posting or hijacking of threads is inappropriate. Posts in individual threads which have little or no relevance to the topic of that thread will likely be deleted without warning. A person prompted to bring up a side-topic in the course of a discussion should start a new thread, and link to it in the original thread.

Multiple threads on the same or very similar topics serve no purpose. If a thread is started on a subject which is already being discussed in an active thread, the new thread will be closed or merged with the existing thread.

Posts which consist of little else besides a link to another document or video are not 'discussion', and are considered disruptive. Links provided in support of one's position are fine, but one is obliged to summarize or paraphrase the relevant point in their own words and in-thread. The posts should contain an argument or refutation, or at least a description with personal commentary, and not be mere links with some cut-n-paste quotation(s). In other words, post your thoughts and not just other people's thoughts.

10. Not to discuss moderation or the rules in the general forum and to direct any complaints about moderation or the TOU to the Private Feedback Forum;

This private feedback is to discuss disagreements with moderation. It is not to insult, malign or threaten the mods. Latitude is given for a candid discussion that drives toward understanding. No impunity is given for flat out insults.

12. Not to accuse another user of being a troll or bot. See clarification for how to report actual cases;

Calling a fellow poster a troll or a bot does not help eliminate real trolls and bots, nor does it further the debate. If you suspect this is actually, literally true, please report the post so that the moderation team can determine if a bot or troll is evident and should be banned. Otherwise address the content of the post.

13. Not to engage in trolling, brinking, or rules lawyering;

The following behaviors; trolling, brinking and rules lawyering, are all behaviors that are destructive to meaningful discussions by creating emotional responses and derails and are therefore prohibited by the TOU. Repeated violations will be handled to preserve the forum purpose; meaningful discussion and the exchange of ideas. Members may discuss almost any topic or hold almost any opinion, but they may not hurt others or destroy the function of the site while they do it.

An Internet Troll is a person who delights in sowing discord on the Internet. He tries to start arguments and upset or provoke people using inflammatory language or analogies. For some reason, they don’t "get" that they are hurting real people. To them, other Internet users are not quite human but are a kind of digital abstraction. As a result, they feel no sorrow whatsoever for the pain they inflict. Indeed, the greater the suffering they cause, the greater their ‘achievement’ (as they see it). They exploit the relative anonymity of the net to flourish.

Brinking, also termed as Edgelording – Testing rules by repeatedly getting as close as possible to breaking them without stepping over the line. Sometimes used to provoke others over the line, stir up trouble in a discussion, or to create difficulty for moderators.

A Rules Lawyer is a participant in a rules-based environment who attempts to use the letter of the law without reference to the spirit. One version from the gaming community is relevant; The Obnoxious Rules Lawyer, which is also called a "Rule Shark", is particularly disruptive because they believe that because they can find a rule about something, the people in charge must allow them to do it, even if it doesn't make sense in the situation, or would disrupt the discussion. They want to play a game of rules instead of having an exchange of ideas.