Forum Guidelines

The guidelines below, along with the Rules of Conduct, are intended to create a positive and constructive atmosphere for discussion about The Fatherhood Support Network’s offerings, fatherhood, parenting as well as topics meaningful to local and national communities. These Forum Guidelines, along with the Rules of Conduct, apply to all Fatherhood Support Network communication channels.

1) Be respectful and courteous – While people may at times disagree with one another, it is important to maintain an atmosphere of civility and respect so that all voices may be heard. Disagreements with others are acceptable, but must be expressed in a reasonable and polite manner.

2) Communicate constructively – It is important for any communication, whether just between users or directly involving Fatherhood Support Network representatives, to be constructive. Posts without constructive commentary can distract from or otherwise reduce the visibility of valuable communication and discourage others from participating in the conversation.

A few examples of non-constructive communications are as follows:

Off-topic commentary for specific forum
Cross-posting , such as posting the same topic of conversation repeatedly and across multiple avenues of communication in an attempt to gain attention for an issue, can split conversation into multiple avenues. If a conversation is relevant to multiple groups, users may post a link to the main conversation in no more than two additional forums. We also discourage posting a new thread on a topic that is already being discussed, as it spreads out the discussion out and makes it harder to gather appropriate feedback.
Naming/Accusing – Openly accusing another user or group of misbehavior can result in non-constructive discussion and is not allowed. You may discuss the type of behavior at issue, but specifically naming individuals or groups is not allowed. In cases of where you believe that has been such exploiting, harassment or other violations of conduct, please contact the Forum Moderator.
Attacks – Do not insult, degrade or criticize any person, group of people, company or country. Such attacks are hurtful, often lead to response in kind and destroy useful discussion
Personal attacks include calling someone stupid, saying “You suck,” “I wish you would die,” or “You should be fired.” Personal attacks also include postings that are degrading, embarrassing, humiliating, intimidating, harmful, threatening, abusive, harassing, stalking, tortuous, defamatory, vulgar, obscene, libelous, that may be invasive of another’s right of privacy or publicity, or that are
hateful, racially, ethnically or otherwise objectionable to any individual or to any individual or group of individuals on the basis of their age, ancestry, color, ethnicity, marital status, medical condition, mental or physical disability, national origin, race, ***, sexual orientation, union or nonunion affiliation, or any other basis protected by federal, state, or local law or ordinance.
Similarly, attacking groups of people, companies, and other countries is prohibited
Attacks are grounds for immediate account bans, suspensions or terminations.
Lobbying/Polling/Petitioning – Lobbying/Polling/Petitioning excessively for specific changes without approval from the Fatherhood Support Network are not permitted in the Fatherhood Support Networks communication channels
Threatening Legal Action – Any user who feels the need to take legal action with regard to their experiences with the Fatherhood Support Network’s forums or offerings should contact our organization directly. You can do this by sending mail to 2722 N. Green Valley Pkwy #50494 Henderson, NV 89016. We do not allow such discussions to take place on the forums and may delete any postings that do so

3) Do not troll or make personal attacks – Trolling and attacking others is not allowed on Night Owl Games Forums or other Night Owl Games-maintained communication channels.

Trolling is posting provocatively with reasonable expectation of provoking an emotional response (intentional or not). Trolling can include.
- Non-constructive feedback or comments.
- Nerf Calls – Openly calling for “Nerfs” (blanket reductions to abilities) is not allowed. If you feel something is overpowered or needs to be toned back, post your constructive comments and explanations.
- Accusing Others of Trolling – Calling someone a troll or accusing them of trolling is a form of trolling in and of itself. If you feel someone is behaving in a manner not consistent with these rules, please click the “Report Post” icon to use the report-a-post function on the forums. Do not respond to or quote the person exhibiting these behaviors as this is often the very response the person misbehaving was looking for.
- Excessive Reporting of Posts – Using the report-a-post function of the forums to draw attention to a specific cause, to target an individual or to bypass a forum suspension or ban is considered trolling, particularly if it is used frequently for the purpose.
Attacks – Do not insult, degrade or criticize any person, group of people, company or country. Such attacks are hurtful, often lead to response in kind and destroy useful discussion
- Personal attacks include calling someone stupid, saying “You suck,” “I wish you would die,” or “You should be fired.” Personal attacks also include postings that are degrading, embarrassing, humiliating, intimidating, harmful, threatening, abusive, harassing, stalking, tortuous, defamatory, vulgar, obscene, libelous, that may be invasive of another’s right of privacy or publicity, or that are hateful, racially, ethnically or otherwise objectionable to any individual or to any individual or group of individuals on the basis of their age, ancestry, color, ethnicity, marital status, medical condition, mental or physical disability, national origin, race, ***, sexual orientation, union or nonunion affiliation, or any other basis protected by federal, state, or local law or ordinance.
- Similarly, attacking groups of people, companies, and other countries is prohibited.
- Attacks are grounds for immediate account bans, suspensions or terminations.

4) Do not reveal account information when discussing Customer Service actions. When discussing Customer Service interactions, the comments must be kept constructive, civil and without revealing personal or account information. Additionally, if a moderator or Fatherhood Support Network representative removes the post, you will be contacted. Follow the direction given, if any. 5) Profanity is not allowed – Because the Fatherhood Support Network appeals to a broad audience, the use of profanity is not permissible in any Fatherhood Support Network communication medium. Please be respectful of your fellow users and do not use this sort of language.

Do not intentionally evade the word filter or partially mask profanity by substituting characters or words. The intent will still be clear

5) Actions which can result in immediate suspension of forum privileges – Some actions are severe enough to result in immediate temporary or permanent suspension of posting privileges without prior notification. Serious or sustained offenses may result in suspension of not only the user’s posting privileges but of the user’s forum account as well. Examples include:

Threats against anyone
Sexually explicit content
Providing the personal information of others
Attacks and hate speech (including slandering or otherwise vilifying a particular race, religion, ethnic group, gender, sexual preference, or sexual identity)
Advertising, promotional materials, “junk mail”, “spam”, “chain letters”, “pyramid schemes” or any other form of solicitation
Misrepresenting or omitting the origin or source of any material, including the deletion of any author attributions, legal notices or proprietary designations or labels relating to any upload or download
Sharing personal information about other individuals or Fatherhood Support Network representatives
Evading suspension through account hopping
Impersonating a Fatherhood Support Network Representative or any person or entity, forum or Message Board leader, guide or host or falsely state or otherwise misrepresent your affiliation with a person or entity, including the Fatherhood Support Network.
Any bloatware, malware, computer virus, worm, Trojan horse, spyware, adware, crimeware, scareware, rootkit, corrupted data, bot, keystroke logger, time bomb, cancelbot, or any other computer programming routines (or any program installed in a way that executable code of any program is scheduled to utilize or utilizes processor cycles during periods of time when such program is not directly or indirectly being used) that are intended to and/or actually hamper, damage, interfere with, intercept, mine, scrape or expropriate any computing system, any data or any personal information
Promoting or linking to exploits, cheating programs, or any sort of illegal activity, including transmitting or facilitating the transmission of any material infringing any IP right (if you wish to report such activity, please contact Customer Support)

8) Abide by moderator and Fatherhood Support Network representative actions and direction – self-explanatory.

If you disagree with a moderator or representative’s actions, do not discuss or challenge the matter in forum posts. Instead, contact Customer Support (include your forum handle, but NOT your password) and clearly state your concerns.

IMPORTANT: Forum content is moderated at the Fatherhood Support Network’s sole discretion, and content may be modified, removed, or otherwise restricted by Fatherhood Support Network representatives.

These rules are not comprehensive but are provided to provide a rough outline of conduct that is and is not allowed on the Fatherhood Support Network’s-maintained forums and communication channels. Failure to follow these rules or any direction from the Fatherhood Support Network’s staff or volunteers may result in your posting privileges being suspended, either temporarily or permanently.