Community rules.

This site brings together a large community of people with an interest in travel. The following community guidelines are a living document that we use to guide our actions as moderators. It explains what is allowed here and what is not. The purpose of these guidelines is to create a healthy environment for all the people on this website.

When you add content (a picture, a comment, a post, ...), follow these simple rules:

1. No sexist, racist or obscene language.
2. No personal attacks.
3. Stay on topic.

Now, for a little more detail:

• Content that's yours.
• Adult & sexist content.
• Hate speech.
• Delicate society issues.
• Keep private information private.
• Personal attacks.
• Impersonating another member.
• Multiple accounts.
• Blatant advertising.
• Trolling.
• Spam.
• Threats.

Content that's yours.

Only post content that is yours, don't post copyrighted content.

Examples:

• Copying the entire text of a news article is not ok.
• Posting pictures that aren't yours is not ok.

Actions:

• If you post content that's not yours, we may delete it.
• If you do this repeatedly, we will warn you and may eventually delete your account, because it opens us up for legal liability.

Adult & sexist content

Adult content and sexist content is not allowed. That includes discussions of a sexual nature.

To be clear, discussions of relationships are allowed.

Examples:

• Content of sexual nature.
• Pictures of girls you think are "hot".
• Discussions about where to find girls, for example "which place has the hottest women".
• Sexist discussions.

Actions:

• We will delete adult & sexist content.
• For repeate offenders, we may delete their account.

Hate speech.

Don't post hate speech or content that is derogatory against certain groups of people. This doesn't mean you can't discuss things, just don't post things that are overly generalizing and hateful or sexist.

Actions:

• We will delete the content.
• For repeate offenders, we may delete their account.

Delicate society issues

Delicate society issues like sex tourism, prostitution and pedophilia should be approached with discretion.

We do not condone sex tourism and do not allow discussions promoting it.

Actions:

• Discussions on these issues may also be moderated more tightly to prevent offensive language and flaming.
• Content promoting sex tourism is not allowed.

Keep private information private

No matter how nasty someone gets in private, how certain you are that they sent the message privately by mistake, or how relevant you think a private message is to the rest of the list, if a message was sent privately to you, treat it as personal correspondence and keep it private. To do otherwise makes you look untrustworthy and childish.

If someone is harassing you off-list and refuses to stop, contact the moderators.

Examples:

• Don't share emails, phone numbers, adresses etc.
• Don't share the text of emails or pm's people have sent you.

Actions:

• We will delete the posted content and we may delete your account, as this is considered a serious issue.

Personal attacks

Attacking someone's argument is accepted, even encouraged. Attacking the person who made the argument is unnecessary and not allowed.

Examples:

• Harassing or stalking someone.
• Calling someone names ("You're such an idiot").

Actions:

• We will warn you and may delete your account, as this is considered a serious issue.

Impersonating another member.

Impersonating another member is not allowed.

Examples:

• Signing up on purpose using a similar username or copying their profile picture.
• Impersonation for the purpose of satire, for example "President Uribe" is ok.

Actions:

• We may ask you to change the offending content (your picture for example) or even delete your account.

Multiple accounts.

You are not allowed to have multiple usernames. It makes conversations harder to follow and undermines the trust in this community.

Actions:

• We will ask you which username you would like to keep. We may delete your account.

Blatant advertising

It is ok to mention your services (hostel, travel guide, ...) if it's relevant to something somebody is asking. It's not ok to post repeatedly with advertisments of your service.

Examples:

• Repeated posts pointing to your own website where you provide a commercial service.

Actions:

• We will delete the content.
• For repeate offenders, we may delete their account.

Trolling.

Some people just enjoy starting trouble. They'll intentionally post false or controversial material, usually worded in a provocative manner, just to get others to pay attention to them. This is known as"trolling" and is regarded by some as an art form. We disagree. We think it is dull entertainment for simple minds. We prefer to ignore the trolls until they crawl back under their bridge, and we would prefer that you do likewise.

Actions:

• Trolling is a serious offense and undermines the community. When we find trolls, we will delete their account and all their content.

Spam.

Numerous (nearly) identical, unsolicited content items are posted.

Examples:

• Posting the same message via personal messaging to many people.
• Posting the same message on multiple forums, without consideration for the topic of the forum.

Actions:

• We will delete the content, and we may delete the account.

Threats.

When a user feels threatened by content posted by another user.

Examples:

• Posts stating: "I will find you".

Actions:

• We will delete the content, and we will warn the person posting the threats.
• We may delete the account of the person posting the threats.
• If the threat is clearly satirical or it is somehow clear that the poster has neither the ability or the intent to carry out the treath, we won't act.

Moderation.

When moderators see someone breaking the rules, there are a bunch of actions they can take.

Demoting content.

For mild violations, the moderators can demote content. It stil exists, but isn't shown in lists anymore. You can find demoted content in your own profile section, where it's still listed.

Deleting content.

For more serious violations, moderators will delete the content. They will also usually send a warning the the person who posted it. Deleted content cannot be un-deleted.

Account deletion.

When members continually or seriously violate the rules, their account can be deleted. We will inform the person of the deletion. Deleted members are not welcome to sign up again.

Asking questions about moderation.

The forums are not the right place to ask questions about something the moderators did (like delete your post). Instead, send a personal message to a moderator.