Welcome to the Kniterate Forums | Community Rules

Thanks for joining the Kniterate forums. We want to welcome you here, hoping you will help us build a better community and company.

Please read and follow the rules below, so that these forums become an inclusive and positive space for all of its members.

We can’t wait to hear your thoughts, ideas and hopes about Kniterate and digital knitting.

Forum Rules

1. No Posting of Personal Information

To protect yourself, you may not post your last name, or your street address on the Kniterate forum. This is because this information then becomes accessible to anyone.

DO NOT ASK for email addresses or phone numbers, your account will be banned permanently and your posts will be deleted.

2. No Spam / Advertising / Self-promoting in the forums

These forums define spam as unsolicited advertisement for goods, services and/or other web sites, or posts with little, or completely unrelated content. Do not spam the forums with links to your site or product, or try to self-promote your website, business or forums, etc.

3. Do not post copyright-infringing material

Providing or asking for information on how to illegally obtain copyrighted materials is forbidden.

4. Do not post “offensive” posts, links or images

Any material which constitutes defamation, harassment, or abuse is strictly prohibited.

No Discrimination – You may not insult members based on their religion, race, sex, political beliefs, or whether they are gay or straight. This hurts all members of the board who fall into the category you insult. Kniterate is a place where everyone is equal, and discrimination will NOT be tolerated!

No Bullying – Do not pick on other members. The worst kind of bullying is where new members are picked on. This hurts the member as well as the board.

No Flaming – Flaming harms the atmosphere of the Kniterate forums. It also causes threads to go off topic, and most importantly, it hurts the person being flamed. The victim may defend themselves against any accusations made to them, but may not make any additional accusations to the flamer (which also counts as flaming).

5. Post questions mindfully

Please refrain from posting the same question in several forums. There is normally one forum which is most suitable in which to post your question.

If a topic you created has no replies, you may not post again in it (although you may edit). If you made the thread because you need help with something, you may post again if you include additional information about your problem (the fact that you really want it fixed does not count as additional information). You must post this in the same thread, and you are not allowed to create more than one thread per topic.

6. Remain respectful of other members always

All posts should be professional and courteous. Don’t post profanity or obscene content, such content does not belong on Kniterate.

You have every right to disagree with your fellow community members and explain your perspective. However, you are not free to attack, degrade, insult, or otherwise belittle them or the quality of this community. It does not matter what title or power you hold in these forums, you are expected to obey this rule.

You may not make posts threatening to leave the board. Anyone responding poorly to these threads will also be muted.

7. No Illegal Activity

You are not allowed to break the law using the Kniterate forums.

You are not permitted to hack the board. Guessing someone else’s password, and succeeding, counts as hacking. Members who hack will be instantly and permanently banned without any warnings.

General Forum Questions

Am I allowed more than one account?

No, there is no reason why you should have more than one account. If you are banned from the forums, please do not create a new account. If you continue to create new accounts after you have been banned, your IP address will be blocked from the forums.

What happens if I break a rule?

Breaking rules result in punishments. There are several types of punishments:

Warning – This is where a public announcement is made that mentions your name and that you have broken a rule. We will determine whether you knew what you were doing was wrong or whether a warning is necessary to explain it to you. If we do not give a warning, we will skip ahead to the next step in the penalty list.

Muting – This is where you are not able to talk on the board. You may still view it.

Temporary Ban – This is where you are not able to view the board for a certain period.

Permanent Ban – You can never again view the board.

The administrators and moderators also have the right to edit, delete, move or close any thread or post as they see necessary, without warning.

What happens if I see a thread/post which has broken a rule?

Please report the thread/post to the moderators or admin.

Where can I find out who is in charge?

The Forum Moderators are displayed in every Forum.

Harassing the administration about punishments is not allowed. The admins are only trying to do their job, and many times they must make difficult decisions. You may post your opinion in the thread that announces the punishment. If the thread gets out of hand, it will be closed, and you may not complain elsewhere on the board, or by other means including, but not limited to: private messages, instant messaging programs, email, telephone calls, and house visits. You also may not make threats against administrators or other members of the community. Punishments for harassment range from a 5-day mute for minor harassment to a permanent ban if serious threats are involved.

Becoming a moderator

All moderator applicants must have been members for at least 90 days (3 months) and have at least 100 posts.

You must be active in the individual forums you wish to moderate and regularly create and respond to threads in those forums.

You must also maintain a working knowledge of the subject matter.

Please be aware that applying to be a moderator does not guarantee acceptance and that moderators will only be appointed when needed.

Current moderators and administrators will review applications and decide if the applicant fits the desired post. Administrators have the final say and we reserve to right to refuse applicants with or without cause.

In Order To Apply To Be A Moderator You Must be:

-a forum regular
-have been at the forum for over 3 months
-have a positive presence on Kniterate’s Forums
-be proactive
-knowledgeable in the Forums they would like to moderate.
-polite and helpful towards other members and give advice whenever needed and whenever possible.
-visit the forum each day, actively take part in discussions as often as possible, ideally once a day, setting a good example to the other members.
-take an active part in discussions between Moderators relating to the running of the forum.
-help to keep unsuitable content out of the forums as much as possible.

Staff abuse will not be tolerated

As a staff member, your job is to help the people, not harm them. You may only use your powers for the purposes that they have been given to you for. There is no limit on how much you may be punished for this severe offense as this must be stopped at all costs to protect the people. This means that if you abuse your powers, there is a good chance you will be permanently banned.