- 1. Restrictions on Articles
- 1.1 Acceptable topics
- 1.2 On-charter threads
- 1.3 Spoilers
- 1.4 Unacceptable posts
- 1.5 Unacceptable behaviour
- 2. Moderators' Role
- 2.1 Posts not modified
- 2.2 Rejected posts
- 2.3 Basis for rejection
- 2.4 Undeliverable email
- 2.5 Moderators' opinions
- 2.6 Off-charter posts
- 2.7 Removal of auto-approve status
- 2.8 No retromoderation
- 2.9 Administrative mailing list
- 3. General Administration
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The Moderation Policy for rasf1m is guided by the statement laid out in its Charter, namely that...
...the intention of this is to retain the opportunities for discussing Formula One currently found in other groups while preventing the spam, commercial posts, abuse directed towards F1 personalities and teams, participant abuse and posts completely unrelated to F1 that can also be found there.
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This group exists to provide opportunities for discussion about Formula One motor racing. Any article about F1 that does not contravene the guidelines set out here will be posted.
Potential topics might include the following:
- Races (results, discussions, first-hand accounts)
- Practice/testing results
- Drivers (former, present and potential future F1 drivers)
- Teams
- Circuits
- Requests for advice on attending races (prices, seating, equipment, etc)
- "Silly Season" rumours and news
- Events involving former and/or present F1 cars or personalities (eg: historic car meets, celebrity kart races, Le Mans, promotional/media appearances)
- Sponsorship in F1
- Rules
- Safety
- Requests for, and information on, scheduled TV viewing times
- Announcements concerning rasf1/rasf1m gatherings, meetings and reunions
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Posters to this newsgroup are expected to conform as much as possible to the requirement that articles are on-charter, as described above. It is acknowledged that threads will sometimes tend to drift off-charter; if this occurs, the participants will be expected to take the discussion to a more appropriate forum as soon as possible. If required, a moderator will post a reminder to the thread in question. Articles that attempt to begin a new thread with an off-charter post are not acceptable.
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Posts that mention or discuss a race result within 48 hours of the chequered flag should make use of Spoiler conventions. A lot of people cannot watch races live, but still need to consult the newsgroup for qualifying information, last-minute changes to broadcast times, and so on. Posters are therefore expected to include the word "SPOILER" in the subject of posts about races less than 48 hours, and to omit details of the result from the Subject header.
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1.4.1 Posts that are solely about other types of motor sport and do not mention F1 are not appropriate to rasf1m. These should be directed at the appropriate group for that race series (eg: NASCAR posts go to rec.autos.sport.nascar[.moderated].
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1.4.2 Binaries will not be accepted. Posts that contain a URL for a binary placed on a web page are acceptable.
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1.4.3 Posts in formats other than plain text, such as HTML, will not be accepted. The moderators will send a short note to the poster explaining how he/she can set the newsreader to post in plain text.
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1.4.4 Posts that are of a commercial or "for profit" nature will not be accepted. This includes, but is not limited to:
- commercial web sites
- advertisements for products and services
- soliciting for material, people or services for commercial "for profit" web sites
However, the use of a signature that contains a business name, address, phone number or URL, or reference to a product or service, is considered acceptable provided the signature is otherwise compliant and within the spirit of the charter - for example, the post is substantive and not purely for the purpose of posting the signature.
Posts advising the group of charitable racing-related events, or offering race tickets at or below face value, are also permitted.
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1.4.5 Crossposts are not accepted for technical reasons. The sole exceptions are posts from rec.autos.sport.info and Usenet administrative crossposts, such as those from news.announce.newgroups.
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1.4.6 Posts that are intended or likely to provoke abuse from other readers of the group are not acceptable. This category includes messages containing racial abuse, or offensive and malicious statements about drivers, other people associated with the sport, or other posters. It also includes fulsome, excessive and unsubstantiated praise of a driver, team, or any other person.
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1.4.7 All posts must have a return address which is valid (eg: username@domain.com) or decipherable (eg: username@domain.nospam.com). If email addresses are "spam-proofed" (ie: deliberately altered to prevent them from being retrieved by a spam-catching bot) it must be obvious to the moderator which alterations to make.
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1.4.8 Posts that contain extensive quoting of copyrighted material are not acceptable unless the poster has permission from the copyright holder. It is acceptable to post URLs pointing to F1 articles on the web with a brief summary of the content. Authors of copyrighted material must be credited.
The moderators and their service providers are not responsible for any material posted in violation of a copyright.
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1.4.9 Forged posts - defined as posts which purport to come from someone other than the actual poster - will not be accepted. Forgers may be subject to further action.
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1.4.10 Repeated advertisements for a poster's web site, mailing lists or other similar activities are not acceptable. Notifications of new content are welcome, but repeated posts containing nothing but an invitation to visit the poster's site, or join a list or group of individuals, will not be accepted.
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Action may be taken against individual posters who repeatedly engage in threatening or abusive behaviour towards a moderator or another poster. Similarly, any poster who attempts to interfere with the normal operation of the newsgroup or with any account involved in its administration or propagation, other than reporting net-abuse, may be prevented from posting for a limited period, and/or be subject to further action.
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Posts will either be accepted as a whole, or rejected. The moderators will NEVER modify them at all.
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The moderators will return a rejected post to the originating email address with an explanation for the rejection. If applicable, he or she will include suggestions on how to make the post acceptable. The poster is free to re-submit the post or ask the moderators for further information.
Should there be any question about whether or not a post is acceptable it will be left in the moderation queue, and a post made to the other moderators. If required, a second or third moderator may be used. The first to approve the article will result in the article appearing.
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No article will be rejected because of the author's opinion or position on an issue, nor will any post be rejected because of its author's personality rather than its content. Likewise, moderators agree not to reject articles due to a difference of opinion with a poster.
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The moderators cannot be held accountable for Internet failures or undeliverable email. If the moderators know of any problems, they will make an [ANNOUNCE] posting explaining the situation with updates as appropriate.
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Moderators' opinions will be expressed only within their own posts, not within their moderation activities. All posts made by moderators as part of their moderation activities will have the word "ANNOUNCE" in their subject line.
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As recognised in Section 1.2. discussions can and do veer off-charter. Moderators will have the right to email participants in such discussions privately to remind them of the group's charter and ask them to comply. If they do not do so, further action may be taken at the discretion of the moderators.
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2.7 Removal of auto-approve status
All decisions concerning the removal of a poster's auto-approve status require a two-thirds majority of moderators to be enforced.
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No moderator will issue a third party cancel on ("retromoderate") any article that has been approved in accordance with this policy.
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2.9 Administrative mailing list
Complaints or discussions about moderator judgements, and other matters related to the running of the newsgroup, will be handled through a separate administrative mailing list open to any and all participants in rasf1m. Messages from this list will not be posted to the newsgroup.
The administrative list for the newsgroup is an open one, and all users of rasf1m are welcome to join it. The list is solely to discuss administrative issues of the group. It may be joined by sending a blank message to:
rasf1m_admin@motorsport.org.uk
The subscriber must use a valid email address, with no spam blocks in place, as all commands are processed automatically and there is no human intervention.
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3.1.1 The moderation team will periodically need new members. Posters interested in joining the team are encouraged to express their interest to the moderators.
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3.1.2 The moderation team may additionally ask for people to help with the technical aspects of the moderation process - for example, help with running the moderation software or hosting lists or web pages. These members will not be involved in the moderation process. Posters interested in these roles are encouraged to express their interest to the moderators.
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3.1.3 Any changes to the moderation team will be posted to rasf1m and to the administrative mailing list.
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Moderators who do not observe the charter in their personal posts or moderation activities, or who act outside this policy, may be removed by a two-thirds majority vote of the other moderators.
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3.3.1 Any discussion of revision of this moderation policy must include "[MODPOL]" at the beginning of the subject line, and will be posted to rasf1m.
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3.3.2 After discussion in the newsgroup, the moderators will accept or reject the change based on their judgement as to the group's collective opinion.
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3.3.3 Any changes require a two-thirds majority of the moderators.
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3.3.4 The moderators will post all results of modification votes to the group within 24 hours of the decision.
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3.4 Posting Guide and Newsgroup FAQ
A Posting Guide will be published at regular intervals, together with a message welcoming new posters and the newsgroup FAQ. The Guide will contain information on basic Netiquette, and reminders of some of the requirements of the Moderation Policy. Posters will be expected to comply with these guidelines.
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3.5 Disclaimer
The moderators will not be held responsible for the accuracy, truth or legality of any of the posts. Posters must assume full responsibility for the content of their own posts.
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3.6 Approval of posts
The approval of a post by a moderator is NOT an endorsement of its content by the moderator or moderation team.
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3.7 Location of Charter and Moderation Policy
The charter and this Moderation Policy will be maintained on the web at http://www.rasf1m.net. Changes to its location will be posted to the newsgroup.