Discussion Rules

We’re all passionate about Potter, and we all have beliefs we hold dearly. I have tried my best to make this a place of calm, sane, respectful discussion, and interest of continuing to promote that, I offer the following basic rules for discussion:

• No personal attacks. Ever. This includes namecalling, insinuations of stupidity, unfounded accusations and criticisms, rude sarcasm, or attempted psychological evaluations of commenters.
• Be aware of your tone, or how your words might be perceived, when responding to someone. If you’re uncertain, either reword, or use an emoticon to clarify. (I hate emoticons, but in the interest of keeping things light-hearted, go ahead and use them.)
• If you have a problem with the behavior, tone, or comments of someone, assume the best and ask clarifying questionsbefore making accusations. Most conflicts could be resolved this way, long before people start getting snarky. Seek understanding; don’t jump to criticism.
• When responding to someone in particular, use their screen name; it would also be helpful to use bold html tags (before the name, put “strong” in between these brackets < >, and after the name, put /strong in between the same brackets), but it is not required.
• Keep language to a PG-level. Anything stronger will be censored by me.
• Simply put, respond to people in the same way you’d want them to respond to you. Check your attitude at the pub door, and come on in for some reasonable discussion.

Violation of rules will result in one warning from me and the deletion of the offending part of your comment. Further violation may result in either a suspension (come back in 2 weeks after you’ve cooled down) or being banned from the blog altogether. I’ll also consider only suspending or banning you from certain threads/subjects which really rile you up.