DSF RULES Ver9.0 (JUNE 2015)

First and foremost, this is a music forum. Keep that in mind. This place was started to bring people together. Bring music lovers together. We like to think of this site as an experiment of positivity. Global bass culture. You wouldn’t trash up your own neighborhood, so please take the negativity and strife elsewhere.

Its worth reminding all members that you don’t have to agree with these rules below, but you must follow them.

One love.

The DSF Crew.

If you’ve got a problem with a member’s behavior, please make a PM complaint to any of the Staff. Make sure you link or quote from the offensive post in the PM to us. The Staff will decide on what course of action to take. Please understand that it may take a up to a day or two.

WARNING & BANNING:

Banning a member of the forum is not taken lightly. There is a warning policy in place to prevent trolling and problem posters. Minor breaking of rules will be dealt with outside of the warning system, but if a user regularly pushes the rules to the limit then they may be considered. The initial warning will be made directly to the thread in question and/or via PM’s to the poster. Subsequent warnings will be made by the Staff. Depending on the nature and severity of the infractions, the Staff has the right to suspend users who have received at least one warning, with or without explanations or discussions.

Again, so we’re perfectly clear on this :

  • Warning: Made publicly or in PM at the discretion of the Staff. A note will be made to the member’s profile.

  • Subsequent Warnings: Made publicly or in PM at the discretion of the Staff. A note will be made to the member’s profile.

  • Suspensions of varying length based on the discretion of the Staff. No discussions or explanations have to be given. Any further newly created aliases that cause problems or can be connected to the suspended user may also be suspended. There may be rare cases in which a permanent ban can be reversed, but that is up to the discretion of the Staff.

Generally, the staff will make their decisions on a case by case basis. If you feel someone is deserving of a warning, please flag the post in question or PM a moderator to explain why. That said, falsely or maliciously flagging posts or referring people for warnings may result in that user themselves receiving a warning or suspension. Staff reserves the right to suspend any member who ignores messages sent to them by the staff regarding their behaviour. They also reserve the right to limit a member’s forum privileges (e.g., avatars, private messaging) as well as edit, lock, or delete anything posted to this site without explanation.

Do not waste the Staff’s time reporting posts that are not against the rules and asking us to fight your battles for you. THE STAFF ARE NOT A BABYSITTING SERVICE. If a member shows a pattern of regularly attacking you without justification then of course report it and we will deal with it but otherwise, learn to fight your own battles without resorting to personal insults which are likely to come back around to you. Most of the time, if someone is being aggressive to you, it’s because you’ve been guilty of doing something aggressive yourself, so the best way to avoid problems is to think about what you’re saying and not antagonize people in the first place.

1) The following content will get you immediately banned, without our warnings or strikes system

  • RACIST/BIGOTED/EXTREMELY DISCRIMINATORY MATERIAL
  • BLOODY/GORE/DEATH/HIGHLY OFFENSIVE MATERIAL
  • GRAPHIC NUDITY/GRAPHIC PORN/GRAPHIC SEXUAL MATERIAL

This may include words, images, videos, audio, symbols, icons, or links to where these sorts of topics can be found. This applies to avatars as well as posts.

2) Trolling / aggressive or abusive behaviour / stalking

Below are examples of situations that we consider Trolling /Aggressive/Abusive/Stalking. ANY of the behavior listed below may lead to to warnings and suspensions:

  • Being abusive, antagonistic or physically threatening towards the forum itself, the forum membership, or the Staff. This includes sexual harassment and extreme sexist comments about other members.

  • Baiting/Antagonizing forum members for the sole purpose of dragging them into a conflict or threatening situation.

  • Using the Private Messaging (PMs) system to create threatening or abusive situations.

  • Posting personal, identifiable, or otherwise inappropriate information about another user without their consent (this can also include non-forum users).

  • Trolling of new members. Unnecessary trolling of threads created by new members will result in an automatic 48 hour ban and a warning added to your account. If someone posts something you do not personally like or agree with, then do not post in the thread. Likewise, if a question is asked that is already answered elsewhere on the site, then either provide a link to where the answer can be found or provide constructive discussion. Trolling of new user threads will not be tolerated.

  • Dark suggestive “jokes” on subjects like suicide, rape, etc. These may be deleted immediately at our discretion.

  • Arranging “board raids,” including posting abusive material, swamping threads, or trolling other boards websites from this forum will be permanently banned.

  • Creating alias accounts and/or using multiple accounts in an abusive manner. Staff reserves the right to publicly reveal aliases if they feel the situation warrants it.

3) Spam / deraling threads / meaningless discussion

Endlessly spamming the forum or spamming a specific thread for any reason is prohibited. Our definition of spamming also includes “attention whoring” - posting in a manner meant only to draw attention to oneself; or changing the subject discussed only to promote yourself, your products or your related weblinks. Also, creating a thread with a title completely unrelated to the subject actually posted to gain attention to your thread is considered spam.

Posting the same flyers or links in several threads, or on several sub-forums during the same day, bumping your own promotional threads more than 3 times in the same day or 3 or more times a day over a run of consecutive and/or non-consecutive days, promoting your own label’s releases or using separate threads for each release, instead of putting them all in one thread, can all constitute spamming.

Rather than posting lots of consecutive posts, edit your first post so that everything you want to post is in one post and not several.

Derailing threads by repeatedly making posts that have little or nothing to do with the topic of the thread constitutes spam. Long personal conversations between two people should be taken to PM. Users that show a pattern of derailing multiple threads or making repeated meaningless posts will be warned and/or suspended at the discretion of the Staff.

4) Extreme religious/anti-religious discussion

Trolling religious related threads purely to antagonize or disrespect another person’s views, or create religiously charged arguments, is not allowed. Faith or atheism are private choices, and from this context, we stand behind people’s privacy. With this in mind, remember to be sensitive when discussing religion in any thread and be aware that any thread which descends into childish insults, petty bickering, or insulting members based on their personal faith (or lack thereof) will be locked or removed, and repeat offenders may be dealt with. The posting of extreme anti-religious (or religious) images, videos, or other links, will be dealt with similarly. Staff will delete these offending discussions or posts at their discretion.

5) Video collection channels

The solicitation of the forum membership by online video channels (e.g., YouTube, Vimeo, Dailymotion) looking to establish music collections, regardless of whether said tracks are signed, or unsigned, is NOT allowed on this site. This is because the motivation behind these channels cannot be established. Any threads created by channels looking to build massive collections, or looking for subscribers, will be deleted. If we see a pattern of consistent solicitation by these sorts of channels, then the forum member responsible, and all associated member accounts, will be permanently banned.

However, it is important to note the distinction between these types of channels and channels created by already established and known labels or producers looking to promote their own discography. These latter are the only kind of channel allowed to solicit.

6) Tune request threads

Please don’t make a thread requesting tunes for mixes, radio shows, sets, etc. There’s plenty of resources out there for you to trawl through, so have a listen through the dubs forum, soundcloud, record shops, etc., and don’t rely on others to do your work for you. All threads of this nature will be deleted.

7) “No show” discussions

These are very difficult threads for the Staff, as there is no way we can either confirm/deny or support allegations in regards to producers/dj’s not showing up to a specific event. We also cannot know a member’s motivations behind starting a “No Show” thread, and because of this, it could create an unfair, reputation damaging situation. In the interests of open discussions, “No Show” threads will be allowed to remain open on the forum for roughly 72 hours at the most, and at that point they will locked or deleted, at the Staff’s discretion.

8) Banned proxies

In order to prevent trolling of this site, we may take measures to ban known problematic proxies. We understand that people access this site from proxies for a variety of different reasons, and most of them are legitimate, so we’d like to apologize if you find that your normal proxy IP is banned from this forum. Please find another proxy if this is the case.

9) Ebay, auctions & selling threads

  • Threads selling production/DJ related equipment (e.g., mixers, turntables, software) are only to be posted in the Production Forum as long as they’re personal sales from a registered forum member. Retail sales & discount offers from outside companies must speak to the Staff before creating sales related threads (please see the contact section), or else the thread may be deleted as spam.

  • Threads selling personal vinyl and or other random items (e.g., “I’m selling all my DNB” or “I’m selling all my Big Apple” are only to be posted in the SNH.

  • Threads discussing auction prices or otherwise (e.g., “Look at the price of DMZ002!”) are allowed on the main forum, provided they’re not being put there for personal sales.

10) Piracy (Dubplates, files, software, links to piracy sites, etc.)

Threads generally discussing p2p issues and its online culture are welcomed. Threads on ANY part of the forum (profiles included); revealing, hinting at, or linking to copyrighted software, movies, music or other protected data, will be handled by the Staff in the following methods:

  • A forum member posting a signed tune/s without authorization and with the intent to share it casually via zippyshare, torrent links, or similar methods, will be immediately banned. There won’t be any warning or explanation in regards to this.

  • If the Staff receives complaints regarding unauthorized tracks posted on the forum, the tracks in question or the mix itself may be removed from the site immediately. Forum members continually posting unauthorized tracks in mixes or elsewhere will face a loss of forum priviledges and/or an immediate forum ban, the nature of which to be determined on a case by case basis.

  • If a thread contains questionable p2p related info and/or generates complaints sent to the Staff, it may be deleted outright without explanation.

  • Names of p2p Networks (e.g., Soulseek, Gnutella, Napster) are allowed in normal discussion so long as they DON’T contain ANY specific information as listed below:

  • Ripping/posting group names

  • Specific rooms or discussion groups

  • Torrents or seed links and names, download links, or other links to questionable material

  • Directories

  • Released/unreleased music located on specifically named networks

People continually posting questionable p2p info may be permanently banned from the forum.

11) Dubs, Music, Production, and General Discussion Forums

Except in rare circumstances, tracks created by members of the forum are not to be posted in the Production or General Discussion forums.

The Dubs forum is for posting your own tracks, whether they are works in progress you would like to get feedback on, or your own finished tunes you would like to share with members of the community.

The suggested format for thread titles in the Dubs forum is the following:

Artist A - Track Title (Artist B remix) [genre/s]

So, in the case of the Indian Dub by Loefah, it would be formatted:

Loefah - Indian Dub [Dubstep/2-step]

And in the case of Skream’s remix of Indian Dub:

Loefah - Indian Dub (Skream remix) [Dubstep/2-step]

The Music forums are for discussing released music. Almost all of the threads in the Music forum are about artists who are not members of the forum, and in almost all circumstances, forum members should not post their own music in the Music forums. There are rare exceptions, and it is ultimately up to the Staff’s discretion which threads belong in the Music, Dubs, and other forums. Feel free to communicate with the Staff if you’re unsure where you should post a thread.

Please understand that if you post threads about your own music in the Music forums, it may be moved to a different forum or removed altogether. Please also note that repeatedly creating threads about your own music in the wrong forum after being warned by the Staff is considered spam and will result in more warnings and suspensions.

12) Events section (Global)

The event system on this site is very simple. We use a system of topic categories that signify two types of events. Events coming up within 7 days will have " Image " on the left column of the topic. These threads will appear at the top of the rest of the listings. This is so we keep all information timely. This section is designed to help bass music related promoters. This means that all events posted in the events section should consist of at least one bass music related act.

We allow charity, fundraiser, birthday and award events to post one (1) roll call/hype thread on the main Discussion forum, as well as have a listing here in the event sections. Weekly/monthly live video streamed events (boilerroom.tv, etc) can also have a roll call thread on the main forum. No other events will be allowed to promote on the main Discussions forum, except those event types mentioned above.

“My event was deleted from the forum? Why?” Here’s a list of the reasons why…

  • There’s no city in the thread title. (NO EXCEPTIONS)
  • There’s no event date in the thread title. (NO EXCEPTIONS)
  • There’s no event date in the event thread, flyer or otherwise.
  • There’s no venue location/map or address in the event thread.
  • There’s only a Facebook link and no reasonable information listed in the thread.
  • The thread is a tour promotion, listing dozens of dates in one promotion. Our event system is designed to be current listings for each week. Tour promo basically takes up space in our subforums, and space is limited. If you’re promoting a whole tour, make a thread for each date, in each city. (NO EXCEPTIONS)
  • Do not post Radio shows in the any of the event sections.

These rules are subject to change or revision at any time. There are certain issues that may not be included in this list due to Administrative decisions that’ve yet to be made. In these rare cases, the Moderators will explain via PM.

General forum guidelines

This is a Civilized Place for Public Discussion

Please treat this discussion forum with the same respect you would a public park. We, too, are a shared community resource — a place to share skills, knowledge and interests through ongoing conversation.

These are not hard and fast rules, merely aids to the human judgment of our community. Use these guidelines to keep this a clean, well-lighted place for civilized public discourse.

Improve the Discussion

Help us make this a great place for discussion by always working to improve the discussion in some way, however small. If you are not sure your post adds to the conversation, think over what you want to say and try again later.

The topics discussed here matter to us, and we want you to act as if they matter to you, too. Be respectful of the topics and the people discussing them, even if you disagree with some of what is being said.

One way to improve the discussion is by discovering ones that are already happening. Please spend some time browsing the topics here before replying or starting your own, and you’ll have a better chance of meeting others who share your interests.

Be Agreeable, Even When You Disagree

You may wish to respond to something by disagreeing with it. That’s fine. But, remember to criticize ideas, not people. Please avoid:

  • Name-calling.
  • Ad hominem attacks.
  • Responding to a post’s tone instead of its actual content.
  • Knee-jerk contradiction.

Instead, provide reasoned counter-arguments that improve the conversation.

Your Participation Counts

The conversations we have here set the tone for everyone. Help us influence the future of this community by choosing to engage in discussions that make this forum an interesting place to be — and avoiding those that do not.

Discourse provides tools that enable the community to collectively identify the best (and worst) contributions: favorites, bookmarks, likes, flags, replies, edits, and so forth. Use these tools to improve your own experience, and everyone else’s, too.

Let’s try to leave our park better than we found it.

If You See a Problem, Flag It

Moderators have special authority; they are responsible for this forum. But so are you. With your help, moderators can be community facilitators, not just janitors or police.

When you see bad behavior, don’t reply. It encourages the bad behavior by acknowledging it, consumes your energy, and wastes everyone’s time. Just flag it. If enough flags accrue, action will be taken, either automatically or by moderator intervention.

In order to maintain our community, moderators reserve the right to remove any content and any user account for any reason at any time. Moderators do not preview new posts in any way; the moderators and site operators take no responsibility for any content posted by the community.

Always Be Civil

Nothing sabotages a healthy conversation like rudeness:

  • Be civil. Don’t post anything that a reasonable person would consider offensive, abusive, or hate speech.
  • Keep it clean. Don’t post anything obscene or sexually explicit.
  • Respect each other. Don’t harass or grief anyone, impersonate people, or expose their private information.
  • Respect our forum. Don’t post spam or otherwise vandalize the forum.

These are not concrete terms with precise definitions — avoid even the appearance of any of these things. If you’re unsure, ask yourself how you would feel if your post was featured on the front page of the New York Times.

This is a public forum, and search engines index these discussions. Keep the language, links, and images safe for family and friends.

Keep It Tidy

Make the effort to put things in the right place, so that we can spend more time discussing and less cleaning up. So:

  • Don’t start a topic in the wrong category.
  • Don’t cross-post the same thing in multiple topics.
  • Don’t post no-content replies.
  • Don’t divert a topic by changing it midstream.
  • Don’t sign your posts — every post has your profile information attached to it.

Rather than posting “+1” or “Agreed”, use the Like button. Rather than taking an existing topic in a radically different direction, use Reply as a Linked Topic.

Post Only Your Own Stuff

You may not post anything digital that belongs to someone else without permission. You may not post descriptions of, links to, or methods for stealing someone’s intellectual property (software, video, audio, images), or for breaking any other law.

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