General Rules and Guidelines

Please read the rules carefully before posting.

POSTING GUIDELINES
– Due to the multinational nature of the forum, please use English. If you’d like to use a different language (by way of an external link, for example), consider providing a translation of the relevant portion in your topic/reply. It could even be a machine translation (Google Translate, for example), as long as the point comes across correctly.
– Stick to the topic when responding to posts created by others.
– When creating your own post in the form of a topic, please choose the appropriate forum and give it a clear and concise title.
– Before creating a new topic, or asking a new question, consider using the Search function to see whether it has already been addressed. If it has, post your new topic only if the previous thread has already been closed. Note that if you believe that your topic is related to an existing one but with significant differences, feel free to create the new topic (but make sure to address the difference).
– This is primarily an academic forum, so when citing or referring to an external source, be sure to provide a link or complete reference to that source in order for others to access/verify it. It should go without saying that plagiarism is not tolerated; do try and cite sources whenever posting an opinion that is not your own.
– This is a public forum, so please consider very carefully before posting your own personal information. Posting personal information of anyone else is a major violation of the rules of conduct for this forum and will result in the deletion of the topic/reply and a single warning; a second violation will result in a permanent ban.

RULES ON APPROPIATE BEHAVIOUR
– Be respectful towards other forum members.
– Don’t be offensive, abusive or cause harassment.
– Do not post content that is not safe for work. This includes sexual, hateful, racist, homophobic, sexist, provocative or vulgar content.
– External sources should always be used with proper reference that can be accessed and verified. While open-access links are always preferred, links to paywalled sources (such as closed journals) may be acceptable on a case-by-case basis.
– DO NOT reveal anyone’s identity by posting their personal information (or connecting personal information posted in separate places in a manner that reveals the person’s identity), unless that information has already been revealed publicly by that person on the forum.
– Just utilise common-sense rules of being nice; this is a forum for the discussion of academic topics, not flame-war territory.

RIGHTS OF MODERATORS
Considering the sensitive subject of the forum – that is, intelligence and security – it is only appropriate for moderators to have the ability to make sure that all forum rules are being followed. To this end, moderators can, at their own discretion:

– Close topics or forums;
– Edit topics or replies (but only by clearly displaying their edits);
– Move topics or replies to the appropriate topic/forum, if necessary; and
– Delete topics or replies.

CONSEQUENCES OF BREAKING THE RULES
Breaking the rules of appropriate behaviour will have the following consequences:

– Minor infractions will get a warning; unless the post is edited to comply with the rules within 24 hours of the warning, it will be deleted.
– Repeated minor infractions will result in a temporary ban or, at the discretion of the moderator, a permanent ban.
– Major infractions, such as posting personal information or behaviour deemed completely unacceptable by the moderator, will get a temporary ban; or, at the discretion of the moderator, a permanent ban.