Chat & Forum - Best Practices & Topics that are "Off Limits"

Just a friendly reminder about some rules in the forum and in chat.

We try to let the members govern themselves as much as possible while maintaining a forum that is safe, kid friendly, and inviting for anybody anywhere with chickens.

Unfortunately over the 10 years the BYC staff have found there are topics that almost always cause problems, for example: posts about cock fighting and posts about PETA.

By disallowing these topics we aren't saying these things are abominations and should never be discussed anywhere... we're simply saying they should never be discussed on BYC (forum or chat).

Now, there are MANY other topics that shouldn't be discussed on BYC, but we're not going to make a list because that's just silly. Let's just say you should try to stay away from any topic that would be illegal to ask a potential candidate during a job interview.

The BYC staff will err on the side of caution with these topics and will remove ones that aren't appropriate for this community (again, we're not saying the topics are "bad" just not appropriate for BYC).

A few other related notes (especially due to some issues recently in chat):

1) If someone is causing "trouble" in chat, copy the text and send it to a moderator and IGNORE THE PERSON (you can actually ignore people in chat by clicking on their name and choosing ignore)
2) If a BYC staff member tells you to stop doing something... STOP. If you don't like what they are telling you, then contact another staff member or escalate the issue to me.
3) If there is drama over an event (in chat or on the forum) and it is dealt with, DROP THE TOPIC. The more it is discussed the more chance there will be more problems.
4) HAVE FUN!!! We've got a HUGE wonderful community of great friendly people. Let's keep BYC a place where any person in the world with a chicken can feel comfortable coming here to post or to chat!

 

A list is tricky because then you're always having to add to it, remove from it, and deal with people that are looking for loopholes.

We like to keep things simple: Be nice, be friendly, and steer clear of topics that have a tendency to get people worked up.

Hey, I'm still amazed that the two extremes on this forum, the "Chicken Mammas" (people that put diapers on their chickens and put them in their purse) can get along with people that only view chickens as something that should be eaten.