Great American Guide II
The main purpose of this Forum is to promote the name and presence of our esteemed host, Sean Hannity. It is through his generosity, that the forums have been made available.
Whether you are new to politics or a seasoned veteran, it is the hope of the moderator staff that you not only enjoy your time here on the forums, but that you learn more about the foundation of our Republican form of government, as well as the day-to-day activities in Washington and the respective states. An informed citizenry is a citizenry that is better equipped to safeguard the freedom and liberty of the Republic.
THE RULES
Abuse of Honored Guest:
Calling our honored guests names, altering quotes or usernames in an abusive way, impersonations, giving out personal information of others, posting Call-Out threads of members, or otherwise making them feel unwelcome is forbidden. The personal mailbox system is not to be used to harass or threaten other guests and all TOS rules apply.
Heated political discussion is expected and it is recognized that feelings may be hurt. You agree that as a member of this board you do not have the right to not be offended.
Example: You may tell someone “that’s a lie”; however, calling someone a liar in order to harass or demean that person is not acceptable.
Abuse of Forum:
Each member is to use his/her account for personal, non-commercial interests and discussions. Any other use requires prior approval and permission which may be requested via the Site Feedback and Questions Forum. Attempts to direct traffic away, flooding, or spamming will not be tolerated.
Each member is allowed one account each. Registering multiple screen names will result in all accounts being banned.
Do not deliver any posting that infringes or violates any intellectual property or other right of any entity or person, including, without limitation, copyrights, patents, trademarks, laws governing trade secrets, rights to privacy, or publicity.
An opening thread post must contain substantive commentary that not only briefly summarizes the subject at hand, but also specifically addresses any quoted material. Personal commentary must equal or exceed any use of quoted material. The moderator staff reserves the right to ask any member to edit the opening post, so as to conform to board policy. The moderator staff reserves the right to edit, modify or delete any opening thread post or thread title, so as to conform to board policy.
Embedded Video and links to other websites are permitted; however, a synopsis and discussion of content must be posted. This allows users to still participate in discussion without having to open a separate link. Exception to synopsis/discussion would be permitted for music videos.
Anti-Semitism/Racism/Hateful Posting:
This creates a hostile environment contrary to the purposes of civil discourse and a welcoming forum environment. Do not use the forums to spread hate, incite violence, and suggest that innocents should die or that an innocent deserved to die, or otherwise fill our welcoming forums with hatred and malice. Attacking the children or family of other users of the Forum, candidates, politicians or people in the news in order to smear is not allowed. Comparing the president, members of Congress, politicians in general to Nazi's, is not permitted. Nazi references and comparisons are only allowed in strict historical discussions and usage.
Contempt of Host/Contempt of Friend/Contempt of Moderator:
You are welcome to disagree with Sean Hannity’s views and discuss differing opinion, but personal attacks against our host will not be tolerated. Rush Limbaugh, Mark Levin and Oliver North are close, personal friends of Sean Hannity and they are afforded the same protection.
The Moderator Staff on this board work hard as volunteers to provide an enjoyable place for members and to enforce the Terms of Service. Deliberately attacking a Moderator for performing his/her duties or deliberately ignoring a ruling or request from a Moderator who is carrying out Moderator duties is considered Contempt of Moderator.
Filter Bypass/Obscenity:
A profanity filter is in place and any attempts to bypass it are forbidden. You MAY type words that are filtered, as long as they are not abusive towards other quests or violate any other rules; however, you must allow the filter to do its job. Do NOT try to filter the word yourself.
Posting images of videos of obscene gestures, linking to obscene web sites, posting obscene or graphic descriptions of a decidedly adult nature, and violating the standards of decent behavior found in the Sean Hannity show is not allowed.
Trolling:
A troll is a person that never offers anything of value or substance to the boards. The troll has no intention of taking part in discussions, save to try and ruin them for others. Any posts that are not conducive to debate, seek to derail a thread with trolling comments or off-topic discussion are subject to being edited or deleted with or without further sanctions at the discretion of the moderators.
PROCEDURES/OTHER POLICIES
Banned User Procedure:
When a user has been banned, either by instaban or reaching banned status through the infraction system, he/she must wait 6 months from the date of the ban before asking for reinstatement. Requests for reinstatement may be made by registering for a new account under a temporary username. A temporary username must be as follows:
Username: Bob. Temporary username for reinstatement requests: BobTemp.
Once your account is registered, you may PM the Moderator who issued the ban by using the Private Message system. If the Moderator who issued the ban is no longer on staff, any other Moderator may be contacted. You may NOT post anywhere on the board under your temporary name. Your request will be reviewed by the Moderator staff. If a ban is overturned, your account will be reinstated and the final infraction that resulted in the ban will be lifted. All other infractions will remain intact; which will essentially leave your account on a one strike you’re out status. If your request for reinstatement is denied, you must wait an additional 6 months before requesting reinstatement again. Bypassing this procedure, as well as retreading, is an instaban offense.
Changing Screen Names:
Each member is allowed a one-time name change at any time of their choosing. The new name cannot violate the Terms of Service, nor can it be close to what another current member has or has had. Requests can be made via the “Name Change Request” thread in the Site Feedback and Questions Forum. Once your name has been changed, your user title will be changed with: “FKA: (old name & date)”. You must leave that user title intact for 1 year from the date of change.
Infractions and Penalties:
Violation of rules can result in an infraction on your account, leading to a ban. When you have been found in violation, a Moderator will issue a penalty through the Infraction System. Infractions are as follows:
Abuse of Honored Guest: (expires 1 year after issue date)
• 1st Offense: Warning
• 2nd Offense: 2 Week Time Out
• 3rd Offense: 3 Month Time Out
• 4th Offense: Permaban
Abuse of Forum: (expires 1 year after issue date)
• 1st Offense: Warning
• 2nd Offense: 48 Hour Time Out
• 3rd Offense: 2 Week Time Out
• 4th Offense: 3 Month Time Out
• 5th Offense: Permaban
Anti-Semitism/Racism/Hateful Posting: (never expires)
• 1st Offense: 2 Week Time Out
• 2nd Offense: Permaban
Contempt of Host/Friend/Moderator: (never expires)
• 1st Offense: 2 Week Time Out
• 2nd Offense: Permaban
Filter Bypass/Obscenity: (never expires)
• 1st Offense: 48 Hour Time Out
• 2nd Offense: 2 Week Time Out
• 3rd Offense: Permaban
Trolling: (Infraction never expires)
• 1st Offense: Warning
• 2nd Offense: 48 Hour Time Out
• 3rd Offense: 2 Week Time Out
• 4th Offense: 3 Month Time Out
• 5th Offense: Permaban
Infractions that expire will automatically fall off your record. For infractions with no expiration date, you may specifically request that it be expunged from your record. You must wait a minimum of one year before making such request.
If a rule is so egregiously broken, the Staff has the right to bypass the infraction system and issue a full ban on the account.
Picture Policy:
In posts: 600 x 600 pixels and 125 kb file size
Signature image: 400x150, 25KB file size
Avatars: 100x100, 30KB file size
Image file sizes are "total image bytes per post" if more than one image is posted in a post. One image only in sig line.
Reporting Violations:
If a member sees a post on the board, which he/she believes violates the TOS, click the "Report Post" triangle in the bottom left hand corner of the post in question. Follow the steps to send a report to a Moderator. Do not taunt other members with this feature or abuse this feature in any way. Serious reports only!
If there is a suspected violation with another member, not pertaining to a particular post, please send a PM to anyone on the Moderator Staff.
Comments made on the boards are subject to Moderator approval and can be removed for any reason deemed necessary.
The Moderator Staff reserves the right to change the Terms of Service at any time. Any adjustments to the Terms of Service are made for the security of the forum, the name of Sean Hannity, as well as the enjoyment of the membership. It is the responsibly of each member to frequently check the Site Feedback and Questions Forum, as any adjustments to the Terms of Service will be posted in that forum.