We invite and encourage a healthy exchange of opinions; disagreements are okay. If you disagree with a member's post or opinion, by all means, challenge the opinion. However, any challenge must be given with a sense of respect for the other person. The real objective of community is to understand each other, not to attack others and convince them that you're right. Name-calling, insults, "flaming" and attacks are not appropriate and will not be tolerated.

Personal attacks on others will not be tolerated. Challenge others' points of view and opinions, but do so respectfully and thoughtfully, without insult and personal attack. Harassing, offensive, vulgar, abusive, hateful or bashing communications — especially those that denigrate users' sexual orientation, gender, race, color, religious views, national origin or disability — will not be permitted. Harassing communications are considered to be those that may cause distress, embarrassment, unwanted attention or other discomfort.

Members who violate this policy will have their posts removed and will receive a warning. After their second warning, those members will be banned. If you see a post that you think violates these guidelines, send a private message to "Admin" or "Admin1" and we'll take a look at it. Decisions about what constitutes "troll" behavior are necessarily subjective.

A spoiler is a piece of information about a show, movie, novel, video game, etc. that would somehow give away an element of the plot. An example would be revealing that a character died in a TV episode or movie. That is a key plot point and could very well spoil the surprise for a person who has not viewed that work.

Another question about spoilers is the case of older works, such as an episode that aired a few months earlier, or a movie from last year. It is assumed that the majority of people have seen these episodes or movies, and they are open for discussion. It is courteous to add a spoiler warning to the thread title or, in an existing thread, to change the color of your words to white so they will be invisible unless the reader makes the effort to highlight them.

Word of Caution: If you see Episode Discussion threads, please be careful, as any discussion thread, new or old, will probably contain spoilers.

Spoilers across the world
Different regions of the world may experience a show, movie, or something else at a different time than other regions. It's best to show someone courtesy so that they can return the favor. A good example would be when the United States has a first run of a sci-fi series a month before countries in Europe. This forum is global and is browsed by members from many countries. (This also goes for different time zones in and out of the United States.) It is courteous to post a spoiler warning so these members do not walk into a spoiler.

What to do when posting spoilers
When posting spoilers in a brand new thread/topic, it is best to use the words "Spoilers Beware" or "Possible Spoiler." If you are posting in an existing thread, members appreciate your making a note at the top that you are posting a spoiler, and then typing that spoiler in white text. (If you are uncertain how to use white text, ask a member or an admin for help.)

If you see spoilers posted without warning
The best thing to do is to send a Personal Message to the original poster to request that they edit their post and add a spoiler warning. If they do not agree or cannot be reached, send a Personal Message to an admin or use the Report button. It is not necessary to add an angry post to the thread, because the member might not have been aware that what they posted is considered a spoiler or what the rules are.

Message board posts that contain explicit, obscene or vulgar language will be removed. Similarly, message board posts that solicit or offer explicit or X-rated GIFs, JPEGs or other graphic files will be deleted without notice.

Do not post the same message more than once on a message board or propogate it on to multiple boards. Weeding through the same message in multiple locations can be annoying. Duplicate messages will be deleted.

There can be one word game per forum in forums where the participants want them and actually participate in them.

Members who are found to have duplicate memberships will have all their memberships canceled and all SCIFI.COM privileges revoked.

Don't post commercial messages or solicitations in message boards or during live chats. Posts containing commercial or product/service promotional messages — including, but not limited to, references to Internet sites, URLs, or links to other commercial Web sites — will be removed.

SCIFI.COM reserves the right to remove a post which does not relate to the topic being discussed in the board. In addition, SCIFI.COM reserves the right to organize message boards (or folders) in order to best serve the majority of our members. For example, narrow-interest or minimal activity topics may, at SCIFI.COM's discretion, be relocated to a more appropriate folder or message board, or deleted entirely.

SCIFI.COM reserves the right to prohibit or delete messages that are thought to violate applicable law or that may be harmful to other members, or the rights of SCIFI.COM.

We also reserve the right to terminate your SCIFI.COM membership if you violate our Terms of Service. If you haven't read the Terms of Service, please do so.

E-mail us at feedback@scifi.com. Let us know what problem you're having. Please include your handle (but not your password) with your e-mail so we can better diagnose your problem.

These rules were last revised on April 1, 2005.