Sumo Forum (Sumoforum.net)
Sumo Forum was established by a Finnish citizen called Juhani Sirkiä. Currently the forum is administered by a council of moderators (in lieu of an absentee Rijicho). The administrative staff is headed by Exil, the expert in the technical aspects of the forum. Moderators are forum members who have moderating rights and assist in the smooth operation of the forum discussion. Moderators are Sasanishiki, Manekineko, Otokonoyama, Randomitsuki and Jakusotsu. The forum is funded by generous donations of its members.
You can be part of Sumo Forum in one of two positions.
- 1. Guests can read everything posted onto the forum but are unable to participate the discussion and vote in the polls.
- 2. Members can read everything posted onto the forum. They can also reply to existing threads, start new ones and vote in polls. To prevent spambot flooding, new members are put on moderator preview for their first post (or two).
By proceeding to the forum (the link is at the bottom of this page), you confirm to have read, understood and accepted these rules. You are also expected to keep yourself updated on possible changes (which will be announced on the Essential messages subforum).
Sumo Forum Rules
Forbidden actions
1. Posing as other people
This includes posing as the administrator or a moderator, as another forum member, as a real rikishi or as any other well-known person. Also included is use of more than one user name on the forum.
2. Disturbing the operation of the forum
This includes breaking into or modifying the system as well as denial of service attacks - or any attempt thereof.
3. Harrasment, abuse and derogatory comments
This includes attacks and insults based on race, sexual preference, gender, nationality or some other equivalent factor. Also included are intentional insults or harrasment of a forum member by any means, including PMs. (Offering justifiable criticism is not forbidden if done tactfully.) Posting of other members' personal information without their consent is also not allowed.
4. Posting illegal or offensive material
This includes posting link to such materials. Examples are warez (illegal copies of binary material), racial propaganda and pornography. Moderating staff reserve the right to decide which content qualifies as offensive.
5. Blatant advertizing
This includes advertizing of commercially available products or services that have nothing to do with sumo.
Rules 3-5 apply not only to posts and PMs, but also to signatures, avatars and all other material posted on the forum.
Violating the aforementioned rules leads to loss of posting priviledges, severe warning and other disciplinary actions. In each case the final action will be determined by the administrative staff.
Strongly discouraged actions
1. Repeated use of foul language on forum
2. Discussion of politics and religion that have no relevance to sumo
The forum is dedicated to our interest and love of sumo, and that shouldn't be clouded by heated and unresolvable discussions on those two heat-prone topics. Discussions that wander into religion and politics will be monitored and locked the moment discussion becomes anything less than polite and rational. All members are encouraged to let the moderators know if some topic seems precariously close to irrational discussion and flaming. Outright provocations and trolling on political and religious subjects will not be tolerated, and may end in banning.
3. Resurrecting old threads
If you wish to continue discussing a subject whose thread has withered several months ago, create a new topic and post the link to the old topic in your opening post. There are some obvious exceptions (threads in Sumo Information subforum), but when in doubt start a new thread.
4. Excessive chatting in on-topic threads.
"Chatty" threads may be opened in Off Topic subforum.
5. Excessive quoting
Good guideline is to make sure the quoted part is not much longer than your own reply.
6. Excessively long/large signatures
Recommended signature length is up to five lines of text. Signatures are subject to the same rules as posts. Signature violating the rules will be removed by the administrating staff.
Any complaints arising from these rules are to be communicated privately to the administrating staff by private messaging (the messenger function of IP.Board) or exceptionally by regular e-mail. Offending posts can be easily reported by the use of "Report" button available at the end of each post.
The offending post will be edited or removed and the offending party shall receive a warning via private messaging or regular email. Number of warnings allowed to a refractory member before his or her account is banned will depend on the severity of that member's actions.
Please understand that the administative staff are private persons who cannot follow the forum 24 hours a day. Therefore their actions might and will be delayed sometimes.
These forum rules were updated last on December 8th, 2012.