PDF RULES AND REGULATIONS REVISED (INPUT NEEDED)

[PakistaniJunior]

@jaibi Thank you so so much for this! PDF for the past few years had become a very embarrassing domain to read defence related news. I encourage a friendly and civilized environment where points are made on facts and not abuses. I am young, therefore i'm probably not as mature but the behavior of some members here especially pakistani can be very annoying.

My suggestion:
A way to combat multiple IDs is to not allow members a immediate registeration. They should be given a time period for verification before becoming fully registered members. I am not very knowledgable on the topic of IP verification but you could devise a period of time to make sure whether the newly registered user is using Proxy/VPN or not.

Another idea would be the concept of "lurker" accounts. These accounts aren't fully registered accounts , and will only have the autonomy to view and rate posts but not post anything themselves. You can check their genuinty of information and activity on the basis of that.

Another thing i wanted to write on is that there should be a limit on the number of rape related threads that can be opened at a time. While i know how serious of an issue this is and that it may be happening frequently in our neighbouring country, i honestly don't want to open PDF one day and see a bunch of rape threads..
(+1 for the sexism point, that too was a very important inclusion)

 

[jaibi]

Brother, you want us to be neutral politically by taking a position against the ruling party? See, these are rules. They cover this sort of thing. Your complaints against the members have been taken up approporately. If they continue please let me know. I'll see if there's a violation there.

Just to be clear, we're politically neutral but we cannot enforce that neutrality on the users. They can have their opinions and defend them but obviously in a better manner than currently being practiced. These rules are for that.

Dear mods ,

kindly PUT a blanket ban /issue stern warnings to PTI SOCIAL MEDIA BRIGADE TROLLS who are running unchecked on DEF.PK

@flightoffalcon
@syed1
@AZ1
@Norwegian


these individuals ABUSE, CURSE and spit on every thread . @syed1 will cross all limits . ( depsite my repeated reports on his posts )

these TROLLS are unable to post beyond a 1 liner , have no capacity for an intellectual debate and would resort to name calling, "oaey patwari " to anyone who questions their narrative


let me be clear = PDF stands in unison / narrative wise with PAK ARMED forces and their doctrine , NOT PTI

We've initiated a system like that to combat multiple IDs. I agree with the 'rape thread' problems here. I don't know what has to happen to you that yuo'd think it's ok to use a person's plight to encourage your POV. Sad. I think with these rules that'd be curbed.

Thanks!

@jaibi Thank you so so much for this! PDF for the past few years had become a very embarrassing domain to read defence related news. I encourage a friendly and civilized environment where points are made on facts and not abuses. I am young, therefore i'm probably not as mature but the behavior of some members here especially pakistani can be very annoying.

My suggestion:
A way to combat multiple IDs is to not allow members a immediate registeration. They should be given a time period for verification before becoming fully registered members. I am not very knowledgable on the topic of IP verification but you could devise a period of time to make sure whether the newly registered user is using Proxy/VPN or not.

Another idea would be the concept of "lurker" accounts. These accounts aren't fully registered accounts , and will only have the autonomy to view and rate posts but not post anything themselves. You can check their genuinty of information and activity on the basis of that.

Another thing i wanted to write on is that there should be a limit on the number of rape related threads that can be opened at a time. While i know how serious of an issue this is and that it may be happening frequently in our neighbouring country, i honestly don't want to open PDF one day and see a bunch of rape threads..
(+1 for the sexism point, that too was a very important inclusion)

 

[CriticalThought]

@jaibi I have two points to bring to your consideration.

First of all, there needs to be a focus on quality. And by quality, I mean quality of grammar, spellings, prose, and style. Unnecessary use of smilies and highlighting leads to atrocious viewing, and depending on color schemes, could actually be harmful to people suffering certain medical conditions. Respectable forums rigidly enforce the judicious use of smilies, color, and highlighting, because it is a reflection upon the forum administration.

Secondly, were this a purely technical site, I would advocate a strict adherence to science, technology, fact, and rationality. But PDF aims to be more than that. There is an undeniable angle of socializing and discussions on social issues and norms. By excluding religion, you then invite irreligious discussion. Please review this decision. The issue of sectarianism in other religions should be dealt on a case by case basis, but sectarian divide between Shia, Sunni, Barelvi, Salafi/Ahl-e-Hadith MUST be rooted out.

 

[jaibi]

Jihadist is a political term now, sir. It can't be avoided, unfortunately, it's us who've maligned ourselves so much that we've to tolerate this problem but I think it shouldn't be taken as an insult but rather a political categorization.

Thank you for your thougths, they're indeed critical. As far as the quality is concerned then I think that's more like what we can encourage rather than enforce; the reason is that a lot of people come to the site from various backgrounds and not everyone has had the same education as we were lucky enough to have. We don't want to close our doors to them. Many users have said that PDF helped them with their communication skills so we don't want to shun them out. With smilies and highlighting etc., as far as I know it becomes a problem for epileptics due to flashing but we don't have that here but regardless, I've had an idea of creating a lighter version of the site PDF lite - it would automatically remove such things as text. Would that solve the problem?

Secondly, I'd love for nothing but to address the problem head on but the current scenario is that most PDF users cannot maintain the cordiality required to have a discussion on religion. Hence, this has to be enforced right now because it's too sensitive for people and frankly, it's a little beyond what we envision to be. For now, we have to pursue this line of action but I'm hopeful soon we'd have something in accordance to addersssing this issue as well.

Thanks again!

@jaibi I have two points to bring to your consideration.

First of all, there needs to be a focus on quality. And by quality, I mean quality of grammar, spellings, prose, and style. Unnecessary use of smilies and highlighting leads to atrocious viewing, and depending on color schemes, could actually be harmful to people suffering certain medical conditions. Respectable forums rigidly enforce the judicious use of smilies, color, and highlighting, because it is a reflection upon the forum administration.

Secondly, were this a purely technical site, I would advocate a strict adherence to science, technology, fact, and rationality. But PDF aims to be more than that. There is an undeniable angle of socializing and discussions on social issues and norms. By excluding religion, you then invite irreligious discussion. Please review this decision. The issue of sectarianism in other religions should be dealt on a case by case basis, but sectarian divide between Shia, Sunni, Barelvi, Salafi/Ahl-e-Hadith MUST be rooted out.

 

[HannibalBarca]

If I can add few things...

- Positive ratings on some members should be monitored... I will not point to a particular individual(s)... But such "Action" is many times used as a promotion material despite the Quality content of that post... (Insults,Threats etc...)... That is promoting certain individuals... and the consequences that goes with it.

- A "Particular" section... is yet to have a dedicated regional mod... and is used as an "escape" zone... Where some poster understand that posting in it... than another more "appropriate" sections may limit their ability to "Express" certain views.

B.reg

 

[AZ1]

Dear mods ,

kindly PUT a blanket ban /issue stern warnings to PTI SOCIAL MEDIA BRIGADE TROLLS who are running unchecked on DEF.PK

@flightoffalcon
@syed1
@AZ1
@Norwegian


these individuals ABUSE, CURSE and spit on every thread . @syed1 will cross all limits . ( depsite my repeated reports on his posts )

these TROLLS are unable to post beyond a 1 liner , have no capacity for an intellectual debate and would resort to name calling, "oaey patwari " to anyone who questions their narrative


let me be clear = PDF stands in unison / narrative wise with PAK ARMED forces and their doctrine , NOT PTI

Yeah we are troll and people like you who dont want to pay tax and when we ask pay your taxes so that country can develop rather than complain look this happened and that happened you ran away and asking for shelters.

 

[CriticalThought]

Jihadist is a political term now, sir. It can't be avoided, unfortunately, it's us who've maligned ourselves so much that we've to tolerate this problem but I think it shouldn't be taken as an insult but rather a political categorization.


Thank you for your thougths, they're indeed critical. As far as the quality is concerned then I think that's more like what we can encourage rather than enforce; the reason is that a lot of people come to the site from various backgrounds and not everyone has had the same education as we were lucky enough to have. We don't want to close our doors to them. Many users have said that PDF helped them with their communication skills so we don't want to shun them out. With smilies and highlighting etc., as far as I know it becomes a problem for epileptics due to flashing but we don't have that here but regardless, I've had an idea of creating a lighter version of the site PDF lite - it would automatically remove such things as text. Would that solve the problem?

Secondly, I'd love for nothing but to address the problem head on but the current scenario is that most PDF users cannot maintain the cordiality required to have a discussion on religion. Hence, this has to be enforced right now because it's too sensitive for people and frankly, it's a little beyond what we envision to be. For now, we have to pursue this line of action but I'm hopeful soon we'd have something in accordance to addersssing this issue as well.

Thanks again!

Let me share an anecdote. During my graduate studies, we were using a textbook written by an Israeli author. My professor asked me to contact him to clarify something in the book. His reply came, severely rebuking me for being disrespectful because I had used incorrect spelling. When I apologized he further chastised me. Then he told me that bad grammar and spelling are inexcusable, because all it takes to avoid them is to re-read your own writing. That's all. He said you are disrespecting the person you have addressed if you are not taking the time to read what you have written yourself.

Today, you can see the quality of my writing for yourself. Note that I was rebuked once. You need to admonish people for bad behavior, otherwise it will never change. Of course, along with admonishment, you need to provide pointers for improvement as well. Anyone showing lack of language skills should be restricted to a practice section where other users (and not just moderators) can help them. I am happy to help out one person per week myself.

In the age of auto-correction and spell checkers, bad spelling is inexcusable.

 

[Ace of Spades]

In the age of auto-correction and spell checkers, bad spelling is inexcusable.

lol; this is not academia; neither an English grammar forum; majority here have Urdu, punjabi, pashto, sindhi, balochi as their first language. It is not only very excusable but should not ever be a merit to restrict someone's critic or analysis/debate because of their language skills.

 

[Amaa'n]

FORUM RULES AND REGULATIONS FOR USERS

NOTE: The thinking is that this is a descending list, as you move down the list, the violations become less severe in terms of our awarding of warning points. There are overlaps but each violation has been garnered to leave no room for interpretations to somethings uniquely faced at PDF. Comments would be highly appreciated


PDF Philosophy and vision:

PDF wishes to be a platform for ideas to be discussed openly and in a cordial productive manner. The reason for IDs where you can have a relatively high degree of anonymity is for you to do away with your person and be your ideas. However, that does not mean that the person behind the keyboard ceases to exist and therefore; we have these rules to enforce that environment where ideas can be exchanged, challenged and projected freely.

Ethnic / political / nationalistic hate

Needless to say, PDF wishes to be a productive exchange of ideas and not a place of spreading communal, national, political or religiously motivated hatred. Members found involved in such activities would be severely penalized.

Sectarianism

PDF holds zero tolerance towards any sectarianism. Any material garnered towards inciting sectarianism in any form would be heavily penalized. PDF is not the place to have a dialogue on religious interpretation and anyone using that to create divide and unrest can be permanently banned as well. Please consider that criticizing any government, nation or person independent of bringing sect in is possible.

Religious Discussions

PDF proudly maintains respect for all religions therefore; as PDF is primarily a defense and geopolitical forum, the management feels that, it is not the place for religious discussions. Kindly do not post religious threads nor respond to any and, please, refrain from using religion in arguments. It should be noted that ethnicity is different from religion, Muslims/ Hindu/ Christians are ethnicities and Islam / Hinduism / Christianity are religions. This also includes sectarianism as well; PDF is not the place to have a dialogue on religion. Violation of this rule would be considered serious as it often leads to issues based on religious / communal tensions.

Inciting violence

Any post or thread inciting or encouraging violence would be penalized and if need be all information required would be shared with the appropriate authorities. PDF holds a zero tolerance policy towards such materials.

Special Section: using social issues for inciting ethnic / nationalistic / political hatred

Social issues such as sexual harassment, rape, child molestation or abuse are not to be used to incite ethnic / nationalistic / race inspired hatred nor political point scoring. PDF management would severely penalize any such threads / posts. If you are a good human being, kindly, be an ally of victims and do not abuse victims for your gains.

Racism

PDF is not a platform for spreading racism nor do we condone it. Any such threads / posts / materials would lead to heavy penalization.

Other forms of discrimination

Same goes for ethnic or nationalistic discriminatory views, aimed at stereotyping and berating members belonging to a specific area, country, religious, ethnic group

Sexism

There would be no tolerance for any threads / posts aimed at spreading sexism (berating / inciting / discriminatory behavior based on a person’s gender identity ). Such materials are not allowed at PDF

Inciting criminal activity

Any thread / post aimed at inciting or encouraging any activity deemed as a criminal offence would not be tolerated at PDF. (exceptions: political dissidents).

Spreading fake news

In today’s era, dubious or doubtful sources are being used by interest groups to twist perceptions of people usually for nefarious means. This is not allowed at PDF. Before you post, kindly, check the source yourself, a good practice is to verify the news from multiple sources before posting it on the site. If you are posting your personal opinion or the opinion of another person then clearly state it to be so, credit the original content. Do not masquerade opinions for news.

Threatening other members

Threatening other members is not at all allowed at PDF. We’re in the process of recording the IPs of such members and would be kept in record if there may be a need for the legal set up to be involved. There are laws covering your activity and PDF would fully cooperate with the authorities in any such incident.

Individual Harassment

Kindly do not ruin PDF for other members; such behavior includes following a member around PDF and replying their posts with harassing content such as thinly veiled threats or passive aggressive behavior or making the member feel as if they are being harassed. Such accusations would be investigated and would result in a ban. Moreover, kindly, do not share personal information about any member on PDF. We are a public forum, nor attempt to garner such information using PDF

Trolling

Any content or response given with the intent of simply antagonizing people (such as a particular group e.g. Pakistanis, Muslims, Christians, Women, Hindus, Indians, Africans et/.,) or a particular individual in order to garner a negative emotional response is considered trolling. More generally, essentially trolling is bullying online where by either a person is subjected to denial of opportunity to speak or making them feel very bad or inflaming them to be upset only. It is understood that during dialogues on sensitive issues there would be some words considered offensive but as long as it is not generalized to justify discrimination or packaged as a personal attack then that is acceptable because the spirit of the exchange is reflection or sharing of an opinion. Responding to trolling is deemed as ‘feeding the trolls’ and would be considered trolling too. It is not justifiable to respond to trolling with trolling and would also be addressed.

Trolling is a widespread problem and user’s postage history would be taken into account. Repeated offenders may face a permanent ban and trolling is taken seriously at PDF. Kindly, it does not help anyone and causes a ruining of the decorum therefore, would be dealt with appropriately.

Flaming / baiting

A special form of trolling whereby, threads or posts aimed at inciting an individual or group of people to be emotionally charged and incite fighting are not allowed. PDF is especially against using such posts or threads to incite hatred against politically belligerent nations or group of people e.g. Indians, Pakistanis or Saudis, Iranians etc. This would only add fuel to the flames. That’s not what PDF stands for.

Propaganda

Sometimes the news sources are being used to spread propaganda : weaponized information aimed at achieving a certain political goal. Usually this is to incriminate hatred amongst groups of people or vilify them. PDF does not believe in aiding the spread of propaganda, that does not mean that PDF is closed to discussions about such pieces. When you are to post such pieces of information for the sake of discussion or clarification, kindly clearly state so in your post otherwise it would be treated as aiding the spread of propaganda and would result in penalization.

Indoctrination

Sharing of information garnered at indoctrination of the public are not allowed. That includes political / religious / ethnic indoctrination are not allowed at PDF and would be penalized.

Political name calling

Using politically degrading names are not what PDF stands for and this applies for every country. PDF is politically neutral.

Political campaigning

You are encouraged to engage in political debates as well as project your own views about the political philosophy that you hold. However, PDF is not a platform for garnering political capital such as votes. Such threads or posts would be penalized. That doesn’t mean that you do not project your views or encourage others to vote, voicing your opinion as to who, in your view, should get to be in power. However, running political ads on behalf of political parties and hijacking the platform/ threads/ posts is not what PDF is for.

Personal attacks

Do not attack any individual nor use any abusive language towards their ethnic / national / religious identity for any purpose.

Profanity

Please, try to be courteous as you would be in public. This is a public forum and there are real people behind the keyboard. Therefore, kindly refrain from using curse words or offensive words to a particular group such as, Youthia or Gangu or Noora along with racially charged slurs as well. This would result in penalization. This is for the general decorum of the forum.

Promotion of a business

PDF is meant for intellectual discussions and not business promotions. In case you have such an idea where you think it would be productive then kindly contact at email address: contact@defence.pk before making any such threads/ posts.

Impersonating / multiple accounts

Everyone on PDF is allowed one account; usage of multiple IDs or impersonation of any user for any purposes would result in a ban. Users are requested to contact the management in case of dual accounts may be used in order to not be penalized for multiple accounts.

Spamming

Repeated messages either nonsensical or intended to scam people would ensue a permanent ban. Posts of business promotion would be considered spamming unless the senior management has been informed before postage.

Commenting on Management decisions

Any protest or questions on management decisions should be done at the GHQ section or via communication to contact@defence.pk email.

Photos and Videos

Please, try to share multimedia covered by creative commons or those in public domain. Sharing copyrighted materials should be with consideration to copyright laws. Violation of this rule may result in moderation or further actions. Always credit the original poster with permission to resupply.

Off-Topic Posts

Anything that does not add value to the discussion being had or does not say anything about the thread may be liable for deletion and repeated violations may result in penalization. Please, do know that going into tangents is encouraged (something related to the thread, such as discussing a conflict economically rather than militarily) but off-topic derailment is not encouraged (bringing in social issues in order to derail a thread about geopolitics, for instance).

Sharing explicit/ graphic content

Any material showing gore/after effects of violence/ graphic things or adult material (pornography) is strictly not allowed on PDF. Please, share only images / content which is considered safe for work (SFW) as a general guideline.

We need to have Disclaimer posted on homepage that what users share on forum from Third Party sites, PDF will not be held accountable for user opinion. We have had cases where legal notices were sent out threatening law suit for defamation and damage to reputation ......

 

[PakistaniJunior]

May i ask for when shall these new rules be implemented or is this still the planning phase?

 

[Genghis khan1]

Let me share an anecdote. During my graduate studies, we were using a textbook written by an Israeli author. My professor asked me to contact him to clarify something in the book. His reply came, severely rebuking me for being disrespectful because I had used incorrect spelling. When I apologized he further chastised me. Then he told me that bad grammar and spelling are inexcusable, because all it takes to avoid them is to re-read your own writing. That's all. He said you are disrespecting the person you have addressed if you are not taking the time to read what you have written yourself.

Today, you can see the quality of my writing for yourself. Note that I was rebuked once. You need to admonish people for bad behavior, otherwise it will never change. Of course, along with admonishment, you need to provide pointers for improvement as well. Anyone showing lack of language skills should be restricted to a practice section where other users (and not just moderators) can help them. I am happy to help out one person per week myself.

In the age of auto-correction and spell checkers, bad spelling is inexcusable.

We are not in graduate studies English class. This is an online forum for GP. In US, unless you are submitting job resume or are in English Major, no body cares about your fancy correspondence skill in every day email.

Chill out bud. Many of us use cellular device for PDF, it is not uncommon to fat finger some words.

FORUM RULES AND REGULATIONS FOR USERS

NOTE: The thinking is that this is a descending list, as you move down the list, the violations become less severe in terms of our awarding of warning points. There are overlaps but each violation has been garnered to leave no room for interpretations to somethings uniquely faced at PDF. Comments would be highly appreciated


PDF Philosophy and vision:

PDF wishes to be a platform for ideas to be discussed openly and in a cordial productive manner. The reason for IDs where you can have a relatively high degree of anonymity is for you to do away with your person and be your ideas. However, that does not mean that the person behind the keyboard ceases to exist and therefore; we have these rules to enforce that environment where ideas can be exchanged, challenged and projected freely.

Ethnic / political / nationalistic hate

Needless to say, PDF wishes to be a productive exchange of ideas and not a place of spreading communal, national, political or religiously motivated hatred. Members found involved in such activities would be severely penalized.

Sectarianism

PDF holds zero tolerance towards any sectarianism. Any material garnered towards inciting sectarianism in any form would be heavily penalized. PDF is not the place to have a dialogue on religious interpretation and anyone using that to create divide and unrest can be permanently banned as well. Please consider that criticizing any government, nation or person independent of bringing sect in is possible.

Religious Discussions

PDF proudly maintains respect for all religions therefore; as PDF is primarily a defense and geopolitical forum, the management feels that, it is not the place for religious discussions. Kindly do not post religious threads nor respond to any and, please, refrain from using religion in arguments. It should be noted that ethnicity is different from religion, Muslims/ Hindu/ Christians are ethnicities and Islam / Hinduism / Christianity are religions. This also includes sectarianism as well; PDF is not the place to have a dialogue on religion. Violation of this rule would be considered serious as it often leads to issues based on religious / communal tensions.

Inciting violence

Any post or thread inciting or encouraging violence would be penalized and if need be all information required would be shared with the appropriate authorities. PDF holds a zero tolerance policy towards such materials.

Special Section: using social issues for inciting ethnic / nationalistic / political hatred

Social issues such as sexual harassment, rape, child molestation or abuse are not to be used to incite ethnic / nationalistic / race inspired hatred nor political point scoring. PDF management would severely penalize any such threads / posts. If you are a good human being, kindly, be an ally of victims and do not abuse victims for your gains.

Racism

PDF is not a platform for spreading racism nor do we condone it. Any such threads / posts / materials would lead to heavy penalization.

Other forms of discrimination

Same goes for ethnic or nationalistic discriminatory views, aimed at stereotyping and berating members belonging to a specific area, country, religious, ethnic group

Sexism

There would be no tolerance for any threads / posts aimed at spreading sexism (berating / inciting / discriminatory behavior based on a person’s gender identity ). Such materials are not allowed at PDF

Inciting criminal activity

Any thread / post aimed at inciting or encouraging any activity deemed as a criminal offence would not be tolerated at PDF. (exceptions: political dissidents).

Spreading fake news

In today’s era, dubious or doubtful sources are being used by interest groups to twist perceptions of people usually for nefarious means. This is not allowed at PDF. Before you post, kindly, check the source yourself, a good practice is to verify the news from multiple sources before posting it on the site. If you are posting your personal opinion or the opinion of another person then clearly state it to be so, credit the original content. Do not masquerade opinions for news.

Threatening other members

Threatening other members is not at all allowed at PDF. We’re in the process of recording the IPs of such members and would be kept in record if there may be a need for the legal set up to be involved. There are laws covering your activity and PDF would fully cooperate with the authorities in any such incident.

Individual Harassment

Kindly do not ruin PDF for other members; such behavior includes following a member around PDF and replying their posts with harassing content such as thinly veiled threats or passive aggressive behavior or making the member feel as if they are being harassed. Such accusations would be investigated and would result in a ban. Moreover, kindly, do not share personal information about any member on PDF. We are a public forum, nor attempt to garner such information using PDF

Trolling

Any content or response given with the intent of simply antagonizing people (such as a particular group e.g. Pakistanis, Muslims, Christians, Women, Hindus, Indians, Africans et/.,) or a particular individual in order to garner a negative emotional response is considered trolling. More generally, essentially trolling is bullying online where by either a person is subjected to denial of opportunity to speak or making them feel very bad or inflaming them to be upset only. It is understood that during dialogues on sensitive issues there would be some words considered offensive but as long as it is not generalized to justify discrimination or packaged as a personal attack then that is acceptable because the spirit of the exchange is reflection or sharing of an opinion. Responding to trolling is deemed as ‘feeding the trolls’ and would be considered trolling too. It is not justifiable to respond to trolling with trolling and would also be addressed.

Trolling is a widespread problem and user’s postage history would be taken into account. Repeated offenders may face a permanent ban and trolling is taken seriously at PDF. Kindly, it does not help anyone and causes a ruining of the decorum therefore, would be dealt with appropriately.

Flaming / baiting

A special form of trolling whereby, threads or posts aimed at inciting an individual or group of people to be emotionally charged and incite fighting are not allowed. PDF is especially against using such posts or threads to incite hatred against politically belligerent nations or group of people e.g. Indians, Pakistanis or Saudis, Iranians etc. This would only add fuel to the flames. That’s not what PDF stands for.

Propaganda

Sometimes the news sources are being used to spread propaganda : weaponized information aimed at achieving a certain political goal. Usually this is to incriminate hatred amongst groups of people or vilify them. PDF does not believe in aiding the spread of propaganda, that does not mean that PDF is closed to discussions about such pieces. When you are to post such pieces of information for the sake of discussion or clarification, kindly clearly state so in your post otherwise it would be treated as aiding the spread of propaganda and would result in penalization.

Indoctrination

Sharing of information garnered at indoctrination of the public are not allowed. That includes political / religious / ethnic indoctrination are not allowed at PDF and would be penalized.

Political name calling

Using politically degrading names are not what PDF stands for and this applies for every country. PDF is politically neutral.

Political campaigning

You are encouraged to engage in political debates as well as project your own views about the political philosophy that you hold. However, PDF is not a platform for garnering political capital such as votes. Such threads or posts would be penalized. That doesn’t mean that you do not project your views or encourage others to vote, voicing your opinion as to who, in your view, should get to be in power. However, running political ads on behalf of political parties and hijacking the platform/ threads/ posts is not what PDF is for.

Personal attacks

Do not attack any individual nor use any abusive language towards their ethnic / national / religious identity for any purpose.

Profanity

Please, try to be courteous as you would be in public. This is a public forum and there are real people behind the keyboard. Therefore, kindly refrain from using curse words or offensive words to a particular group such as, Youthia or Gangu or Noora along with racially charged slurs as well. This would result in penalization. This is for the general decorum of the forum.

Promotion of a business

PDF is meant for intellectual discussions and not business promotions. In case you have such an idea where you think it would be productive then kindly contact at email address: contact@defence.pk before making any such threads/ posts.

Impersonating / multiple accounts

Everyone on PDF is allowed one account; usage of multiple IDs or impersonation of any user for any purposes would result in a ban. Users are requested to contact the management in case of dual accounts may be used in order to not be penalized for multiple accounts.

Spamming

Repeated messages either nonsensical or intended to scam people would ensue a permanent ban. Posts of business promotion would be considered spamming unless the senior management has been informed before postage.

Commenting on Management decisions

Any protest or questions on management decisions should be done at the GHQ section or via communication to contact@defence.pk email.

Photos and Videos

Please, try to share multimedia covered by creative commons or those in public domain. Sharing copyrighted materials should be with consideration to copyright laws. Violation of this rule may result in moderation or further actions. Always credit the original poster with permission to resupply.

Off-Topic Posts

Anything that does not add value to the discussion being had or does not say anything about the thread may be liable for deletion and repeated violations may result in penalization. Please, do know that going into tangents is encouraged (something related to the thread, such as discussing a conflict economically rather than militarily) but off-topic derailment is not encouraged (bringing in social issues in order to derail a thread about geopolitics, for instance).

Sharing explicit/ graphic content

Any material showing gore/after effects of violence/ graphic things or adult material (pornography) is strictly not allowed on PDF. Please, share only images / content which is considered safe for work (SFW) as a general guideline.

Ban people from specific thread(s) where infractions were found. Don’t ban users out of the whole forum.

 

[Dark1]

All laws are as good as the enforcement.

 

[jaibi]

For repeated violations, we may have to ban the user from the forum as a whole but the main thinking now on is that we'd have a range of options on how to deal with someone who's being disruptive.

Thanks!

We are not in graduate studies English class. This is an online forum for GP. In US, unless you are submitting job resume or are in English Major, no body cares about your fancy correspondence skill in every day email.

Chill out bud. Many of us use cellular device for PDF, it is not uncommon to fat finger some words.


Ban people from specific thread(s) where infractions were found. Don’t ban users out of the whole forum.

Agreed.

All laws are as good as the enforcement.

We've planned it already and they'd be implemented this week. Just wanted to let people have a voice in case there were amendments needed because the management section is satisfied with them.

May i ask for when shall these new rules be implemented or is this still the planning phase?

 

[fitpOsitive]

FORUM RULES AND REGULATIONS FOR USERS

NOTE: The thinking is that this is a descending list, as you move down the list, the violations become less severe in terms of our awarding of warning points. There are overlaps but each violation has been garnered to leave no room for interpretations to somethings uniquely faced at PDF. Comments would be highly appreciated


PDF Philosophy and vision:

PDF wishes to be a platform for ideas to be discussed openly and in a cordial productive manner. The reason for IDs where you can have a relatively high degree of anonymity is for you to do away with your person and be your ideas. However, that does not mean that the person behind the keyboard ceases to exist and therefore; we have these rules to enforce that environment where ideas can be exchanged, challenged and projected freely.

Ethnic / political / nationalistic hate

Needless to say, PDF wishes to be a productive exchange of ideas and not a place of spreading communal, national, political or religiously motivated hatred. Members found involved in such activities would be severely penalized.

Sectarianism

PDF holds zero tolerance towards any sectarianism. Any material garnered towards inciting sectarianism in any form would be heavily penalized. PDF is not the place to have a dialogue on religious interpretation and anyone using that to create divide and unrest can be permanently banned as well. Please consider that criticizing any government, nation or person independent of bringing sect in is possible.

Religious Discussions

PDF proudly maintains respect for all religions therefore; as PDF is primarily a defense and geopolitical forum, the management feels that, it is not the place for religious discussions. Kindly do not post religious threads nor respond to any and, please, refrain from using religion in arguments. It should be noted that ethnicity is different from religion, Muslims/ Hindu/ Christians are ethnicities and Islam / Hinduism / Christianity are religions. This also includes sectarianism as well; PDF is not the place to have a dialogue on religion. Violation of this rule would be considered serious as it often leads to issues based on religious / communal tensions.

Inciting violence

Any post or thread inciting or encouraging violence would be penalized and if need be all information required would be shared with the appropriate authorities. PDF holds a zero tolerance policy towards such materials.

Special Section: using social issues for inciting ethnic / nationalistic / political hatred

Social issues such as sexual harassment, rape, child molestation or abuse are not to be used to incite ethnic / nationalistic / race inspired hatred nor political point scoring. PDF management would severely penalize any such threads / posts. If you are a good human being, kindly, be an ally of victims and do not abuse victims for your gains.

Racism

PDF is not a platform for spreading racism nor do we condone it. Any such threads / posts / materials would lead to heavy penalization.

Other forms of discrimination

Same goes for ethnic or nationalistic discriminatory views, aimed at stereotyping and berating members belonging to a specific area, country, religious, ethnic group

Sexism

There would be no tolerance for any threads / posts aimed at spreading sexism (berating / inciting / discriminatory behavior based on a person’s gender identity ). Such materials are not allowed at PDF

Inciting criminal activity

Any thread / post aimed at inciting or encouraging any activity deemed as a criminal offence would not be tolerated at PDF. (exceptions: political dissidents).

Spreading fake news

In today’s era, dubious or doubtful sources are being used by interest groups to twist perceptions of people usually for nefarious means. This is not allowed at PDF. Before you post, kindly, check the source yourself, a good practice is to verify the news from multiple sources before posting it on the site. If you are posting your personal opinion or the opinion of another person then clearly state it to be so, credit the original content. Do not masquerade opinions for news.

Threatening other members

Threatening other members is not at all allowed at PDF. We’re in the process of recording the IPs of such members and would be kept in record if there may be a need for the legal set up to be involved. There are laws covering your activity and PDF would fully cooperate with the authorities in any such incident.

Individual Harassment

Kindly do not ruin PDF for other members; such behavior includes following a member around PDF and replying their posts with harassing content such as thinly veiled threats or passive aggressive behavior or making the member feel as if they are being harassed. Such accusations would be investigated and would result in a ban. Moreover, kindly, do not share personal information about any member on PDF. We are a public forum, nor attempt to garner such information using PDF

Trolling

Any content or response given with the intent of simply antagonizing people (such as a particular group e.g. Pakistanis, Muslims, Christians, Women, Hindus, Indians, Africans et/.,) or a particular individual in order to garner a negative emotional response is considered trolling. More generally, essentially trolling is bullying online where by either a person is subjected to denial of opportunity to speak or making them feel very bad or inflaming them to be upset only. It is understood that during dialogues on sensitive issues there would be some words considered offensive but as long as it is not generalized to justify discrimination or packaged as a personal attack then that is acceptable because the spirit of the exchange is reflection or sharing of an opinion. Responding to trolling is deemed as ‘feeding the trolls’ and would be considered trolling too. It is not justifiable to respond to trolling with trolling and would also be addressed.

Trolling is a widespread problem and user’s postage history would be taken into account. Repeated offenders may face a permanent ban and trolling is taken seriously at PDF. Kindly, it does not help anyone and causes a ruining of the decorum therefore, would be dealt with appropriately.

Flaming / baiting

A special form of trolling whereby, threads or posts aimed at inciting an individual or group of people to be emotionally charged and incite fighting are not allowed. PDF is especially against using such posts or threads to incite hatred against politically belligerent nations or group of people e.g. Indians, Pakistanis or Saudis, Iranians etc. This would only add fuel to the flames. That’s not what PDF stands for.

Propaganda

Sometimes the news sources are being used to spread propaganda : weaponized information aimed at achieving a certain political goal. Usually this is to incriminate hatred amongst groups of people or vilify them. PDF does not believe in aiding the spread of propaganda, that does not mean that PDF is closed to discussions about such pieces. When you are to post such pieces of information for the sake of discussion or clarification, kindly clearly state so in your post otherwise it would be treated as aiding the spread of propaganda and would result in penalization.

Indoctrination

Sharing of information garnered at indoctrination of the public are not allowed. That includes political / religious / ethnic indoctrination are not allowed at PDF and would be penalized.

Political name calling

Using politically degrading names are not what PDF stands for and this applies for every country. PDF is politically neutral.

Political campaigning

You are encouraged to engage in political debates as well as project your own views about the political philosophy that you hold. However, PDF is not a platform for garnering political capital such as votes. Such threads or posts would be penalized. That doesn’t mean that you do not project your views or encourage others to vote, voicing your opinion as to who, in your view, should get to be in power. However, running political ads on behalf of political parties and hijacking the platform/ threads/ posts is not what PDF is for.

Personal attacks

Do not attack any individual nor use any abusive language towards their ethnic / national / religious identity for any purpose.

Profanity

Please, try to be courteous as you would be in public. This is a public forum and there are real people behind the keyboard. Therefore, kindly refrain from using curse words or offensive words to a particular group such as, Youthia or Gangu or Noora along with racially charged slurs as well. This would result in penalization. This is for the general decorum of the forum.

Promotion of a business

PDF is meant for intellectual discussions and not business promotions. In case you have such an idea where you think it would be productive then kindly contact at email address: contact@defence.pk before making any such threads/ posts.

Impersonating / multiple accounts

Everyone on PDF is allowed one account; usage of multiple IDs or impersonation of any user for any purposes would result in a ban. Users are requested to contact the management in case of dual accounts may be used in order to not be penalized for multiple accounts.

Spamming

Repeated messages either nonsensical or intended to scam people would ensue a permanent ban. Posts of business promotion would be considered spamming unless the senior management has been informed before postage.

Commenting on Management decisions

Any protest or questions on management decisions should be done at the GHQ section or via communication to contact@defence.pk email.

Photos and Videos

Please, try to share multimedia covered by creative commons or those in public domain. Sharing copyrighted materials should be with consideration to copyright laws. Violation of this rule may result in moderation or further actions. Always credit the original poster with permission to resupply.

Off-Topic Posts

Anything that does not add value to the discussion being had or does not say anything about the thread may be liable for deletion and repeated violations may result in penalization. Please, do know that going into tangents is encouraged (something related to the thread, such as discussing a conflict economically rather than militarily) but off-topic derailment is not encouraged (bringing in social issues in order to derail a thread about geopolitics, for instance).

Sharing explicit/ graphic content

Any material showing gore/after effects of violence/ graphic things or adult material (pornography) is strictly not allowed on PDF. Please, share only images / content which is considered safe for work (SFW) as a general guideline.

Negative rating should be abolished. I mean who needs a negative rating when there are already warning and ban systems. Some members unfairly use it.

 

[VCheng]

We've planned it already and they'd be implemented this week. Just wanted to let people have a voice in case there were amendments needed because the management section is satisfied with them.

Wishing you the best of luck in your endeavor is a good way to keep my account current as I continue to hibernate.

As was pointed out above, rules are only as good as their implementation, and systems will always deliver the results they are designed to achieve, as we can see.