Posting rules & guidelines

WELCOME TO SAWATDEE FORUM!

Sawatdee Gay Thailand is a public message board which exists to hosts all manner of topics of interest to gay folks who live in, or visit Thailand.

All topics are appropriate which do not violate the Posting Guidelines posted on the Board.
The general philosophy of SGT is ~ above all ~ a desire that the Members enjoy the experience of participating on this very busy and diverse Board.

To that end, there is a set of Posting Guidelines available to guide Members in the decisions they make in their postings and as well, to guide the Moderator(s) in making necessary moderating decisions.
Please read them before making your first post, and please consult them if you feel in any way that your post could possibly be crossing some line.
If the Guidelines do not specifically address a dilemma, then please do not hesitate to email or PM the Administrator, or a Moderator.


(A) What the Posting Guidelines CAN do:

• They can be used to protect the Board overall integrity and existence.
• They can be used to protect the individual and personal privacy of the Members, Administrator, and Moderators.
• They can be used to serve as a guide and description to the Members on limits to postings or topics.
• They can be used to serve as a guide to the Moderators in taking moderating actions.
• They can be used to protect Members, Administrators, Moderators, advertisers, businesses, from libelous commentary.
• They can be amended when necessary due to unforeseen or unexpected circumstances.

(B) What the Posting Guidelines CANNOT do:


They cannot be used to protect individual Members from hurt feelings, getting upset, political incorrectness, rudeness, inappropriate and controversial commentary, their thread going-off-topic or such like. (Sawatdee has a reputation for being an edgy message board: and to a reasonable degree we wish to keep it that way. Thus, if any of the problems outlined above bother you, then we suggest that you use the Ignore Feature. (To activate Ignore: go to My Control Panel >>> Friend & Foe >>> Manage Foes >>> write in the handle you wish to ignore >>> Submit >>> Yes . )
They cannot be used to protect Administrators, Moderators, personal friends, business partners, advertisers etc etc from reasonable non-libelous criticism.


Sawatdee Network is a forum that allows free speech on many / most topics but does not support or allow hate propaganda or discrimination, based on the prohibited grounds that most developed countries (including Canada, where this site is hosted from) recognize. These prohibited grounds include race / ethnic origin / colour, religion, age, sex, sexual orientation, marital status, family status, disability / medical conditions and a conviction for which a pardon has been granted or a record suspended.


Any post that puts down any one or any group, based on these prohibited grounds may be deleted or moderated and the poster warned about the content of their post(s).

POSTING RULES & GUIDELINES - Amended August 11th, 2018

1. Registering and Becoming a Member on Sawatdee Network

1.1 Registering on Sawatdee Network

1.1.1 A posting membership on Sawatdee Network (hereinafter referred to as ‘Sawatdee’) is free and open to anyone aged 18 years old and above.
1.1.2 An individual may register one handle only. The registering of multiple handles by the same individual is considered a violation of this Guideline. Once discovered, the additional handle(s) and identity(s) will be deleted, and the member will be suspended for one week.
1.1.3 In our view, registering and using a proxy to post creates an uneven playing field that opens the door to anyone who wants to register and post as a hydra/clone. This sort of activity only undermines the credibility of the membership and the quality of our discussions. We will not allow anyone to register an account from a proxy. Any proxy registrations will be deleted.

1.2 Becoming a Member

1.2.1 As part of the Registration process you will:

• Choose a Board identity also known as a nick or handle;
• Choose a Password. Once registered, your Password can be changed within the system. (For security purposes, it is wise to change your Password on a regular basis)
• Provide a valid email address during the registration process. Currently, for technical reasons, you cannot use web.de and all branches of gmx to register on Sawatdee.

1.2.2 New members will have their first 5 posts vetted before they appear on the forum. This is necessary to protect the membership from: spam, hydras/clones, toxic IP address, "bad" email domain, either posted on the forums or by private message (PM), or banned members re-applying for membership, to whom sanctions will already have been applied. Any applicant that feels they have been wrongly screened from joining can email the owner at "Contact Us" page.

2. The Board Forums & Board Etiquette
2.1 There are a number of Forums on Sawatdee and each includes a description of its purpose below its title. As a posting member you are free to post any topic you wish (but subject to the limitations listed at Rule 3.2 below) and the Board encourages you to post your topic in the appropriate forum. Topics not appropriate to a particular forum may be moved by the Moderator(s). The move will be noted, in red, in the original forum.
2.2 Sawatdee occasionally has to deal with breaches of Board etiquette known as "trolling", "flaming", "link dumping" or "spamming". These behaviors can be difficult to specifically identify, and are also difficult to administer. Sawatdee Moderator(s) will deal with these issues on a case-by-case basis. On most occasions, an explanatory PM to the member will be sufficient.
2.3 Personal attacks and harassing behavior is not permitted on the forum. Sawatdee Moderator(s) will also deal with these issues on a case-by-case basis.
2.4 We would appreciate if members avoided publicly naming another member as being a hydra/clone, or make any suggestions to that effect, leaving it to the administration team to deal with. If a member suspects that another member is a hydra/clone, then we would be grateful if the member notifies us about his suspicions, using the red triangle icon reporting system, which is located at the bottom left-hand corner of every post (See also, Rule 3.2.6 and the illustrative graphic posted by the administrator on December 3rd, 2016 at post #3 in this topic).
2.5 The official language of the Board is English. Members should avoid using other languages (except in PMs). However, simple expressions are fine. Bad / foul language may bring sanctions from the Moderator(s). It is incumbent on every member to ensure his posts are intelligible to all members. If you are going to post non-English on these forums, please also include an English translation.
2.6 All signatures should not exceed the following limits:

• You can't have both text and images in your signature.
• For text signatures: 4 lines normal size, 8 lines small size and up to 90 characters per line. Font sizes above 2 are not allowed. (Blank lines count as lines.)
• Do not use images with large text to bypass the previous item.
• For images in signatures: 1 image up to 300 pixels wide, 125 pixels tall and 20k in size.
• Animated images in a signature are not allowed.

3. Privacy, Anonymity & Posting Limitations

3.1 Privacy & Anonymity

3.1.1 Sawatdee is a (reasonably) anonymous Board, excluding only legal demands from appropriate authorities; reasonably because the IP address of every visitor or member to Sawatdee is collected for statistical and other similar purposes. That said, personal privacy and identity within the membership of Sawatdee must be protected as far as possible. Therefore, the following types of information must not be included in any post: Photos of members without their consent, last/surnames, telephone numbers, email or residential address, any URL belonging to any member, or any other information that could be used to identify an individual or organisation.
3.1.2 A member or organisation may agree to identifiable information being posted, after first advising the Moderator(s) of their intention to do so.
3.1.3 Owner(s)/Moderator(s) will not attempt to obtain personal information. Nor will they attempt to verify accuracy of posts.

3.2 Posting Limitations

3.2.1 Members are encouraged to voice opinions on a wide range of topics, while still being civil to others and subject to the limitations listed in Rule 3.2.3 below.

3.2.1.1 Posts which bear no relation to the original topic and which, in the view of the Moderator(s), go seriously off the rails and become unacceptably overly heated may be moved to the Holding Room, which is available only to members. The Moderators, at their discretion, may rename the topic and post in red a short announcement in the original topic advising members where the article, thread or posts have been moved to and under what title.
3.2.1.2 Once placed in the Holding Room, it follows that posts should not be reposted back to any of the main forums. Where a member does re-quote a post from the Holding Room in any of the main forums, the Moderator(s) will delete the post and, in red, will refer the member to this rule. The Moderator(s) may, at his/their discretion, post the number of the original post and the name of the topic which can be read by members in the Holding Room. Repeated breaches of this rule may incur sanctions at the discretion of the Moderator(s) (See Rule 4).

3.2.2 Members and businesses are welcome to promote and advertise gay services or other services used by gays on our Gay Thailand, Gay Cambodia and Gay Vietnam forums free of charge. But the promotion of services or advertisements outside our main area of interest - Southeast Asia - will not be accepted.
3.2.3 There are some topics that may not be discussed and which may put the Board in jeopardy. These are:

• The discussion of underage sex or the involvement of any persons in this illegal activity.
• The posting of any image of anyone under the age of 18 (even when they are fully clothed) is not permitted.
• Negative references to the Thai Royal Family are strictly forbidden. Thailand has very strict laws about this. The Thai authorities have varying ideas on what constitutes negative references, so as a general rule, it is better to just avoid the subject.
• Making defamatory/libellous statements about any person or organisation.
• Displaying pornographic images is not permitted. Nudity is allowed, while visible images of a penis, anus or balls are not permitted. If in doubt, refer the matter to the administration team. Please also avoid posting links to pornographic sites on the open forums. Such links will be removed without additional notes by a moderator. Links to pornographic websites may however be posted on the members only Holding Room or the Gay online dating - share and discuss your experience here forum depending on the content.
• No screenshots from messenger sites, dating sites and other services where the visitor cannot see these images without logging-in are permitted on the open forums. Such screenshots may however be posted on the members only forum - Gay dating applications - discuss and share your experience here forum.
• The posting of another member’s private message (PM) on the open forums without his permission is not permitted.

3.2.4 We at Sawatdee would prefer not to see negative posts about the other forums, which cater for gays visiting and living in Southeast Asia. All the forums are different in style with their own identity, but all serve the gay community. We therefore reserve the right to delete negative commentaries.
3.2.5 Satiric and comedic writing is encouraged on this Board. However, members are reminded that with the privilege of freedom of speech, comes the responsibility to use that freedom wisely to the benefit of the wider community (in this case, the Board and its members).
3.2.6 If a member believes that an article, thread or post has violated the rules, rather than sending a PM to a member of the administration team, the quickest and most effective way to notify the administration team is by clicking the red triangle icon, which can be found at the bottom left-hand corner of every post. After clicking the red triangle, members will be asked to provide a short commentary saying why they consider the article, thread or post has broken a forum rule. (For further details, see the explanatory graphic posted by the administrator on December 3rd, 2016 at post #3 in this thread).
3.2.7 The Moderator(s) may deal with the report as he/they believe(s) will be in the best interests of the Board and its members. This can range from a PM to the poster outlining why his post was unacceptable and specifying which rule was broken, up to and including suspension or dismissal from the Board if the post was truly injurious in any respect. The complainant can also expect to receive a PM reply to their report from one of the Moderators.
3.2.8 Any post, thread or article that breaches these rules may attract Sanctions (see Rule 4).
3.2.9 For the benefit of members, there is an edit feature that is active for 30 minutes after a message has been posted. This provides ample opportunity for a member to modify his language/comments. It ceases to function after that time, for the benefit of keeping subsequent posts in context.
3.2.10 The "Final Post". When a member of our community dies, it is common that someone from the community will announce the late member’s passing here on Sawatdee. Out of respect for the deceased member, this Board will allow only positive comments in these "Final Post" threads.
3.2.11 Members must not wilfully vandalise/sabotage the Board. Any member who violates the membership's trust, by wilfully being involved in this activity, will have their membership deactivated immediately and sanctions up to, and including, a permanent ban may be imposed.

4. Moderation and Sanctions
4.1 Moderating the Board. Sawatdee Moderator(s) actions or decisions will result from breaches of any of these rules. Moderator(s) may:

• Warn the member
• Delete a post, thread or article
• Edit a post
• Move a thread
• Lock a thread
• Apply Sanctions as expressed in Rule 4.2 (below)

Or the administrator may place a restriction on which forums the member may post.
4.2 Moderator(s) will apply these sanctions to members breaking Board rules. Moderator(s) will exercise discretion in the application of these sanctions. Moderator(s) decisions are final. Please do not expect to break the rules under the guise of free speech.

4.2.1 On the first occasion, when identified, the member will either be warned, or/and the post/thread/article will be deleted.
4.2.2 On a second occasion, the member may be suspended for one (1) month and advised by PM.
4.2.3 On a third or subsequent occasion, the member may be banned for a minimum of six (6) months or such greater period as the Owner determines and advised by PM. Additional sanctions may be applied to hydras and their owners including a suspension of PM privileges.

4.3 A moderating action or decision may be clearly explained in red within the post or thread concerned. A reference to the rule that has been breached will be included. In the case of loss of posting privileges, the advice will be sent by PM; it will not be delivered publicly. As moderating decisions will be made in red, it would be helpful if members refrained from using red font.
4.4 After the explanation has been published or sent by PM, all communication with the member(s) being sanctioned will be by PM or email. Public discussion of moderating decisions is not permitted.
4.5 While these rules cover most common situations, they cannot anticipate everything. Consequently, administration reserve the right to take any actions we deem appropriate to ensure these forums are not disrupted or abused in any way.
4.6 Although the Owner and Moderators of Sawatdee will attempt to keep all objectionable messages off this forum, it is impossible for us to review all messages. All messages express the views of the author and not the owners of Sawatdee.
4.7 By using Sawatdee you agree to follow these rules and warrant that you will not post any messages that are obscene, hateful, threatening or discriminatory (i.e. based on the prohibited grounds that most developed countries recognize. These prohibited grounds include: race, ethnic origin, colour, religion, age, sex, sexual orientation, marital status, family status, disability/ medical conditions or a conviction for which a pardon has been granted, or a record suspended). Any post, thread or article that denigrates any one or any group, based on these prohibited grounds, will be subject to sanctions by the Moderator(s) as outlined at rule 4.1.
4.8 The owners of Sawatdee reserve the right to remove, edit, move or close any thread for any reason.
4.9 We reserve the right to update and modify these rules as the needs of the community dictate to ensure the smooth operation of this community.

If you think what some posts are violating rules, you can call moderator to pay attention to such posts by clicking special icon under each post - red triangle (see picture).

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