I've always felt that guidelines restrict flexibility but that we'd know what types of posts crossed the line when we saw them (sort of like Justice Potter Stewart's famous comment about obscenity). Frankly, I never thought things would go as far as they did sexually. For example, I never thought people would think full nudity was acceptable -- but we've ended up banning several people for posting fully-nude pictures, as well as some others for partial nudity. In addition, other people were given warnings about the content of their posts, but the warnings didn't stop the behavior, and they ended up getting banned.
I guess we were a little naive.
We'll try to work up some more formal guidelines and post them. However, I'll respond briefly to your questions now -- although keep in mind that I'm only speaking for myself, not for Webby, and he has the ultimate decision-making authority.
Are some topics taboo? Sure. Flames (with rare exceptions), nasty political posts, overt sex, nude pictures, among others. We've always let some things go that push the envelope, but we've tried never to let it go too far.
Are you in danger of losing your membership? I guess the first question to ask yourself is whether you've received any warnings for your conduct from one of the moderators. If so, we may decide to take action for a repeated violation.
Over this board's life, we've had to make the decision to ban a few people (including, among others, one of the most prominent posters on this board from S1, whom I thought of as a very good friend) who were VERY well-known but who had been warned about their behavior and who still continued to step over the line. I know people tend to react like this has never happened before, but it has. It's hard to do it every time, but at some point, you have to act.
Presuming that you haven't received any warnings, you have to commit a pretty blatant act to be banned. If you HAVE received a warning, you should take it to heart.
Also, we will ban someone, even without a warning, for his or her real-life actions related to another poster. For example, one of our now-banned members contacted the supervisor of another member (with whom she was angry) and tried to get him fired for spending too much time talking with her on the Internet. I expect that it goes without saying that that behavior is over the edge.
Avoid these types of behaviors, and you should be OK.
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"They don't call me Catsinova for nothing"
