An introduction to newcomers as well as an outline to general behavioral guidelines and specific rules which all members must understand.
Welcome to The Growery's online community. While we host a wealth of static information on the front-end of our website, we supplement this data with open discussion on our message boards. Many new ideas and horticultural experiments take place within our community forums where users are provided with valuable feedback and ideas on their various projects. The scope of our community is not limited to marijuana cultivation however. We also encourage discussion on a broad range of topics including but not limited to spirituality, philosophy, politics, technology, the arts, and even gatherings so you can get to know the faces behind some of these crazy personalities you will get to know if you stick around.
If you're an explorer of the mind and desire to expand your perspective on life, you will definitely be afforded this opportunity via participation in our message board. We welcome all peoples, and though there are bound to be a few inconsiderate users we ask that you do not let them drive you away. If you see users breaking the rules or consistently harassing you, we encourage you to contact the administration so that a compromise may be reached. In many cases, the personal problems one may have are confined to a specific forum. Try out the different areas of discussion and you may find one that quenches your thirst for debate quite well.
Members
should always strive to practice the following positive attributes:
Model the behavior they want others to emulate: read carefully and post entertainingly, informatively, and economically, acknowledge other people by name, assume good will, assert trust until convinced otherwise, add knowledge, offer help, be slow to anger, apologize when wrong, politely ask for clarification, and exercise patience when your temper flares.
Nurture the community memory, pointing newcomers to archives, providing links to related conversations, past and present, hunting down resources to add to the collective pool of knowledge -- and teaching others to do it. Be the memory of the conference -- point and link to relevant info in the past or elsewhere in the community. Encourage others to search, retrieve and link info that has been valued by other members of the Growery and praise people who do so.
Bring your situation to the administration if you are angry, puzzled, or otherwise uncertain about what to do.
Welcome new people and be a good host.
Technical Rules and Procedure are as follows:
On Banning:
Any user who violates site or specific forum policy, including those who ignore personal direction given to them by a moderator/administrator, will be banned according to the following guidelines. While we will do our best to be fair, we do reserve the right to ban anyone for any reason:
A first offense for minor infractions will result in a written warning by moderator/administrator either via Private Message, or in the thread where the incident occurred. Immediate bans are often issued without warning in circumstances involving SPAM, explicitly illegal activity, excessive harassment, or any behavior deemed malicious.
Upon second offense, the user will receive a temporary ban of anywhere from 1-15 days with a brief explanation of the reason behind the ban and the duration of the ban.
Repeat offenders who continue to violate policy and/or administrative direction, will be permanently banned.
Every user may contest their ban through our Support System. Please include any and all relevant information and links where applicable. While we reserve the right to allow certain users readmittance, do not expect to be given a second chance if you have been perm banned.
On Puppets (aka Multiple Accounts):
Puppets are allowed only under two circumstances:
Grow
log/cultivation puppet
Special
circumstance (including but not limited to a user who is engaged in a court proceeding
where certain information could be held against them)
All legitimate puppets must be cleared with an administrator in advance. GrowLog puppets will be removed from the normal User group and only allowed to post in the applicable forums. Failing prior permission, suspected and/or recognized puppets, and their operators, will be banned until the issue is resolved via email with an administrator or through our Support System.
On Harassment & Respect:
Harassment of other members will not be tolerated at the Growery, and may result in an immediate ban depending on severity. If you have a problem with another member, please make your peace with them or simply keep your distance. If you cannot behave in a respectful manner, keep your words to yourself. Failure to comply will result in administrative action at the sole discretion of the staff. All members are encouraged to PM a moderator or administrator with relevant information if they cannot resolve their conflict privately.
On
Posting Private Messages:
Private Messages are meant to be kept private. We will not tolerate users posting discussions held in private correpondance, onto the public boards. Any private messages that are sent to a moderator or admin may be reviewed by the collective staff, but will never be posted in the public forum.
On Post-Whoring & Flooding:
Post Whores are those who create multiple posts of little or no content, which fail to contribute to the topic at hand, or whom create multiple threads in rapid succession, in effect "flooding" a forum. Post Whores may or may not engage in such behavior to intentionally drive up their post count. Members engaging in post whoredom will be processed in accordance with the On Banning guidelines above.
On Drama Queens & Hate Magnets:
When someone gets on the bad side of the community and continues to act out, bringing the wrath of our more vocal members upon themselves and generally becoming a detriment to the health and harmony of the boards, they will be processed in accordance with the On Banning guidelines above. Even if you feel that you are in the right, sometimes it is best to just let things go. It is expected that you will respect any such direction given to you by a staff member.
On Closing Threads:
Threads are to be closed when they are violating the general site or specific forum policy to a degree that is not detrimental to any member of the membership, yet still goes against the rules, or when there are multiple instances of a similar topic in the active thread-list. Often, the purpose of closing a thread rather than dumping it, is to set an example to the membership that such threads will not be tolerated. Questionable threads may be temporarily closed as a preventative measure until a final decision has been reached via staff discussion. Your first course of action if you believe your thread was closed without cause, is to contact the staff member who closed your thread directly. Failing that, contact an administrator using our Support System.
On
Editing Posts:
Posts will be edited if the material in them violates any general site or specific forum policy, yet resides within a developed thread of considerable value. Edited posts will be accompanied by explanation of the action in the post itself, and via private message if further explanation is deemed necessary.
If a user manipulates their post after a moderator has edited it as a means to negate the administrative action, said user will receive an immediate temporary or permanent ban dependant upon the situation at the sole discretion of the administration.
On Deleting Accounts:
In order to preserve our post history and maintain
continuity in discussions, we do not delete accounts under any
circumstances. Thus, do not post anything that you think you may later regret as the only way to permanently end your relationship with the Growery is to abandon your account.
On Deleting Posts & Dumping Threads:
Threads which provide potentially harmful information, illegal information/advice, are a direct threat to another user, or serve no useful purpose in a forum as decided by the forum moderator, will be dumped.
Moderators may delete any individual post so long as they include a public explanation of their action within the deleted post, or via Private Message.
As a preventative measure, it is always acceptable to close/lock threads in question until the administration is available for comment.
If you believe your thread was dumped unjustly, you may contact an administrator for review and possible reinstatement no later than three days after the dumping.
