Now that we have our own home, traffic is gonna go up a bit, and we'll have to deal with more spammers and flamers but we hope more worthy discussions as well.  Here are some regulations in addition to that above to ensure RWI remains friendly to all:-

1) Criticize the ideas, not the person

2) No sarcastic remarks, they tend to be sparks for a huge fire.  Saying its 'just a joke' is not a defence.  We'll delete all offending posts, regardless of member rank.

3) If an issue is too heated up for you to control yourself, go somewhere else rather than succumb to your heart.

4) Posting an 'I agree' or a ':thumbs:', or something similar is regarded as spamming in this sub-forum.  We look forward to reading your opinions and critiques.

5) Do type in proper sentences with proper spelling, which makes it easier for others to read.  SMS lingo is discouraged.

6) Should you be posting an article, or quoting from an article, ensure that you have also posted a link to the article from its original site.  Failure to do so will result in the thread locked and deleted within a week.

7) When opening a new thread, be sure that you have a specific question to discuss ready for us.  Merely pasting an article from a newspaper is not sufficient and all such threads will be locked. 

8) Choose your words wisely and be sure not to defame anyone.

9)  Religious topics are particularly sensitive - Try to be specific in asking, and if you're not sure, don't pretend to know.

10) Lastly, report all offending posts rather than reply to them.
The moderating team

UPDATE: We have a new policy in place for people who persistently engage in flame wars or religious/race vilification.  From now on, every single post of yours in the thread will be deleted, whether or not they are inflammatory.

If this still does not stop you, your posts will require previewed by a moderator before being posted. 

The final step is a total ban on posting in RWI.  We sincerely hope it never comes to this, because its against LYN's policy of an open community for all, but to protect the interests of the rest of us, we'll have to weed out the stubborn few.

Additional pointers

1. Topic Title - Be descriptive, not vague. Try not to use misleading topic titles or sub topic titles. Titles will be edited if they are found to be un-descriptive or misleading.
   
   
2. Be specific - A topic like "The State of Malaysia's Politics" is a broad topic. Unless you intend the topic to be broad (like the Believers vs Non Believers thread), define the topics you intend to discuss. Be clear on what you want to discuss. This way, we can have more streamlined discussions.
   
   
3. Initiative - The threadstarters should have the initiative to post some views of his/her own. If you want to share news, please post your news in the News Thread instead.
   
   
4. News - Whenever you want to post a news as an update to a situation, please quote the WHOLE news, and put the link. Don't just put the link there because links can get outdated very quickly.
   
   
5. Make things easier for people to read... a sentence like "dis is sum chickins~~~" with a lot of tildes and terrible engrish... it's hard for people to read.
   
   
6. One-liner topics (i.e someone starts a topic with just one or two lines in the content) will be locked up until the threadstarter can go about with some points
   
   
7. No homework threads please. If you are doing a sociology study, and need some views, present some of your own first. Don't expect us to give you the answer to your sociology homework.
   
   

Topic specific Pointers -

• Whiners are seriously seriously frowned upon. Whining includes statements like: "I dun like xxx so I am migrating", or "You don't like xxx, why don't you migrate", or "Proton is teh suxx0r, dun buy proton", or "Petrol always go up, salary no go up"
  
  
• Please be extremely aware of Sedition. More information on Sedition can be found in the pinned Sedition Act 1984 thread. Read that first
  
  

NAME CALLING IS ABSOLUTELY NOT ALLOWED

This list is updated 2 March 2006

DEFINITION LISTS (sounds like XML lol)

Here is a definition of good arguments:

• level-headed: It means that the foruum (Like Joruus Caboath, and Luuke Skywalker) members post but is minimally affected by their emotions - i.e minimal rantings.
  
  
• Each argument made has a minimum of 2-3 points
  
  
• As few logical fallacies as possible
  
  
• A post that attacks the point, not the person.
  
  
• Outlining one's philosophy before engaging in discussion
  
  
• The post is preferably of good language (in BM, English or Chinese, or Hindi).  Unless the thread is in the Malay Language, Chinese Language or Indian Language, all comments are to be posted in the English Language.
  
  

Here is a definition of posting in a bad fashion:

• Emotional postings/rants
  
  
• Personal attacks
  
  
• Posting without prior knowledge of the subject discussed (like if the topic is about Inflation and economics, someone comes in and starts talking about George Bush is a jew, and controlling the world's economy)
  
  
• Baseless Allegations
  
  
• Shameless and contentless one-liners
  
  
• Posts that are riddled with logical fallacies like appealing to emotion
  
  
• Postings with lack of facts
  
  
• Irrational replies.
  
  

Deletion Policies
Any posts found being posted in bad fashion will be deleted without mercy or without informing the poster.

However, if the posts are mixed with both good arguments and some parts being done in a bad fashion (for example, someone posting good points but at the same time attacks another person)... the post will be edited.

Announcement:
Starting from today, there will be a zero tolerance policy against spam. Anybody caught spamming with meaningless posts, rant posts, or one liner posts like "Ya, I agree" will be warned and probably castrated. XD

News Announcement: All new threads must be tagged.

Untagged threads will be immediately deleted.

Exceptions to the list are pinned threads. I will manually tag existing threads that are on the front page for a time period.

There is absolutely no need to bring up old topics, unless there is an issues currently pertaining to it

READ THIS FOR GOODNESS SAKE

Just to remind members who are creating new topics in RWI.  PLEASE ADHERE STRICTLY TO THE ABOVE RULE OF TAGGING YOUR TOPICS.

---

Added on August 11, 2007, 5:07 pm
Please take note of the above highlighted statement.  The original statement has been amended slightly to make its meaning clear and precise and without doubt.

We noticed that quite a few newbies and junior members have joined in the discussions in RWI.  We welcome you.  However, we hope that you can take some time to read and understand the rules and regulations governing RWI, especially the Zero Tolerance Policy, before you participate in its discussions.

Thank you for your co-operation. 

Please be considerate and use the spoiler tag for pictures and long articles.

Especially those that constantly "copy-n-paste" articles, we would appreciate the use of spoilers and also highlight what the main point is!