Rules that don't exist until you break them...

[Hotspot]

Have you ever come across a forum where you got in trouble for something that was not stated in the rules?
Like it is a rule, but it's clearly not stated it is a rule in the rules topic or page?

This has happened to me twice already, the first time was in 2008. I was banned and deleted entirely from a forum, because I had a link in my signature. Even though the rules did not state you couldn't; I even tried talking to the moderator who banned me for it, but they would not listen. The funniest part is that the admin of the forum didn't seem to mind and was hoping I'd stick around.

Another time was very recently, I was making posts in older topics... A.K.A Necro posting or Grave Digging.
And a member sent me a pm telling me not to make posts in older topics, in which I responded... that I would not have done that if it said not to in the rules.

I do not understand why forums have invisible rules, is it like some sort of trap or something?
How can you obey the rules, if they do not list all of them in the rules?

Has anything like this ever happened to you? Have you ever gotten in trouble for doing something that was not posted in the forum rules section?

 

[Black Angel]

Not really, but I have had situations that came up on my forum that I didn't want there to be a repeat of and so, I amended my rules over time to reflect that, but that was about it.

If that happened to me, then I'd probably leave, I mean, situations like that are indicative of bad leadership and I wouldn't waste my time on a site like that when there are so many others that are so much better and worth my time.

 

[Nuke]

At the first forum hat I joined, "unstated rules" we're numerous, and there were 40+ rules stated. I was highly controversial when I used my eventual admin status to propose a reduction to 28 rules. It was crazy!

 

[Nathan]

Come across this many, many times. There's nothing you can really do about it either. If that's how the forum is run, unless you own it, you can't change it. Best thing to do is run to the competition 😉

 

[AndroidOS]

Yes, I've also come across this a few times before. Not recently though, I must admit. It does depend on how old the forum is though. For instance, if it is a relatively new forum, then they may be something missing off the rules they forgot to put in. In that case however, you should not be punished, just the rules updated.

 

[Nuke]

Yes, I've also come across this a few times before. Not recently though, I must admit. It does depend on how old the forum is though. For instance, if it is a relatively new forum, then they may be something missing off the rules they forgot to put in. In that case however, you should not be punished, just the rules updated.

I can see this happening.

 

[mav3n]

I can understand some of the points here, but I think it all should be handled by the staff in a professional manner. I know that in my community guidelines, I have this at the bottom:

 Staff members do have the authority to react on an issue that isn't listed here in the guidelines if they warrant it necessary.

I think if you do something that isn't in the rules, the staff should PM you concerning the issue, but then just change the rules.

 

[Black Angel]

I understand that not every admin can forsee the problems they may have on their forum, but that is why updating the rules every now and then, as each situation occurs is important.

I think that, in situations like this it should count as a [verbal] warning to the user, (it isn't their fault that you didn't think to include it in the rules, for all they knew, it was ok) unless of course it was obvious, or intentional violation. Some things needn't be stated in the rules, and should be implied or considered common sense, but that doesn't mean that there won't be some a-hole out there looking to push the envelope.

As I stated in my previous post, if it is a situation that I didn't want repeated, then I will just amend the rules, and post an announcement about the situation that warranted the change to explain things. This way it draws attention to the rules and people will then be aware of them, and the reasons why the change was necessary.

If that same person decides to continue that behavior on the forum, and/or simply decided not to read the rules, then there will be consequences, and they won't have a right to complain about it, or claim that they didn't know when they get them either.

 

[juststeven]

My view on this. Sometimes an administrator must enforce a rule which they have not put into word. There is nothing wrong with this. However you should not be punished. You should only be punished for rules which are on the rules page/post.

 

[Deleted member 7467]

I think as long as it's reasonable, a moderator should be able to act on something not explicitly listed in the rules.