Shaycom users hail from all over the world, and are here for many reasons, including opinions, entertainment, information, analysis, and friendly advice. These guidelines are intended to help all users understand what is and is not considered acceptable conduct on Shaycom services.

Every user deserves an equal opportunity to participate. Please approach other users with the same courtesy and respect that would be expected in any real-life group of people of mixed ages, races, cultures, genders and beliefs.

When communicating with other users, please consider their feelings. You are interacting with a real person, not with a computer. Please think before you speak or act.

Speak up for your views, but do not attack other users. Harassment, defamation, abuse, or threats directed at other users through words, pictures or actions are not allowed and could result in temporary or permanent account suspension.

The following rules provide additional guidance and examples:

  1. Agree to disagree respectfully. Opposing opinions can generate a lively discussion, but if you cannot persuade someone with your presentation of the facts or argument, move on instead of resorting to personal attacks. If you are upset about something or someone, consider taking a break to calm down before you respond.
  2. As in real life, activities such as verbal assault, name-calling, and harassment -- including racial, religious and sexual harassment -- carry penalties. For example, it is not acceptable to use profanity, vulgarity or hate speech against another user. Penalties may include account suspension or termination, and a report to the proper authorities if warranted. To learn more about verbal abuse and its impact on others, please see the Verbal/Emotional Abuse page on Suite 101 and the psychological abuse directory on Google.
  3. Respect the rights of others to enjoy Shaycom services. Please do not participate in antisocial, disruptive, or destructive acts. This includes but is not limited to, "flaming" (making insulting criticisms or remarks to incite anger), "spamming" (posting numerous and/or unwanted and disruptive items), and "trolling" (intentionally inciting negative disruption, such as posting to make purely negative or disruptive comments).
  4. Respect other users’ requests to refrain from conduct they or others may find offensive, and be forgiving of others' mistakes. If someone asks you to stop a certain line of communication with them or conduct towards them, and you do not, your actions may constitute harassment. Please choose whom you continue to interact with.
  5. Feel free to express strong opinions about any group, but please do not use slurs to disparage a group of individuals based on their ethnicity, gender, national origin or sexual orientation.
  6. Respect the privacy rights of others. Please do not post private email or the private contact information and identity of another individual.
  7. Respect the rights of others to enjoy safe and unimpeded access to Shaycom services. Please do not use automated or other actions to interfere with site operations and use.
  8. Threats of bodily harm against a Shaycom user may be actionable under criminal law and should be reported immediately to local law enforcement authorities. In addition, you may consider contacting your local phone company if the threat was made over the telephone or contacting the sender's Internet Service Provider (ISP) if the threat was made through email.
  9. Respect others’ copyright. It is a violation of the Terms of Service, United States law, and international law to repost any work from copyrighted sources without permission. Copyrighted sources include everything from printed newspapers to another user’s blogs. You may provide a brief synopsis of an article or other writing and/or provide relevant commentary while quoting a few sentences but please do not post a written work in its entirety or substantially in its entirety. To learn more about copyright, please see 10 Big Myths About Copyright.
  10. Be yourself! Please do not impersonate another Shaycom user, Shaycom staff members, or other people with official roles through the use of similar nicknames or any other method or device that misleads users.
  11. List your professional information on your About Me page. Please do not use Shaycom to post advertising, promotional materials, chain letters, or pyramid schemes.
  12. Please post adult-only content only in adult or mature areas.
  13. Suspended users may not register new accounts or participate in Shaycom services using associated registrations. Please do not post on behalf of suspended users, discuss suspended users in order to disrupt Shaycom services, or allow a suspended user to use your account.
  14. You are responsible for all activity on your account. The use of false registration information, the creation of multiple accounts for the purpose of disruption and/or to avoid detection, or violation of the Shaycom Terms of Service will result in the permanent suspension of all associated accounts.
  15. Respect the rules, other users, and the staff members who work hard to provide and improve this service. Please do not report false bugs, repost items removed or re-categorized by Shaycom staff members, post incorrect information, or make inaccurate statements about Shaycom policies or actions. Adherence to Shaycom policies will allow everyone to participate in the Shaycom community.