Supporting each other in the forums

[Daniel]

Hi everyone. After the first few days of these forums being used, a few messages we saw posted raised issues that need to be addressed really quickly, before they grow and prevent us from getting all we can from this place.

It’s a great thing that we are able to use our own forums, separate from the school, and run them basically how we like. But it’s still going to be important to post appropriately to ensure we get the most benefit we can out of this site.

Going into Year 12, we are going to be working closer and closer together, because in the HSC our marks as a cohort really do affect our marks individually. That’s why this forum can be so useful – we will be able to share our notes and ideas easily, get feedback from others on our work and motivate each other to push ahead.

This is only going to be possible in the right environment. If we want to use this as a space to work better together, we need to be sure that every person in the group is comfortable posting here. If we isolate individuals or make anyone feel unwelcome, we will prevent ourselves from seeing their potentially valuable ideas and we will get less out of this site overall.

Cyber bullying is a huge issue right now, and Knox has already shown it will respond to it strongly. We will likely lose the privilege of these forums if we allow bullying to happen here. Mr. Bailey and I will be very quick to remove anything that could be considered bullying. There is a report system that anyone is free to use, and we receive an e-mail every time a report is submitted. If a person does post inappropriate messages repeatedly, he’ll simply be banned, and the more serious it is the more likely Knox staff are to be involved as well.

I am sure we all know the kinds of messages that cross the line. There has been a pattern in the last few days of a person posting one message, and several people replying saying things like “No one cares” and sarcastically “Thanks for that,” etc. This chipping away at each other is destructive, hurtful and it defeats the purpose of these forums. So, to be very clear, these forums will be permanently removed if it continues.

Please understand guys that this is an incredibly important issue. These forums are only useful for as long as we are all comfortable using them. We need to take a very hard line against anyone who disrupts this goal.

Thanks for your understanding. ^_^

--Daniel

[Daniel]

Rules & Guidelines

So that we can all be certain of what is considered appropriate and what isn’t, the rules and guidelines below will apply to all the forums, effective immediately. Violations of these rules will lead to accounts being banned.

You may not post:

• inflammatory messages to provoke a response from others (trolling)
  
• messages that insult, abuse, harass, threaten or defraud others
  
• copyrighted material which you do not have the right to reproduce
  
• material which is generally/morally offensive, graphically violent or sexually explicit
  
• material which disrupts the normal flow of dialogue, causes a page to scroll excessively (either vertically or horizontally), or impedes the ability of others to use the forums or any of its functions
  

In general, anything not allowed under Knox’s Appropriate Use of Technology policy (school diary, page 26) will not be allowed on these forums. Knox lists these responsibilities for us when we access the Internet:

• Respect the rights and privacy of others.
  
• Do not access or send information that may be considered offensive or inappropriate.
  
• Use the e-mail system with integrity.
  
• Consider the public nature of the Internet and do not reveal personal details.
  
• Be aware the information published on the Internet may be inaccurate or may misrepresent a person or situation.
  
• Do not plagiarise or violate copyright law.
  
• Remain within the megabytes per student per month download limit as set from time to time.
  
• Be thoughtful in your use of Internet resources and be restrained in printing excessive amounts.
  

Online safety and personal info:

• This website can be seen by unregistered users, potentially from anywhere in the world. It is therefore critically important that no personally-identifiable information is made available anywhere in the forums.
  
• Examples of information that should not be posted are full names, home and school addresses, phone numbers, suburb names, and details on any time or place people here are planning on meeting together.
  
• Do not share this information about yourself or any other person in the class. If any such information does appear, it will be removed quickly and the person who posted it may be banned.
  

Spamming:

• Please try to post your message in the most appropriate forum – e.g. chat threads are best in General Talk, while a thread about the assessment would be best in Assessment Task Discussion.
  
• Please try to post replies to a thread that are relevant to the first post, and in accordance with the thread creator’s wishes.
  
• Misplaced threads will simply be moved to the most appropriate forum, although continually and deliberately misplacing topics will be treated as spam and lead to penalties. Similarly, irrelevant replies to topics won’t receive formal attention unless they are continual and deliberate.
  

These rules may be altered or added to in the future. In the event of a dispute regarding the following or enforcing of these rules, administrators’ decisions will determine the final outcome.

Questions can always be sent via PM or e-mail to an admin.