Despite all of this oh-so-clever techno jazz funkery going down, there are human hands building this community and this head honcho moderator is human too – honest, my name's Bob ... no - really.
This online community will be as colourful, contradictory and chaotic as any physical get together can be. Any diverse group of people that gathers under one roof can all at once be brash and shy, hyper and chilled, shouty and quiet, sharp and squidgy, snappy and musing. This site is no different. Keep that in mind and let's aspire to take a leaf out of Mr Tolerant's book (he's so good natured as well as handsome, darn him).
Humans can be fickle and fallible, bless us. To an extent we'll feel our way through establishing our community. Sure we know what we're doing; we bring a lot of strokey-beardy wiseness to the party, but we might make some smelly mistakes along the way. But we'll admit it when we mess up like responsible grown-ups, chalk it up to experience, add it to our bank of wiseness and move on.
Virgin.com is run on good juju. And it only works if you take the juju and spread it far and wide. Ultimately we'll find our own balance and help each other out, but in the meantime if there is a dispute the hand of Bob has the final swing. Don't make me angry – you won't like me when I'm angry.
Here are some essential social graces to abide by:
- Be nice (we like a happy community)
- Be topical (sticking to the subject makes threads easier to follow)
- Be clear (helps avoid misunderstandings)
- Be patient (people of all ages and nationalities are part of this community)
- Be safe (no personal info in public spaces such as email addresses etc)
Consistent abuse of our good juju may result in you getting slapped by the Hand Of Bob. And you wouldn't want that. More than 3 strikes and your comment posting access will be suspended until you promise to behave nicely. Consistent abuse will put you at risk of being on the naughty step… forever. Bob wears the judges' wig so Bob's judgement is final.
And if you need more detail than that, here goes:
Be nice
A long time ago, on a message board far, far away... flame wars! Someone posted a rude comment, someone got all snidey, someone came over all righteous and crash, bang, wallop what a ding dong it was. Solution? Step away from the flame. Do not go near the flame. Do not pour fuel on to the flame. Don't even flounce away from the flame with a swoosh of your cloak in melodramatic fashion. Simply take a deep breath, agree to disagree and move along now, move along...
We love a passionate debate and the key to not continually getting knocked (and, even worse, suffering the dreaded 'delete' at the hand of Bob) is to never descend to playground behaviour; no name-calling, getting personal and throwing the virtual mud around.
We welcome constructive criticism of articles, but virgin.com is no place for potty-mouths with their below-the-belt shots. Hate-speech, anything that can be interpreted as racist, sexist, homophobic, looks like it has a commercial purpose or in anyway smells of spam will be removed by the hand of Bob. Remember the good juju.
Be topical
No-one likes the 'me, me, me' party bore who hasn't quite mastered the knack of how a conversation works. A good chat can cast a wide range but remember where you're posting and who you're talking to. If your comment veers wildly off course, is inappropriate or just plain wrong then it's back in to the naughty corner for you.
Would you take a trip in to town, head for the nearest random group of people, barge in among them, shout out 'the price of fish these days!' and expect be treated as a sane and rational person? Not in this town. If you have a legitimate comment, issue or discussion to instigate then simply take a little time to mooch around virgin.com and find the right place to have that conversation where you're more likely to get a meaningful response.
Be clear
The trouble with this newfangled text-based wizardry is that your tone of voice gets lost on the way and tone of voice in conversation helps everyone get where it is you're coming from. Sarcasm and humour is a lot harder to convey in online chit chat and you can easily get misunderstood. Stop and think how your post may be open to misinterpretation, make sure you are being ultra crystal clear with what you're saying and only then hit the submit button.
Be safe
Keep your sensible hat on and make sure you filter your content like a nice, responsible adult. If you wouldn't say it in a room full of strangers listening in then is it really safe for the whole wide world of the international web to hear? Remember – when you post it's there for all and sundry to see, under your name – possibly for ever and ever and ever.
Don't be a silly billy and idly hand out personal information about yourself or anyone else, and likewise – don't ask for it from others. No phone numbers, email or home addresses, passwords, or any other stuff that should remain private and that you want to keep secure. Would you have your phone number, bank card pin number, weight and name of your secret crush put up in neon lights in Times Square? (The answer's 'no' by the way).
Don't submit stuff that is blatantly illegal or prohibited and not even yours in the first place. That'd be just plain dumb and Bob really will get angry and probably turn green and call the internet cops.
Terms of use
So if we're going to get all formal on each other's asses, then how's this: our terms of use.
