THE BIG SPUR GUIDELINES

Our goal at The Big Spur is to be host to the very best Gamecock message boards and the fastest, most accurate inside information and articles to be found anywhere on the World Wide Web. With the contributors that we have in place, our exclusive information, interviews and articles will be second to none. Also, with your help, making ours the very best message boards on the web should be no problem either. To that end, there will be guidelines in place - and enforced - to insure that The Big Spur provides a pleasant and enlightening experience for all members, paying and nonpaying alike.

• First, we want to make it clear that it is our sincere desire that all members of The Big Spur have uninterrupted access to all of our resources at all times. That said, it is of the utmost importance to us that no member is ever personally attacked or made to feel unwelcome because of their views on a particular topic or for any other reason. If this happens, the offending post(s) will be removed and the offending poster will be either warned or suspended. Assuming we have a valid email address for you, any suspensions will be addressed by email. Questions about deletions should be addressed with the moderators via PM or email as opposed to airing any complaints or differences on the boards.
  
  
• The debate about positive vs. negative fans (a.k.a. Sunshine Pumpers vs. Negative Nellies, etc.) is over on TBS. This debate / childish argument is one of the main things that ruins boards. It's not either side. We don't allow bashing of players and coaches here, but first and foremost we don't allow bashing of our members. All posts that we deem are rude, childish or insulting to other posters will be deleted and the poster warned and / or suspended.
  
  
• All posts that call into question another poster’s "fanhood" and attempt to restart the positive vs. negative fan debate will be deleted. This includes posts that say things like "no surprise, coming from you" and statements like that. These make any debate personal and unproductive and contribute to many of the threads being taken over by rude posters. This has caused many good posters to stop posting. Nobody wants to start reading a thread about the basketball team and have it diminish to mudslinging between the same four or five posters.
  
  
• Don’t spam the boards, hijack threads or vent incessantly after a loss or a lost recruit.
  
  
• DO NOT, under any circumstances, make any post of a political or religious nature [other than prayer requests]. They are the two most destructive topics that can be addressed. We now have a board called "The State House" for such posts.
  
  
• DO NOT address any messages directly to recruits. It could be construed as an NCAA violation.
  
  
• Any post deemed to be detrimental to The University of South Carolina in general - and our athletic programs in particular - will be deleted and may well result in the suspension of the poster. This is an area where we differ from many forums, but it is something that we at The Big Spur feel very strongly about.