Forum Rules

Purpose

This website has been designed in order to allow anyone interested in Austrian economics to discuss relevant issues, to ask and answer questions, and to participate in civil discourse. Agreement with Austrian economic theory is not required for participation; anyone interested in the subject may join. Adherence to the forum rules, however, is mandatory for participation in the forum.

Prohibited Behavior

Upon registering, each individual has read, understood, and agreed to the following rules and conditions:

1. Consistency with the purpose of this site
   Participants agree to avoid making rude or insulting comments about the Ludwig von Mises Institute, its staff, scholars, representatives, or other supporters of Austrian Economics.  Debate on their views and positions is allowed and encouraged, but this site may not be used as a forum for denigrading or spreading ideas contrary to the well being of the Institute. 
   
2. Being Courteous
   
   You agree, through your use of this service, that you will not use this bulletin board to post any material which is knowingly false and/or defamatory, inaccurate, abusive, vulgar, hateful, harassing, obscene, profane, sexually oriented, threatening, invasive of a person's privacy, or otherwise in violation of U.S. law.
   
3. Respecting Intellectual Property
   
   You agree not to post any copyrighted material unless the copyright is owned by you or by this bulletin board or your post meets fair use standards.
   
4. Personal Attacks
   
   Avoid all personal attacks, whether against another user, or any other person--member or non-member, living or deceased (for example, do not post material that berates Ludwig von Mises). These inflammatory remarks have no place in civil, rational discourse.
   
5. Spam
   
   Spam (multiple copies in one area or the same communication in multiple areas) or advertising/commercial solicitation messages are prohibited, including links to commercial sites. In addition, do not use this forum to promote any other web site or solicit the members of this board without the approval of the moderators (this includes promoting another site via a signature). Signatures may not contain images or links.
   
6. Outside Sources
   
   From time to time it may be helpful to post links to various articles concerning Austrian economics, feel free to do so if it benefits the discussion at hand. If you are quoting an outside source, respect copyright laws (and the ethical principles underlying them) by keeping the quotation very short and by providing a link or other reference to the original.
   
7. Heated Arguments
   
   Healthy debate is encouraged, but if your argument with another poster becomes heated, remember: agree to disagree. Do not resort to personal attacks, and do not belittle someone else's argument. Instead of making it personal, use rational, persuasive skills to make your point or criticize theirs.
   
8. Moderator's Rights
   
   The moderator(s) of the Austrian Economics Forum reserve the right to modify or delete any material that violates any of these rules, or for any other reason that they deem appropriate. They also reserve the right to ban any user if they are in violation of the board's rules, although warnings will generally be given first (especially concerning the more innocent mistakes). Egregious violations of rules may result in a banning without warning.

Forum Etiquette

Users should recognize the Austrian Economics Forum as a website dedicated to facilitating intellectual discussion, and in response to this make every effort to maintain civilized interaction. Civilized discussion on the web requires observance of the common rules of online etiquette. You may find an introduction to netiquette here. Additional considerations include:

1. Redundant questions
   
   Because this is a website that is partially dedicated to helping those with basic questions, it is very likely that a question you have has already been asked before. If you are posting a question on a prominent topic, please search for your topic first. You may find your answer, or have something to contribute to the conversation. The moderators may merge, close, or delete questions that are already covered by other threads.
   
2. Improper quoting and scope
   
   Keep your responses short by minimally quoting earlier posts or other, outside sources. Quote only the particular passage you are targeting with your comments--and no more (the snapback arrow within the quotation allows your readers to go back to see the full context in an earlier post). If you are replying to multiple people/topics, split up your response into multiple posts.
   
3. Keeping Threads on Topic
   
   Please make every effort to make posts on topic, discussing relevant issues at hand. If you feel the need to start a discussion in a different direction, simply begin a new thread. The moderator(s) reserve the right to split or delete non-pertinent posts.
   
4. Reporting Violations of the Rules
   
   If you are not a moderator, and you think someone deserves a warning, please use the "Report!" link found on every post. To help the moderators, include a note directed to the offender and a description of his offense. The offender will not know who reported him.

Disclaimer

We are not responsible for any messages posted. We do not vouch for or warrant the accuracy, completeness, or usefulness of any message, and are not responsible for the contents of any message.