Why the guidelines? soapcentral.com has devised a set of guidelines that cover all aspects of using our message board system. While many people don’t like the idea of a bunch of rules, it is our belief that these guidelines will help create a more enjoyable environment for the visitors of our site. The rules are designed to be simple to understand and straightforward in their explanation. They are based upon three separate ideals: courtesy, common sense and respect.

THE RULES AT A GLANCE

Rather than overload our posters with rule after rule, we've decided to offer a quick overview of all the essential rules in an "easy to understand" format. A more comprehensive listing of all of the rules follows below.

1. Respect the board, its posters, and its moderators. Do not post inflammatory messages just to upset people. You can disagree with the content of another poster's message, but keep your response focused on the content of the message and in the context of the show. There is no need to insult another poster. Racial, ethnic, sexual and/or gender based insults, slurs or derisive comments will not be tolerated. Additionally, no pornographic, sexually explicit or obscene posts will be permitted.

2. Do not spam the board. Advertising other boards, services, products and the like is not permitted.

3. Please post messages that are on-topic. Look over the entire message board forum for a similar thread/topic before making a post. We don't want a board full of threads that discuss the same thing. When making a post, please be as descriptive as possible with the subject line. Descriptive titles reduce the chances of double-posting and it also makes it easier for people to see what they do/don't want to read.

4. Do not post spoilers in the subject of your messages. Do not reveal spoilers in threads that are spoiler-free (not already discussing spoilers).




THE RULES IN DEPTH

BEFORE MAKING A POST

Before making a post, please review already-posted threads to make certain that the topic you wish to post about isn’t already being discussed. Keeping similar discussions together will result in the boards being less cluttered.

Please limit your discussion within a thread to the topic spelled out in the subject of that thread. If in the course of discussion, the topic starts to wind towards another discussion, please start a separate thread for that discussion.

Make sure that the subject you choose for each of your messages is a proper indication of what your message is about. For example: "Hey! That's Cool!" does not clearly indicate what a reader will find in the content of your message. Whereas "The special effects today were cool" does express what your message is about. Threads with vague subject lines are subject to removal.

Please do not post frivolous topics that have little or nothing to do with the show. For example, "Who has a nicer hairstyle" has nothing to do with the storylines or the direction of the characters. This includes the posting of off-topic polls and filler posts such as "Who should [Character] date?" Frivolous threads such as these will be removed without notice from the board. Obviously, all threads must be soap-related and cannot be "off topic."

Since each soap has its own forum, there is no reason to post a message on a soap opera board that does not pertain to that particular soap. There is an exception. Should a performer switch soaps, you can go to another message board and ask for background information on that performer and his or her character on the old soap.

Please note that as a message board based in the United States, this message board has been established as an English-only board. Messages posted in other languages will be removed.



SPOILERS

soapcentral.com is a spoiler sensitive site. Many of our visitors do not want their viewing experience “spoiled” by storyline spoilers. A spoiler is defined as information pertaining to or about the resolution of a storyline. For example, if there is to be a murder and you were to find out the name of the victim a week before the show was to air, you could not post this information openly, as it would be a storyline spoiler.

In accordance with this storyline policy:

• Do not post spoiler information in the subject line of your post. (Example: Wow! John Doe is killed next week!)

• If your post/thread will contain spoiler information within it, please note in your subject line that your post will contain spoiler information and use the spoiler alert feature, a yellow triangle with an exclamation point (), located in the post icon menu below the body of your message box. (Example: SPOILER: About the show's murder storyline)

• Do not post spoiler information in non-spoiler threads. Doing this allows posters who do not want to be “spoiled” to enjoy using the boards. For example, if posters are discussing if a character might die as a result of an illness and you've learned the character's fate through our Scoop section or another source, do not post the information that you've learned. Not everyone may want to know for sure and we do not want to ruin their surprise.

• Posting spoilers (or any other content) verbatim (word for word) from other web sites or publications is not permitted. Please see the PROHIBITED CONTENT section below for more information.

• There is an exception to the spoiler policy. Stories that are part of soapcentral.com news coverage within the main section of our web site, may be discussed without a need to "cloak" the message thread. For example, if a performer is reported to be leaving by soapcentral.com in our news coverage, this may be discussed openly on the message board. Until the news is reported on the site, however, the discussion should be conducted as though the news item were a spoiler. (Example: If a performer is leaving, it is okay to discuss that the performer is leaving, but do not post a thread declaring that the character will be killed off if it was not yet reported by the soapcentral.com site.)

Failure to follow these steps may result in your post being removed without notice.



POSTING A REPLY

When posting a reply, you need not quote the entire message that you are replying to. Please use the "quote" feature sparingly. You can edit the text you plan to quote by deleting information that is not relevant to your reply. The more text you quote, the longer and more cluttered a thread will become.

You can disagree with something that a poster says, but disagree with the content of the message and not the poster. Respect is paramount. Failure to address posters with respect may result in your post being removed without notice.

Any personal attacks or mean-spirited remarks about the performers are not permitted. If someone were to post something nasty or otherwise not nice about your personal appearance, abilities or other remark about what makes you unique, it would probably hurt you very much. Therefore, we ask that you do not talk about the performers in this way. Soap actors and actresses do read these boards and we would not want them to be upset by something written about them. You can, however, grumble about a character. Keep in mind it's the character that might be sleeping around on his/her spouse -- not the performer!

Any personal, racial, ethnic, religious, gender or sexual insults, slurs, or derisive comments are strictly prohibited. Failure to adhere to this guideline will result in immediate restriction of your message board access.

Constructive criticism about the writing, production, fashion, hair and make-up is acceptable provided it stays within the context of the show. Critiquing an actor or actress' performance is also permitted. However, there is a fine line between saying that you were not convinced of a performer's portrayal of heartbreak in a scene and saying "The actress sucks!"

Keep in mind that personal discussion is encouraged -- but not on the boards. Please limit your non-soap discussion to Email. Any posts that are not specifically related to the show itself ("off topic" posts) will be removed from the board.



PROHIBITED CONTENT

soapcentral.com does not permit the advertising of third-party web sites, 900 numbers, porn sites, competing message boards, pictures of nudity, the promotion of illegal activities or anything else that may be deemed inappropriate for an all-ages message board.

It is likewise not permissible to advertise the sale of any product or service, including DVDs or videotapes of any soap or other television program or movie. If you are interested in promoting your service or product on soapcentral.com, please discuss advertising policies with the soapcentral.com Advertising Staff.

The posting of copyrighted content (text and images), including content from other web sites, newspapers, magazines, books or any other intellectual property is not permitted.



BOARD MAINTENANCE AND POST REMOVAL

If your post has been removed from the board, please refrain from posting messages on the boards asking why your post was removed. If you need information as to why a thread or post was removed, please contact your board’s moderator(s).

After a suitable period of time has passed, old messages will be pruned (removed) from the message board. Due to varying volume on certain soap boards, some messages may be pruned sooner than others.

The Message Central moderators (or any other soapcentral.com representatives) have the right to remove any messages deemed offensive or otherwise inappropriate. Due to the large number of posts, it is impossible to find every post that is inappropriate. If you find a message that you feel is not appropriate for the Message Boards, please use the Report a Problem Post option to report the message. To do so, click on the red triangle icon which can be easily found on the top right hand corner of every post (). You will be given the opportunity to add your comments. Reporting a problem post is done in confidence and only the board moderators will be alerted to your submission. A board moderator will review that post and determine if it needs to be removed.



ADDITIONAL GUIDELINE INFORMATION

At its discretion, soapcentral.com reserves the right to limit access to the forum either in part or in entirety to any user it has determined has violated any guideline. soapcentral.com also reserves the right to limited access to the forum to any user, at any time for any reason.

All users of the site are required to maintain a valid, working email address that is assigned to their user account. Any account found having an invalid or non-working email address will be subject to suspension until a valid email address is provided. If you have changed your email address, please log into the system and note the change under the YOUR PROFILE screen.

Members are permitted to have one account by which to access this message board. If you have forgotten your password, please use the I FORGOT PASSWORD option on the log in screen of the board. If you have changed your email address, please log into the system and note the change under the YOUR PROFILE screen. Any user found to have more than one user account will be subject to having their access to the boards permanently rescinded.

By agreeing to these terms and accessing the soapcentral.com message board, you are agreeing to be bound by the terms of the applicable user agreement and guidelines. Neither soapcentral.com nor any of its licensors/advertisers/staff will be liable for any indirect, incidental, special, exemplary, punitive or consequential damages, or damages for loss of profits, revenue, or data, incurred by customer or any third party, whether in an action in contract, tort, or otherwise, even if soapcentral.com has been advised of the possibility of such damages. In no event will the total aggregate liability of soapcentral.com or its advertisers or staff arising out of or related to this Agreement exceed the amount of $5.00. You also absolve and indemnify soapcentral.com and its staff/volunteers of any and all legal obligation that may come as a result of your using this message board.

soapcentral.com reserves the right to change these guidelines at any time.