New Site Rules

[adamanteus]

Over recent weeks the Moderators and the site owners/admin have been having discussions about the quality and content of our threads on the forum.
We are all in agreement that the emphasis has moved too far away from Thamnophis, and as a result we are becoming less of a specialised group and more of a general interest forum. We feel that this is the main reason for the gradual drifting away of many of our ‘serious’ members.
In view of this, we have decided to regulate the type of thread/topic that should be posted on the forum, by implementing a new set of rules:-

• We will be moving away from the non-reptile related chat that has cluttered the forum lately. Topics such as motorbikes, house-moving, kittens etc. will simply not remain on the board.
• All non Thamnophis reptile talk will be placed into one ‘Other Reptiles’ thread. (With the exception of Natricine snakes and Storeria, which we feel are an integral part of our group identity. These will be afforded all the same rights as Thamnophis threads, although they should be posted in ‘The Lounge’.)
• New threads of the ‘My Snakes’ variety should contain Thamnophis species only. Other reptiles in your collection should be placed in the ‘Other Reptiles’ thread.
• Existing general interest threads, such as ‘Oh So Quiet’, ‘Pics of You, ‘What Are You Reading’ and ‘Nature Photography’ will be allowed to stand, as we feel these threads do provide some light relief from the more serious Garter Snake talk. Other existing threads may be closed, and may be removed at a later date.

• Duplicated or ‘copy-cat’ topics will be merged into one thread.
• All new threads should be placed in the appropriate section. (Please note: ‘General Talk’ is for Garter Snake topics that don’t fit comfortably into the other forums. ‘The Lounge’ is for non-Garter topics, such as Storeria, Oh So Quiet etc.) It would also be useful if new threads could be given a clear, concise title that describes the topic to be discussed.

We realise that this decision will not be universally welcomed, but it has become necessary. We started out as a specialist Garter Snake forum and that is what we will now return to. It is this very specialisation that attracted each of us here in the first place, and it is this that sets us apart from all the other reptile forums on the net. Hopefully no one will take this as a personal attack, even though specific threads have been cited. We have all allowed things to slide, no one person is being blamed. We simply need to return to our roots.
As many of you know, the subject of keeping on topic has been discussed on the open forum previously, so these changes should come as no real surprise.
Please help us to make these changes occur smoothly by planning your new threads before posting. We feel sure that you will soon see an overall improvement in our forum.

[adamanteus]

Just wanted to bump this back up to the top of the page, for those who haven't seen it yet.

[KITKAT]

I think the changes are needed. Thanks!

[adamanteus]

Just a gentle reminder for those members who are unaware..... we try to keep the forum as Garter Snake focused as possible. While we love to see pictures of your other pets/reptiles, please find one of the many older 'My Other Pets' threads to add these pictures to. That way, when members log in, the portal page is predominantly Garter related, rather than numerous 'other topic' threads pushing the Thamnophis topics off the page.
We're pretty flexible in this rule, but if we all make the extra effort to keep our threads on topic, we'll never reach the stage again where we have to search through numerous threads to find anything at all about Garters.

[Stefan-A]

Another gentle reminder as well as (hopefully) a clarification.

- Non-garter threads don't belong in any of the sections under or below the title Garter Snakes on the forum page. The exception is, if you have a thread (one per person) where you show off your garter snakes. It's okay to throw in the occasional non-garter in that sort of thread.

- New World water snakes other than Thamnophis (in other words: Nerodia, Storeria, Clonophis, Regina, Seminatrix, Virginia and Tropidoclonion), as well as Xenochrophis and other Old World water snakes can be discussed in the Garter Snake Lounge. Use existing threads if it's at all possible.