Young Composers:Code of Conduct

The rules outlined below in this code of conduct have been constructed to ensure a tasteful, respectful and enjoyable environment for all members. While we did our best to make our exceptions of our members clear in this document, we cannot cover all cases. Our Moderators—staff members responsible for upholding the guidelines established in the Code of Conduct—are permitted to use their better judgment when doing their jobs and may still take disciplinary action against individuals who willingly go against the spirit of the rules outlined here.
 

Young Composers Music Forum Rules and Code of Conduct

The five main rules applying to all forums are as follows:

1. Do not post illegal content.
2. The use of hate speech is prohibited. Hate speech is defined as: content containing messages that degrade, intimidate, or incite violence or prejudicial action against a group of people based on their race, ethnicity, national origin, religion, sex, sexual orientation, or disability (e.g., homophobia or racism).
3. YC has a forum-wide, zero tolerance, no spam policy. This include the Off Topic forum. “Off Topic” does not mean subsequent posts should be off the topic of a thread, it means off the topic of the general forum (composition and general music discussion). Spam messages will be regularly deleted from all areas of YC, without warning or hesitation. Spam can be defined as, but not limited to: a) posts created with little or no relevant content to the thread topic or discussion at hand; b) posts that are short or without content (in other words, posting a smiley alone does not constitute a relevant, worthwhile post); c) a post written only to advertise a product, service, etc. Legitimate advertisements are allowed only in the Advertisements and Member Announcements forum. However, only one advertisement is permitted for each product, service, etc. Any product without direct relevance to YC’s subject matter will be deleted.
4. Graphic sexual conversation and content is prohibited in all forums and in the shoutbox.
5. All members must be courteous and use proper forum etiquette as described below.

Any and all posts falling in violation of these core rules will be deleted without warning.

Forum Etiquette and General Conduct

General guidelines for posting:

• Quality of English is important. When posting on YC you are asked to use quality writing, ensuring proper use of spelling and grammar. Abbreviations such as “ur” in the place of “your”, or “u” in the place of “you” are not permissible. Include apostrophes and capitalize where necessary (e.g. “I’m”, not “im”). Excessive usage of acronyms such as “lol”, “lmao”, and “rofl” is frowned upon and a post containing an acronym alone will be considered a spam message and will be immediately deleted.
• Double, triple, etc., posting is discouraged. Moderators may choose to merge multiple posts made by the same user if they believe the material would be more succinctly expressed as a single post.
• While interacting with other members of the YC community you are expected to behave politely and to refrain from posting content that is deliberately, or likely to be found, offensive. While such content may not necessarily be removed, we reserve the right to do so in all cases. Repeated incidents of inflammatory or inappropriate behaviour on your part will result in you receiving warnings, infractions, or in some cases having account privileges removed. Sustained behaviour will result in suspensions and eventually a ban.
• Posts containing graphic sexual content will not be allowed; this includes text and images.
• Profanity in all forums, the wiki, the shoutbox—anywhere in YC—is prohibited. Any profane words will be deleted immediately.
• Any user feeling that a posted message is offensive or objectionable is encouraged to use the Report button to the right of the post, or contact a Moderator directly.
• All forum rules apply to the shoutbox. While using the shoutbox you are expected to maintain the same respect toward your fellow members. Shouts with graphic sexual content will be removed and the user will be warned. Excessive cursing and flame-wars (aggressive arguing, hate speech related arguments) will yield the same actions. Failure to comply with the warning will result in a forty-eight hour shoutbox ban. All subsequent occurrences will result in a one-week shoutbox ban.

Infractions and Disciplinary Procedures

If a member is found in violation of any of the above or below rules, they will be dealt an infraction, which is then recorded on their profile. Each infraction consists of one or more points designed to represent the severity of the offense. Infractions points can be set to expire after a certain period of time, again based on the severity of the offense.

• Seven infraction points = one week suspension.

• Upon return from one week suspension, seven additional points = one month suspension.

• Upon return from one month suspension and all subsequent offenses, seven addional points = six month suspension.

Please note that infraction points expire after a certain time, but the infractions themselves do not.

Permanent bans will only be applied to spammers.

Shared and Multiple Accounts

Registering multiple accounts is prohibited. Account Sharing is prohibited.

• If you create a multiple account, that account will be deleted and you will receive a one-time warning. If you do it again, you will be dealt an infraction. Subsequent offenses may be dealt with using a suspension or ban at the discretion of the staff.
• If you have forgotten your password, please use the password recovery form, or ask an Administrator for help if you are having trouble. Please do not create a new account.
• If you want to change your user name, you may do so by requesting it from an Administrator or Moderator. Again, please do not create a new account.
• Frequent name changes will not be permitted, since this runs the risk of confusing other users. Simple alterations, such as changing "joeschmo1000" to "joeschmo", are acceptable however.
• If you share your login information with an unbanned or non-suspended member and we find evidence that they have accessed your account, you will receive an infraction and be asked to change your password.
• If you share your login information with a banned or suspended member and we find evidence that they have accessed your account, you will receive an infraction along with a one-week suspension, and you will also be asked to change your password.

Please note: all new accounts sharing the same IP address(es) as an existing account will be deemed "multiple", regardless of whether it is claimed that there are two different people commanding the accounts. It is impossible for the staff to distinguish between two different people commanding separate accounts from the same computer, and one person commanding two accounts from the same computer. However, under extenuating circumstances, for example the presence of evidence to the contrary, exceptions may be made.

Upload Forums

Reviews

In order to help composers get the most out of feedback posted on their work, members are encouraged to be descriptive, constructive, and helpful when writing reviews. Refrain from the use of numerical rating systems (e.g., "6/10"). Such numerical content will be removed. A numerical rating system will be permitted only in specified competitions. Posts that are unnecessarily rude and provide no constructive criticism will be deleted. Posts not relating to the music will be removed.

Reviews in the Major Works forum are held to a higher standard and must contain at least some substance. In other words, if you simply say “good job” and nothing else in a post, it will be deleted. This does not mean you must give expert analyses to be able to respond in Major Works, but you must at least be able to show that you put some effort into your review.

Submissions

Post complete works only. Incomplete works are to be posted in the Incomplete Works; Writer's Block and Suggestions forum. If you are submitting multiple pieces of the same type, or multiple movements from the same work, you are strongly advised to include all of these within one thread, as opposed to creating a new thread for each piece, section, or movement. Adhering to this guideline will help prevent the upload forums from becoming congested, and will increase the chances of everyone receiving at least some commentary on their work. Threads posted in this manner may be merged. However, if you have many different, unrelated, pieces and are a new member, it is advised not to post everything you have in the same day. Posting everything you have at once will flood and overwhelm the forum, making it more difficult to get everything reviewed.

Copyrighted Material

You may not attach copyrighted material to a post or provide any external links facilitating the unlawful distribution of copyrighted material unless the copyright is owned by you or this message board. For example, you may not link to an MP3 rendition of commercially released music.

Links in Signatures

All external links (i.e., links to sites other than www.youngcomposers.com) in members' signatures will be removed without notice on a regular basis by an automated script. Plain text links are allowed, however. Links to within Young Composers are, however, allowed. Please note that you must include the "www" portion of a youngcomposers.com URL, otherwise the link will be removed (e.g., linking to http://www.youngcomposers.com/forum/ is OK, whereas linking to http://youngcomposers.com/forum/ or youngcomposers.com/forum/ is not and will result in removal of the link).

Outside Forum Promotion

Promotion of outside forums is acceptable in certain cases.

• When referring another member to a forum which may help them learn about their particular composition software (e.g., Finale's forum).
• When referring another member to a music related forum (other than a competing composition forum).

There are some cases in which links to other forums will be deleted:

• They do not relate to music.
• They are posted as the sole topic of a thread by a NEW member (as say a first post) with no explanation, just a link. This will be treated as spam.

Any member posting a link to an outside forum is obliged to give a brief explanation of what the forum is about and how they think it can benefit YC (unless of course the reason is obvious because it is to a Finale forum, etc.).

Linking to Sites Outside of YC

You are welcome to link to sites outside of YC providing the site linked to follows the same general standards and values of this community. Threads containing links unrelated to music composition must be posted in the Off Topic. If you are posting a thread containing a link relating to content you appreciate, give an explanation as to why. Providing intelligent commentary towards the link provides grounds for more substantial discussion and gives the reader some incentive to follow it. Any threads created containing just a link and no other content will be deleted.

Miscellaneous Information

Young Composers reserves the right to alter any of these rules at any time without giving prior notification to its users. By maintaining an account, you agree to abide by these rules in their entirety. All references to YC in the above document refer to Young Composers and any material hosted on the domain youngcomposers.com.