Welcome to West Ham Online.

For most of posters reading this page you are probably checking it out of curiosity. Some of it will seem a little prohibitive; however, it won’t affect the way that the majority of posters use WHO, as most posters do apply a modicum of common sense and perspective with regard to using an internet message board. Hopefully, if you do read on, then you will take a little reassurance that we are laying out guidelines for use now with the intention of raising the general standard of the site.

ver time, we will observe which rules work, which don’t, which need tightening up, and which need relaxing.

We would suggest that this FAQ be viewed as a sort of terms and conditions, and as such by using WHO you agree to abide by them and accept the manner in which the site is run.

Enjoy your posting!

Posting on WHO

Moderators

WHO is a moderated website. This means that a number of posters are entrusted to manage the basic content of the website on a day to day basis and given the volume of posts that are generated those moderators are wholly entrusted to use their discretion when they are on site.

They cannot be expected to see every single post on every single thread, so there will be times when some posts go “under the radar” whilst others are deleted.

Users

Ultimately, the site is driven by you, the users. If you want a good West Ham Forum, you have to try and make the effort. Each user has to take responsibility for their own posts. If your posts are deleted, it is not for the moderator to explain why it has been deleted, it is for you to question yourself as to the acceptability of your post to your fellow users.

Remember first and foremost that WHO is a site that is privately owned and open to the public, with the intention to provide a service to fellow West Ham supporters; it is not a public service that allows you the right to behave in any manner you see fit.

Deleted Threads or Posts

While each thread/post has to be viewed on its merits, the following are likely to experience closer scrutiny and may be deleted without explanation.

Sexism, racism, homophobia od disability

The subjects of sexism, racism and sexuality come up fairly often. In many cases lively, informative and unabusive debate ensues. We have no problem with this, however, abuse of posters, players or people in general based on their race, religion, gender, politics or sexuality is not acceptable; neither is abuse based upon disability. On the issue of politics, please remember that this is not a publicly owned site and electioneering will not be tolerated.

For the purposes of using the site, we accept that there will be a degree of banter that will cross the line for some of posters earlier than others and a modicum of discretion on behalf of those moderating will have to be exercised. Posters should be aware however; that not all moderators will have the same views as to what has passed beyond banter into offence.

This then relies on you, the user, to exercise a little common sense. If you think you’re getting a bit close to the wire, then ease of a little. If you think that someone might take offence at your posting, don’t post it. If you do, and it gets deleted, you will have to live with it. We do not expect our moderators to have to justify every deletion.

Personal attacks, threats, obscenities towards other posters.

Again, as with the subjects mentioned above, we accept that there is and always has been a degree of banter. However you, the user have to take ultimate responsibility for what you post. If the moderators deem that your posts are too strong, then they will delete them, again without explanation.

No libellous content

If the site receives formal complaints regarding libellous content, we will pass on any available records requested regarding the offending user. If a moderator sees a thread or comment that he or she feels could be construed as libellous, then they have the right to delete it in the best interests of the site.

Thread subject and content

As with WHO of old, we would regard the WHO community as an online group of West Ham fans who will naturally want to discuss other topics! However, there are a few things we would like you to bear in mind.

Subject duplication

Occasionally, a subject is posted on WHO, and then deleted because it’s either old news, or there are already perfectly good current threads on the subject. In order to help reduce this we intend to reintroduce the HOT topics facility to highlight breaking news or well written threads or responses.

Threads started to take issue with something on another thread

If you have an issue with something that has been written on a thread, address it on the thread that exists and enrich the existing discussion. Don’t start another thread about it, unless you sincerely believe that you have a different point to make that would ruin (or be ruined) on the existing thread; it may be deleted without explanation.

SPAM

SPAM is basically everything that isn’t West Ham or generally football related, and in some ways, is what makes WHO different to other communities. However, there are some points you need to consider when posting off topic.

Each page of the forum contains only 30 or so threads, so large amounts of off topic material inevitably force the on topic stuff off the front page, cause it to be missed by posters and consequently cause multiple postings on the same subject. We would like to see this change to raise the standard of the site for those that wish to use it in the appropriate fashion.

Many people complain if they get a thread deleted using the justification that other threads have stood where theirs has fallen. The reasons for this can be numerous, however before complaining as a general guide line posters should ask themselves the following:

Did I break any of the guidelines set out above.
Has the subject been tackled recently.
Do I contribute to the site in a relevant way, i.e. do I only come on here to chat about off topic subjects, or do I actively get involved with West Ham related topics.

It is only natural that moderators will delete puerile nonsense from posters that don’t seem to contribute anything to the West Ham element of the site, which is of course the primary purpose of the site.

If your SPAM is continually deleted, you need to ask yourself are you on the wrong site.

Suspensions and Bannings

We have had problems with particular posters flooding the board with spam. This won’t be tolerated and the offenders will be banned. All available techniques will be applied to prevent these posters from posting. Continued efforts to attack the site will result in the site admins contacting your employer or your ISP or both to secure a denial of service.

Cloning, where a poster attempts to use a registered username that is deemed to be in imitation of an existing name, will also result in a straight ban. If you select a user name that is already in use, please create a different one. Don’t try to cheat the database filter into allowing you have your name of choice if it has already been taken as this has been done with malicious intent in the past and so your account may be suspended.

Bannings can only be carried out by the site admins, however, the moderators will have the ability to suspend accounts for review, or for a cooling off period.

In the case of a serious abuse of use of the site a straight banning will occur, however, in most cases the user concerned will receive fair warning that their behaviour is unacceptable. If the points raised are not addressed by the poster then a banning may result. Contact to the individuals concerned will be done by e-mail so failure to provide a valid e-mail address will also result in a ban.

Currently this system is in development. Where users get a red card by a moderator, they can consider their account to have been suspended. Red cards will be periodically cleared by Site Admin, unless it has been deemed that the person has warranted a permanent ban.

Anons

Because of the continual abuse of this facility it has been suspended for the foreseeable future.

The Consummate Guide to Grrr and how to use it.
Tasteful is preferable.

Nudity is generally Not Safe For Work. (NSFW)

If it shows pink or hardcore, it’s deleted. Simple as. A repeated posting of such material is likely to lead to a ban.

Some of these sites come with unfortunate payloads that can do things that vary from changing you browser homepage to a hardcore site (potentially embarrassing), to filling your machine with ads (extremely annoying and the most common call for techie help on WHO), to dropping a virus on your machine if it's not adequately protected.

We remind you that not all links are checked by us, and that you cut and paste at your own discretion.

Reporting

If you notice something on the board that you feel should be moderated, then please contact a moderator and make your point. It might be appropriate to make your point on the thread in question, but alternatively you can contact the moderators via whomail. Please bear in mind that there may be periods of time when no moderator is active on the board, and because of this, your observations may go unanswered for sometime. It is also possible that the moderators will disagree with your view, and decide to leave the thread or post unaltered. In these circumstances, the moderator is under no obligation to justify their opinion.