Our #1 goal at Endless Sphere is to provide a low resistance environment for discussing DIY electric vehicles and other loosely related topics. This means that not only do we need rules, but to have fairness in the enforcement of them. Both sides will be detailed here.
How to receive the maximum charge from Endless Sphere
1. Search before posting!
We have both a google search function ( pretty good! ) and a Xenforo search function that's more specific. Please use them before posting to see if your question has already been asked; helping keep duplicate topics to a minimum.
2. When you can't help but zap some stupidity, be kind as possible in calling it out and explaining why.
We want this forum to be a great place to learn and share quality information. Newbies usually come with misconceptions. Do your best to rectify the misunderstanding without insults, as when a person becomes defensive, the learning/listening typically shuts down
. Focus on the facts and not the personalities, and someone might actually learn something
3. If someone grinds your gears, please ignore them.
Some personalities just don't mix! The best course of action if you find someone intolerable is to ignore them. Our forum software has the ability to block a member in order to lower the friction they create!
4. Use the report button if you see a troublesome post.
This forum is so big that no single moderator can see all of it. If a post violates our rules, let us know.
5. Useful information should be posted in public!
A question/answer type thread is best discussed in public so that other members can learn from it. Avoid using PMs for this purpose.
6. Stay on topic!
When you reply to someone's post, consider yourself a guest in their house. The original poster wants an answer or discussion on the topic they brought up; others do too. Please do your best to respect that.
Basic rules
1. Keep it R rated or below
The mass majority of us are adults and can handle some salty language. We draw the line when the content is substantially illegal, or exceeds the curse words per second of a gangsta rap video.
2. Do not repeatedly harass or insult a member across the forum.
If you are asked by the member or moderator to stop, you're required to stop. Some people have thicker skins than others, so what constitutes harassment is up to the moderator team's judgement.
3. Commercial activity happens in our online marketplace.
If you wish to sell or market a product, you need to
clearly identify yourself as a vendor and post in the online marketplace. Guerilla marketing is not tolerated here and honesty is the best policy.
4. Do not make false claims against a vendor.
False claims can unnecessarily hurt an honest business, and we don't want to see that.
On the other hand, a legitimately crooked vendor should be exposed; so have a good case before posting it.
5. Ad hominem attacks on members' unchangeable traits such as race, sex, nationality, etc are bad news.
We do not want a member to feel unwelcome on the basis of any aspect of their identity, whether they are a minority or majority. In severe cases of this, we will intervene.
6. Do not repeatedly flood, derail, or interfere with threads.
Having discussions that are worth reading is important. Those who have a long history of this will be asked to stop and banned if they don't.
7. If you want to talk about something controversial, post it in the off topic section.
The off topic section was designed for members who have thicker skins and/or more open minds than average. A thread which is too controversial for the other parts of the forum may be moved there.
8. One account per person.
Please don't waste our resources or time. We will merge duplicate accounts without notice.
If you are doing this maliciously or to waste people's time, you will get banned
super hard.
Exception: business account for a vendor vs a personal account is okay
9. Do not run AI bot accounts on this website, and always note when AI was used during a conversation.
People who use this forum come here to communicate with other humans, not AI. We won't allow the integrity of the forum to be undermined by undisclosed use of AI. If you do not make it clear that the post is generated by AI in the post, we will likely remove it. If your account is ran by an AI bot, it will be banned.
Nuclear no-nos; behavior that we take seriously
1. Do not Expose a member's private information without consent.
This means posting PMs, emails, addresses, full names, phone numbers, or any other information a member does not consent to be posted.
2. Do not spam the forum or use bots.
You will be instantly banned; and if you repeatedly do it, your internet service provider will hear about it.
3. Do not make threats of harm against anyone on the forum.
If you have problem with a member, a vendor, etc, please bring it to a moderator instead, or resolve the conflict yourself before you cross this line.
4. Do not intentionally create an unnecessary burden for the moderator team.
This means doing things like lying about another member's behavior to try to get them banned, lying about the actions of a moderator, interfering with moderation, flooding the moderation report queue, etc.
Our moderators are volunteers who give personal time and passion into keeping this place safe and useful. If you intentionally and repeatedly make their job difficult, this can result in a ban for wasting the precious time that volunteers give us.
Moderator's duty to our members
1. We will delete posts only when necessary ( they are harmful, extremely off topic, illegal, etc. ).
We prefer to retain useful information or history whenever possible, and prefer to not censor.
Threads that are too stinky to retain are moved to 'the dumpster' so they can be read for a limited time to provide some transparency in the moderation process and provide examples of what
NOT to post.
2. We will not moderate content based on our own biases, political affiliations, commercial affiliations, etc.
Our moderator team is intentionally hand-picked for a diverse set of views and backgrounds, and moderators are required to discuss internally issues with a post or member when the choice is unclear or bias could be a factor.
3. We will set expectations and give warnings when a member is engaging in repeated bad behavior.
Some people act out because they're having a bad day. We prefer to work with people before using the ban hammer. But we do have a limit.
4. We will be responsive to members who are being harmed or threatened by another member.
If someone has posted private details you don't consent to being shown, the offending user will be punished and the information removed from public view. It's critical to us that this forum is a safe to use.
5. If you have a complaint about our moderation, we want to hear why.
If you believe you are being treated unfairly by a moderator, we will hear your complaint. Please send a member of the moderator team a private message, instead of venting it on the forum. Be civil with us and we will be civil with you.
6. Moderators must follow the rules of the forum, and are also subject to protections the rules provide.
We do not believe in having separate standards of behavior. Moderators are expected to follow forum rules, and not abuse their position of power. Moderators also deserve the same protections that members are granted.
Some advice for vendors
We may be a DIY forum but we welcome any vendor willing to provide products and support for products that are relevant to our interests.
When you join the forum, please clearly identify yourself and keep posts of a commercial nature to the online marketplace section. We don't tolerate
guerilla marketing.
Please alert a moderator if you are being harassed unnecessarily. We don't want to see that happen.
Also be aware that your account can be removed if you rip off or deceive our members if we conclude, after hearing both sides of the case, that you have repeatedly been in the wrong.
