Community Policies

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Community Policies

By using this forum you are agreeing to abide by our Community Policies.


The responsibilities of a Discuss Cooking (DC) Member

Be respectful. It’s perfectly fine to disagree with others as long as it is done respectfully and civilly, but do not attack or taunt other members in your posts or comments. Name calling of other members is absolutely not tolerated here and may result in suspension.

If you have a problem with a post or a member here, please do not deal with it on the board. Please send them e-mail or a Private Message (PM) to discuss the matter. Or, if you do not feel comfortable with this, contact an Administrator, a Moderator, or feel free to use the "Report post" link to the left of every post right beside the "Give karma" link. This will send the reported post to the Help Desk and it will be dealt with there.

The following are not permitted in any shape or form at DC, and are grounds for a permanent ban.

Profanity and coarse language are prohibited. The word censor deletes swear words and replaces them with asterisks. This prohibition includes the use of acronyms in which a profanity would be one of the words. Although the main language here is English, this rule also pertains to swear words or graphic language in a language other than English. If you see a comment made by a member in another language that includes swearing, or swearing is part of their signature or member name, please report it to an Administrator or Moderator.


Absolutely no discussion of politics is allowed. As we all come from different parts of the world with varying liberal and conservative views, an attack or offensive comment against another nation, a head of state or international and national policies of other nations only leads to disputes -- all of which have nothing to do with food. Reference to, and discussions of, a government or a government leader and the decisions/actions/policies carried out by them are strictly prohibited. You may or may not like the individual leader or agree or disagree with his or her decisions and policies, but their decisions and actions have no bearing at this forum. Posts and discussions about politics may and will be removed without notice.

Absolutely no discussion about religious beliefs is allowed. Please see the comments above about politics. The same rules apply here.

New members are not allowed to post links. Only once you become an established member can you post links.

Absolutely no advertisements, chain letters, spam or related materials. If you insist on posting them you may be turned into your ISP and/or permanently banned from Discuss Cooking. These posts will be removed without any notification at the discretion of the Discuss Cooking Staff. It is at the discretion of the DC staff to decide what will be considered advertising. A member whose first post points to another website, or points to where a product can be purchased, for example, would be considered unacceptable and/or advertising. On the other hand, a link that is relevant to the conversation at hand that is posted by a member who is an active contributor to the site might not be considered advertising. If you feel something is advertising please alert a member of the DC staff by using the "Report Post" button or by private messaging (PM) and we will take appropriate action.

Pornography is not permitted in any way, shape, or form. This includes links to pages that have porn on them.

Multiple accounts are not allowed. If you have forgotten your password or login information, please contact an Administrator or Moderator to have it e-mailed to you. Do not create yourself a new account.

Member names may not contain an e-mail address, website address, profanity, or anything that resembles advertising or profanity. We reserve the right to change your member name and will e-mail you your new information.

Photos may not be larger than 800x600 (pixels). A good way to resize them if you need to is to use this site.

Discuss Cooking reserves the right to change or delete any photos larger than this size without notification.

Posting copyrighted materials including, but not limited to recipes, images, and articles, on Discuss Cooking are not allowed.
For recipes, an ingredient list can not be copyrighted, but the instructions can be. If you would like to post a recipe that is copyrighted then you have a few options.

1. Post a link to the recipe if it is on another website.

2. Get the copyright holders written permission to post the recipe.

3. Change the wording of the instructions substantially enough so that it is now in your words. This does not mean just changing a few words here and there. It needs to be a very significant change in the wording. Tell us in your own words how YOU made the dish.

The Discuss Cooking staff reserves the right to remove any copyrighted materials without notice.

Signature File Rules

1. A signature with a link for the sole purpose of selling something without any other benefit is not acceptable and will be removed
2. Font size of 2 (normal size) or smaller
3. No more than two lines, including spaces
4. Only one link per signature, no files or downloads
5. All Community Policies are, of course, applicable in a signature also

Please know that we will be guided by these and these same basic ideas and rules apply to sigs also.

A courtesy PM may be sent if we have removed or altered a signature, time permitting. Please know that we have the right to change/remove signatures that do not comply without notification.

Before posting, please consider the following:

Before starting a new thread, take a look ensure that there is not already a pre-existing thread discussing the same matter. Administrators and Moderators of DC have the right to delete or merge duplicate threads. If starting a new thread, please post a title that accurately reflects the contents and information within the thread so that members are not misled.

Do not post in caps. In message board language it is considered yelling, and as such, is rude and offensive. If a thread title or post is typed in caps, it may be edited or deleted at a moderator's discretion.

Please stay on topic within threads. While some posts may naturally lead to other topics of discussion or queries, please either start a new thread or post the question/idea/thought in the appropriate thread or forum. Post a link to the originating thread if necessary.

The Discuss Cooking Forums cannot and will not be held responsible for the content in these forums. Discuss Cooking cannot and will not be held responsible for any slanderous remarks made by any member. The staff (administrators and moderators) cannot and will not be held responsible for any posts, the content in the posts and any unreliable information submitted to these forums by members of The Discuss Cooking Forums. The Discuss Cooking staff reserves the right to edit or remove any post without notification.

We are operating on a "zero tolerance" policy. Violations of our rules or actions and comments which are deemed inappropriate for this forum will result in members being immediately banned from this forum. Zero tolerance will also be applied to threads which contain offensive posts or language or other such action deemed in violation of community policies. Threads may and will be immediately closed without warning. The Discuss Cooking staff reserves the right to ban any member for breaking any of the community policies.

The staff reserves the right to remove any post or thread without notice if it is decided that it is in the best interest of the forum.