Community Expectations and Rules for At The Hive

Many years ago, site founder David Arnott posted this set of community expectations and rules for what was at that time Rufus On Fire. They were straightforward, lax, and highly subjective due to the size of the blog's community, and they served their purpose extremely well. However, At The Hive today is far bigger than Rufus On Fire ever was. As a result, we've decided to revamp the site's community expectations and rules.

We're not here to police, but merely to keep the peace and ensure that At The Hive remains the most welcoming Charlotte Hornets blog on the web.

At The Hive community expectations

At The Hive is a place where any Hornets fan should feel welcome to express their ideas about their team.

We expect you to remember that there are real, live, breathing people from all walks of life who will read whatever you post.

At The Hive rules

At The Hive is a blog to discuss the Hornets.  Of course you can go off topic, but avoid making repeated attempts to take the focus away from the team.

Be respectful and civil to other community members, even when you disagree. This applies to name-calling, harassing, or targeting people for their views.  If you can't agree with another poster, move on. Included in unacceptable behavior are accusations of external agendas as a means to discredit or label someone. Additionally, ATH staff members are a part of the community.  The same rules of civility and decency apply in your interactions with them.

Threatening, hateful, racist, sexist, abusive, and incriminating language will not be tolerated under any circumstances. At The Hive is a community, not a group of guys at a bar.

Excessive profanity, vulgarity, and explicit material are strictly forbidden. If you wouldn't say it or show it to your 13-year-old niece or nephew, you probably shouldn't say it on At The Hive.

You are expected to follow the rules. If you do not follow the rules, you may be banned at the discretion of the editors or moderators. If you have a track record with At The Hive, that will be taken into account when determining the length of bans. If you are new to the blog or a guest from another team, you may not be given as many warnings. Considering the rash of banned users establishing multiple accounts and using IP blockers to avoid bans, new users using IP blockers will be under heavier scrutiny that others.

We appreciate that there is a level of subjectivity in the moderation of any online community. Some infractions are prohibited without discussion, while others are harder to define. However, if a moderator or editor says that a comment does not follow these expectations, you are expected to oblige.