Message Content Guidelines

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FIRST AND MOST IMPORTANT

These guidelines have been developed to keep our Nostalgia Message Board focused, manageable in size, and civilized. If we allowed everyone to post anything they wanted, it would soon become too large to load in a reasonable time, and very costly in terms of space on our server. Some of the guidelines are in place to protect our investment in time and money. This board costs a great deal to maintain, and its revenue is extremely limited.

Some of you might take exception with our policies and feel that we are censoring. So be it. You are welcome to browse elsewhere if you feel this is all too draconian. We are very tolerant and will not take measures without good reason. Now, please read all the details. Your compliance with these guidelines is necessary when posting a message on our Nostalgia Message Board and will be sincerely appreciated.

1. This bulletin board is intended to serve former residents of Queens. With that target in mind, your message should in some way deal with Queens of the past.

   
   

2. The "thread" of messages may occasionally go into areas that are not directly related to Queens of the past. However, this should only occur on "followup" messages. New topics should always be past-Queens-related.

   
   

3. Advertising of any kind whatsoever is absolutely prohibited in messages that are posted on our Nostalgia Bulletin Board.

4. Here are some examples of message types that should NOT be posted:

   • General Nostalgia: what we wore, what candy we liked, what TV shows we watched, songs we listened to, etc. (If your message could apply to "The Philadelphia Board" without being changed, then it probably falls into this category.)
   • Current Events or present-day Queens issues: how the Yankees are doing, Mayor De Blasio, etc.
   • Politics and/or Religion: discussions of past Queens politics may be acceptable, but current political issues are not. Posts that deal with religion are prohibited except when dealing with Queens demographics of the past.
   • Personal Announcements: birthday, anniversary, holiday, and other such announcements.
   • Roll Calls: messages calling for "sign-ins" or polls that solicit numerous, short, insubstantial responses from the community at large. Examples of these are:
     • Where you are currently living, or how far from Queens, etc.
     • What was your address, postal zone, telephone number, subway station, etc.
     • What school you attended
     • Whether or not your building had an elevator, etc.
     • Petitions or other similar requests for support of a cause
   • Trivia Questions or Quizzes: please feel free to post trivia about Queens, but not in the form of a "quiz".
   • Fund Raising Requests: at the risk of seeming cold-hearted, we must say no to these as well. There are simply too many causes and beneficiaries for us to accommodate the scores of requests we receive each week.
   • Conversations: messages directed to a specific person whose email address is available to you. See the discussion regarding chatting, below.
   • Copyrighted Material: previously published (on the web or elsewhere) material. Cutting and pasting may make it easy, but it doesn't make it legal.
   • Chain Letters: don't even think about posting one of these.
   
   

5. The Nostalgia Bulletin Board is not a "chat room". Therefore, please do not post messages that are unsubstantial, or which address others conversationally. For example, a messages whose sole content is:
   

   "Right on - good point"
   takes up space (and therefore time to load) without offering much.
   
   

6. Messages requesting technical assistance of any kind, or concerns about the appearance or content or operation of the board or how people should post, or questions about missing or deleted messages should not be posted on the board. Please use either email ( ) or the Comments and Suggestions facility for these.

   
   

7. A very appropriate use of the board is finding old friends. Your message should contain as many details as possible regarding the person you're seeking.
   
   

   "Looking for Donna Schwartz"
   is not likely to get as many responses as
   "Looking for Donna Schwartz from Yellowstone Boulevard who attended FHHS HS 1960-1964".
   
   Once you've made contact with an old friend, we ask that you use email for "conversations", unless you feel that what you have to say to each other will be of interest to all users of the board.
   
   

8. Feel free to post messages that discuss historical Queens events, people, or places.

   
   

9. Keep in mind that not everyone will share the opinions or views you may express in your message, so don't be upset by "spirited" responses. (However, see the next points below.)

   
   

10. Remarks that are even remotely racist or sexist, abusive, derogatory, or antagonistic toward a person or group are extremely unwelcome on the Nostalgia Bulletin Board and will be deleted. The author of such messages may be subject to loss of posting priveleges or other actions.

    
    

11. Sometimes, a memory of an individual may be negative. A message may discuss someone in a negative manner (e.g. "I hated my science teacher, Miss Ozone, who was a real witch to me...") so long as the message does not cross over the line into libelous statements (unproved accusations, unsubstantiated statments with obvious harm or malice intended; e.g. Miss Ozone was a thief and had venereal disease...).

    
    

12. Some topics may have been discussed previously, so you may want to search the archives before posting your message.

    
    

13. Messages may not offer products or services of any kind, even if they're free of charge. There are no exceptions to this without explicit permission from SofTech Consulting.

    
    

14. Messages may neither contain requests for products or services of a commercial nature, nor solicit input for the support of any commercial venture. SofTech Consulting will determine what constitutes "commercial" in this case, so please contact before posting.

    
    

15. Solicitations for products, services, or information of a non-commercial nature (such as "I'm writing a book and need information on...") will be evaluated on an individual basis. Please contact before posting such a message.

    
    

16. Due to liablility and other concerns, we're very touchy around here when it comes to links and references to other websites. The primary reason for this is to avoid references to commercial sites (those that charge a fee for a product or service) since this constitutes advertising, and references to sites that may contain offensive material (and we've been burned by such links once too many times). While many links or site references are harmless and may even be of use or interest to our audience, we can't evaluate the content of every site that may be mentioned, so your best bet is to refrain from plugging other websites entirely.

    
    

SofTech Consulting (the owner and operator of this board) reserves the right to delete any message deemed unsuitable for the Nostalgia Bulletin Board.

Persistent, blatant, or serious violations of these guidelines will result in suspension of posting privileges.