CockyHoskins

CockyTalk Guidelines / FAQ

Welcome to CockyTalk!

We are glad to have you as a part of our community. After reading the below guidelines, please introduce yourself to the board.

The essence of CockyTalk is intelligent, mature speech about everything Gamecock. With the influx of new members, we want to make sure everyone is aware of our culture here.

The following are some guidelines specific to CockyTalk. All of these rules are backed by our membership and enforced by our moderators. If you have any questions, please send cockyhoskins a private message. We are not eager to moderate, but we are eager to encourage good habits so that the free community we have grown continues to be enjoyable to all. Please check back from time to time to see if these guidelines have been amended.

If you have questions about software specific questions, such as "how do I post?", go here.

If you would like to discuss these guidelines or suggest an addition to this FAQ, go here.
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GOLDEN RULE OF COCKYTALK

Healthy debate is encouraged. CockyTalk prides itself on being a wonderful place to hold a civilized conversation. Please do your part to keep it up to code. Disagreement can take place without rudeness or disrespect. For your own sake, if you wish to continue enjoying CockyTalk, learn how to disagree respectfully. If you do not like a post for its content or its author, it's best to hit the back button on your browser rather than giving your heated two cents. Since you are expected to act like adults, any allusions to immaturity will draw the attention of our moderators.

No player, coach or potential recruit bashing - This is a Gamecock site. We have players and player parents who read and participate on this board. If times are tough on the field of play, the last thing they need is to read insulting comments about it on this board. Let's leave the player personnel decisions to the coaches. We don't want anything we do on CockyTalk to potentially hurt our University.

No personal, racial or religious insults (flaming) - They have no place here. When in doubt, err on the side of good taste. Treat others on this board the way you would treat them at a tailgate. Don't hide behind your computer, just so you can act like a smartass.

No baiting (trolling) - Posting comments with the intention to draw the ire of your fellow board members is just as bad as insulting them directly.

Do not post another member's personal information (full name, phone number, address, email, pictures esp. in smack) without their permission. No exceptions.

If you have issues with the management/moderation of this board, DO NOT post them on the open board, direct a PM to the moderator you have issues with/questions about and if you cannot get a satisfactory result from them contact the board admin, again via PM, DO NOT ADDRESS THESE ISSUES ON THE OPEN BOARD
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THE MODERATORS

Who are the people that will be enforcing all the rules you are about to read?

cack™
CCC
CockADoodalDoom
CockDiesel
cockyhoskins
CoverTwo
Cuck Flemson
Gamecockboyo
GH
johnnyb
keliann78
khosk
morgan n' 7
smoovecock
Snake
Spur’s Addiction
Spurticus
TheMule

These guys and gals work hard to make sure this board stays the fun place we all enjoy coming to to talk Gamecock sports. If they delete or move a post, they will often send you a Private Message explaining why. Sometimes they don't just because of time constraints. If you disagree with what they do, send cockyhoskins a private message. He will address it with you.

However, if you have a post deleted or moved, etc., DO NOT post in the open forum asking why your post was deleted. This will draw the ire of the Admins. It was deleted because in the discretion of that mod, it didn't follow the rules. If you disagree with that, it can be discussed via the private messaging system. Feel free to send cockyhoskins a private message if you disagree.

How do I become a moderator?

The mods are always watching for those posters who exemplify the culture of CockyTalk. When the decision is made to add a new mod, we take nominees from amongst the mods. Then we vote for who is the best poster.

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RULES OF POSTING

1) Follow the Golden Rule of CockyTalk.

2) Put it in the right forum. Each forum has a description under it. Each Forum may also have its own rules that apply specificly to it in addition to the general board rules posted here.
The biggies are:

The Cock Pit - Gamecock football (and other major Gamecock news not related to another sport)
Fowl Shots - Gamecock basketball
The Sarge - Gamecock baseball
The Proving Grounds - Gamecock recruiting
Other Gamecock Sports - women's sports, olympic sports, club sports, etc.
Gamecock Multimedia - post your pics, videos, ringtones, wallpapers and other media related to the Gamecocks. If it isn't Gamecock related, post it in the Water Cooler (for non-sports) or the Locker Room (for non-Gamecock sports).
Smack Talk - self explanatory
The Chop Shop - a forum for the photoshop junkies. It is a sub-forum of Smack Talk.
The Locker Room - non-Gamecock Sports
The Water Cooler - a place to hang out
Cocky Swap - place to exchange Gamecock goodies
Political Forum- the one and only place on CT where politics are allowed to be discussed

Some people constantly say, "I know this isn't the right forum but the others aren't looked at." That post will be moved or deleted. We offer a Top 10 most recent posts at the top that spans all forums to let you know the most recent activity. Post it in the right forum and everyone will still see it in the Top 10.

3) Along the lines of the right forum issue, we try to create an environment at CockyTalk where everyone is welcome. Limit divisive talk like politics and smack to their own forums. Smack talk is limited to the smack forum. Politics are limited to the political forum. If you violate this rule, your post will be deleted. If you continually violate it, you will be deleted.

4) Use a descriptive title for your threads.
For example: If you just heard some great news, instead of posting a thread with the title "Did you hear?" you will probably get better responses if you use the title, "Blake Mitchell to start", etc.

5) When posting articles from other websites, it's imperative that you do all of the following:

a) Do not post premium info from other Gamecock boards. Premium info is ANY article or post written by the staff of another board. Period. Info given by members who are not staff of that board is not premium. If you post premium info, it will be deleted. If you do it continuously, you will be deleted.

b) Link the passage in your post.
Directly quote the first few paragraphs of the article in your post using the vBcode quote tags .

c) Include your opinion or comment along with the quote.

d) There are some sites that the CockyTalk administration has decided not to allow articles or links to. At this time these include:
d1-Any Article Written by Ron Morris
d2-Any Content from a Current Player/Recruit/Coaches personal Facebook, Twitter, Blog, or other personal website. This includes references such as “OMG did you see what Blake Mitchell just changed his status to”
d3-Any Article hosted by Bleacherreport.com d4-Any c&p from or link to Gamecock Anthem (USC's Scout site) or TheBigSpur (ESPN)
d5-Articles from Fitsnews.com

6) No site plugging or advertising - You are allowed one link to any site of your choice through your 'Homepage' option in your profile. Do not post any of your sites or affiliated sites in your posts. Furthermore, do not make posts regarding free things from referrals or whatever other similar thing you may wish to post about. It may result in an immediate ban.

7) Before posting a new thread, use the forum's search function to make sure that you are not making a duplicate post. To access the search feature, click on the "search" link at the top of most pages. If there is an existing thread on the topic, feel free to add your opinion or comment there.

8) If you are unsure of a post that you would like to make, send a private message to a moderator to ask for advice.

9)How do I report a post?
We have moderators who work for free policing the boards. However, you are the glue that keeps this community together. If you see someone violating the rules above, report their post.

Simply click the button to the left of the post and a message will be sent to all the admins and mods.
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SPECIAL RULES FOR THE SMACK TALK AND POLITICAL FORUMS

Nothing in this world creates more heated debate than politics and a good rivalry. That is why we have separate forums for these two topics. These two forums are not viewable to guests because they often contain topics not suitable for the underaged.

However, these forums have rules too. In addition to the Golden Rule above, you need to be extra careful when you are upset and be sure to follow the below rules. Also, a moderator may make additional rules from time to time that are stickied to the top of the forum.

The Political Forum

1) DO NOT USE THE REPORT POST FEATURE TO REPORT POSTS IN THE PF, if you feel that a post is in violation of the rules posted at the top of the PF, PM the PF moderator Gapo. If you Violate this rule, you may be banned.

The Smack Talk Forum

1) More is allowed here. If CockyTalk is PG-13, smack talk is rated R. Profanity is tolerated. However, show some decency.

2) NO PERSONAL ATTACKS. Come on y'all! Smack is an art form. If the best comeback you have when a rival brings the smack is "Shut up fat pig", then please get off the porch and let the big dogs play. If you engage in personal attacks about a poster's mama or sister or so on, you will be banned.

3) Comments like "taters", "coots", etc. are smack. They should be limited to the smack forum. Some people actually like to discuss news about our rival Clemson without reverting to smack. If the best you can do in an article about Clemson is saying "Damn Taters", don't respond. Your post will be deleted.

Many people complain to the mods that they can't refer to the Tigers by anything other than "taters", etc. If that is the case, you shouldn't discuss them anywhere except in the smack forum.
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Special Requirement for posting in the Proving Grounds

Members have to have a combination of 2 days tenure and more than 10 posts in other forums, in order to be able to post in the Proving Grounds.
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SPECIAL RULES FOR COCKY SWAP

1) Do not discuss price (tickets only) in the open forum. If you want to know how much tickets are, etc., then use the PM system or email the member. If you are listing your tickets, etc. and include a price, the thread will be deleted.

2) If you PM somebody and disagree with his price, DO NOT POST YOUR DISAGREEMENT IN THE OPEN FORUM.

You guys are potentially opening up CockyTalk to liability by discussing price, even if it is to call the person a "scalper". Besides, that violates the general rule not to bash other members.

Again, if you don't agree or want to pay the price, MOVE ON!

Comments like "no thanks, don't want to pay $200" are not tolerated.
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SPECIAL RULES FOR THE HEN HOUSE

NO MEN ARE ALLOWED TO POST HERE.

If you are a man and would like a female opinion on a matter, post it in the Water Cooler.
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SIGNATURES/AVATARS

To accommodate those that still run a 600 x 800 monitor (yes they still exist), we need to implement some maximum size guidelines for signatures and avatars.


Signatures should be no more than 5 to 6 lines of text or 250 pixels tall by 600 wide for pictures. This is for your entire signature, not each picture. If you have ten pictures that are each 200 pixels tall, it defeats the purpose.

Avatars can be 120 x 120.

There will be no nudity or near nudity allowed in sigs or avatars
here the judgment will be left to the mods and admin as to the degree allowable.
If you think you want to push this to a limit, then don't be surprised if you try to sign
on one day and you have been banned for a sig or avatar policy violation.


There will be NO political Sigs or Avatars allowed on this board. That
applies to text or pictures or innuendo of any type that has a political
nature to it.

There will be no signatures or avatars with embedded links in them
unless you have permission from Chuck or Ken (cockyhoskins or khosk)
in advance.

There will be no signature or avatar allowed that violates the rules
regarding bashing of coaches, players or other members.

There will be no signature or avatar allowed that quotes another member of this board (with or without the posters name) exceptions will be made for "memorials" in signatures for board members who have passed away.

Please do us all a favor and edit your sigs and avatars. If I notice them before you do, I'll do you the favor of deleting it for you so that you can make another one!

How do I get an avatar (picture under your username)?

The small images under your username are called Avatars. There are two kinds of avatars: those provided by CockyTalk and those that you upload yourself.

To change your avatar, (1) go to your User CP (Control Panel). (2) Under Options and Settings in upper left corner, select "Edit Avatar". (3) Choose an avatar provided by CockyTalk or select your own custom avatar by selecting browse and uploading from your computer.

How do I get a signature?

Same as avatars, go to the User CP. Click "Edit sig". Put your image url between [img] [/img] tags or simply click the button and add the url.

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HOW TO POST IMAGES, YOUTUBE VIDEOS, ETC.

People always ask the question how to embed video or images. This is done with bbcode. For example, to embed a youtube video in a post just put the video ID (located after the = sign) between , like this .

To see all of the bbcode for this site, click here.
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USER TITLES AND REPUTATION

People always ask what the cocky heads and user titles are under their usernames.

To give rep points, simply click the button on the left of the post you want to reward.

To learn more about the specific User Titles and Reputation levels, etc., go here.

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BUDDY LIST/IGNORE LIST

The buddy list is used to keep track of the friends you have made on this forum. By going to your "My vB Home", you'll be able to see which of your friends are currently online, and be able to send them a private message. Adding people to your buddy list also allow you to send private messages to multiple forum members at the same time. You may add any member of the forums to your buddy list by clicking this button in a member's posts.
Ignore lists are used for those people who's messages you wish not to read. By adding someone to your ignore list, those messages posted by these individuals will be hidden when you read a thread.