Call me a potato and shit on my chest, but I can't seem to find any reference to the forum rules. On the MA homepage, the 'Rules' link simply leads to the rules for Band/Album/Review submissions and what-not.

Reason being, it's good to have readily available lest one irreversibly makes an idiot of oneself.

No there aren't any rules that have been written for the entire forum, but I think most of the rules on the forum go without saying anyway.

I kinda had a sneaking suspicion, but it seems that these days common sense, isn't.

Much like telling a stranger to shit on your chest. I redact that, by the way.

well that's all pretty self evident. Basically, don't be a troll, don't post stupid shit, stay on topic, dont create redundant threads (or pointlessly ressurect old ones) and other basic common sense stuff which everyone should know intuitively. I got no problem with any of that.

But on here, there are certain things which, even though they aren't officially spelled out, can get new users in trouble- and which I think might need some more official clarification. Certain topics which are controversial (usually referring to racial/religious issues) or which have been done over and over again (e.g. "How did you get into metal? What do you listen to besides metal?" etc.) are typically frowned upon by the administrators, but someone new to the board might not know better. Or the "Why all the hate for such and such band, album, genre, hairstyle" threads, or anything on The Tavern dealing with romance, relationships and interpersonal relations. The staff don't like these kind of threads, and most users who have been on the board long enough figure that out, but I've seen a few newbies get in trouble for threads like this, without realizing they were doing anything wrong. That's why I might think some more firm guidelines might need to be written. Just my two cents as a regular user.

With all the crap that people try and pollute the forums with, I understand the administrators need to be strict- and they certainly are- but if I was new to the forums, it might be helpful to see some guidlines as to what is cool and what isnt as far as new topics, etc- beyond the obvious common sense stuff.