PLEASE DO NOT REGISTER WITH YOUR LAST NAME OR THE LAST NAME OF YOUR SOLDIER IN YOUR USERNAME!

Rules and Regulations

OPSEC

What is OPSEC?
Short for Operational Security, its goal is to protect our troops by not stating pieces of information that could identify them and let our enemies know what we're doing.

How do I comply with OPSEC?

It takes a little practice to get used to understanding what is okay to say, and what's not.

• Don't state your last name or the last name of your deployed significant other. Take care when chosing your username that your last name isn't obviously known. Also take care when posting photos that his name isn't readible on his uniform.
• Do not post anything about specific locations. With regard to locations overseas, country names are acceptable, town/base names are not. You may refer to bases state-side, by name.
• Do not post specific dates. This includes the day your soldier is scheduled to leave for overseas, the days he is scheduled to come home for leave, the day he is scheduled to return from overseas, or the day he is scheduled to leave the country. Your best bet- when you are referring to a deployment- is to just not mention specific dates at all. Please use care when posting a ticker in your signature. "Count up" tickers are acceptable, with regard to deployments, but "count down" tickers are not- as they refer to a specific date.

Please understand, if your post/thread is editted or deleted on the grounds of not following OPSEC, it is only for your safety and your soldier's safety

RESPECT
You should always practice the Golden Rule here: treat others the way you would like to be treated.

If you don’t agree with someone, politely state that, if you feel so inclined. Do not start a brawl here; it’s not worth it.

Name-calling and in any other way belittling another member will result in editing or deletion of your post.

One way of being unwittingly disrespectful is to act as though your pain and suffering is greater than anyone else’s. Every member here is entitled to feel upset or hurt by any length deployment, whether they have been dating their soldier for 2 months or married to him for 15 years.

ONLINE SECURITY

While public sharing of personal, identifying information (including our real names, addresses and phone numbers) is against the rules, it is up to your discretion to share these details amongst yourselves. As friendships are forged, it is inevitable that you will probably share these things.

However, please keep in mind that it is virtually impossible to determine the true nature of any individual online. Please practice extreme caution in giving out any of your personal information and make absolutely sure you are comfortable with that person knowing those things.

OPSEC and practicing extreme caution will protect you from tangible dangers. As you all should know well, there are other dangers lurking on the Internet: imposters!

We are incapable of protecting you from these dangers. It is a responsibility you must take upon yourself.

Please remember that this is the Internet. You should make the basic assumption that some of what you read here is from people who are lying or presenting themselves inaccurately. It is sad, but it is the truth and your only defense is to acknowledge that fact.

You may find that you have given well thought out advice and genuine support to someone who you later suspect has been lying to you. This is going to happen and it’s best that you prepare yourself for the possibility now.

As a staff, we will not be devoting any energy or time to trying to discern whether a member is lying or telling the truth about details of their life. It is up to you to decide for yourself and, if you feel they are lying, to ignore that member and no longer let them take up your time and energy.

The only exception to this rule is regarding the death of a member of the armed services. That will be investigated and verified as quickly as possible by staff members and any fraudulent claims of death will be deleted and the member who concocted them banned.

WHO IS ALLOWED TO POST HERE?

• Wives of armed service members or government contractors
• Girlfriends of armed service members or government contractors
• Fiancées of armed service members or government contractors
• Former Wives, Girlfriends or Fiancées of armed service members or government contractors (if they were a member here while involved with the armed service member or government contractor)

SOLICITATION

Solicitation, in general, is not allowed. However, if you are a long-standing member here and wish to place a single advertisement for your business or other venture, please PM Carly and we will see what can be done.

IMAGES

Please make sure all images posted on the main boards and in your signature are family friendly. No obscenities, obscene gestures, provocative pictures or nudity are allowed.

HOW YOU CAN HELP OR WHAT RECOURSES YOU HAVE

All posts that are not within the guidelines above should be reported to the staff. This can be done very easily on any post by clicking the button under the thread-poster’s name that is an exclamation mark inside of a red triangle. After a brief description of why you think this is against the rules or what concerns you – it is sent to the staff to be investigated. This is and always should be your first action to draw attention to a post that you feel does not comply with our guidelines here.

If you still feel the need to discuss this with a staff member, or if there isn’t a specific post, please send a Private Message to one of the following members:

Carly (Admin/Site Owner)

Supermods:
Joy
Val
Amy
Kara
Steph

If you don’t feel a member is breaking any guidelines, but just drives you plain crazy – please put that member on your Ignore List. (UserCP, Buddy / Ignore Lists)

HOW TO DEAL WITH HARRASSING/ANNOYING PRIVATE MESSAGES

If a member is PMing you that you don’t want to hear from, please reply to them and politely state that you do not wish to hear from them via PM again. Likewise, if you are asked not to PM someone, please respect that member’s wishes and stop PMing them. If you’ve asked someone not to PM you, and they continue to do so, please forward the PM to a Super Moderator (listed above) who will take appropriate action.

If a PM you receive is outright nasty and rude and a definite violation of the rules here, instead of replying, you may immediately forward that PM to a Moderator.

LEAVING THE BOARD

This board can’t be for everyone, we as humans are all too different and we respect that. We don’t want ANYONE to leave, but if you defcide that this board is no longer for you, we ask that you PM your friends and let them know and post a simple thread on the In & Out board. Please do not state the specific reason you are leaving. Just say you are leaving and leave it at that.