We are not Facebook or a typical anti-social media. In order to make sure we can all ask, tell, learn, socialize, and have fun without flame wars, we have paid moderators and a few rules and guidelines.
3 Strikes, You're Out!
If you violate any of the Rules And Guidelines below and are asked by an admin or moderator to correct the behavior, we expect you to cooperate. If you choose not to, that's your choice and we will issue a warning. If the problem persists, we will be forced to terminate your membership and refund your money. Thankfully this is VERY rare. But we hold ourselves to a higher standard than the popular anti-social media. If everyone minds their manners and keeps to basic human deceny there won't be any trouble.
3 Strikes, You're Out!
If you violate any of the Rules And Guidelines below and are asked by an admin or moderator to correct the behavior, we expect you to cooperate. If you choose not to, that's your choice and we will issue a warning. If the problem persists, we will be forced to terminate your membership and refund your money. Thankfully this is VERY rare. But we hold ourselves to a higher standard than the popular anti-social media. If everyone minds their manners and keeps to basic human deceny there won't be any trouble.
1. No politics, race, or religion.
We are rigid about this. Please do not make stereotypical generalizations based on gender, sex, race, or ethnicity. Members are of all backgrounds. Nothing will start a fight faster. I don't care how mad you are about something the President did. Take it to Facebook.
1B. If a topic which is useful for information/debate/discussion exists, but is free of politics, please keep it that way.
Mentioning that a currently clean discussion could lean toward a political discussion is in effect making it political by bringing that up needlessly, wouldn't you say? No need to do that. Keep the turds outta the pool so we can all continue to have fun.
Mentioning that a currently clean discussion could lean toward a political discussion is in effect making it political by bringing that up needlessly, wouldn't you say? No need to do that. Keep the turds outta the pool so we can all continue to have fun.
2. Be Nice.
We are all friends and equals and we are here to discuss food. That is what binds us together. You can disagree with each other but please don't attack anyone personally and keep the flames in your pit and out of our community. Remember what your mamma taught you: "If you can't say something nice, don't say nothin' at all"!
3. No Airing Of Dirty Laundry.
If you have a disagreement with someone, or if someone has offended you, please respectfully take it to a Private Message with that person, not a public lynching for all to see. We will delete such things to keep our forum fun for all.
4. No Harassment.
If you disagree with another member and feel you must make your personal disagreement known, please do so respectfully. Productive disagreements are opportunities to learn and expand. Non-productive disagreements are opportunities to make enemies. If you detest gas grills or sous vide, just stay out of those topics.
5. Keep It Clean.
We don't have a foul language filter and would like to keep it that way. Please keep in mind we have members from all over the world, all demographic and social statuses, and members' children may browse our forum. Please keep things as clean as your grill grates.
6. Avoid Health Discussions.
Please try to avoid discussions of what is or what is not healthy food. The fact is we know little about what is truly healthy. Remember when butter and wine were bad for us? Latest research is saying fat and salt may not be the villains we were told. Our site has a strong interest in science, and so much of what is published about health is unproven and changes regularly. Meathead discusses the problem in detail in his article on Food and Health.
7. You Can Sell Or Seek.
Selling is welcome in the For Sale, Trade, Or Wanted topic but nowhere else. We cannot be responsible for the quality or honesty of products and individuals who post there, so please ask questions of the seller/buyer. As a courtesy to your prospective buyers or sellers, please post your location and the item itself clearly in the topic title.
8. Amazon Links.
If you link to a product, and Amazon sells it at a competitive price, please try to use our links. In other words, tell people "I like the Slow 'N Sear. Go to http://tinyurl.com/AmazingRibs and search for "Slow 'N Sear." Please save this link! It has our code in it. This really helps us buy charcoal.
9. Avatars.
No risque pictures, no full or partial nudity, even if meant to be humorous. We have members of all age groups and personal boundaries so please be respectful of all. If your photo is deemed by moderators to violate this rule, you will be asked to crop it or change it, or admin will do it for you.
10. Organization.
Help us keep things organized so it is easier for people to find things. For example, the Fuels And Fire channel is for discussing fuel types, fire management tips and techniques, charcoal sales, etc, NOT grills and smokers. If you have a critique, praise, or question about an individual grill or smoker, please share your thoughts in the proper Charcoal Grill, Gas Smoker, etc channel, and/or our Product Ratings & Reviews pages of the public side of AmazingRibs.com website so prospective buyers can see these comments.
11. Recipes vs Food Discussion
On the subject of organization- the Recipes Only channels (anything ending in "Recipes") is for posting actual recipes. If you want to ask about a recipe, well, that's discussion, not a recipe. Please use the proper channels!
Why this is important: We regularly get complaints that recipes are buried inside of a bunch of simple food talk and this frustrates members who come here for recipes, we agree! We want folks who are searching for recipe ideas to have a channel for ONLY recipes, hence the channel's name, "Recipes Only". Please help keep it organized!
12. Moderation.
In the very very rare event a moderator makes an edit to one of your posts, do us a favor - try to understand why the edit was made and make an adjustment to your habits. Carry on and keep having fun. It's not personal. If you aren't sure why the moderation occurred please send a private message (PM) to the moderator and carbon copy (CC) Huskee to discuss whatever occurred. Please keep the conversation private and do not post a topic about the moderation activity. We don't want to dramatize things.
13. Promotions.
If you have a hobby of, or make a living by, posting barbecue related media (text, pictures, video all included) please feel free to link to this content if someone asks a question in the Pitmaster Club that your page or video directly answers. Please do not start a new topic for the sole purposes of posting a link to your content. Also, please be conservative in how often you post a link to your content. We won't set a limit, but we will let you know if we feel you are using us as a promotional tool. If you are sharing recipes from your blog or website, please make sure the pictures are yours, and please tailor the post to our members. Please do not simply copy & paste for the sole purpose of driving traffic to your website. You would not walk into a party and shout "Hey this is fun here, but come check out the party next door!" Please do not hijack topics and change the subject, please just start a new topic.
14. No COVID- or mask- or vaccine-related conversation. This is a new rule effective September 2021.
These topics, if started will immediately be closed and deleted by moderators. Comments or replies of this nature within other topics will also be deleted. This too will fall under the 3 strikes you're out policy as mentioned at the beginning of this post. To see the full reasoning behind this decision, please see Meathead's topic on this issue here. We are a cooking website, let's talk about what binds us- food, cookers, & cooking!
15. If You Use AI Here, YOU MUST SAY SO
If you look up info on a topic, a recipe, or an answer to someone else's question using AI, and post the AI answer, YOU MUST STATE IF YOUR ANSWER/REPLY/RECIPE/ETC IS AI-GENERATED. This is not only to avoid frustrating folks who do not like AI-generated content (after all, we're a message board full of real people, not bots), but it will also help us crack down on bots here masquerading as real members when it happens. Thankfully it is rare. If we detect non-disclosed "AI Slop", we will delete it.
Wheew!
Now that we have all of that out of the way, please remember, this forum is a labor of love and is the result of years of thoughts, ideas, sweat, flames, smoke, and onion tears. Founded in July 2014, we are still continually improving things. We value your feedback and suggestions. You can post them here Suggestion Box.
If you have questions about how the Pitmaster Club works, click here to go to the Help channel which has answers to Frequently Asked Questions.
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