Namecalling is strongly discouraged. You can disagree with another without calling them a jerk or worse. Violent outbursts will be reason enough for immediate banishment. Do not start a new thread in order to "call out" a poster. Do not post private information about anyone, even if that information is publicly available. Do not post private communications (boardmails or emails) from another user. Do not speculate whether a user has other aliases on CougarBoard or any other board. Do not post speculation that a poster is a member of the BYU staff, a player, or a family member, even in jest.

Anytime you attack an individual as opposed to disagreeing with their opinion, you are risking a personal attack. Some definite no-nos in this area:

• Addressing an individual by a profane or rude name
• Addressing an individual by making a play on words on their username (especially profane)
• Insulting a user directly

Attacking a group of people is considered the same as attacking an individual. For example, mocking people who belong to a political party, religion, or other similar group would be against the rules.

One notable exception deals with fans of opposing teams. There is (of course) some mocking to be expected. However, it is expected that it will be kept tasteful.

That is an argument indicating the maturity level of a five-year-old and the response is the same as what your kindergarten teacher said to you many years ago. I don't care. "He started it" is no excuse.

If you see something against the guidelines, call it to our attention with the Report Abuse link.

The moderators and myself do our best to enforce the guidelines fairly and consistently. With over so many posts per day, this is not an easy task. If you feel you are being treated unfairly, please bring it to my attention.

You are not a coach, player, journalist, guru, etc. Neither are 99.99% of all posters on CougarBoard. That does not make their opinion any less valid. If a person's opinion/observation is flawed, address the flaw and state why it is flawed. Don't tear down the person because you can't tear down the argument.

Congratulations. Your insight will be appreciated. However, that does not grant you any greater license to violate these guidelines nor does it lend your opinions any greater credibility than is warranted.