As of 08/07/08, members who post within The Sleeping Forest must abide by the following rules. If any rules are disobeyed, Moderator Action will be taken, and in some cases, infractions will be issued.

1.) Nothing personal. Debate posts should not be personal, an example of this would be: "You have absolutely no knowledge about this, you obviously know nothing, if you believe this you must be an idiot, etc." Members should be discussing what they disagree with about another's argument, not actually singling them out and insulting them. There is nothing to be gained, except for an infraction, for flaming and offensive behavior.

2.) No cursing. There has been far too much swearing going on within the debate section, and more often than not, it's used to insult another. There is absolutely no justifiable reason for excessive swearing to be in a debate post. Cursing and swearing does not make someone's point more valid, so it serves no purpose within The Sleeping Forest.

3.) Tone. There's a lot of insulting sarcasm and rudeness within Debates, that really has no business being in it. A person's rude tone can be just as inflammatory as direct insults. Keep the sarcasm to a minimum, or don’t include it at all.

4.) Debate, don't ego-stroke. Instead of members debating why they disagree with a person's points, they will sometimes say something such as: "You know nothing, but I've studied this and this and this," without really saying anything contributory about what they disagree with and why, with following evidence. This is not acceptable. This also counts for comments that attempt to one-up a member, without any sort of evidence or contribution to their argument. An example: “Haha, are you serious? What drugs are you on? It must be nice being that blissfully ignorant.” Not only is the example comment rude, inflammatory, and entirely non-contributory, but the poster has only attempted to prove their debate is the right one…by insulting, not debating.

5.) No flaming. Though this has been mentioned in other words previously, this can’t be stressed enough. Insulting another member will result in Moderator Action. An example of unacceptable comments would be: “You’re an idiot, you’re ignorant, what a dumb ass!, what are you smoking?, just stop posting…you’re a moron, etc.” Infractions will be issued for flaming.

6.) Provide proof. This is the most important part of a debate. All posts should be detailed, and should include as much proof, evidence, or reasoning as possible. Though, do keep in mind that this does not mean that all posters must provide statistics. It merely means that if you are going to take a stance in a debate, that you be willing to back-up your reasoning. Also, this rule can not be used as an excuse for someone's debate being weak. For example: "Where's your sources? Where's your statistics?" This is not entirely acceptable, due to the fact that many 'sources' and 'statistics' are not always reliable. Providing proof can be done in a matter of ways, from providing examples, to explaining your logic and reasoning. Providing statistical evidence is not the only way to accomplish this.

7.) No spamming. One-liners, or 2-3 sentence posts are not allowed in this area. It is a hindrance, and perhaps even an insult to the debaters who put a lot of time and effort into their well-thought out and detailed debate posts. A person who makes a Spam post will be warned, and the post deleted [if it is not edited.] Any further spam posts will be deleted without warning. Continuous spam posts within The Sleeping Forest will result in an infraction for that member.

8.) Stay on topic. Though this follows a similar notion such as spamming, it is still something to bear in mind. All posts should remain on topic, and should not stray from that subject. An example: If the topic is Religion, then discussing how evil your Catholic School teacher was, would not be appropriate. Warnings will be given when members stray off-topic.

9.) Enjoy yourself. Debating can be a lot of fun for those who are passionate about what they believe.