1. Conduct

We’re all adults, but it’s easy to revert to childlike behavior. You will inevitably get flamed or offended by the remarks of another, even patronized and condescended to, but the best course of action is to take the high road. Insulting someone’s politics, race, regionalism, intelligence, or financial status is generally frowned upon and can result in post moderation or banishment if it persists.

SOFREP is unique in that the people you meet here online, you stand a very good chance they have served in the Special Operations community or military in general. Some of our online personas can also be quite different from our live action personalities too. For this reason, the site editors reserve sharing personal political opinions. The site supports whatever Commander in Chief is in office just like in the Military. This media site is about Special Operations.

Sometimes a conflict can’t be avoided, and it can feel really good to nail somebody. Take a timeout or consider that you may be alienating somebody you would normally be friends with were it not for the lack of discretion that anonymity can encourage.

Profanity is tolerated as long as it’s used tastefully. That may be an oxymoron to some, but I think some words have their place in our everyday vernacular. Just use it sparingly and in good taste.

No porn.  There are a million places you can find porn on the Internet, but this is a site that should be safe to surf with your kids sitting on your lap, so let’s keep this place as family friendly as possible by not posting images that are inappropriate or disrespectful to our small female audience.  There will always be those who try to tread this line, so if you have to wonder, err on the conservative side.

Be respectful of the discussion and stay on topic. Many topics are started in earnest to seek answers or information about a Special Operations topic. Though it may seem funny, please refrain from derailing or hijacking the relevant discussion.

2. Content Moderation Policy
First and foremost, SOFREP is an edgy Special Operations media website. All topics submitted, and especially those outside the scope, are subject to evaluation, moderation, or removal at the discretion of moderators. Administrators and moderators reserve the right to move, edit, or delete user-contributed forum posts and images.

The purpose of moderation is to maintain this forum as the best source of information and discussion around all things Special Operations. Controversial ancillary and unrelated topics appearing in Google search results often attract registrants who may not be interested in Spec Ops at all, and they are not welcome in the discussion. Moderation decisions are sometimes unpopular, and it only makes our job more difficult to be criticized. Repeated comments about moderator actions will eventually piss us off enough that you will be warned and eventually banned. Try and pick a fight with me and the team and it’s a sure way to get a life-time ban and throat punched if we ever meet you in person. 😉 Thanks for understanding.

Moderators are:

  • Brandon Webb-Executive Media Director and Editor-in-Chief
  • Jack Murphy-Managing Editor and USASOC Editor
  • Bill Janson-MARSOC Editor
  • Glen Doherty-NSWC Editor

3. Solicitation and Promotion
It’s considered poor form to join, drop in, and immediately spam us, even if you’re from the Spec Ops community. If every single post you make is an effort to push product it’s going to hurt you more than help, because we will deactivate your account like I would any spammer.

Solicitation of donations without an official Special Operations oriented organization is frowned upon. We require that you represent an established advocacy group.

A Word From Managing Editor Jack Murphy

We get a lot of kids coming to SOFREP who are interested in joining the military.  A lot of them e-mail me or contact me on facebook as well, all excited with lots of questions about which unit they should try out for or how cool it is to jump out of an airplane.  We’re really happy to be able to engage with young men and women who are interested in serving their country in one capacity or another.

I just wanted to remind the vets on the site, and in general, let’s try not to be condescending to these kids and instead steer them in the right direction.  Remember what it was like to be in their shoes.  On the flip side, those of you interested in becoming a part of the SOF community need to take some responsibility for yourself and do some research.  There is really not excuse not to spend a small amount of your time investing in gaining some knowledge if you are serious about the type of commitment it takes to be a Ranger, SEAL, SCUBA-Sniper-Xbox Commando, or whatever the hell else.  Contrary to popular belief, libraries still exist.  March on down, get yourself a library card, and check out some books on the subjects you are interested in.

I haven’t seen to much of a problem with this and have been pretty happy with the military-civilian interaction I’ve seen here but just wanted to lay it all out since we are hashing out some SOP’s.

-Jack

Final Thoughts

If you have suggestions, use the comms check function. If you dispute anything, use the comms check function. We do our best to moderate fairly and to keep the focus on Spec Ops.

The Editorial Team love this site, the SOFREP community, and the global Special Operations community.  We enjoyed serving our country as a Special Operations Warfighters defending the freedoms we all enjoy as citizens.

Brandon

Editor-in-Chief