The goal of FICS is to provide a friendly means for chess enthusiasts to play chess games and discuss topics of interest. In order to promote a friendly atmosphere, FICS follows simple guidelines and rules of etiquette. FICS admins have the authority to warn and (if necessary) sanction users who violate these guidelines.
FICS users should refrain from making any statements or engaging in any conduct that could be considered abusive, harrassing, offensive or obscene, especially with regard to nationality, race, religion or sexual orientation. Avoid having differences of opinion from escalating into personal attacks. If you want to avoid hearing statements made by a certain user, use the censor command.
FICS users should refrain from abusive conduct that ruins FICS. Such conduct includes: (a) disconnecting in order to avoid losing a chess match; (b) losing a chess match intentionally in order to inflate another user's rating; (c) using a chess computer without having it registered as a computer; (d) letting other people play rated matches using your registered account.
It is good etiquette to have lengthy discussions about a topic or issue using FICS channels rather than using shouts. Special topics channels have been created for this purpose (the channel help file has a listing). And there may be times when you are asked to move your discussion to a channel.
See also: abuse, admins, atmosphere, censor, channel, computers