Be nice!
Don’t insult others ("others" covers people, classes, groups, guilds, companies, etc)
Don’t be provocative through e.g. mockery or ridicule
Don’t call for nerfs – it’s very provoking for those you want to nerf
Respect the turf - whether it's Raid & Dungeons, Role-Playing (realm) forum, or a class forum, keep in mind where you are and be respectful
Argue the topic, not the person – discrediting others is very bad form (and provoking - see above)

Taken from forum rules.
The number of times I have seen the rules ignored almost equals the amount of cloth I have looted in the past 4 years.

What is the use of the rules? looking at many post show they are not followed by most posters and dare I say it even the blues.

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Q u o t e:
Use the report button

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Quoted for truth. We'd love to have enough time in the day to read through everything. Well, love is a strong word! ;)

We will moderate things we come across that violate guidelines, however using the 'report post' function is the best way to bring evil posts to our attention.

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Q u o t e:
The problem is that the people running the forums are dependent on the users for their income, so they won't be very eager to swing the banhammer.

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Quite the contrary. We want the vast majority of players to enjoy the forums and not feel annoyed or frustrated by coming here to partake in the WoW community. We would much rather take care of (educate > suspend > ban) one disruptive and abusive user than have that person drive away more constructive contributors.

We do believe in giving people several chances though, to allow them to show they can abide by the forum guidelines. And as said above, we do depend on people actually reporting the posts that bother them.