On our last system upgrade (March 31, 2008) a new feature was added to the expert forums, called "Global Interceptors". The Global Interceptors identify forbidden phrases, words or characters in every new forum message, and do not allow posting while the message includes them.
There are currently two kinds of enabled interceptors in our forums:
- Email Interceptor - prohibits the usage of email addresses in a post.
- Keyword Interceptor - identifies certain phrases that could be in a context of sending mails or documents.
Whenever one or more of these interceptors "hunts" an email address or a request for an email address in a new message, the message is not submitted to the system, but an error message will be displayed, asking to remove the email address or the prohibited phrase (the complete message stays in the editor, so there is no need to write the message again).
Since questions and solutions posted in the forums are often also interesting for other members of the community, asking somebody to send an answer or a document via email deprives others of also learning to know the answer. Therefore any requests for sending material or answers to an email address are not allowed in our forums.
Please note that the interceptors do not apply to SDN email addresses like sdn@sap.com, sapnetwork@sap.com, etc., that can still be used in the forums.
More detailed rules of engagement, can be found on the Wiki.
