Why would it need to be spelled out in the guidelines anywhere? The Community Guidelines apply to ALL aspects of the community -- everything you do here. Chat, PM, visitor messages, social groups, photo sharing, photo comments, you name it.

The only exception -- and it's an informal exception -- is that we are more lax with topics discussed in social groups. So you'll see some of these groups discussing religion or politics, two topics that are pretty limited on the forums.

I hope that makes it perfectly clear.

DocJohn