SITE POLICIES

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The Moderating Team

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SITE POLICIES
« on: October 05, 2007, 22:51 »
SITE POLICIES

There is widespread feeling that this is one of the friendliest forum around and the Moderating Team feels very strongly about keeping it that way.  Try smiling when you type your reply ... no matter that you may disagree with an earlier post - doing so with a smile always helps.  Deliberately disrupting topics, unfriendliness or bad manners to others has no place here.  If you disagree with a subject challenge the idea, do not attack the poster !  Everyone is entitled to voice their opinion and choices without being slammed by opinions on the opposite side.  Contact a moderator by reporting the post if you are concerned about a post's suitability for these forums.  There are, however, topics that the moderators know will cause problems, these will be locked or removed.

It's a good idea to put your location in your profile as growing conditions vary from country to country and from UK county to county, but don't feel obliged to if, for whatever reason, you don't want to.

Some features of these forums are only open to Full Members i.e. members who have made a minimum of 50 genuine posts.

Posts on our system may be occasionally monitored to make sure they observe our terms & conditions of use and to protect our members.

Please keep these following points in mind when posting:

  • Please don't start topics which you think will be very controversial and hotly debated and don't turn a topic into one.  These types of topic may get locked or deleted by the moderators in order to maintain a friendly atmosphere.  Religious or political comments are definitely not permitted.

  • Do not post or personal message any unsubstantiated claims against any person or organisation, or where the sub judice rules may apply (topics that may now or in the future be judged in court).  We do not allow contentious or hotly debated topics and the normal right to reply would create such a topic and have possible legal implications for the forums.  We will not allow personal vendettas or feelings of being wronged to be aired at the expense of balance and fairness.

  • The Mods will edit or delete any posts or signatures which they consider likely to offend (our members range from young children through to those of advancing years.) Bad language substituted with asteriscs etc. is not acceptable.

  • Do not post copyright material without the copyright owners permission, unless you own the copyright.

  • Please don’t use text speak or twitter speak.  Proper English is best. And please make your post inclusive of all members.

  • Don't hijack serious topics - it's not helpful, even if you think your joke is funny or your chat enjoyable.

  • Nothing may be offered or asked for for money on the forums.   

  • If you disagree with our site policies or any moderation carried out please contact a moderator or the site Admin rather than posting your complaint/query on the open forums.

  • Many of our members find it irritating and rude when someone "BUMPS" their own post back to the top of the forum again, particularly after a short period.  Please bear this in mind and if your topic really has not been answered to your satisfaction try to rephrase the question or expand upon it !

  • Please note that editing or deletion of posts, topics, signatures and even user accounts remains the sole discretion of the Administration and the Moderating Team.


Commercial and Research Posts & PMs and Usernames

Self-promotion and commercial activity on the forums will be under close scrutiny. Members who have commercial or financial interests relating to any of the topics that they post in should be careful that it cannot be construed as covert advertising as this could lead to an instant membership ban.  Usernames should not reflect any link to a business name, e-mail address or web or blog site and avatars should not relate to a business enterprise. These rules may not necessarily be applied to administrators, moderators or long standing friends of the forums.

Posts and PMs may not solicit donations, sell or advertise a service or product.  Please note that you may include links in your Profile's WWW field to third party sites on which to sell your products or in which you have an interest (subject to restrictions below).

Posts requesting information for the purpose of research etc. must have prior approval from the administrators although permission is rarely given except to long standing members.
"aunt__sally at msn.com" (replace the at with @).  This is to protect members.

Items may be offered as free to a good home or as a swap but not for sale on the Swap Shop & Recycle section or the Poultry Swap Shop but no where else.  Requests to buy items are also prohibited. It is, however, acceptable to request money to cover postage or carriage.

Soliciting Donations

Posts or signature links soliciting donations for a charity should be made only after permission is granted by the administrator. We rarely give permission as we have in the past been inundated with them but don’t be afraid to contact an administrator to ask for permission.


Links to other sites

No posts or PMs may contain external links to commercial or personal sites in which the poster has an interest unless approved by an administrator. This includes links to surveys, petitions, personal websites/blogs, facebook etc. This can result in an immediate and irrevocable deletion of the poster's account and banning from the forum.  Please do not invite members to visit personal websites/blogs, twitter, facebook, YouTube etc. or to join you on other sites. If you want to add a youtube clip to your post of what you have been doing, please limit them to 3 minutes maximum length.

Profile links

All members are welcome to put a link to their own or another site in their Website URL: field which can be found in the Forum Profile Information section of their personal profile, as long as the site linked to does not contain objectionable content. Objectionable content includes but is not limited to materials that are likely to incite racial hatred, nudity and other sexual content etc.

It is expected that members taking advantage of this privilege will reciprocate by putting a link back to this site on their site.

Avatars

Please read this topic on how to display an avatar: Avatars

Signatures

Signatures may contain an image file but not animated (moving) pictures or TickerFactory bars as these are very distracting.  A picture should be no larger than an avatar. Obviously, these may not contain objectionable content.  If in doubt please contact an administrator.

Links in signatures and Personal Text field

In general links are not permitted in signatures or in member's Personal Text field.  However, members may have a link in their signature if specifically approved by the administrators.  We generally ask for the linked site to have a link back to here.

Copy/paste from other sites

Original submissions are preferred over all others to avoid any possible copyright infringement. Text from another site should always include a citation but large-scale copy/paste is NOT encouraged.

If any post or PM makes you feel uncomfortable there is a link in the bottom right hand side of posts and PMs to report them to a Moderator or Administrator.
« Last Edit: March 16, 2013, 19:51 by Aunt Sally »

 

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