T&Cs
HINTS and TIPS
Do
Be Nice and Polite
Every member deserves to be treated with respect. Positive and polite posts create a friendly and welcoming environment that all members will feel comfortable in.
Think Before Posting
Sensible, well thought-out and legible posts help other members understand what is being explained.
Post in Relevant Section(s)
Posting in the most relevant section will ensure threads are seen by members most interested in the subject. Threads posted in the wrong section will generally be moved by moderators
Remain on Topic
Threads should remain on the topic that they are discussing, they should not be discussing other topics. A new thread should be made for a new discussion.
Report Content
Reported content is sent to staff members for review. If a post needs staff attention because it breaks the rules, needs to be modified or moved the report system is the correct way to alert the staff.
Do Not
Use profanity or Post Inappropriate Content
As a family friendly forum we require that all content posted on the forum is suitable for people of all ages, this includes words, videos and pictures. Any posts containing inappropriate content or profanity (including self censored, automatically censored, acronyms and slang) will be removed from the forum.
Flame or Provoke
Do not insult or flame other members of the forum. Similarly, do not post with the intention of provoking a reaction from fellow members. This includes encouraging flame wars. Instigation is not tolerated.
Spam
A spam post is a post that provides no value to the discussion, or a thread that creates nuisance for others. The most common spam posts are posting "tl:dr;", "+1", "this", posting image macros, and nothing but memes or images. Threads are considered spam when they are duplicates, or devoid of valuable content.
Bump Threads
Posting in a thread only to bring it back to the front page of the forum is not allowed, a thread should only be on the front page of a forum if there is active discussion taking place. The only exceptions to this rule are where there is a community need to bump a post to increase visibility.
Behave in a Malicious Manner
Do not behave in a manner that can cause distress, harm or inconvenience to other members. This includes, but is not limited to, discrimination, bullying, offensive material, breaching others privacy and accessing others accounts without permission. Accounts will be terminated in cases of malicious behaviour.
OTHER FORUM RULES
Content in signatures should be consistent with normal writing and abide by the general forum etiquette. You may not include hidden text or links or information.
Signatures should be short and relevant and may not contain advertising, excessive links, overly large pictures, etc.
We reserve the right to edit and alter signatures of members but in every instance will contact you to explain why we have done this.
AVATARS
Avatars should be no larger than 120x120 pixels and should not exceed 20KiB (20480 bytes) in size.
Remote avatars must have a consistently high availability to ensure page load times are not affected.
Avatars are subject to the same conditions as posts with respect to the general forum etiquette.
Users abusing these rules will be warned or have their avatar privileges revoked.
MODERATION AND MONITORING
Please respect the moderators and admin.
The forum operates a three strike policy. Users will be warned a maximum of three times for any and all offences in a three month period. If the need arises for a fourth warning a temporary ban will be put in place of between 1 to 7 days.
Arguing with team members after having received a warning will lead to an immediate additional warning. Should this exceed three strikes a temporary ban will be put in place as above.
Any attempt to circumvent a temporary ban or other moderator action will lead to a permanent ban of your account(s). Circumvention includes re-registering or using an already registered account under a non-banned username. Other examples include changing IP addresses, using a new email account or other action that can be taken to evade moderator action to hide your identity as the owner of the sanctioned account.
An exception to the three strike rule applies when users contact team members personally (via any method) and post insulting, indecent or vulgar material. Such users may be subject to an immediate permanent ban.
Permanent bans are a last resort and thought is given before implementing them. Lifting permanent bans may occur from time to time and are dealt with on a case by case basis once the user can demonstrate that they will no longer continue the behavior which led to the ban.
We reserve the right at any time to make discretional bans or suspensions outside of the 3-strike model if it is deemed that the offence requires this to be handled differently.
Do
Be Nice and Polite
Every member deserves to be treated with respect. Positive and polite posts create a friendly and welcoming environment that all members will feel comfortable in.
Think Before Posting
Sensible, well thought-out and legible posts help other members understand what is being explained.
Post in Relevant Section(s)
Posting in the most relevant section will ensure threads are seen by members most interested in the subject. Threads posted in the wrong section will generally be moved by moderators
Remain on Topic
Threads should remain on the topic that they are discussing, they should not be discussing other topics. A new thread should be made for a new discussion.
Report Content
Reported content is sent to staff members for review. If a post needs staff attention because it breaks the rules, needs to be modified or moved the report system is the correct way to alert the staff.
Do Not
Use profanity or Post Inappropriate Content
As a family friendly forum we require that all content posted on the forum is suitable for people of all ages, this includes words, videos and pictures. Any posts containing inappropriate content or profanity (including self censored, automatically censored, acronyms and slang) will be removed from the forum.
Flame or Provoke
Do not insult or flame other members of the forum. Similarly, do not post with the intention of provoking a reaction from fellow members. This includes encouraging flame wars. Instigation is not tolerated.
Spam
A spam post is a post that provides no value to the discussion, or a thread that creates nuisance for others. The most common spam posts are posting "tl:dr;", "+1", "this", posting image macros, and nothing but memes or images. Threads are considered spam when they are duplicates, or devoid of valuable content.
Bump Threads
Posting in a thread only to bring it back to the front page of the forum is not allowed, a thread should only be on the front page of a forum if there is active discussion taking place. The only exceptions to this rule are where there is a community need to bump a post to increase visibility.
Behave in a Malicious Manner
Do not behave in a manner that can cause distress, harm or inconvenience to other members. This includes, but is not limited to, discrimination, bullying, offensive material, breaching others privacy and accessing others accounts without permission. Accounts will be terminated in cases of malicious behaviour.
OTHER FORUM RULES
- Members should post in a way that is respectful of other users. Flaming or abusing users in any way will not be tolerated and will lead to a warning.
- Members are asked to not act as “back seat moderators”. If members note an issue which contravenes something in this policy document they are welcome to bring it to the attention of a member of the Moderator Team. Please use the “post report” feature to report posts. Do not respond to such topics yourself. Members who constantly “act” as moderators may be warned.
- Members should remember this board is aimed at a general audience. Posting pornographic or generally offensive text, images, links, etc. will not be tolerated and will lead to a warning.
- Members are asked to respect the copyright of other users, sites, media, etc.
- Members should respect the bandwidth of other users and sites. The use of inline ([IMG][/IMG]) image tags pointing to data stored on third party systems for which the user has not received permission to link to may be removed.
- Members should post in a way which is consistent with "normal writing". That is users should not post excessive numbers of emoticons, large, small or coloured text, etc. Similarly users should not SHOUT or use excessive punctuation (e.g. ! and ?) in topic titles or posts. Users consistently abusing this will be warned.
- Members should use an appropriate, descriptive subject when posting a new topic. Examples of bad subjects include; "Help me!", "I'm stuck!", "I've got an error!", etc. Examples of good subjects include; "Problems with toilet flush", "How do you work the central heating system ", etc.
- Spam is not tolerated here under any circumstance. Users posting spam will be warned and their post removed.
- The moderating, support and other teams reserve the right to edit, remove or put on moderation queue any post at any time. Please note that we may at any time and without warning place posts in to a moderation queue and will be approved/disapproved according to the present Rules. The determination of what is construed as indecent, vulgar, spam, etc. as noted in these points is up to Team Members and not users.
- The above forum rules where applicable also apply to private messaging. Abuse of the private messaging system may lead to warnings (as above) and/or the revocation of private messaging
Content in signatures should be consistent with normal writing and abide by the general forum etiquette. You may not include hidden text or links or information.
Signatures should be short and relevant and may not contain advertising, excessive links, overly large pictures, etc.
We reserve the right to edit and alter signatures of members but in every instance will contact you to explain why we have done this.
AVATARS
Avatars should be no larger than 120x120 pixels and should not exceed 20KiB (20480 bytes) in size.
Remote avatars must have a consistently high availability to ensure page load times are not affected.
Avatars are subject to the same conditions as posts with respect to the general forum etiquette.
Users abusing these rules will be warned or have their avatar privileges revoked.
MODERATION AND MONITORING
Please respect the moderators and admin.
The forum operates a three strike policy. Users will be warned a maximum of three times for any and all offences in a three month period. If the need arises for a fourth warning a temporary ban will be put in place of between 1 to 7 days.
Arguing with team members after having received a warning will lead to an immediate additional warning. Should this exceed three strikes a temporary ban will be put in place as above.
Any attempt to circumvent a temporary ban or other moderator action will lead to a permanent ban of your account(s). Circumvention includes re-registering or using an already registered account under a non-banned username. Other examples include changing IP addresses, using a new email account or other action that can be taken to evade moderator action to hide your identity as the owner of the sanctioned account.
An exception to the three strike rule applies when users contact team members personally (via any method) and post insulting, indecent or vulgar material. Such users may be subject to an immediate permanent ban.
Permanent bans are a last resort and thought is given before implementing them. Lifting permanent bans may occur from time to time and are dealt with on a case by case basis once the user can demonstrate that they will no longer continue the behavior which led to the ban.
We reserve the right at any time to make discretional bans or suspensions outside of the 3-strike model if it is deemed that the offence requires this to be handled differently.