Terms of Service

[admin]

Please read the following before posting for the first time.  These rules will, we hope, help everyone, and, for that reason, persistent offenders will be banned from the board.  They're nothing complicated and mostly fairly obvious anyway, we're just making our position plain and trying to help it all run smoothly and be a nice place in which to get help or just chill out for a while.  Thank you, and enjoy your time here.

1.  All members must converse in an acceptable fashion.  In particular, please do not flame other members' posts, it will not be tolerated.  Plain speaking is fine, we encourage it, but play nice.

2.  If you're feeling a bit unsure of yourself, it's all new, then take off your hat and coat and come on in.  Please just learn the ropes before you post, and please try to make sure when you do post, that it's constructive.  Don't let any of these 'rules' here put you off, if there's something about your post that we don't like then we'll tell you (via the forum, normally) and you can have another go.  No shame in a being a 'n00b', everyone's got to start somewhere.

3.  If you have, or happen to spot, a problem with a particular post, please use the 'Report to Moderator' link the bottom of the post to let us know.  We will then look into it and, if we feel it's necessary, do something about it.  You will always, at minimum, get some kind of response from us, even if that's just silently deleting the post in question.

4.  All members must acknowledge the authority of the staff insofar as administrative actions are concerned. These issues are no longer open for discussion once the staff member has indicated (on the board) that the matter is closed.  If you still have a problem with that,m please contact us privately.

5.  Once a thread has been closed or removed, it is not acceptable to start a new discussion on that exact same topic unless you have something new to say.  If in doubt, please ask us first.

5.  Members are only allowed to have a single account on the forums.  If you have more, and we find out - we have ways, then we will ban all said accounts.  If you think you need more than one, please tell us why and we'll consider it.

6.  This board requires that all members provide a valid email address. This information will never be shared with a third party (so no new spam will hit your Inbox) and will be used only for account validation, notifications sent out automatically when someone posts to a thread you are watching, or when someone sends you a private message.  I see there's currently no way to opt out of the last of those.  I'll put in a request to the Simple Machines Community forum asking for it, see if I get anywhere.

7.  All members must post in English. Content in other languages is allowed as long as full English translations are also provided.  Machine translations (e.g. Google Translate) are acceptable.  User profile information (including sigs) in other languages is allowed, but mildly discouraged.

8.  We do NOT edit user's posts, in the main, unless to correct a typo or anything else that we deem to be obscuring the meaning in some way.  If we do edit a post, we will annotate the change so that everyone can see what we did, and if yo don't like it, please tell us (privately, please) and we can discuss it.

9.  Please try to post in the appropriate forum.  If in doubt, post in General Discussion where pretty much anything goes, including gripes about us.  We will try to address those in particular, and we can always move your post if we think it belongs elsewhere.

10.  If posting to an existing thread, please keep your post on-topic.  If you want to open up a new avenue of discussion, start a new thread, linking back to the old one, if appropriate.

11.  When creating a new thread, please take a moment to give it a name which is understandable and describes the content of the thread properly.  It helps everyone, including me.  If you want to change a topic title that's OK, but please only do it when you feel you really have to, or should do.

12.  Please do not post the same message in more than one forum.  If you feel a message should be moved to another forum, please email us and we will be pleased to help.

13.  All sigs must be kept brief - 3 to 4 lines at most.  Signatures and avatars must also be non-obtrusive, non-offensive and work-safe.  URL's are acceptable, encouraged even, but please see below before you decide if it's OK to put yours in.  If the stuff you supply is pertinent then fine, we don't mind at all.  If not, we will remove it.  If in doubt, please ask.

14.  Please do not post links to -- or any information that might help people obtain -- copyrighted or illegal material.  Actions of this nature will not be tolerated.

15.  Do not use the forum for advertising purposes, that's not what it's for and we won't put up with it.  People won't like it anyway and it will get you nowhere, it's just noise that we don't want cluttering up our space.  Offending posts will be summarily removed and the poster suspended until he apologises (and that, if accepted, will, at our discretion, be posted publicly on the forum before we let you back in, so be warned).

16.  'Trolling' (see the excellent www.urbandictionary.com) is banned outright, so please don't try it on.  One single offence and you history.  'Shilling' (www.urbandictionary.com) and also en.wikipedia.org) will be treated in the same way, as will running down something when you have a financial interest in a competitor.  Gossip is fine and opinions are fine, but underhand actions like that are not.  If anything does threaten to get out of control, we will step in.

If you need to contact us for any reason, please email the administrators and we will get back to you.