General Forum Rules:
IntroductionThe Community forums offer a valuable resource for feedback, discussion, help and interaction between Members of our community and Traders alike.
The forums are moderated by Members of our community,who are not paid and volunteer their time freely.
The role of the moderators is to ensure that the forums provide an enjoyable and informative experience for all. They also ensure that the Forum Guidelines and rules are followed. The moderators have the right to edit, censor, delete or otherwise modify any posted message.
If at anytime you have reason to question the actions of a moderator, in the first instance send a PM to the Moderator, if your issue still cannot be resolved then contact a member of the Administration who will discuss this with the moderators and make a final decision on your case.
Forum LanguageThe official language to be used with all postings on these forums is English.
ArgumentsThere is a fine line between discussion and argument which is at times hard to define. In general a discussion becomes an argument when the postings become personal and if this starts to become obvious then the Moderators will take necessary action which may include removal or locking of posts.
TrollingA troll is a person who posts inflammatory messages, to disrupt the discussion or to upset its participants. The word, or its derivative, "trolling", is also used to describe such messages or the act of posting them. This behaviour will not be tolerated.
Personal attacksThese are usually caused by discussions turning into serious arguments as mentioned above. Please think before posting anything that would be defined as this sort of attack. For example "Username is an idiot" Personal attacks are not welcome on these forums and will be dealt with firmly.
Impoliteness toward Moderatos or Admin.This is when someone impolitely argues against any of the forum Team. (Forum Team include administrators and moderators.) An example would be: “How dare you lock that thread you stupid moderator!” However, saying something like “Could you please unlock my thread, because I feel there was no need for it to be locked.” would be perfectly fine.
Use of inappropriate languageThe use of swear words, or disguised swear words, in a post is not allowed on the forums. Any attempt to avoid the swear filter will be dealt with.
Also remember that these forums can be viewed by all ages and not just adults. Sexual, Racist Items or links to explicit material will be removed and if this is repeated then action will be taken against the poster.
Cross PostingWe do not allow 'cross posting' where a user posts the same text in more than one forum. This wastes resources as forum users have to read posts twice. It also causes confusion to the original poster as they may well find that replies are disjointed over 2 or more threads.
Posts/threads in a totally wrong placePlease try and check that the topic you are starting is in the correct section of the forums. Moderators will move posts that are obviously in the wrong section.
Advertising on the forumsForum users are not permitted to post advertisements or commercial solicitations on the forums. This includes offering goods or services for sale. However, there is no problem with users posting links to their web sites in signatures or posts, provided the posts are materially useful and are not simply seeking to promote their products (e.g. recommending themselves for every query).
The advertising or offering for sale of your own personal items is permitted in the appropriate forum.
Illegal file sharingP2P (or peer-to-peer) software is not illegal in itself, nor is sharing files over it. What is illegal is the sharing of copyrighted files - over P2P or not. Therefore, discussions about P2P software in general are allowed on these forums... However, discussions about or links to sites distributing copyright material are not allowed.
Off Topic Posts (OT)It is inevitable that threads in forums can veer off course from the original topic. Rather than drag a thread off topic, you should start a new thread in the appropriate forum and post a link in the original thread. Please note that reasonable deviations from a topic's starting point are allowed, if discussions on the topic's original subject have finished.
User removal of a moderators noteIf a moderator leaves a note in a post, this must not be removed. They are left so the forum community knows what has happened to the post, and why the moderator has carried out any action. Hence, we treat this unofficial removal very seriously.
Posting of Personal DetailsWithout the express permission of the user these are not to be posted on the forums. This includes the content of pm's (personal forum messages) or emails received from Moderators or Admin.
All CAPS titles/postsThese can be annoying not only because in general "netiquette" they represent shouting, but the letters are also harder for the human brain to distinguish, thus making them harder to read. Therefore, posting in all caps is not permitted.
Signature ImagesCertain signature images that are available for use on the Internet reveal information like your IP Address and Browser. These are not allowed on the forums as some more inexperienced users feel that these are in some way breaching their security and privacy.
Avatars and SignaturesThe forum moderators reserve the right to ask any member to change their Avatar and/or Signature, should they feel that it is inappropriate, or does not comply with the Forum's guidelines;
Choice of forum DisplaynameThe forum moderators reserve the right to ask any member to change their displayname, should they feel that it is inappropriate, disrespectful or an attempt impersonate another user.
An example of an unacceptable name could be "Xtreeme" or "extreme".
Too many emoticonsSome people get over-enthusiastic with emoticons. There should be no need for more than two or three emoticons together in a post.
"Rubbish" postingSome people think it is amusing to post in "rubbish" language... i.e. using odd characters instead of letters or even letters in no particular order. This is not permitted and absolutely no "mobilephone language" is alload.
Bumping of posts"Bumping" is the act of adding to a thread just to get your topic back to the top of the list in a forum and should not be done unless the user is adding relevante content to the topic.
Users who keep bumping their topics face action that may include the locking of the topic and / or removal of forum access.
Banned membersIf a poster is banned from posting or accessing the forums that ban includes using another members account or log on details to access the forums or asking another member to post on their behalf. This action could have consequences for the other forum member.
A ban will in the first instance be for a minimum of 48 hours while the case is considered by the Moderators and Admin. Following that it may be removed or extended depending upon the circumstances.
If the user then gets banned again it is more than likely possible that this next ban will be for an extended period of time and could even be permanent.
