SBCC Forum Rules

[Andy]

In order to keep these forums enjoyable and interesting for all of our users, we ask simply that you follow these rules. By participating in the Discussion Forums, you are consenting to these rules. Violators may be warned, suspended from posting, or barred from the forums at the sole discretion of the moderators.
If you have any questions or problems regarding the forums, please feel free to contact Dougie or Andy by personal message (pm) and they will reply as soon as possible.

General Rules:

While debating and discussion is fine, we will not tolerate rudeness, insulting posts, personal attacks or purposeless inflammatory posts. Our decision is final in these matters.
If you are unsure about what you are about to post, please check it with a moderator first.
Please refrain from posting meaningless threads, one word (or short) nonsense posts, or the like.
Multiple or repeated posting in order to increase your post count is not allowed.
Advertising, spamming and trolling is not allowed. This includes using the forum Private Message system to spam other members.
Please wait a reasonable amount of time before bumping posts.
We do not allow posts that are sexual in nature or violate SBCC standards. The SBCC moderators shall be the sole arbitrators of what does and what does not violate SBCC standards.
Discussion of illegal activities such as software and music piracy and other intellectual property violations are not allowed.
Each member is allowed one login account. Registering with multiple accounts is not allowed.
While we are quite happy to have constructive comparative conversations about other charities, we will not tolerate blatant adverts or the sort of 'ooh look at this website' threads. Also, we would appreciate it if you refrain from blatant bashing of other charities.
We reserve the right to remove offensive posts without notice.
Also while these rules cover most common situations, they cannot anticipate everything. Consequently we reserve the right to take any actions we deem appropriate to ensure these forums are not disrupted or abused in any way.
You cannot post advertisements.
We also reserve the right to ban anyone who willfully violates the forum rules, as access to our forums are a privilege and not a right.

SBCC Forum Rules

1 - Posts are to be made in the relevant forum. Users are asked to read the forum descriptions before posting. Users consistently posting to the wrong forum may be given a warning (see policing below).

2 - Members should post in a way that is respectful of other users. Abusing users in any way will not be tolerated and will lead to a warning, or if deemed serious enough a ban.

3 - 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 moderator. Only do this if a moderator has not replied within 6 hours. Do not respond to such topics yourself as this can often just make matters worse.

4 - Members should remember this board is aimed at a young audience. Posting anything pornographic or generally offensive text, images, links, etc. will not be tolerated and will lead to a warning.

5 - Members are asked to respect the copyright of other users, sites, media, etc.

6 - 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.

7 - 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.

8 - Members should use an appropriate, descriptive title when posting a new topic.

9 - Members are welcome to use the test forum for general "test purposes". These may include checking signatures, testing a link or image, etc. (subject to previous points on decency etc.).

10 - The moderators reserve the right to edit or remove any post at any time. The determination of what is construed as indecent, vulgar, spam, etc. as noted in these points is up to the SBCC and not users of these forums.

11 - 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 a ban.

Policing

SBCC operates a three strike policy. Users will be warned a maximum of three times for any and all offences. If the need arises for a fourth warning a temporary ban will be put in place of between 1 to 7 days.
Arguing with SBCC members or moderators 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.
Users who feel they have been unfairly warned are welcome to contact the SBCC committee. If they feel you were treated badly the warning will be removed. The decision of the SBCC committee is final.
Any attempt to circumvent a temporary ban will lead to that ban being made permanent. Circumvention includes re-registering under a non-banned username, changing IP addresses to evade an IP ban, registering a new email account of evade an email ban.
An exception to the three strike rule applies when users contact users 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. While we may consider lifting permanent bans from time to time this is a rare occurrence.

Exercise common sense and be considerate toward your fellow users. Diversity of opinion and intelligent civil discourse is encouraged; by the same token, insults are not tolerated. Disagreeing with an idea of another member is different from attacking that individual.
Do not post off-topic. Please keep your comments consistent with the subject and purpose of the conversation thread. Deliberate disruption - such as consistent off-topic and/or frivolous commentary - will not be tolerated such posts will be deleted or redirected to our general chat area.
SBCC moderators reserve the right to delete posts and/or whole conversations we determine are of an irrelevant, abusive or disruptive nature.
This is your forum - let us or your fellow posters know if you feel things are getting off-topic or inappropriate.
No all-caps (FOR EXAMPLE, LIKE THIS) or all-bolds please. It is extremely hard to read. Posts submitted in all-caps or all-bolds will be deleted automatically.
We further reserve the right, in our sole discretion, to remove a user's privilege to post content in our discussion forums. Suspended members who re-register with new accounts will have those accounts deactivated without notice. Repeated attempts will result in our contacting your ISP with a complaint.
You alone are responsible for the material posted under your usename.