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Author Topic: Ohio Reef Club Official Site Policies  (Read 24384 times)

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Offline Board of Directors

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Ohio Reef Club Official Site Policies
« on: March 21, 2011, 01:19:06 »
We the Board of Directors have established these policies to prevent any issues regarding posts on this site. Please read and keep them in mind when posting. Thank you.

Official Site Policy

Ohio Reefreef.org is a forum for hobbyists. In an effort to clearly spell out all policies regarding posting, user profiles, and general forum behavior, this thread has been posted. Please read these policies before posting. Be sure to check them often, as they are subject to change at the discretion of the board.

I. User Profile Policy

Registered Users
Are allowed only one registered user name (nic) at a time, multiple nics to the same registered user is prohibited, multiple nics will be deleted, Staff are excluded - secondary nics are required to test functionality of the site.

User names and Signatures
User names may not contain vulgar or abusive language. May not promote commercial activities unless you are a sponsor of this club.

Avatars
Must be appropriate for all family members. Must also abide by the Signature policy.

II. General Posting Policy

Proper Forum
All posts must be in the proper forum. That is why there are many different forums on this site.

Respect
Appreciate that your opinion is one of many on Ohio Reef. You can disagree with another person without being disrespectful or rude.

Language
A word filter is in use on this board and actively searches for and replaces inappropriate words. Attempting to circumvent the word filter with alternate spellings will result in a warning and and edit of your post. Multiple violations may result in your account being suspended.

Images
You may upload images on this site. However, you are not allowed to upload or link to nude, semi-nude, offensive, copyrighted or other questionable images. Failure to comply with this may result in immediate and permanent suspension of your account and loss of membership priviledges. 


Commercial Posts
Posts by members attempting to market/advertise a business are not allowed. If you have a website, automatic ordering, accept credit cards, have a local shop, are employed (even if part time, voluntarily, or on call as needed) or regularly sell your product on Ebay or Ebay type websites, you are considered commercial and posts of an advertising nature will be removed. The buy/sell/trade forum is for members who are selling items or buying items in low quantity. If you are selling large/bulk quantities of any item you will be considered a commercial business. Ultimately the decision of wether or not you are classified as a commercial entity is left up to the moderators/Board of Directors.


Prohibited forum practices
All of the examples following are prohibited:

1. Double Posting. The practice of posting the same post in two or more forums with the hope that more readers will see your question and help you.

2. Thread Hijacking. The practice of inserting a post into a thread which has nothing to do with the thread.

3. No Religion and No Politics, Period. Asking for prayers for someone in need is acceptable, but discussion of these topics is not.

Posting of Personal Information
The posting of personal information (other than your own) in anyway shape, or form will not be tolerated

Bashing and Flaming
There has never been a clear definition of what is considered "bashing" but basically if you haven't got something nice to say, don't say anything at all. Say online exactly what you would say in person. In other words, if you wouldn't say it to the person's face, you shouldn't type it. Bashing an individual or any site will not be tolerated at Ohio Reef. Such posts or threads will be removed at the discretion of the staff.

The purpose of this site is for the education of reefkeeping.


Re-posting
If your post or thread disappears, it is for a good reason. Posting it again, especially at a time when you think it will escape notice by the moderators, is not acceptable.

III. Mod/Admin Discretion

The administrator and moderators may, at their sole discretion; move, edit, or delete any post considered being inappropriate for either the site or a particular forum. Most moderation activity involves judgment on the part of the moderator. If you feel a post has been wrongly deleted, moved, or edited, send a PM to that moderator and do not post your grievance in the forums.

IV. Private Messages (PMs)

It must be stated, that Ohio Reef has an obligation to its members to protect their interests, and to protect the site integrity as a whole. This includes protection from phishing, scamming,  criminal activity, commercial activity from people other than the sponsors of this club, and any other actions which may compromise or harm the site or its members. If you receive a pm with any of the above, please forward them to one of our board members/moderators immediately, and we will be happy to deal with that for you.
We would hope this is not necessary, but we also want to keep all members informed of our policies put in place for everyone's protection.