Forum Rules

**Von Pookie** · Aug 25th, 2004, 10:51 AM

Rules updated 16th December 2010.

Along with the Terms of Use you agreed to follow when registering (located at that link under the heading "Use of Message Boards and Communication Facilities; Third-Party Materials"), please observe the following posting rules.

Note:
The moderating, support and admin teams 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 determined by the moderators and administrators, not the users.

Rule #1:
Members should post in a way that is respectful towards other users, and consider carefully before submitting posts if any of their content might cause offence. Flaming or abusing users in any way will not be tolerated and may lead to a warning, possible editing or removal of the post, and in severe cases banishment from the forum.

Rule #2:
Members should post in a way that is consistent with ‘normal writing’. Users should not use excessive amounts of emoticons, must not SHOUT or use excessive amounts of punctuation (e.g. ! and ?) in posts or post/thread titles.

Rule #3:
Members must refrain from the use of vulgar language, harassment of other users, racial or ethnic slurs, sexism, or slander.

Rule #4:
Spam will not be tolerated and may lead to a warning, possible editing or removal of the post, and even banishment from the forum. Referrals to other 3rd party websites may be deemed acceptable if they directly address the question asked. See rule #20 for rules on Signatures. Remember, it is up to the moderators to determine whether a link in a post constitutes spam.

Rule #5:
Do not post URLs to inappropriate sites, such as pornography sites, warez sites, racist/hate sites, etc. Not only will your post be edited or outright removed from the forum, but might also result in banishment from the forum.

Rule #6:
Images that are not appropriate for the workplace are not to be posted or used as avatars. Do not use inappropriate images on our forums - ones endorsing pornography, software piracy; or those that "slam" any individual or company.

Rule #7:
Do not invite another member to take the question off the forum (i.e. do not suggest that they post to a different forum and do not suggest that they email or private message you the problem).

Likewise, please do not answer questions by creating solutions elsewhere and then referencing those solutions via file links. We ask that you answer the question within the thread itself (note: providing links to existing articles on the internet is acceptable).

To that effect, please do not simply create a file with a solution, and provide a link to that. Some of the issues with providing links to files uploaded to the internet are: those links often expire, many users cannot download files from file-sharing sites to network security restrictions, and many users are reluctant to download files for personal security reasons.

Rule #8:
Soliciting business for yourself is not permitted on this board. This is an all volunteer board, so offering solutions in exchange for compensation is not permitted. Members caught violating this rule will be banished from the forum.

Rule #9:
Do not post duplicate questions. Posts of a duplicate nature will be deleted or locked. All related follow-ups, be they further related questions, clarifications or bumps, should be posted back to the original thread.

Rule #10:
We prefer that members do not cross-post questions to other forums, but when this does occur members must make clear that they have cross-posted and must provide links to the cross-posts. Cross-posted questions that do not comply may be deleted or locked. For a discussion on the issues with cross-posting, see this link: http://www.excelguru.ca/content.php?184

Rule #11:
The policy of this board is NOT to assist with the breaking of passwords under any circumstances. Such posts will be deleted or locked and may lead to a warning.

Rule #12:
Please do not publicly re-post private emails, or private discussions without the express written permission of the e-mail's original sender (e-mail is protected by copyright).

Rule #13:
Please do not post email addresses, standard addresses, ICQ and other messaging client numbers, or phone numbers which are not your own.

Rule #14:
Members may use only one username on our forums.

Rule #15:
Do not attempt to impersonate other forum members, forum officials, and forum moderators/administrators. Members caught attempting this will be banished from the forum.

Rule #16:
Members are asked to not act as "back seat moderators". If a member notes an issue which contravenes something in this policy document they are encouraged to bring it to the attention of the moderators, either by using the report button belonging to the offending post, or by sending a private message to a moderator.

Rule #17:
Members must not post accusations to the public boards.

Rule #18:
If you wish to make a complaint about another member, please use a Report button to send a message to the moderators. If you wish to make a complaint about a moderator, please send a private message to AdminMsg.

Rule #19:
Any user that has been banished from the board may not re-subscribe under a new username, unless express permission has been given by the moderators.

Rule #20:
To help reduce spam in the forum, new members will not be able to establish a signature until they have made 50 posts. Forum regulars are allowed to include links to 3rd party websites in their signatures, but the links should not be overly intrusive - i.e. they should use the default forum font size and colour, without additional effects.
Members may be required to remove or amend a signature deemed inappropriate for any reason by the moderators.

These rules also apply to private messaging. Violation of these rules may lead to your private message service being revoked.