Site rules and guidelines

Please read these rules carefully.

By participating in the forum, you are indicating your acceptance of them, and undertaking to abide by them.

1. No Vulgarity profanity, or bigotry

2. No Personal attacks (flaming or trolling)

3. No Pornography or offensive images

4. No Sniping

5. No Illegal activities

Those are the 5 simple rules we ask everyone to observe, in both the forum and the reviews section. Here are some more details of what each one means:

1. No Vulgarity, profanity or bigotry. We ask all members to refrain from using "foul language." Profanity - the deliberate denigration of another person's belief, will not be tolerated. Our membership is global, and thus represents a host of spiritual and religious beliefs. Given this, profanity is tantamount to personal attack (see next entry). Likewise, there is no place in this forum for bigotry (this includes religious bigotry, racism, and sexual discrimination) which are also considered to be personal attacks.
We are committed to not censoring messages or opinions, but this is a moderated forum. We simply want to maintain the spirit of an open, interactive discussion without offending any of the participants.
Any deliberate and conscious attempt to "circumvent" or ignore this guideline will be seen as grounds for a warning to be issued, and may result in ejection from the site.

2. No Personal attacks (flaming or trolling). Keep it civil, show respect at all times for your fellow members. Disagreement, debate, even "heated" discussion is fine (though emoticons should be used to "soften" the effect of words). However, personally directed insults, denigration, etc. will not be tolerated, and will be grounds for warning and, if not stopped immediately, ejection. This applies equally to forum posts AND private messages. "Group-directed" insults and denigration (e.g., racism, sexism, ageism, etc.) also fall under this category, any such behavior will be taken on a case by case basis. Any member who engages in continuous baiting, borderline insults, or other continuously "aggressive" behaviour will be warned. Any member found to be using concurrent multiple personae (more than one profile at the same time) will be ejected from the site.

3. No Pornography or offensive images. The site is used by people of all ages. It is multi-cultural, with both male and female participants. Please keep in mind that pornography could get the site shut down. Any pornographic or offensive images (including photographs, cartoons etc.), posted on the site will be removed, and the member will be warned.

4. No Sniping. If you feel that someone has (i) baited or personally attacked you through the behaviours described in 1 or 2 above (whether in a thread or in a PM), do not engage that member in that thread, or reply to the PM. Instead, immediately send a PM to a forum moderator with details of (i) which member and (ii) which thread (please give the name of the thread, not the link) - or, if a PM, copy and paste in the text of the offending PM. The moderator will then determine what action needs to be taken (if any) and will reply to you. The moderators will try to reply to such incidents within 24 hours. In the meantime, please ignore that member and do not engage them in any way.

5. No Illegal activities. Posts and threads promoting or facilitating file swapping, drug abuse, or any other forum of illegal activity are not permitted. Any such posts will be deleted, and the member warned.

Other hints for making your time on the forum rewarding
(These do not form part of the rules, they are simply here to help you):

• Be polite to everyone, respect their right to their opinions, even if you disagree with what they say. Bear in mind that anything you post can be read not just by the person you are addressing it to, but by everyone visiting the site, including non-members.
• Be constructive, and stay "on topic". Do not make your posts deliberately inflammatory. You are far more likely to encourage a thoughtful discussion if the wording of your post is constructive.
• Humour in the site is fine, we WANT people to enjoy themselves here. However, like everything else, when over used to the detriment of the thread, humour, can become counter-productive and frustrating to those who wish to talk seriously about the topic. Bear in mind also that what you consider to be funny may be offensive to someone else.
• Use emoticons to convey your mood. Sometimes what you say may be open to misinterpretation. A simple smile, wink, laugh, etc. emoticon can make all the difference.
• Use the report button which appears in every post to notify the admin of any breach of the site’s rules which you notice. Alternatively you can send a PM to any forum moderator (links below) or post a message in the "Report abuse" section of the forum.
• Posts made for the sole purpose of commercial gain are strongly discouraged, and may be deleted.
• Posts which are completely off topic, those which are clearly intended only to raise a member’s post count, and those whose main aim is to irritate other forum users, will be removed.
• Any impersonation of another member will be treated as an abuse of the forum, and the offender will be barred from further use of the site.
• The rules apply equally to "Signatures" and "User names" as they do throughout the forum.
• This is an ENGLISH LANGUAGE forum. Please bear in mind that English will not be the first language of many of our Moderators which may lead to inadvertent misunderstandings. Topics must be in English unless by agreement with the Admin Team in advance.
• When quoting someone else’s post, it can be helpful to edit it down to the pertinent section or sections, rather than repeating the entire post. One way to do this is to type ["Quote"="forum name"] then paste in the relevant section you wish to quote ["/quote"] without any of the quote marks (").
• Make sure you have read the entire thread before posting to it. Otherwise, you may be covering old ground, or taking someone to task for something they have since retracted or clarified.
• Avoid giving out personal information such as e-mail addresses, phone numbers etc. It is best to protect your personal details in any public forum.
• When you read a post or review which inspires you, which you feel is well written, you may wish to let the person concerned know, either privately or publicly. Positive feedback is welcome in all parts of life, and this website is no exception.
• Show equal respect for members old and new. Newbies may have more knowledge and background on the subject than you expected. They may also go on to become a "friend" or a senior member of the site.
• Forum Moderators are volunteers that give up their time to help build a better forum. They will assist with focusing topics and enforcing guidelines. They have the ability to edit/delete posts, and to move, close or delete topics. If we edit a post and you do not like the changes, we will delete the message at your request. Our moderators are equipped with flak jackets and an unlimited supply of admin bricks. Do not attempt to engage them in direct combat.
• Sometimes we may need to close or delete a thread which does not comply with the guidelines. This may affect a post by you which in itself was perfectly acceptable. Do not see this as a reflection on yourself in anyway.
• This is a very relaxed and inclusive forum. These rules and guidelines are intended to help you to get the most out of it. We hope you will enjoy your time with us.
• Respect the word "Private" in Private Message. Do not publish in the forum a Private Message (PM) you have sent or received.

Warnings
Once a warning has been issued, any further transgression of the site’s rules may lead to ejection from the site without further correspondence.

Legal notice
Please also see the site’s legal notice here. It is important that you read this.
http://www.progarchives.com/Legalnotice.asp

Your attention is especially drawn to the fact that you are personally responsible for your posts. If you say anything in your post which breaks the law, you may be personally liable. We are not in a position to offer legal advice, but bear in mind that this is an international site, and the what is legal in one country, may not be in another.

Passwords
Protect your logon password from use by anyone else. If your PC is used by other people, or you log on from a library, internet café etc., ensure you log off before leaving the site. If you think your logon password may have been compromised, change it immediately.

Other useful threads:
FAQs http://www.progarchives.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=13080

Reporting inappropriate reviews http://www.progarchives.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=28343

Guidance on creating new threads http://www.progarchives.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=13082

Reviews guidelines http://www.progarchives.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=13152

To send a PM to a moderator click on their name below:

Andy Webb (Andy)
Guldbamsen (David)
historian9 (George)
HolyMoly (Steve)