Forum Rules & Etiquette

[Creech]

Please use this as a guideline to acceptable behaviour on this forum. Feel free to discuss any of these with the forum Administrators:-

Strangeways - http://aussiepinball.com/index.php?action=profile;u=2
Pinnies4me - http://aussiepinball.com/index.php?action=profile;u=20

Members are to treat each other with mutual respect and politeness. Friendly and energetic discussion will be encouraged but not to the point of personal abuse or intimidation. If the moderators of the forum deem a member’s behavior to be of an abusive nature, sanctions will apply. Deliberate trolling, baiting or antagonistic behavior towards another members will attract a sanction, including a warning, suspension or ban at the Administrators discretion. Any activity that degrades productive discussion may result in sanctions, regardless of whether or not is it specifically mentioned in these rules or the Registration Agreement.

Inappropriate Posts
Posts should be productive to good discussion and with a view to the positive progression of the forum. The following post types are considered unproductive and inappropriate:

Trolling - including any post that appears to intend to elicit further unproductive responses.
Flaming - including any post that is insulting or disrespectful.
Ranting - including posting opinions without setting a productive direction for discussion. This includes criticism or complaints with no apparent interest in discussing intelligently
Bump Threads - Do not bump your own threads to get more replies or resurrect older threads that have dropped off unless there is significant new information to add.
Derailing – Post should be on the topic of the Original Post.  Do not try to turn the OP into something different to what the thread was intended.


Personal abuse of another member
Personal abuse of a member will not be tolerated.

A warning will normally be issued first, unless the behaviour is in the opinion of the Administrators sufficiently inappropriate to warrant more severe action. Repeated breaches (whether or not abuse of a particular member or different members) will result in either a temporary or permanent ban.


Swearing
While swearing may in some situations be an accepted part of today’s society, constant unnecessary use should be avoided. Keep it clean if possible.

Netiquette
Do not type in ALL CAPITALS within your posts, other than for single words, headings etc where the context requires such emphasis.

Topic headings in particular should use title or sentence case only - capitalised words are not to be used in topic headings. All members posts are equal, attempting to make a topic stand out by the use of capitalised words is unnecessary. Use one of the available Icons for appropriate emphasis.

Please avoid off-topic posting, hijacking a thread, and the use of SMS style abbreviations.

Login Confidentiality
Members will not share their logon information with any other person (even if the other person is a member). A breach of this requirement will result in a permanent ban.

Forum Confidentiality
Members will not share information posted on Aussie Pinball with non-members. This information remains the property of Aussie Pinball and is for the exclusive use of members only. A breach of this requirement will result in a permanent ban.

Pornographic Material
Members are not to post pornographic images or links on the forum. A breach of this requirement will result in a permanent ban.

Racial Vilification, Slurs, Derogatory and other Inappropriate Comments
Racist slurs and comments or derogatory comments about members will not be tolerated. A breach of this requirement will often result in an immediate suspension of posting privileges, and may result in a request for explanation from the Administration Team which must be responded to satisfactorily before privileges will be reinstated.

Posts that are capable of lowering a member in the estimation of others are not allowed unless posts meet both of these requirements-

1. directly relates to or is concerned with information or posts by that member within the forum; and
2. is true and capable of being demonstrated true by information on the forum posted by that member.

Introducing a matter extraneous to forum information about a member that in the opinion of the Administrators might be considered capable of lowering that member in the estimation of others will be considered a serious rule breach, and whether or not the matter raised is true (ie provable by matters outside the forum) will not be considered relevant.

Similarly, posts that intentionally violate another person's privacy may result in a member being banned without warning.

Multiple accounts
Multiple accounts per member are not allowed. A breach of this requirement will result in a permanent ban.

Copyright and Other Intellectual Rights
Like many hobbies, much of what we have was manufactured by various businesses and may be the subject of copyright or other intellectual property rights. Usually these rights attach to reproduction items for games. Aussiepinball.com is committed to furthering the pinball hobby and assisting all members in their repair and restoration of their games, however aussiepinball.com does not allow the forum to be used by members to distribute whether by sale or otherwise any item that may be protected by intellectual property rights. Members must not through the forum offer to supply any item that may breach any person's intellectual property rights and we ask all members to not only observe this rule, but to actively bring any suspected breach of this rule to the attention of the administrators.

Pinball Trader
The Pinball Trader section will only be accessible to members that have made at least 20 posts. Any wanted/for sale ads placed in other sections by members that have made less than 20 posts will be removed.

The sale of Pinball Machines is encouraged on Aussie Pinball. Sponsors are permitted to list inventory with, or without pricing. Members (not sponsors) who wish to sell single machines, their collection, or bulk imports (containers) MUST list the pricing. It is strongly encouraged that members also list a condition report and provide pictures. Threads or posts that promote sales of machines without pricing will be removed.

Promotion or sales of machines OUTSIDE the membership of Aussie  Pinball will be deleted without warning. This does not include eBay and similar sites.

Retailers/Sponsors
Rules apply to conduct by retailers. These rules are set out here - http://aussiepinball.com/index.php?topic=355.0

All members should be aware of the applicable General Rules from the Retailer charter extract below:

5 - General Rules
 
5.1 Respect for other Retailers - both within their respective sections and outside on the general forums.
5.2 No Anti competitive behavior - No two Retailers can list the same pinball machine titles or parts on special at the same time. Specials must have a period of expiry.
5.3 Site Admins have the last word on any disputes.
5.5 Members who own, are employed by, or were employed by a Commercial Business' that are not listed as approved Retailers are not permitted to discuss or promote that business and are not permitted to add that company name or logo to their profile.


Editing Posts
Removing the contents of posts and replacing it with something meaningless or a dot or other action to remove the meaning and/or intention of the original post is not allowed. If you wish to have a post removed, contact the Administrative Team.  A breach of this requirement will result in a warning where a single post is edited, however multiple or systematic editing may incur a permanent ban.

Moderators and Administrators
The forum is a non-profit discussion board, with its costs serviced with small voluntary donations and small retailer subscr-iptions. The Admin Team provide their time here freely to keep the forum safe, sane, and secure. If they ask you to do something, please do it. If you do not like the Admin Team or their moderation methods, feel free to not post here.

If you have a genuine issue with the moderation of the forum, please contact one of the Administrators privately. Criticism of the Admin Team on the forum is considered inappropriate behavior.

Infringements of Rules - Sanctions
Warnings are generally made for less serious breaches of rules or appropriate behaviour. Temporary suspension of an account or a ban from the forum may be made for repeated breaches of rules or serious rule infringement.

Infringements are considered case by case. The more severe the behaviour or breach, the more severe the sanction. The Administrators reserve the right to issue whatever sanction is deemed necessary in the best interests of the forum.

The administrators reserve the right to take whatever action is deemed appropriate in any given situation, regardless of whether there is a specific rule covering that situation or not. If there is a misunderstanding or dispute, then please bring the issue up politely with an Administrator in private. In all matters, the decision of the administration is final.


Rule Changes
The Administrators may alter or add to these rules at their discretion.

 
Regards

The Admin Team