Forum Rules
We want to continually grow and keep this forum as a place where members can learn, share, help each other. In order for everyone to enjoy this forum, some rules need to be followed. They are as follows:
General
The members of this forum are volunteers and are not paid to post in this forum. Once your post has been answered it is polite to say thank you to the person that has helped you, this takes only seconds and shows your appreciation to the person that helped you. All information is given in good faith, the owners and members of this forum are not responsible for the information supplied. If in doubt contact a trades professional!
Advice from the forum or any other part of the site could contain errors or may not be particularly suitable, please read the general site disclaimer.
Posting
When posting a new topic please ensure that you post it in the correct forum, by navigating to the correct forum such as "plumbing" (for a plumbing question). Please be patient when posting as the site is made up purely of volunteers who answer/respond to posts on a voluntary basis in their spare time. Please do not ask for forum posts to be deleted as this wastes significant time and resources, by agreeing to use this forum you agree not to ask for posts to be deleted (especially multiple posts).
Do not post the same post in more than one forum, this annoys the forum members and creates lots of work for the moderators/admin who have better things to do!
When posting links to other sites you may find that some links do not work correctly, this could be because the site you are trying to link to has spammed us in the past. We do not like sites that try to get backlinks via dubious means and this often means that their links are censored. If you really need to post a link and are having problems please use a link shortening service such as bitly it's also helpful if you post links to items for sale on ebay via a link shortening service as this means that there are less dead links in the forum, which equals less work for the admin clearing them up!
E:mail
From time to time the site admin may send out an email to all members, this email will not be regular but will often contain important information about the site, perhaps if there is a server move or there is going to be some disruption to service. If you do not want to receive these emails then do not join the forum in the first place. Replying to the email with "unsubscribe" or similar will result in you being banned as this is the only way to remove you from the mass email.
Private Messages
The private message feature on the site is so that you can contact other members of the forum. Any member that asks questions via the private message function instead of posting the question in the forum will be instantly banned. Any abuse of the private message system will result in the member being banned. New members cannot normally send or receive messages until at least 10 posts have been made in the forum, this is to prevent spammers from pestering the members of the forum.
Bad Language
The use of foul or abusive language will not be tolerated in the forum, this kind of language can cause offence to other forum members.
No Spamming
Spamming is characterized by the initiation of threads or posts that contribute nothing to a forum. Examples include: empty posts, posts with few words that have no relation to the current thread or discussion and those posts that state they are spam, either to annoy or increase a member's post count. This determination is made by the forum Moderator or Administrator and is not up for discussion. This site has a zero spam policy and if a web site is found guilty of posting spam links in this forum it will be banned without warning and all future links to that site will be deleted.
Self promoting links
So you have a web site and want to post a link to it, so that other people can see it? We don't have a problem with this after you have reached 100 useful posts you can add the site as a link in your signature. People joining with the intention of self promoting their sites without contributing to the forum are not welcome. This could mean that you will be banned and all future links to your site will be banned, you may or not be warned before you are banned. Don't say that you have not been warned!
No Illegal sites or Adult links
Do not post links to illegal download sites or Warez etc. Adult links are not allowed, nor are links to pharmacies or sites selling prescription drugs, this site can be viewed by children and we do not wish to offend anyone. If you are unsure if it safe to post then it is in your best interest not to as you could be banned!
Consider other users feelings
What you may deem to be funny and witty could actually hurt other people's feelings; please spare a thought before posting. If you know the person personally then banter is quite acceptable but to poke fun at people that you do not know is not funny and could be considered a form of harassment. Treat new members with respect, and visa versa. You were new at one point, as was everyone. Please treat newcomers to the forums with respect, and new members should treat everyone else the same way. Members that do not respect other members and are clearly causing bad feeling may be banned without warning.
Ignoring other users
If another member is annoying you, but is not really annoying other people on the forum you can ignore the user by clicking on the Add foe button on their profile. When you click on "Add foe" you will not be able to see that persons posts in the forum. If you decide you want to see the posts or you want to remove the person from your foe list you can do so in your profile.
Posting pictures
Posting a picture/pictures can be very useful and so we have gone to the trouble of installing an attachment mod, so that you can upload pictures to posts in the forum. Because of server limitations the size of pictures needs to be less than 1200*1600 pixels. If possible please upload pictures that are 1000 pixels wide or smaller as this is the ideal size for most pictures in the forum. To resize pictures please see this tutorial- How to resize pictures using Microsoft picture editor Please refrain from using image hosting sites to post pictures in the forum as this causes us several problems, mainly that the pictures are often deleted by the owner or by the image hosting company, this means that we are often left with image markers where the images used to be. We reserve the right to copy any pictures hosted on such sites and attach them to the post.
Signatures
The signature is a personal space that will follow each post that you make here on the forum. You must post more than 100 posts before adding your signature unless you gain permission from the Admin first. Your signature can include a link to your personal web site. Affiliate links are NOT allowed as signatures. Only one signature link is allowed per member..
Reporting posts
Forum posts can be reported so that posts can be brought to the attention of the site admin and moderators. Please report any posts that you think are inappropriate, such as illegal links, spam links etc. To report a post click on the red exclamation mark icon at the bottom right of the post-
Competing sites
There are several web sites that cover the same subject as this web site. It has been brought to my attention that these sites have banned all links to our site ( I do not blame them ), and so to be fair we now ban all links to other competing sites. These sites are flagged up by the forum software if posted and will be removed by the moderators at the earliest opportunity.
Avatars
Avatars are the pictures that show up on the left hand side of a members post. The maximum size of an avatar is 200*200 pixels and the maximum file size is 50 KB. Admin's and Moderators have dedicated avatars that they may use if they like. Regular forum members may not use avatars that may give the impression that they are an admin or a moderator of the forum. Avatars that cause offence will be removed immediately and then that users right to display an avatar will be removed or the user may be banned at the discretion of the admin/moderators. Avatars must never show-
- Strategically covered nudity
- Sheer or see-through clothing
- Lewd or provocative poses
- Close-ups of breasts, buttocks, or crotches
So that there is no confusion the mod's and admin's avatars are shown here-
Admin Avatar
Moderator Avatar
Multiple user names
You must not create several user names or accounts from the same computer, without permission from the Admin. You must also agree never to give out your username and password or allow anyone else to log in using your details. Anyone that does not adhere to the forum rules may be instantly banned without warning.
Why have I been banned?
We do not ban people without a valid reason. If you have been banned do not email the admin asking why you have been banned as the email will instantly be deleted. You could have been banned for breaking any of the rules above, the most common reasons for being banned are self promotion, spamming or posting nonsense.