Forum Rules - Read First Before Posting / Signing Up

[kismet]

Forum Rules

Registration to this forum is free! We do insist that you abide by the rules and policies detailed below.

Although the administrators and moderators of The Southern Praying Mantis Community Forum will attempt to keep all objectionable messages off this forum, it is impossible for us to review all messages. All messages express the views of the author, and neither the owners of The Southern Praying Mantis Community Forum and will not be held responsible for the content of any message.

By agreeing to these rules, you warrant that you will not post any messages that are obscene, vulgar, sexually-orientated, hateful, threatening, or otherwise violative of any laws.

The owners/mods/admins of The Southern Praying Mantis Community Forum reserve the right to remove, edit, move or close any thread for any reason.

GROUND RULES:

The rules governing this message center are quite simple and they will be enforced. Our desire is to promote an open, positive environment for communication among members of the Martial Arts community.

Forums will be assigned a "moderator" who will govern the flow of messages and restrict inappropriate content. The purpose of a moderator is not to censor your message content, but to prevent violations of the rules.

1. Your Name and Introduction: The name should be your real "full" name, however you may use a "handle" (alias) if you desire. The "handle" should be in keeping with good taste. There is no requirement to put your FULL REAL NAME (first and last name) in the "Real Name" field in your user profile. However this is not an invitation to spam and troll.

2. Password: Keep your password safe. Why are passwords required? Simple. We want to ensure that messages that are posted are from you and not someone else who is impersonating you. This can be a problem in some Message Forums and we wish to avoid this.

3. Your REAL E-Mail Address: Why? First, so we can send you your password so you can post messages. Also, so others on the forum can contact you directly. Should we get the email returned as undeliverable, then your User Name will be deleted and you will not be allowed access to post topics. Failure to provide a valid email address will result in you not being allowed to post topics or read them.

If you do not wish to give your real email address, then you might consider getting a free web-based email service through Hotmail.com, Yahoo or others. This will keep your private email address private, yet still allow others to contact you.

All email addresses will be kept absolutely confidential and will never be released to any outside source.

4. Keep your topics and messages on subject. If the Forum / topic is about dit dar jow for example, then keep it about dit dar jow. Off subject posts may be moved or deleted by the Forum's Moderator. So make sure you put your post into the appropriate forum.

5. Keep your posts focused on relevant issues. Postings like "who can beat-up who", rude, or inflammatory in nature are NOT permitted and may be deleted by the Forum's Administrator or moderator.

6. Keep it clean. Hateful, racist or slanderous comments and messages about other persons, fellow members or others Martial Arts will NOT be permitted. You may voice your opinion, but again keep it clean. "Flaming" (the trashing of anothers post) will not be permitted. VIOLATORS WILL HAVE THEIR MESSAGES DELETED, ACCESS REMOVED, AND BANNED WITHOUT WARNING. If you disagree with an opinion related by another member, please counter that opinion with your own, but do not resort to insult about the originator. It simply is not right, and only shows that you do not have a valid counter-argument.

7. You may only have ONE account. Those who are discovered to have multiple accounts, or to be impersonating another user will have their membership terminated without notice.

8. Do not cross-post your thread into multiple forums. Even if the topic may cover multiple arts & forums, please choose the forum which most closely fit the topic of your post and post once in the appropriate location.

9. Do not SPAM our forums. Please do not spam the forum. Admin will delete any members / sign ups they deem as SPAM accounts and posts.

10. Do not use Instant Messenger slang or shorthand to make your posts. Posts should be typed in clear and concise language, with the aim of using correct spelling and punctuation in order to best facilitate communication with your fellow members.

11. No political or religious discussion will be permitted. It has been shown that most people cannot discuss these topics without it degenerating into a flame war. This would violate Rule #6. So rather than risk it, political and religious discussions are simply not permitted.

12. DO NOT discuss legal matters! If you have prior knowledge that a crime may be committed or knowledge of a crime that has been committed, do not post anything about it! If you do, the appropriate authorities will be contacted and your account suspended.

13. Posting Images and other files. Members are permitted to post images and other files to their post within the limits of the established file size/dimensions. We recommend that images and other files be linked from another website, but if attached to a post, then file size/dimensions must not be too big. Further, posting files/images will not be abused. Images/files must be in good taste and not be offensive or pornographic. Abuse will result in account suspension or termination.

More Forum rules

a. Posts are to be made in the relevant forum. Users are asked to read the forum descriptions before posting. Users consistently posting to the wrong forum may be given a warning


b. Members should post in a way that is respectful of other users. Flaming or abusing users in any way will not be tolerated and will lead to a warning. #


c. Members are asked to not act as "back seat moderators". If members note an issue which contravenes something in this policy document they are welcome to bring it to the attention of a member of the Moderator Team. Only do this if a moderator team member has not replied within 6 hours. Do not respond to such topics yourself. Members who consistenly "act" as moderators may be warned. #


d. Posting pornographic or generally offensive text, images, links, etc. will not be tolerated and will lead to a warning. #


e. Members are asked to respect the copyright of other users, sites, media, etc. Users linking to or asking for information on warez, crackz, etc. or re-printing material without permision will receive a warning and their post will be removed. #


f. Members should respect the bandwidth of other users and sites. The use of inline () image tags pointing to data stored on third party systems for which the user has not received permission to link to may be removed. #


g. Members should post in a way which is consistent with "normal writing". That is users should not post excessive numbers of emoticons, large, small or coloured text, etc. Similarly users should not SHOUT or use excessive punctuation (e.g. ! and ?) in topic titles or posts. Users consistently abusing this will be warned. #


h. Members should use an appropriate, descriptive title when posting a new topic.


i. Spam is not tolerated here under any circumstance. Users posting spam will be deleted. This includes 3rd party linking.


j. The moderating, support and other 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 up to Team Members and not users.


k. The above forum rules where applicable also apply to private messaging. Abuse of the private messaging system may lead to warnings (as above) and/or the revokation of private messaging.


l. Signatures may contain up to five lines (one line being that displayed on a browser opened to 800px width) of text (of small or normal size)


m. Text sizes should be between 9 and 12 (small and normal). Text in signatures is subject to the same conditions as posts with respect decency, warez, emoticons, and so forth. #


n. Links in signatures are permitted to a maximum of four unique pages or sites. You may not link to warez, porn or political, racist or other similar hate sites. Links are included in signature size limits. #


o. Users abusing these rules will be warned. #


p. No trolling. Don't make posts that are inflammatory just to annoy people.


q. Respect the privacy of others. Do not post other's phone numbers, addresses, pictures, etc., without their permission.

r. Public posts are do not represent the thoughts or opinions of the web site owners or moderators. Any issues with posts should be taken up directly with the poster.


2. Avatars

. Users are permitted to utilise a gallery avatar or to link to one of their own (subject to previous points on misuse of bandwidth). User defined avatars are to contain no animation, contain no image which attempts to portray the user as having an official status here (e.g. mimiking ranks or copying avatars of team members), may not exceed 6kB (6000 Bytes) in filesize and have a consistently high availability (i.e. links to images on slow servers or those prone to failure may be removed). #
a. Avatars are subject to the same conditions as posts with respect decency, and so forth. #
b. Users abusing these rules will be warned and/or may lose their avatar privileges #

Censorship and Moderation

User and moderator discretion is required to make this forum enjoyable and productive. However given the rules above there is much to take into consideration. We will edit or delete any message, which breaks any of the rules above i.e.

Offensive, Insulting or Racist Messages
SPAM
Accusations of Illegal or Improper Conduct
Disclosing Personal Details Without Consent
Annoying Messages and "Trolling"

Moderators and Admins are assigned for every section and they help the smooth operation of this site. If you have any problems on the site, please contact the listed moderator or the administrator.

Thank you for your participation and for taking the time to read the rules and guidelines.

[toastcrumb]

Furthermore if there's any beef market between posters we're just gona laugh at you