Patriot Alert Forums: Patriot Alert Forums Rules

This document is designed to clarify various responsibilities of community members here at the Patriot Alert Forums.

Please read it and become familiar with it, it's terms are retroactive and agreed to by team and group members.

BOARD WIDE POLICIES, RULES and GUIDELINES

1. 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 (see Policing below).

b. Posts submitted to the Patriot Alert Forums are expected to be written in English as it is the default language of our community.

c. Members should post in a way that is respectful of other users. It is not the intention of the Patriot Alert Forum Administrator to limit free speech, however discussions between forum members will be conducted in a civil and friendly spirit. "Flaming" or abusing users in any way will not be tolerated and will lead to a warning or ban. If a thread topic gets too far astray, that thread can and will be locked, so no future posts can be made on that thread. Locking a thread will lead to the individuals involved receiving an infraction.

d. Patriot Alert Forums 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 the Forum Moderators or Administrator. Only do this if a Forum Moderator has not responded to the issue within 6 hours. Members who consistently "act" as moderators may be warned.

e. Patriot Alert Forums members should remember this board is aimed at an audience of all ages. Posting suggestive, pornographic or generally offensive text, images, links, etc. will not be tolerated and will lead to an infraction. Posts containing any of this material will be removed.

f. Patriot Alert Forums 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.

g. Copyright © 2010 AZTech Consulting LLC. Posts are copyright their authors. All rights reserved.

Do not reproduce anything published on the Patriot Alert Forums without express written permission from the author and AZTech Consulting.

By posting or submitting material, uploading files, inputting data, or engaging in any other form of communication through AZTech Consulting or the Patriot Alert Forums, you are granting AZTech Consulting, the Patriot Alert Forums and all associated entities a royalty-free, perpetual, non-exclusive, unrestricted, worldwide license to use, reproduce, edit, modify, adapt, translate, create derivative works from, distribute, communicate to the public and publicly display the submitted content (in whole or in part) worldwide and/or to incorporate it other works in any form, media or technology now known or later developed for the full term of any rights that may exist in the content.

h. Patriot Alert Forums 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 will be removed. Hotlinking to third party images is theft of bandwidth.

i. Patriot Alert Forums members are expected to post in a way which is consistent with "normal writing". That is users should not post excessive numbers of emoticons, bold, large, small or colored 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.

j. Members should use an appropriate, descriptive title when posting a new topic. Examples of bad titles include; "Help me!", "I'm stuck!", "I've got an error!", etc.

k. Spam is not tolerated on the Patriot Alert Forums under any circumstances. This includes posting a URL to your services, affiliate links, or a competing Web site. This rule also includes sending spam via private messages. Users posting spam will be warned and their post removed or edited.

l. The Patriot Alert Forums Staff reserves 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 the Administrator and Staff Members, not users.

m. Private Messaging is provided to the members of the Patriot Alert Forums as a service intended to enhance the overall community experience. The purpose of Private Messaging is to allow for discreet conversations to take place between members. This privilege is not to be abused! Solicitation, spamming, or harassment of any kind is strictly forbidden. Any member receiving an inappropriate private message should immediately forward that message to the Administrator or a Moderator. Although Private Messages are normally only accessible by those who send and receive them, they are part of the database and as such, property of the Patriot Alert Forums. The Administrator, with justifiable cause, will locate Private Messages in the database and read them to determine how best to handle the offensive Message. Private Messages are private, but not necessarily secret. In addition, Private Messages are not intended to deprive the community of valuable information or experiences which could benefit the entire group. Please do not use private messages if the content of the message could be helpful or beneficial to others.

n. Reminders or warnings of Patriot Alert Forums staff members should be discussed with the particular staff member via private messages, not in the forums.

o. If a Patriot Alert Forums member chooses to quote a post in a reply only a small relevant section of the original post should be quoted, not the entire post.

p. If a Patriot Alert Forums member receives a private message or email from another user, it is expected for that member to keep the message private and not post it publicly without prior consent of the sender.

q. Requests for membership removal will be denied. The Patriot Alert Forums provide free registration, where visitors find the forums and register membership of their own free will and accord. If members find any part of the Patriot Alert Forums unappealing, they are expected to simply abandon the forums and never visit them again. Likewise, any requests to have posts removed will also be denied (see Section (g) above.)

r. Requests made by Patriot Alert Forums members for a change of username will be considered by the forum staff members on an individual basis.

s. Patriot Alert Forums members are expected to remain on topic in each forum and in each thread (Actually, we all wander off topic a little from time to time - but at the end of the day, these forums are meant for discussing our Scottish heritage). If you want to post off topic content, please do so in The Lounge.

t. No political or religious posts will be allowed on The Patriot Alert Forums. If you want to engage others in discussions on these divisive topics, please visit a forum established for that purpose. Every member of the Patriot Alert Forums has a perfect right to his or her own religious faith and political beliefs, however this is not the proper place to discuss either. Posts of this type will be removed.

u. Effective immediately, all members of the Patriot Alert Forums are required to provide and maintain a valid e-mail address as a condition of continuing to receive full forum privileges. The forum software makes use of e-mail communication to provide notices of activity on subscribed threads, of new Private Messages and as a reminder to inactive members.

2. Signatures

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

b. Text sizes should be between 1 and 2 (small and normal). Text in signatures is subject to the same conditions as posts with respect decency, warez, emoticons, etc.

c. Links are permitted in signatures. Links are included within the limits above. Links to offensive or competitive sites will be removed at the sole discretion of the Patriot Alert Forums staff members.

d. Patriot Alert Forums members abusing these rules will be warned.

3. Policing

a. The Patriot Alert Forums operates on a three strike policy. Users can receive no more than three infractions for any and all offenses in a three month period. If the need arises for a fourth infraction a temporary ban will be put in place of between 1 to 7 days. There is an exception to this rule. If the violation is deemed to be severe or blatant it will lead to an immediate ban without warning.

b. Arguing with Patriot Alert Forums staff members after having received an infraction or warning will lead to an immediate additional infraction. Should this exceed three strikes a temporary ban will be put in place as above.

c. Patriot Alert Forums members who feel they have received an infraction unfairly are welcome to contact the Administrator of this forum, in ONE (1) Private Message. If it is determined the infraction was issued unfairly, the infraction may (or may not) be lifted.

d. Any attempt to circumvent a temporary ban from the Patriot Alert Forums will lead to that ban being made permanent. Circumvention includes re-registering under a non-banned username, changing IP addresses to evade an IP ban, or registering a new email account to evade an email ban.

e. An exception to the three strike rule applies when users contact Patriot Alert Forums Staff members personally (via any method) and post insulting, indecent or vulgar material. Such users will be subject to an immediate and permanent ban.

f. Permanent bans are a last resort and thought is given before implementing them. While the Patriot Alert Forums staff may consider lifting permanent bans from time to time, this is a rare occurrence.

The Patriot Alert Forums and Web site are independently owned and operated by Aztech Consulting LLC. As such, these forums do not fall under any obligation to the First Amendment of the United States Constitution concerning free speech.

The Patriot Alert Forums' rules are subject to change without notice. Such changes will be reflected in the relevant pages of the Patriot Alert Forums upon alteration and become effective when they are published to the Patriot Alert Forums Web site.

This forum was created for your pleasure, so please enjoy it! When everyone is enjoying themselves, we won't have to be concerned about obeying and/or enforcing any rules.