Member Guidelines

This is a working draft, based on the boilerplate at http://www.managingonlineforums.com/ and not necessarily the Phoenyx' or any other Wirebird site's official guidelines.

Participation in the Phoenyx constitutes agreement to the following guidelines, which apply to posts, profile information, avatars, signatures, any other content on this site and participation in general. This includes private messages, which we have the ability to read, but only do so when a violation is reported to us or we have a legitimate reason. Although rare, it does happen.

Because of the live nature of the discussions on this community, it is not always possible for us to review and/or confirm the accuracy or validity of a message before it is posted. If you believe that someone has violated these guidelines or you have spotted content that may otherwise require attention, please send a private message to a staff member with a link to the content and a brief description of what you believe is wrong. Notification is voluntary and anonymous, but in no case should a user respond to a situation personally, thereby aggravating the situation further. Responding to a violation in an inflammatory manner is a violation in itself and will result in appropriate action.

Content that violates our Member Guidelines may be removed or restricted. Interpretation of our guidelines is at the discretion of the staff.

1. Cross-posting is not allowed and will result in the removal of one or more posts. Cross-posting is defined as posting the same information in two or more locations. When posting your topic, please try to post it in the most appropriate place within the organizational structure of our community. Identical topics posted in the same or different forums will be removed.
2. While member post count has meaning, it should not be taken too seriously. Attempts to artificially increase your post count are prohibited. This includes the mass creation of short or meaningless posts.
3. We try to maintain a family friendly atmosphere whenever it is possible within the main subject matter of this community. Please keep this in mind when participating.
4. When linking to outside websites, you must ensure that the content of the link is appropriate for our community, in line with the guidelines laid out here. This includes mentioning or referencing a site, even if the mention is not hyperlinked.
5. Posts that discuss illegal activities, transactions, or websites such as warez, cracks, etc. will be removed. This includes the posting of information that you have obtained illegally.
6. Do not post copyrighted materials (articles, videos, audio, etc.) that you do not have permission to reproduce or distribute, except as allowed under fair use. Be sure you understand what fair use is.
7. When posting and linking to images, videos, files, etc., please refrain from hotlinking. This is the direct linking to images (.jpg, .jpeg, .gif, .png, etc.), video (.avi, .mov, .mpg, .mpeg, .wmv, etc.), audio (.mp3, .wav, etc.), archives (.zip, .rar, etc.) or otherwise downloadable or streamable files, on servers that you do not have permission to link to, instead of linking to the page where the item can be found. This includes providing a direct link to the file, even if that file is not embedded into your post. This practice costs the server owner money and resources.
8. Respect is the name of the game. You must respect your fellow members. Please refrain from inflammatory and defamatory comments as well as flaming, taunting, and general disrespect. Do not simply put down the opinion or advice given by others. If you don't agree with it, say why - respectfully. Don't just tell them they're wrong. Do not make uninvited remarks about typos, duplicate posts, posting styles, etc. When an opinion-based discussion is being had, do not state things like "there is no argument" as if your opinion is the only one or the only one that matters. When someone has clearly stated their opinion, do not say things like "Are you serious?" and "Are you kidding me?" Remember, this is not a debate club. This is a friendly discussion community. Allow people to have their opinion. No one is to act as some sort of opinion judge, responding to each one to say whether they agree with it or not or whether or not it is a valid, well thought out opinion. We do not allow threads to be started to discuss who or what is the most overrated, who or what is your least favorite, etc.
9. Signatures are limited to four lines of text. This includes blank lines. No images. If you are posting by email, your signature should be properly delimited (preceded by a line consisting of two dashes and a space, which is not included in the signature line count). You may mention websites and ventures that you are in some way related to, as long as they are otherwise appropriate for this community. Focus on things that you like, not things that you don't.
10. Each user is allowed to create one account. If you would like to change your username, please contact us and, most likely, we can do it for you while you can keep all of your profile data, posts, and other content. If you end up with more than one account, let us know and we'll consolidate them for you.
11. Automated account creation, participation, and content scraping is not permitted. You may use a third-party client that interfaces with the Phoenyx API, even one that performs unattended updates, as long as it's well-behaved. You may also syndicate content from our feeds (RSS, Atom, etc.) so long as you keep the links back to the original content, and so long as you don't violate any of our trademarks.
12. We know that people will have to leave our community (of their own free will or otherwise) from time to time and to that end, we do not delete accounts, posts, or other content posted on our community. All content is granted to us with perpetual electronic publishing rights because any content posted on this community becomes a part of the community, even if you no longer are. You may request an item to be removed at any time, but we will decide when and if to remove content from our community. If you wish to no longer be identified with our community, we will be glad to close your account and alter your profile information to remove all identifying characteristics (however, if you have placed identifying characteristics within the text of your posts, they may still be connected to you - use appropriate discretion when posting). After account closure, you will no longer be able to participate in this community and this action is not reversible.
13. Moderators have the final say on anything. If you have a problem, you may make a complaint to them directly and not publicly on the website. Creating threads or posts that question or reference administrative decisions or potential administrative decisions, such as post removals and thread closures, is not permitted. We are not perfect and if you feel that we have made a mistake, please privately contact a staff member and we will review the situation. If you would like a copy of your removed post so that you can adjust it and repost, please contact us. As long as we wouldn't prefer you to simply start over, we'll be glad to send you a copy.
14. Whenever you are participating in this community, please keep in mind that we strive to create a fun, friendly and inviting atmosphere. So, please have fun and enjoy the site!

Freedom of speech rights do not extend to privately owned websites, such as this one. These guidelines detail the types of behavior and activities that are allowed here.

If a user violates our guidelines and shows a disregard for them, our staff and our community, they run the risk of losing their account. We reserve the right to deactivate any account and to edit or remove any content without warning. These guidelines are subject to change at any time without notice.

Do you have a question about our Member Guidelines or anything else? Do you have a suggestion? Do you want to offer some feedback? Or are you experiencing some trouble with the site? Well, no matter what it is, please do not hesitate to contact us and we will be glad to help in any way that we can.

Thank you for visiting the Phoenyx.