forum rules and guidelines

[dave]

Hello & Welcome to The Maine Coon Forum!!!

This forum is aimed for likeminded Maine Coon owners to share advice, stories and experiences with each other. The use of this forum is FREE but you will need to be a registered member to be able to post and reply to any topics. Like many forums we like to abide by some rules as we like to take pride in keeping our forum respectful, pleasant and enjoyable for all members.

By registering to our forum you agree to abide by these rules:

Any comments posted on the Forums that violate our Guidelines will be routinely removed.

The MaineCoonForum(MCF) reserve the right to close the accounts of persistent violators of these Rules of Conduct at any time and without warning.

(i) All posts must be in English--posts in other languages will be deleted;
(ii) Only ONE account/username per person; multiple accounts are not allowed;
(iii) Only ONE person per account/username--accounts are not to be shared.

All messages express the views of the author, not necessarily the views of the forum owners. The administration reserve the right to remove, edit, move or close any thread for any reason. This is a manual process, however, so please realize that we may not be able to remove or edit particular messages immediately. This policy goes for member profile information as well.

Neither member accounts nor a member's posts will be deleted on demand. It is up to the discretion of the forum owners and admins. Posts are for everyone's benefit and should be thought of as permanent.

Use of this Forum and your comments is not a right. It is a privilege granted you by the owners of MCF under the terms of this agreement and can be revoked at any time without warning.

In accordance with the privilege of using this Forum granted you by MCF, we request that you abide by the terms and conditions of our Rules of Conduct when using the Forum. We reserve the right to change the Rules of Conduct at any time.

Posting Rules and Guidelines

1. Please introduce yourself first! This is a great way to let forum members know about you and your pets.
   
   
2. When posting a new topic, please select the forum that best relates to the subject matter of your topic. If you are unsure, contact a moderator or administrator. Posting the same topic across multiple forums or multiple threads is considered spamming and is not allowed. (No cross-posting.)
   
   
3. Where it seems apparent to the administration you have joined the forum only to advertise your own website or product, your post and account will be deleted. We are quite open to the sharing of useful resources/products but it is appreciated when you ask first.
   
   
4. Do not hijack an existing thread with off-topic comments or questions--start a new thread. Your comments may be moved or deleted otherwise.
   
   
5. Do not re-post comments from a locked thread.
   
   
6. Do not "bump" one of your threads to the top of a forum's thread list by posting an empty or 'thin' message to it, until at least 24 hours have passed since the latest post in the thread; and then do it only once per thread.
   
   
7. Refrain from disclosing personal information. i.e. hometown, real name, email address... This is for your safety and administration staff may edit out such information if posted. Your OWN business name may be used in appropriate sections of the forum.
   
   
8. Do NOT disclose personal information of others. i.e. hometown, real name, business name, email address.
   
   
9. In the interest of conveying ideas as clearly as possible, posts are required to show reasonable attention to written English communication standards. This includes the use of proper grammatical structure, punctuation, capitalization, and spelling. SMS messaging shorthand, such as using "u" for "you", is not acceptable.
   
   
10. When posting a new topic do not use the CAPS lock (all-CAPS), bold, oversized, non-standard, or brightly colored fonts, or any combination thereof. They are hard to read and are considered yelling. When replying in an existing topic it is fine to use CAPS or bold to highlight main points.
    
    
11. No inappropriate, abusive or obscene language or personal attacks on other members. Any posts that contain the above will immediately be removed.
    
    
12. Copyright infringement is illegal. MCF will adhere to the law to the best of its ability however it is impossible for us to regulate and check sources of all content entered into the system. Never post an article in its entirety unless you have explicit permission from its author. When posting copyrighted material, please use small sections or link to the article. When posting copyrighted material please give credit to the author in your post.
    
    Solicitations for copyrighted materials of any form will not be permitted. Advertisement of locations where copyrighted materials may be obtained will not be permitted.
    
    
    
13. NO TROLLING, this means posting provocative, outrageous or pointless messages just to get a response from others. Repeat violators will be permanently banned.
    
    
14. If it is apparent you have no intention of positively contributing to Maine Coon discussions, combined with abrasive, combative attitude, You will be banned,.
    
    
15. No commercial or advertising links unless you have asked Admin and have been approved.
    
    
16. Moderators and Administrators have the final word. If you have a problem or a complaint, direct it to the administrators and/or moderators, not to the boards.The appropriate actions will be taken. We reserve the right to ban flagrant offenders when deemed necessary, with or without prior warning.

Replying to Posts:

1. Please use the correct buttons! If you wish to quote a previous post in your reply, use the "Quote" button; if you do not, use the "New Reply" button. (DO NOT use the "Report" button to reply to a post.)
   
   
2. When you quote an existing a post, please consider deleting large sections that are not directly relevant to your response, this makes reading easier, but does not distort the original poster's meaning in the process. You may add colors or change the font of words or phases for emphasis, provided that you state explicitly that you have done so. Other forms of purposeful misquoting are dishonest and are not permitted.
   

FORUM ETIQUETTE

This forum is a great way to of getting to know people with the same interest. But please remember to respect other people’s opinions after all we all have the freedom of speech, but if you feel that if someone’s opinions are malicious please immediately report to Admin and it will be dealt with as soon as possible.
Foul or hostile language will not be tolerated on MCF. This includes profanity, obscenity, or obvious indecent language; direct personal attacks or insults; snide remarks or phrases that appear to be an attempt to "put down" another member; and other indirect attacks on a member's character or motives.


Please treat all members with respect, even if you do not agree with them. If you feel that you have been attacked, and the moderators have not yet gotten around to doing something about it, please report it using the "Report" button. If you choose to post a response, address only the substantive content, constructively, and ignore any personal remarks.


It is better to walk away from a possible confontation and come back later with constructive arguments and avoid disciplinary action against yourself.

SIGNATURE RULES

We ask that you keep your signatures to a minimum of 400px x 80px and any animated gifs should be kept to a minimum.

Again, please follow the above guidelines when posting on our message boards. If you have any questions, please contact us. Above all, remember to have FUN!

DISCIPLINARY ACTION

A member may be issued either a warning or an infraction if deemed necessary by an administrations when the rules of MCF have been breached. Infractions range from 1 to 10 "points", depending on the severity of the violation; warnings carry no points. If a member accrues 8 or more infraction points, he or she will be automatically banned from MCF for a period of 10 days.

If a member receives any infraction after having returned from a temporary ban, that member will then be banned permanently.

Further breaches of the forum rules following a permanent ban will result in the users activity log and IP addresses being reported to the users personal internet provider. Any illegal activity will result in police intervention. This action typical results in the users receiving warnings from their Internet Service Provider, followed by account termination (loss of internet/telephone service, account blacklisting) and in further cases legal action.

If you find you have been unfairly dismissed by MCF, then we will not tolerate repeated contact, and as such will contact authorities as stated above, there are other forums out there, please don't go down this route, it's much easier for you to join an alternative site.


Appealing an infraction


If you feel an infraction is undeserved you may send a personal message to the administrators/moderators explaining why you do not feel the infraction was deserved. The issue will then be discussed by all the administrators before getting back to you. The resulting decision is final.


FEEDBACK & SUGGESTIONS

We ALWAYS WELCOME feedback and suggestions from our members to make this forum a better place. If you have any ideas that you would like us to consider, please let us know and we'll see what we can do. :@