TAC Forum Rules DRAFT

[KileyHAZ]

This is a rough draft, and as such is not final. However, it is indicative of the final draft and as such we will start leaning towards enforcing them effective immediately.

Once the final edits are updated/approved, the final draft will be hosted on the website and all forums will have a rules link that points to them.

Be Aware that every one of these rules is punishable with suspension of forum privileges or banning. We simply don;t have time to hand hold or babysit anyone anymore. If we have members that insist that is what they require, they can find it elsewhere.

Posting Etiquette
Here are some guidelines to help you make sure you fit right in... (insert other introductory text here).
Search for the answer, before asking the question
There is a search feature on this forum, that will help you to find information that has already been posted up. This is a busy forum, so the chances are that your question has already been answered somewhere. If you ask a question that has already been answered several times before, expect the other forum users to get quite annoyed at your refusal to search.

The lord helps those who help themselves - and so do we! Demonstrate that you have done your own research before posting, and you will receive all the help and advice available.

Make sure that your posts are relevant
Irrelevant or pointless posts take up space and waste other peoples' time. If posts contribute nothing to the conversation or the community, they will be deleted. Give advice only if you are sure what you are talking about. Don't mislead people as at best you are risking their money, and at worst, you are risking their safety. You may give clues if are uncertain, but do not speak with authority if you are really only trying to guess.

Always try to post in the right place
If you want to chat about the latest Airsoft releases, do it in "General Discussion". If you are new to the forums and want to ask a question, it might be best in the "Introductions" forum. If you want to sell something, the "Classifieds" forums are the place to announce it. Basically, have a look at all the categories and post where your submission is best suited.

Use good English to post and 'Spell-Check' if necessary
This is an open-access English language forum. When you post, you are effectively publishing your written work for the world to see. Use punctuation, good grammar, and the Spell Checker if you need to. Posts that are difficult to read or demonstrate an unwillingness to use the English language correctly may be deleted at the moderators' discretion. If English is not your first language or if your language skills are not great, please just do your best. We can live with imperfect English to a degree, we won't live with a lack of effort.
So called "l337-Speak" should also not be used on these boards.

Don't post duplicate threads
Multiple threads started about the same thing may be deleted, merged or moved at the moderators' discretion.
Use descriptive titles for new threads
Posting a thread with the title "Look here!", or "Please help", will not attract the attention of the users. If you use titles like "Marui M4 not taking BBs", or "New release from Classic Army", more people will view your post! Do not post titles in ALL CAPS.

DO NOT POST IN ALL CAPITAL LETTERS AS IT LOOKS LIKE YOU ARE SHOUTING AND IS ANNOYING TO READ

Use 'Smileys' effectively
'Smileys' can be used in your forum posts. If you are joking about something, use them to help indicate that your statement was made humorously. They can be used to indicate your mood and show that something was not meant to be taken seriously. If you don't use them, people will assume you are being serious. Arguments have broken out before because of a misunderstood joke.

No Arguing
Don't argue, if you feel offended by the comments of another user or believe a post is offensive, report it to the moderators and it will be dealt with. Starting a fight may result in sanctions for ALL those involved.

Be nice to other forum users
Treat others as you would expect to be treated. If you are abusive on these forums, your posts / threads will be edited or deleted, you may be given warning points(integrate other system perhaps?), you may get your account suspended, and persistent offenders will be banned.

No personal attacks
Do not talk about other forum users performance in a game, whether unsportsmanlike behavior, TAC code of conduct violations, or otherwise. Please PM a moderator, TAC board member, or talk to a TAC board member in person about it.

Repeatedly ignoring these guidelines when you post, may lead to your posts or account being moderated.



Forum Rules

The following are rules that MUST be adhered to. Failure to follow these rules will attract the attention of the Forum moderators. All moderators are nice people that are here to help you, but their job is also to help keep the site running. Breaking the rules below jeopardizes the continued operation of this site and cannot be tolerated under any circumstances!


Spam and Irrelevant Posts

Keep all your posts relevant. Adding posts that contribute nothing to the conversation (spam) will be deleted. Do not 'bump' your threads by posting irrelevant information or just "bump". It is spam and will be deleted. Persistent spamming will result in warning points being added to your account, a suspension, or a ban from the forums.
Please, treat our local forums with respect, THIS INCLUDES THE OFF TOPIC SECTION. Our forum space is not your personal virtual playground, this is a place to discuss subjects relevant to the Tucson Airsoft Coalition, Airsoft, Gear, etc.
Do not post just pictures, this takes up server space and adds nothing to the threads they are posted in.

Commercial Posting in the forums

Any posts that are commercial in nature are not allowed on these forums without the prior authorization of a Global Moderator or Site Admin. If you are a member and have some personally owned kit to sell, put it in the For-Sale forum.

To secure permission to post commercial content in the forums, contact a member of the Admin or Global Moderator team. Only those with Commercial User status are entitled to make commercial posts (perhaps this should be removed for something “else”). Commercial posting in the regular forums will result in your post being deleted.

If you are a retailer, wholesaler, importer or you represent a commercial or profit-making entity, e-mail your details to Kileyhaz or other forum admin, and they may be able to make a News post for you. This method will likely get your information more viewers too!

For Sale Forums Access / Buying and Selling Safely

In order to access to the sales sections of the forums, # posts is required (Suggestion, could be voted on as we haven't really had problems with our sales forums in the past, its just a standard that other forums tend to follow). At this point your member status should change from 'Member' to 'Regular Poster'. If your post count reads # posts or higher and you do not have access, try to post in a section of the site where your post count increases - please remember that not all areas of the site (such as off-topic) contribute towards your 'official' post count. (does off topic contribute? I am not sure).

Duplicate Accounts

Membership at Tucson Airsoft Coalition Forum is free. However, each user is only allowed one account. Duplicate accounts take up valuable system resources and annoy other forum users. It is very easy to spot duplicate accounts created or used by the same person. Any duplicate accounts found will be banned, along with the original account of the offender.


This is a PG-13 web site

By this, we mean that the following things are NOT allowed to be posted on the forums...
foul or obscene language (Possible implementation of a word filter?)
references glorifying or inciting drug-misuse
references glorifying or inciting criminal behavior or violence
images or videos of an adult or graphically sexual nature
images or videos that show drug misuse

Racial, Sexual and Religious Equality

This site makes no discrimination between people of different race, gender or religion. Airsoft is a sport for all, and these forums reflect that. We welcome everyone except those who demonstrate intolerance toward others.

This is a particularly delicate area to police, so the forum staff will have the final say. Comments about anything that discriminates against people, are forbidden.

Illegal / Banned Subjects
You cannot discuss anything that will help someone break the law. This includes the following...
How to remove the Orange Paint from the muzzle of US replicas (This is optional to me)
How to evade paying tax on imported goods
How to get restricted items past customs
How to get restricted items if you are underage
This is not an exhaustive list, so be sensible and make sure that we all stay on the right side of the law.

More can be added if you want. These are just examples.




Forum User Signatures

While many users have very attractive signatures, we request for the sake of bandwidth usage, uniformity of forum presentation and just common decency to 56k users that the total amount of signature images does not exceed 400x100 pixels. Please also ensure that the total height of text based signatures does not exceed 200 pixels.

Any users found with signatures exceeding these limits will have their signatures removed. Repeated violation will result in suspension.
(These values need to changed according to the actual TAC specs for signatures)