Board Posting Rules FAQ & Guidelines

[andymac]

The Important Bits

Here's a quick rewrite bringing some thing up to date, mainly because the number of posts that need moving / deleting from this forum are becoming ridiculously excessive once more.

The original was written by AdrianFRST some time ago, I've merely added in extra information as the board is not "as was"

Things seem to be getting a bit messy at the moment, so here's a few pointers (ie rules) to keep things in order.


Keep On Topic

I've seen far to many topics that start off with a serious post then dissolve into irrelevant crap or wander onto something totally unrelated.

Adrian, Project, Phil & AndyMac will be removing off topic posts from or if time is short (or the thread has completely degenerated), the entire topic may be deleted.

The original poster isn't going to be too happy about it so think of others and keep it relevant.

Don't post in the wrong forum

It should be fairly obvious what goes where, being that it says in the main index what is supposed to go where. Certain people continually have trouble understanding how this works. Here's a quick overview of the "confusing" forums :-

Main Forum - General Fiesta and car related topic.

Off Topic - Serious discussion that is not directly car related.

Random Distractions - The "hi I'm new" posts, general chat, pretty much any topic that isn't covered in the other forum.

Technical - Ask your general technical questions here, also preliminary release area for FAQ's & Guides.


There are also various forums for specific technical issues, e.g. tuning, handling, ICE.

People are getting lazy, knowing that if they post in the wrong forum someone will move it. From now on topics in the incorrect forums *may* just be deleted, depending on content, poster, time of month, have you ever looked at a moderators post in an inappropriate manner etc etc. Make sure you post in the correct forum, if you're unsure of where to post then ask a mod (links to profiles and PM further down).

Here are a few other pointers :-

Don't Cross post / Duplicate post
This will annoy everyone; especially the people who clear up the board and you run an 80% chance of getting these posts deleted if they are posted in the day. Repeat offenders may be banned.


Don't Post Discriminatory / Offensive Messages
This shouldn't need explaining. If it does, your user account will not last long. P0rn also counts as offensive, there are a lot of under 18's on here. If you use terms that can be interpreted as discriminatory (this includes racist terms and colloquialisms) and are being used in a discriminatory manner, there is a 99% likelihood you will be banned without warning. None of the mods care if it's a quote, you'll go and have to explain yourself to Ade.


Avoid Posting Mindless Rubbish & Thread Hi-Jacking
Most of us have a sense of humour, however " " doesn't really qualify as a suitable response except in Random. Thread Hi-Jacking (using someone elses thread to discuss your own issues) is frowned upon - but hijacking with random rubbish may well earn you a 48h ban.


Do Read the FAQs
Many of the forums have FAQ's that will answer most of your site related questions.


Do Use the Search Facility
It's at the top of the page. Click, enter your search terms and have a look. "I didn't want to go through 70 pages of results" is no excuse for posting the "same old questions". Your search terms were simply too loose if you got that many results. Depending on who's moderating at the time you may just find your post deleted.


Do not Troll
...or fish. definition here Repeat offenders may be banned.


Do Not Respond to Troll / Cross / Off Topic Posts
This only serves to encourage these buffoons. Their posts will be moderated as quickly as possible.

I'm sure there are more things to go on here but that will do for the moment I think.

If you have queries please PM them to me, Ade or the other mods, do not start a thread on this topic.

[Phil Si]

Good points, just to re-iterate a lot of them really. The amount of posts I have to delete from the ICE section for parts for sale is immense! I will delete them... Nuff said.

One other one if I may... TxT T4lk.. No need for it if you have a full keyboard!
A post portrays an image of yourself... and it's not good for people to have to decode a message!


/Shelfy

[andymac]

Have I been Banned ?

It should be pretty obvious, if you've done something really stupid, (posted pawn, used racist language) you're likely to be temporarily banned. If you repeatedly troll, post in the wrong forums or appear to go out of your way to annoy people (also considered trolling) you may be considered a pest and thus banned permanently. Remember at all times that the forms are not a democracy but more of a totalitarian régime.

A reason is always given for banning and should be present on the screen when attempting to log in.

If (somehow) you're not certain...

The simplest way to check is to see if you can log in. If your username and password seem to be suddenly incorrect then you may have been banned, there again someone may have guessed and changed your password.

Email a mod or the site admin to find out if you have been banned and why. In certain circumstances the mods will not lift the ban and you will be told to explain why you did whatever you did to the site admin if you want your account reactivating (note : if you insulted clios a certain amount of grovelling may be in order).

The current list of mods at this juncture are :-

AdrianFRST (site admin) PM

andymac PM

Project PM

Phil Si PM

Capri!! PM

Rhinopower PM

Captain Tightpants PM

JamieFRST PM

Click our user names for contact details.

Note that signing up another account while banned will result in the new account being banned without a reason being given. Your email and IP addresses may soon follow suit.

[andymac]

Trading on FT

I'm sure there's a more extensive guide to trading on FT than the one I'm going to quickly cobble together here, which should explain a few points.

If you're operating & advertising a business on the site, be it part or full time, then you should email or PM the site admin (Ade) for paid trader status. This will get you tha ability to "sticky"adverts in the forums and there's the option of banner advertising too.

By business, I mean you are providing goods and / or services for profit.

If you provide goods and / or services at cost and not for profit then that really is down to you, however, advertising services and / or goods that are in direct competition with paying advertisers really isn't on. This might sound a little draconian, but the traders help keep this site alive for us all to enjoy and someone, somewhere down the line has to protect their interests and thus the site. It's a difficult balance to keep too, as part of what makes this site community what it is is the general helpfulness of the members.

If you have a query, don't hesitate to get in touch with one of the mods or the site admin.

[andymac]

Linking to external sites

Just a couple of pointers here.

Remember that if you're linking to large files (videos etc) on other peoples sites then that consumes a large amount of bandwidth, someone has to pay for this bandwidth and it's considered impolite to use lots of a persons up by linking to stuff on their site.

Also, a lot of stuff on other peoples sites is copyrighted - sometimes you really have to ask permission before linking to images, videos etc. Hopefully the majority of people reading this will have some degree of common sense and will be able to use their own judgement to tell when this is necessary.

Lastly, on the subject of linking to obviously copyrighted material, don't do it. There could be very serious repercussions for the site if folks start linking to torrent and mp3 sites. Any links found that link to trading / mp3 / p2p sites will be deleted. Anyone found posting them up after being reminded they shouldn't do it will get their account suspended. Anyone giving the mods attitude after the links have been removed will get in their account suspended. (anyone see a pattern here).

If you have questions, pm them to us (see the mod / admin list in the pages above).

[andymac]

Sorry to all those who'd posted on this thread - I've removed the posts to keep it on topic and to keep it a general announcement rather than a valid discussion (Yep, none of the point in this thread are currently up for discussion)

[andymac]

Trading Software / Music etc

The use of this site to link directly to or to provide links to sites where people may download copyrighted material (either directly or via a tracker system) is banned. (See previous post re Linking to External Sites).

You will receive one warning only before being banned if you post such links and if you are banned, it's highly unlikely your account will be reinstated (Bribery may work I suppose, the server needs paying for after all )

This includes (but is not limited to) copies of microcat and other engineering or reference materials, video games, music, films and TV shows. If you want to discuss the merits of p2p then please keep it to email or PM.

The same applies to requests for or offers to sell / give away copyrighted materials on the public forums - the threads will be deleted and repeat offenders banned.

Andy