Forum Rules

[jackalope]

We hope everyone enjoys the online discussions in the DIY Aquaponics Forums. Our goal is to keep the forums a pleasant experience for all users. We strive to provide a place where those interested in aquaponics can come together to share their ideas and questions freely about this wonderful food growing system. Note that this is a family-oriented forum, keep it clean!

In order to maintain an atmosphere where users can continue to enjoy the online experience provided by the DIY Aquaponics Forums we must ask that you adhere to the following rules:

1 - Make at least 1 post in the 1st 7 days of joining. This helps keep the board safe of robots and spammers. Failure to post in 7 days will result in your membership being removed. You can sign up again if you want.

Please update your profile to indicate what country and state or province you are in. Sometimes this can be very important in helping you. We're not looking for personal information, just a general area of the world.

Thanks in advance.

2 - Please, no profanity. Profanity will be deleted by a Moderator and the user will be issued a warning, multiple warnings will get you, your email address and your IP address banned from the forum. It's understandable that you may become frustrated trying to get that new system installed, but remember that this is a family-oriented site. Any attempts to bypass the forum word filter by using special characters will not be tolerated.

3 - Aquaponics Newbies. Please be respectful of our new aquaponics converts. Remember that we were all there once. We should always strive to be helpful whenever possible.

4 - No Flaming.It's inevitable that you are not always going to agree with the opinion of a fellow member. This does not excuse name calling or derogatory remarks aimed at your fellow users. Please show all members the respect and courtesy that they deserve. If a member is posting a new thread with the intention of starting a flame war, or after starting a thread disregards the Administrator or Moderator's instructions to reword a post so as to remove malice, two things will happen: the thread gets deleted, and the member gets banned.

5 - No sexually suggestive material or remarks. Material or remarks of this nature will not be tolerated under any circumstances. Do not link to sexually suggestive or pornographic material. Breaking this rule is the quickest way to get banned from the DIY Aquaponics Forums. Remember that DIY Aquaponics Forum users come in all ages.

6 - No thread crapping. If you can't offer a constructive comment, then please don't clutter up someone else's thread with remarks that have nothing to do with the subject being discussed. If you have an unrelated question please start your own thread. It is impolite to sidetrack another members thread.

7 - No double posts. You will not receive a quicker response to your question or problem by posting the same subject in multiple forums. Double posting is unproductive and at times frustrating to our members. Duplicate subjects in multiple forums will be deleted.

8 - Try to use the correct forum. When posting your question or sharing your thoughts on a subject, try to post in the correct forum. Look at all of the forum headings before you post. Threads posted in the wrong forum will be moved by a Moderator to the correct forum. When composing a thread title, give a short accurate description of your problem or the information you are posting. And please, no slang.

9 - Selling/Buying/Trading.Attention: No URLs or advertisements for company/wares selling/being offered for sale are to be posted in any member’s signature. This is the same as spamming with each post that you make.

Contact admin@diyaquaponics.com for your selling activities. Please take the time to read the DIY Forum Rules before posting here. Blatant advertising for your own or other sites and products and/or posts made for that purpose can and will be deleted by a Moderator whenever they deem it necessary. This will also lead to a warning.

Posting links to other sites that clearly answers a question and are appropriate to the discussion are permitted. Posting links to your posts on another site/forum is forbidden. Posting links to other aquaponic forums is forbidden.

Those who wish to advertise their products on this website can find the information needed at http://diyaquaponics.com/rates.php.

Postings of web site addresses in signatures will only be allowed if it is to your own postings here at DIY.

Posting a web site address in your 'profile' is not allowed under any circumstances.

10 - No warez. Offers to sell or provide copyrighted material illegally will not be allowed. This includes computer programs, books or articles on or off line. The "Fair Use Doctrine" only allows a small percentage of something to be used, not the entire thing. This goes for posting also, If you are using someone else's material, please just use a descriptive sentence or paragraph, and then provide a link to it using the "URL" button. Give the original author his due.

11 - Usernames. Only one username per member. Multiple accounts are deceitful and confusing. Members discovered having more than one account will be warned, placed on probation, and have their duplicate accounts deleted. Usernames are subject to Administrator approval. Names found to be offensive, or unacceptable (which includes advertising), will be deleted or changed by the Administrator. Administrator's rulings on the acceptability of usernames are final.

12 - Please, no needless thread bumping. Post your question and wait for an answer. If you do not receive an answer within 48 hours then it is okay to bump your thread to the top. Adding another post to your thread every 5 minutes demanding a solution to your problem will not get you a response from our membership any quicker. In fact, needless thread bumping will probably get you ignored and/or your thread removed. Our members are offering you their advice as quickly as possible, and sometimes it may take a while before a member who is familiar with your subject gets a chance to look at it.

13 - Avatars. A members' avatar is essentially their photograph. Avatars are used to distinguish one member from another. While they are allowed on DIY Aquaponics, we must ask you to find your own unique one. If two members were allowed to have the same avatar, it would be very confusing. Some of our members have put a good deal of time into finding or creating their avatars and it would be unfair to let a new member appropriate it for their own use. Avatars are allowed on a first come, first served basis. The first member to start using a particular avatar on this board has all rights to it. If you are found to be using an avatar that another member has rights to, your avatar will be deleted without prior notice. As a user, you accept sole responsibility for any copyrighted material that you upload as an Avatar.

Additionally, no avatar shall constitute or resemble a company logo nor represent any item/s for sale by the owner of said avatar.

14 - Hot-Linked Images. Hot-linked images are allowed only if the image resides on your personal website or the DIY Aquaponics server. Posting a link to a image on another site is fine. Using the tags, except under the above conditions is not only rude, but unacceptable. It basically steals bandwidth from the site owner.

DIY Aquaponics does not claim any ownership rights in the text, files, images, photos, video, sounds, musical works, works of authorship, applications, or any other materials (collectively, "Content") that you post on or through the DIY Aquaponics Forum. By displaying or publishing ("posting") any Content on or through the DIY Aquaponics Forum, you hereby grant to DIY Aquaponics Forum and other users a non-exclusive, fully paid and royalty-free, worldwide, limited license to use, as long as DIY Aquaponics Forum may desire to use said Content, provided that you will receive authorship credit for your Content using your member name.

You represent and warrant that: (i) you own the Content posted by you on or through the DIY Aquaponics Forum or otherwise have the right to grant the license set forth in this section, (ii) the posting and use of your Content on or through the DIY Aquaponics Forum does not violate the privacy rights, publicity rights, copyrights, contract rights, intellectual property rights or any other rights of any person, and (iii) the posting of your Content on the Site does not result in a breach of contract between you and a third party. You agree to pay for all royalties, fees, and any other monies owing any person by reason of Content you post on or through the DIY Aquaponics Forum.

15 - Political or Religious Threads. No political or religious threads that may insult or offend others will be tolerated. We all need to be respectful of others' views and listen, and be respectful in our responses. Please limit the contents of your threads that are political or religious in nature with the above reservations in mind. This is not to limit your Free Speech, but to avoid online flame wars. Politics and Religious subjects are usually best avoided in an online Aquaponics forum because you are not going to change someone's mind on these subjects using the internet. Heated discussions about politics or religion may lead to hard feelings and eventual flaming, which could very well lead to moderating, thread locking, warning(s) and/or banning. The decisions of the Administrator and/or Moderators will be final ..... there will be no appeals

16 NOTE: - Any member who wishes to make a post about a specific topic which is a non-AP topic, may ONLY make such post in the Sump ..... if it is deemed by the administrator/mods to be offensive in any way, be it sexually suggestive, racially injurious, trolling, flame-baiting, political or religious in nature, it will be removed.

The Sump was created to address your personal non-aquaponics rants, discussions etc.

Sump - "This space is provided for non-aquaponics/hydroponics discussions - like if you want to wish someone a happy anniversary or birthdays, rant about your latest run in with your favorite government bureaucrat, ask someone how to change the transmission in your car (j/k), or any other non-serious aquaponics discussions."

Politics and Religious subjects are usually best avoided in an online Aquaponics forum because you are not going to change someone's mind on these subjects using the internet. Heated discussions about politics or religion may lead to hard feelings and eventual flaming, which could very well lead to moderating, thread locking, warning(s) and/or banning. The decisions of the Administrator and/or Moderators will be final ..... there will be no appeals

Emphasis added!

Flame wars will be prevented by the administrators/moderators by banning the perpetrator(s) and/or removing offensive posts.

Thank you for choosing the DIY Aquaponics Forums. If you have any questions or concerns regarding any of these rules please feel free to contact the site Administrator or one of the Moderators through a PM (private message ).

NOTE: New rules can and will be added if the admins/mods deem it necessary.