First, the forums come under the general
Allpar terms of service. Please take a moment to read them. These were revised and are effective as of July 24, 2008.
ALLPAR FORUM GUIDELINESThe following guidelines are to be followed when participating in the Allpar Forums. Violation of any of these guidelines is subject to a written warning. Repeated violations are subject to additional warnings and possibly the suspension of posting privileges. The Allpar Forum staff reserves the right to immediately suspend an account without warning.
1. FOUR-STRIKE RULEAllpar uses a 4-level warning system. In some cases, an informal warning may be issued which does not increase a user's warning level. In other cases, a written warning will be issued and a user's warning level will increase. More severe or repeated violations, a flagrant disregard for the warning, or a direct attack against the staff as a result of the warning will result in additional warnings and increases in the warning level. After 4 warnings (or when reaching a 100% warning level), your account will be suspended for a minimum of 48 hours. Depending on the issues, suspensions may be extended. Repeated suspensions will result in a complete revocation of board privileges. In some severe cases, an account may be suspended without warning. Note that only you and the Allpar Staff can see your own warning level - making your warning level a subject of public discussion is not advised. Warning levels may be reduced at the discretion of the Allpar Staff.
2. GOOD FELLOWSHIPBe civil to each other and have a good time. Understand that someone is going to post something that you may not agree with. Consider the point being made and the topic being discussed. If you do not understand it, or if it is not clear, then ask for clarification. If you must respond, offer your counterpoint or opinion without resorting to personal attacks, name-calling, and swearing. If a certain person's posts bother you, you can always use the IGNORE USER option (located under the My Controls link.) For posts and content that are 'off-topic' or that become 'politically charged', Allpar maintains the "Behind The Shed" (BTS) forum. This forum is password-protected and you can request the password from any forum leader, moderator, or administrator. By requesting the password, you are acknowledging that you are an adult, you understand that there may be content that could be offensive to you, and you wish to participate in the BTS forum. Moderation is more relaxed in BTS compared to the rest of the Allpar Forums, but we still ask that BTS users maintain a level of decorum - it is not a "lawless state" or a "free-for-all."
3. TROLLING, SPAM, AND ABUSIVE BEHAVIOR ARE NOT TOLERATEDTrolling (posting to elicit angry responses) and spamming (multiple identical posts intended to sell or promote a website, product, etc) will not be tolerated. Troll accounts will have their rights revoked without warning. Posts designed simply to raise post count may be deleted without warning and responsible members may be warned or banned.
Use of someone's race, gender, religion or faith, sexual preference, or political leanings to berate or otherwise belittle another member is prohibited. Do not threaten others with physical violence.
Insulting huge sections of the country through name-calling based on political or social beliefs is not permitted.
Insulting large sections of the Allpar readership by mocking their cars is not permitted.
Spam is very much not permitted. Spam is defined by the moderators and includes any messages that are deemed to be posted primarily to advertise or draw visitors to a different site.
4. BE HELPFULWe get new members every day. Some of them will post questions that may seem foolish to the veterans. You should answer the person's questions to the best of your abilities. If you know a resource exists, then offer a link to it - don't just tell the person "search for it." If it has been discussed before, then post the link to the previous discussion so that it may be continued. There are also over 1400 pages of information on Allpar.com - if they apply to the topic at hand, then link to it.
5. STAY ON-TOPICKeep your replies relevant to the topic at hand. If you have another topic to discuss, then start a new thread. Posts that are taken off-topic will likely be offlined and pruned, split, or merged as required to keep some form of order.
6. AVATARS, SIGNATURES, AND GENERAL FORUM CONTENTThere should not be "NWS" or not-work-safe (inappropriate for younger viewers or people who know your real name) content in posts, avatars, or signatures. Many of our members visit from work or school or home where NWS content is not appropriate nor appreciated.
Note that there are to be no pictures, smileys, etc. in your signature. Photos can be posted in the Gallery or linked from your signature. Please keep your signature lines relatively small - three lines or less.
Small avatars may be allowed for certain groups provided they are hosted on the allpar.com site. Limited-time subscription packages are available for those who wish to upload their own avatars. Avatar availability is subject to change at any time. The long-term plan is to only allow subscribers to have avatars. Even for subscribers, avatars deemed to be in poor taste, hostile, counter to the current forum ethic and morals, or "flame-bait" may be removed.
7. ONE ACCOUNT PER PERSONMultiple accounts are not allowed in any way, shape or form (with the exception of the test accounts created by the staff.) Accounts made to bypass a suspension, restriction, or ban will be result in an immediate revocation of all board privileges. If you lose access to your account, you can contact the staff at allparforums[at]gmail.com for assistance.
8. RESPECT THE FORUM LEADERS, MODERATORS, AND ADMINISTRATORSWe have a group of people that work for no pay and that strive to provide the members with a good experience at Allpar. Sometimes they may make a decision that you may not agree with. As long as you can air your grievances and complaints like an adult, we welcome the feedback. Everyone makes mistakes and we are not above that rule. If your avatar or signature is removed because it violates the guidelines, replacing it with a line of text complaining about the decision isn't the right way to go about it and will likely earn you another warning. Repeated instances of such behavior may result in suspension of your board privileges. Also note that although folks are forum leaders, moderators, and administrators - they are also MEMBERS. They participate in discussions, answer questions, and also post their own questions. They are subject to the same guidelines listed here.
Attacks on forum moderators or staff may result in warnings if they are especially hostile, aggressive, or unfounded. However, don't be afraid to open up a discussion with a Moderator/Forum Leader. They are not out to get anyone, nor are they volunteering their time for "power trips."
10. USE THE REPORT BUTTONWhile the Allpar Staff makes an effort to correct issues and problems on the forums, we cannot be everywhere at all hours. On every post in the Allpar Forums is a red button labeled "Report!" If you encounter a member, post, user avatar, or user signature that you feel violates the guidelines presented here, simply click the "Report!" button and fill out the form provided. A message will be sent to the Allpar Staff to alert us to the issue and allow action to be taken if required. Your information will not be made public or revealed outside of the Allpar Staff. Using the "Report!" button allows the forum users to help the staff, and we appreciate those that make the effort to help keep the Allpar Forums an enjoyable place for all.
11. OTHERAllpar may use material you post as part of the permanent (static) pages of any Allpar, LLC web site (most likely allpar.com, valiant.org, acarplace.com, or ptcruizer.com). This right shall pass along to Allpar LLC's successors, if any.
Questions and comments regarding these guidelines can be made in the "Feedback" forum. We appreciate your support.
Key Legal Issues and Agreements - You Must Agree To These To Use This ServiceWe are not responsible for any messages posted. We do not vouch for or warrant the accuracy, completeness or usefulness of any message, and are not responsible for the contents of any message. The administrators of these forums are not mechanics or engineers and do not represent themselves as experts. Some people may post advice which is incorrect, misleading, or illegal. We cannot be responsible for these posts. Posts are not moderated prior to posting.
Posts and topics may be removed for any reason. Members may be removed for any reason.
While we cannot prevent posts which may infringe upon intellectual property, etc., we will respond to these issues as well as posts recommending illegal, misleading, foolhardy, or otherwise harmful or irresponsible practices, as well as to the abuse of other servers via posts here (e.g. image pirating or pointers to internal documents). People and organizations wishing to have such messages removed should use the "Report This Post" feature or contact Stratuscaster via Personal Message (PM) and via e-mail.
The messages express the views of the author of the message, not necessarily the views of this bulletin board. Any user who feels that a posted message is objectionable is encouraged to contact us immediately by personal message and email. We have the ability to remove objectionable messages and we will make every effort to do so, within a reasonable time frame, if we determine that removal is necessary.
Allpar may use material you post as part of the permanent (static) pages of any Allpar, LLC web site (most likely allpar.com, valiant.org, acarplace.com, or ptcruizer.com). This right shall pass along to Allpar LLC's successors, if any.
You agree, through your use of this service, that you will not use this bulletin board to post any material which is knowingly false and/or defamatory, inaccurate, abusive, vulgar, hateful, harassing, obscene, profane, sexually oriented, threatening, invasive of a person's privacy, or otherwise violative of any law.
You agree not to post any copyrighted material unless the copyright is owned by you or by this forum.
Users may at the discretion of moderators and administrators be warned, suspended, and/or banned for hostile, offensive, or inappropriate language, remarks, or content, or for attempts to bypass filters, or for hacking or attempts at hacking.
Please have a good time and don't hurt anyone, and remember that youngsters may be reading. Thank you.
