POLICIES & REGULATIONS OF THE HUB

This document is designed to clarify various responsibilities of members posting here at The Hub. Please read and become familiar with these policies and regulations, as your postings may be moderated if they run contrary to these policies.

MAKING POSTINGS

• Posts are to be made in the relevant forum. Users are asked to read the forum descriptions before posting. Irrelevant topics/posts may be moved if a better forum is available. Otherwise they will be deleted. If you are not sure, clarify with the moderators.
• Members should post in a way that is respectful of other users. Flaming or abusing users in any way will not be tolerated and will lead to banning.
• Members are asked to not act as "back seat moderators". If members come across postings contravening this policy document, they are welcome to bring them to the attention of the Moderator Team. Only do this if a moderator team member has not acted on it within 24 hours.
• Members should remember that The Hub is aimed at a general audience. Posting pornographic or generally offensive texts, images, links, etc. will not be tolerated and will lead to banning.
• Members are asked to respect the copyright of other users, sites, media, etc.
• Members should post consistent with "normal writing", i.e. users should not post excessive emoticons, large, small or coloured text, etc. Similarly users should avoid excessive SHOUTING or use of exclamation marks (e.g. ! and ?) in topic titles or posts.
• Members should use appropriate, descriptive titles when posting new topics. Examples of bad titles include; "Help me!", "I'm stuck!", "I've got an error!", etc.
• Members are welcome to use the test forum for general "test purposes". These may include checking signatures, testing a link or image, etc. (subject to previous points on decency, etc.).
• Spam is not tolerated here under any circumstances. This includes offering hosting services (charged and free), installation services, etc. Users posting spam will be banned and their posts removed.
• The moderating, support and other teams reserve the right to edit or remove any post at any time. What is construed as indecent, vulgar, spam, etc. as noted in the above points will be at the sole discretion of the Hub Team Members.
• The above forum rules where applicable also apply to private messaging. Abuse of the private messaging system may lead banning. and/or the revocation of private messaging.

SIGNATURES

• Signatures may contain up to two lines (one line being that displayed on a browser opened to 800px width) of text.
• We suggest that text sizes be between 9 and 12 (small and normal). Text in signatures is subject to the same conditions as posts with respect decency, emoticons, and so forth.

AVATARS

• Users are permitted to utilise a gallery avatar or to link to upload one of their own.
• Avatars should not portray the user as having an official status here (e.g. mimicking ranks or copying avatars of team members)
• Avatars are subject to the same conditions as posts with respect decency, and so forth.
• Users abusing these rules will be warned or banned and/or may lose their avatar privileges.

POLICING

• All acts contravening the policies set out above, will be dealt with severely, including banning from participation.
• While banning a user will be the final resort, Moderators will issue warnings from time to time if the policies are not adhered to. A temporary ban may also be imposed.
• Members who feel that they have been unfairly warned or had their posts removed, are welcome to contact the Hub Admin. Their decision however is final. Contacting Hub Admin over these matters should be done as a very last resort.
• Any attempt to circumvent a temporary ban will lead to that ban being made permanent. Circumvention includes re-registering under a non-banned username, changing IP addresses to evade an IP ban, registering a new email account of evade an email ban. Circumvention includes posting as an anonymous user or creating fake ids’.
• Permanent bans are a last resort and thought is given before implementing them. While The Hub may consider lifting permanent bans from time to time this is a rare occurrence.

Notwithstanding the above, any user found to undermine The Hub, will be banned without any notice. Examples of undermining would include but not restricted to:

a. Creating a duplicate/imitation forum like The Hub
b. Defaming Hub in third party websites or media with the intention of briging disrepute
c. Instigating members against The Hub
d. Threats of violence against fellow users and/or administrators/moderators
e. Acts of rowdyism and terrorism.

While the policies of the Hub may seem a little strict, it must be stressed that this discussion board was created as a service to the community and is being maintained on a completely voluntary basis. We wish to offer the Hub for intelligent, mature and useful discussions, without fear of harassment. Please help us keep the Hub a clean place of knowledge, information and fun.