Rules and Guidelines

This document is designed to clarify various responsibilities of community members here at the T-Bucket Forums.

Please read it and become familiar with it, it's terms are retroactive and agreed to by team and group members.

T-BUCKET FORUMS RULES AND GUIDELINES

a. Posts submitted to the T-Bucket Forums are expected to be written in English as it is the default language of our community.

b. Members should post in a way that is respectful of other users. It is not the intention of the T-Bucket Forums Administrator to limit free speech, however discussions between forum members will be conducted in a civil and friendly spirit. "Flaming" or abusing users in any way will not be tolerated and will lead to a warning or ban. If a thread topic gets too far astray, that thread can and will be locked, so no future posts can be made on that thread. Locking a thread will lead to the individuals involved receiving an infraction.

c. T-Bucket Forums members should remember this board is aimed at an audience of all ages. Posting suggestive, pornographic or generally offensive text, images, links, etc. will not be tolerated and will lead to an infraction. Posts containing any of this material will be removed.

d. T-Bucket Forums members are asked to respect the copyright of other users, sites, media, etc. Users wanting to use copyright material are limited to quoting two (2) sentences from the original work, if they include Fair Use identification and a link to the source in their posting. Quoting or copying any other material must be accompanied with written permission from the rights holder and mailed to Helix Computing. Users linking to or asking for information on warez, crackz, etc. or re-printing material without permission will receive a warning and their post will be removed.

e. By posting or submitting material, uploading files, inputting data, or engaging in any other form of communication through Helix Computing or the T-Bucket Forums, you are granting Helix Computing, the T-Bucket Forums and all associated entities a royalty-free, perpetual, non-exclusive, unrestricted, worldwide license to use, reproduce, edit, modify, adapt, translate, create derivative works from, distribute, communicate to the public and publicly display the submitted content (in whole or in part) worldwide and/or to incorporate it other works in any form, media or technology now known or later developed for the full term of any rights that may exist in the content.

f. T-Bucket Forums members will respect the bandwidth of other users and sites. The use of inline image tags pointing to data stored on third party systems for which the user has not received written permission to link to will be removed and the user will be warned. Written permission must be sent to Helix Computing before such material will be allowed. Hot-linking to third party images is theft of bandwidth.

g. T-Bucket Forums members are expected to post in a way which is consistent with "normal writing". That is users should not post excessive numbers of emoticons, bold, large, small or colored text, etc. Similarly users should not SHOUT or use excessive punctuation (e.g. ! and ?) in topic titles or posts. Users consistently abusing this will be warned.

h. Spam is not tolerated on the T-Bucket Forums under any circumstances. The submission of any type of advertising or self-promotion without first becoming a forum sponsor is strictly prohibited. This includes posting a URL to your services, affiliate links, or a competing Web site. This rule also includes sending spam via private messages. Users posting spam will be warned and their post removed or edited. Links to offensive or competitive sites will be removed at the sole discretion of the T-Bucket Forums staff members.

i. The T-Bucket Forums Staff reserves the right to edit or remove any post at any time. The determination of what is construed as indecent, vulgar, spam, etc. as noted in these points is up to the Administrator and Staff Members, not users.

j. Private Messaging is provided to the members of the T-Bucket Forums as a service intended to enhance the overall community experience. The purpose of Private Messaging is to allow for discreet conversations to take place between members. This privilege is not to be abused! Solicitation, spamming, or harassment of any kind is strictly forbidden. Any member receiving an inappropriate private message should immediately forward that message to the Administrator or a Moderator.

k. Reminders or warnings of T-Bucket Forums staff members should be discussed with the particular staff member via private messages, not in the forums.

l. If a T-Bucket Forums member chooses to quote a post in a reply only a small relevant section of the original post should be quoted, not the entire post.

m. If a T-Bucket Forums member receives a private message or email from another user, it is expected for that member to keep the message private and not post it publicly without prior consent of the sender.

n. Requests for membership removal will be denied. The T-Bucket Forums provide free registration, where visitors find the forums and register membership of their own free will and accord. If members find any part of the T-Bucket Forums unappealing, they are expected to simply abandon the forums and never visit them again. Likewise, any requests to have posts removed will also be denied (see Section (e) above.)

o. Requests made by T-Bucket Forums members for a change of username will be considered by the forum staff members on an individual basis. We reserve te right to deny any and all requests.

p. No political or religious posts will be allowed on The T-Bucket Forums. If you want to engage others in discussions on these divisive topics, please visit a forum established for that purpose. Every member of the T-Bucket Forums has a perfect right to his or her own religious faith and political beliefs, however this is not the proper place to discuss either. Posts of this type will be removed.

q. Effective immediately, all members of the T-Bucket Forums are required to provide and maintain a valid e-mail address as a condition of continuing to receive full forum privileges. The forum software makes use of e-mail communication to provide notices of activity on subscribed threads, of new Private Messages and as a reminder to inactive members.

r. Multiple user accounts on this site are prohibited and anyone registering with more than one account runs the risk of having all accounts deleted.

POLICING

a. The T-Bucket Forums operates on a three strike policy. Users can receive no more than three infractions for any and all offenses in a three month period. If the need arises for a fourth infraction a permanent ban will be the result. There is an exception to this rule. If the violation is deemed to be severe or blatant it will lead to an immediate ban without warning.

b. Arguing with T-Bucket Forums staff members after having received an infraction or warning will lead to an immediate additional infraction. Should this exceed three strikes a permanent ban will be the result, as above.

c. T-Bucket Forums members who feel they have received an infraction unfairly are welcome to contact the Administrator of this forum, in ONE (1) Private Message. If it is determined the infraction was issued unfairly, the infraction may (or may not) be lifted.

d. Any attempt to circumvent a ban from the T-Bucket Forums will lead to their IP adress being blocked at the server level. Circumvention includes re-registering under a non-banned username, changing IP addresses to evade an IP ban, or registering a new email account to evade an email ban

e. An exception to the three strike rule applies when users contact T-Bucket Forums Staff members personally (via any method) and post insulting, indecent or vulgar material. Such users will be subject to an immediate and permanent ban.

f. Permanent bans are a last resort and thought is given before implementing them. While the T-Bucket Forums staff may consider lifting permanent bans from time to time, this is a rare occurrence.

The T-Bucket Forums and Web site are independently owned and operated by Helix Computing. As such, these forums do not fall under any obligation to the First Amendment of the United States Constitution concerning free speech.

The T-Bucket Forums' rules are subject to change without notice. Such changes will be reflected in the relevant pages of the T-Bucket Forums upon alteration and become effective when they are published to the T-Bucket Forums Web site.

This forum was created for your pleasure, so please enjoy it! When everyone is enjoying themselves, we won't have to be concerned about obeying and/or enforcing any rules.