1. DEFINITIONS
1.1. The UCLAN LGBT Forum (hereafter known as the Forum) is an on-line discussion board in which Members may discuss a wide range of topics.
1.2. Members of the Forum shall be members of the UCLAN Students, UCLAN Alumni, or other parties with LGBT related interests who sign up on-line in order to participate in discussions on the Forum and to use the additional community services provided, such as personal communication between Members.
1.3. The Staff of the Forum shall be Members of the Forum specifically appointed with tasks regarding the moderation and maintenance of the forum. 


2. REMIT AND ACCEPTANCE
2.1. By becoming a member of the Forum, members are choosing to accept these rules and associated documents governing use of the Forum, and undersign to follow them to the best of their ability.
2.2. These Rules govern the use of the Forum, including but not limited to its public discussion areas, it’s members-only discussion areas and private communication between members as well as related communication.
2.3. These rules are subject to change at any time, but if they are changed Members will be notified. 


3. GENERAL RULES
These being the fundamental rules which members must follow at all times
3.1. General Behaviour
As in any other social situation, Members are expected to act appropriately. Just because the Forum is an online medium, it doesn’t make it any less important to treat others with respect.
This also extends to personal privacy, and respecting the right of individual members not to be unduly harassed or upset by your actions.
3.2. Criticise Ideas, Not People
Lively debate is welcome, but blatant arguments aren’t. If you’ve a dispute with someone, don’t inflame it in a public forum – if you must argue, argue privately. Members who seek to use the forum solely to inflame people, or ‘troll’, are not welcome.
3.3. Appropriate Forums
There are a variety of different topic areas, or ‘Forums’ in which Members can post threads (discussions of a particular topic). We encourage Members to use the right forum for their topic.
3.4. Appropriate Content
There is a mixed audience reading posts on the Forum, the forums in which, with a couple of exceptions, are available to the general public to read as well as other members.
We ask that members consider this when posting on the forum. We don’t allow adult content, or inappropriate images, and we don’t allow posts that discuss or advocate breaking the law or promote racial or religious hatred. It’s also up to individual members to make sure their posts are not in breach of copyright.
3.5. Shouting
Do not type in all capitals as this is considered as "shouting" and therefore rude. Users who repeatedly shout will be warned and may have their accounts terminated.
3.6. Swearing
Clearly, we’re all adults, however, please try to be considerate whenever your post and we won’t tolerate excessive swearing – it’s not big, it’s not clever, but you can legitimately use it in moderation. You should note we do not tolerate usernames containing swearwords. 


4. TECHNICAL RULES
These rules relate to the technology, rather than interaction on the board themselves. They are, nonetheless, important
4.1. HTML in Posts
We do not allow users to post HTML code on the forum because of potential security problems this might cause. If you don’t know what HTML is – don’t worry. If you do know what HTML is, you can use the board’s own coding system, to format text, add images and so on.
4.2. Signatures
We do not currently allow pictures in signatures. Users can add pictures to their avatars which appear alongside their posts, and this should be more than enough; any more can make webpages long and slow to download.
We also discourage users from having long signatures – a few lines should be more than enough. Typically, this could be personal details, a link to your website, or a quote.
4.3. Copyright
Members posting on the Forum license their posts to be read by other users and published and archived on the Forum. However, they maintain ownership of copyright and responsibility for ensuring they have the right to post any content that is not their own intellectual property.
By posting, they also grant the Forum, it’s staff, and their agents, the limited right to use their posts or portions thereof to promote the Forum or the LGBT Society and website.
4.4. Usernames
Usernames may contain a variety of characters and words – it needn’t be a member’s real name. However, we do not tolerate usernames containing swearwords or those where they might cause confusion – deliberate or otherwise – with another member or a member of staff. In these cases, members will be asked to change their username.
The Staff are also able to change individual usernames in some cases upon request and at their discretion.
4.5 Avatars
All users may upload Avatars to their profile. This must be a maximum size of 80x80 pixels and should not be offensive or infringe on existing copyrights.
4.6 Spam
Spamming will not be tolerated. Any such posts will be deleted, and their author(s) contacted with a warning. Repeat offenders may have their accounts terminated.