Forum Rules and Acceptable Use Policy

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 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, Gallery and Chatrooms.
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.  They will operate within the terms of the Moderators Code of Practice.

 
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.  Continued usage will indicate acceptance of any changes.

 
3. GENERAL RULES
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 are not. If you've a dispute with someone, don't inflame it in a public forum. If you must argue, do so 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 'Boards' 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 Boards, 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 hatred (including but not limited to racial or religious hatred).
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.
3.7. Textspeak
Don't use textspeak. This includes both the use of acronyms (eg LOL for Laugh Out Loud), and deliberately misspelled and incomplete words (eg wiv, l8r, etc). Additionally avoid repeated overuse of punctuation marks.
3.8. Spelling
Please make an effort to ensure your posts are spelt correctly and are coherent. Badly spelt posts are difficult to read and an annoyance to other Members. We have provided a spelling checker you to use, thus there is no justification for badly spelt posts.
3.9. Relevance
If you have nothing to add, then don't add anything (eg posts such as 'I agree'). Try to keep posts on topic, and ensure new topics are appropriately named. Posts that contravene this rule may be deleted without notice or explanation.
3.10. Two Way Discussion
Don't ruin threads by turning them into discussions between two members, use alternative facilities such as the chatrooms or private messaging.
3.11. Sexuality
Please do not speculate on the sexuality of others. This can cause distress, and could potentially leave both yourself and the Forum open to legal action.
 
4. LEGALS
4.1. 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.
4.2. Copyrighted Material
It is up to individual members to make sure their posts are not in breach of copyright. The copyright holder should be contacted if the terms of usage are unclear.
4.3. Quoting External Sources
When quoting, members should identify sources (providing links where appropriate), and add something of their own, such as an opinion or question.
4.4 Contempt of Court
Please do not comment on any ongoing legal issue as this may be in breach of the Contempt of Court Act 1981.
4.5 Stay Within The Law
You are responsible for ensuring that you do not break the law. You should make sure any posts do not do break the law, or advocate breaking the law. If you admit to breaking the law on these boards, it may become permissible evidence under British Law.
 
5. TECHNICAL RULES
5.1. HTML in Posts
We do not allow users to post HTML code on the forum because of potential security problems this may 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.
5.2. Signatures
We do not currently allow pictures (including banners) 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 web pages 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.
5.3. Avatars
All users may upload Avatars to their profile. This should be a maximum size of 100x100 pixels and should not be offensive or infringe on existing copyrights. Animated GIFs should be avoided, especially flashing images, as these take longer to download and may distress some users.
5.4. Usernames
Usernames may contain a variety of characters and words, it shouldn'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.
5.5 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. Users who register for the sole purpose of Spamming will have their account deleted without notice.
 
6. ADMINISTERING THESE RULES
6.1 The Forum Staff are responsible for the enforcement of these rules under the Moderators Code of Practice, as they deem appropriate.