Jump to content

Guidelines

Opel Manta Owners Club Forum Rules

 

These rules govern the use of the message board forum of the Opel Manta Owners

 

Club (UK) (the "Forum").

 

DISCLAIMER. Other than official Opel Manta Owners Club ("Club") announcements

 

and notices, the Club does not vouch for or warrant the accuracy, completeness or

 

usefulness of any message, and is not responsible for the contents of any message.

 

The messages express the views of the author of the message, not necessarily the

 

views of the Club. Individual members remain solely responsible for the content of

 

their messages, and as a potential poster, you agree to indemnify and hold the Club,

 

the officers, Forum Administrator, Moderators and Forum sponsors harmless with

 

respect to any claim based upon transmission of your message(s).

 

1. DEFINITIONS

 

Unless defined in these rules, all capitalised terms used herein are defined in the

 

constitution of the Club, attached hereto by reference.

 

1.a. Forum Administrator

 

The Forum Administrator manages the Moderators and is answerable to the

 

Executive Committee for all matters relating to the Forum. The Forum Administrator

 

ensures the software and hardware keeps running and that the rules for users and

 

Moderators are adhered to; however, they are not concerned with day to day content

 

of the Forum.

 

1.b. Moderator

 

Operates within the Rules for Moderators (Section 4) and ensures the Rules for

 

Forum Users (section 3) are complied with. The Moderators are not concerned with

 

the hardware and software of the Forum, they are concerned with the content. There

 

should be no fewer than 2 Moderators, no more than 8.

 

2. APPOINTMENT OF FORUM ADMINISTRATOR AND MODERATORS

 

The appointment or removal of the Forum Administrator or a Moderator shall be

 

announced on the Forum within 24 hours of such appointment or removal.

 

2.a. Forum Administrator

 

i. The Forum Administrator is appointed by the Executive Committee, and is

 

answerable to the Executive Committee for all administration and moderation tasks.

 

The Forum Administrator may be, but is not required to be, a member and / or a

 

member of the Executive Committee.

 

ii. The Forum Administrator may be removed by the Executive Committee and a new

 

Forum Administrator appointed if the Forum Administrator wishes to leave the post

 

or if the Executive Committee believes that the actions of the Forum Administrator

 

are inappropriate or not in the best interests of the Club.

 

2.b. Moderator appointment

 

i. The Executive Committee shall recommend certain Club members to the Forum

 

Administrator from time to time for appointment as Moderators.

 

ii. The Forum Administrator decides whether to appoint a nominee made by the

 

Executive Committee in his sole discretion.

 

iii. The Forum Administrator can only appoint Moderators without Executive

 

Committee nomination in the case that there are fewer than 2 Moderators. In this

 

case, the Forum Administrator may only appoint Moderators up to a total of 2.

 

iv. The Chairman and Forum Administrator both have Moderator access to the

 

Forum, although neither are Moderators.

 

v. None of the Club committee (executive or not) is automatically a Moderator,

 

although committee members may be given section moderator access to areas that

 

are directly related to their committee post. For example, if there is finance section

 

on the Forum, the treasurer would be a section moderator.

 

vi. Moderators may request to have their Moderator access removed if they no

 

longer wish to be a Moderator. Such a request may not be refused and should be

 

actioned as soon as possible.

 

vii. The Forum Administrator or the Executive Committee may remove a user's

 

Moderator access to the forum if they believe the actions of the Moderator are

 

inappropriate or not in the best interests of the Club. Neither the Forum

 

Administrator nor the Executive Committee are required to give the Moderator prior

 

notice of this action.

 

3. RULES FOR FORUM USERS

 

3.a. General behaviour

 

Be tolerant, understanding and respectful of other people's point of view. If you

 

strongly disagree or are upset over somebody's posting, simply respond by stating

 

your point of view. Do NOT criticize, censure or ridicule others for their beliefs,

 

opinions or views.

 

We encourage you to be active in generating new threads and share your own

 

insights on the threads posted. We expect you to extend courtesy and respect to

 

your fellow posters. We would like you to engage in lively, dynamic interaction with

 

your fellow posters. Please be reminded that you are not to start an argument, post

 

a topic or message to draw angry reactions (trolling) or to insult or malign your

 

fellow posters. Personal attacks will NOT be tolerated. Using epithets, slurs, and

 

name-calling are offenses that will be dealt with immediately by the Moderators.

 

Flaming nor inciting others to do so will NOT be tolerated.

 

The use of signatures and avatars are permitted so long as they do not exceed the

 

maximum size as stated in the User Control Panel section.

 

Avoid "shouting" on posts by submitting a post that is in full CAPS. When advised by

 

a Moderator, you should edit such posts to remove the shouting, or you may request

 

a Moderator delete the post.

 

Chain letters, pyramid schemes, and solicitations are inappropriate on this Forum

 

and may be deleted immediately with no further explanation. Members who post

 

such schemes may be suspended from the Forum and, if they continue to post, may

 

be banned without any notification or warning.

 

3.b. Only one posting on a topic is allowed

 

Use the SEARCH function before posting a new thread. If Moderators find your post

 

to be the duplicate of another, you will be advised of such and reminded of the rules.

 

Repeated duplicate posts may be subject to deletion by a Moderator. In extreme

 

cases you may be subject to the disciplinary procedure.

 

3.c. Keep it clean

 

You agree that you will refrain from posting any message / 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 a violation of any law; this includes personal avatars, signatures and

 

photos that may accompany any post. Insults and slurs made either publicly or

 

privately (through personal messaging) in the course of such continued discussion,

 

willful disregard of the rules of this Forum and ignoring the warnings and actions of a

 

Moderator will not be tolerated.

 

The Forum will automatically censor most profane words, however any text

 

insinuating profanity (using abbreviations, another language, leaving one or two

 

letters missing in the word, etc) will also be considered as profanity itself.

 

3.d. Ownership, copyrights and trademarks

 

You agree NOT to post, advertise or sale any copyrighted material without the

 

express written permission of the copyright owner. Proper credits must accompany

 

quotes or posts lifted from other sources. In the event that the Moderators find

 

content they believe to be plagiarized, we reserve the right to delete any without

 

prior notice.

 

3.e. Classified advertisements

 

The Club takes no responsibility for any transaction that takes place between

 

consenting parties in the Classifieds Section of the Forum. We DO NOT verify sellers

 

or buyers and will not intercede on either the buyer or seller's behalf. We advise all

 

members to use caution when conducting private transactions. Detailed guidelines on

 

the use of the Classifieds Section may be found in the Classifieds Section.

 

3.f. Access

 

This forum is used and maintained by the Club for its members and sponsors. As

 

such, visitors to this Forum who are NOT members of the Club shall be allowed

 

access only to certain sections of this Forum. If you have access to areas reserved

 

for Club members you may not copy all or partial posts from, or provide links to,

 

posts in such areas to users who are non-members.

 

3.g. Reporting offensive posts

 

If you feel that a posted message is objectionable you should contact a Moderator

 

immediately by email to moderator@mantaclub.org or PM to the "Moderators" Forum

 

account. If Moderators determine that removal is necessary, they will do so

 

immediately with or without notification to user who posted the message.

 

3.h. Grievances

 

If you disagree with the behaviour of another Forum user, you should in the first

 

instance "take it outside" and attempt to resolve the issue privately via PM or email

 

with the Forum user concerned. "Fighting" on the open Forum is not tolerated.

 

If you cannot resolve the issue privately, or if you have an issue with the actions of a

 

Moderator, you should use the following procedure to resolve the issue:

 

i) In the first instance, PM the "Moderators" Forum user or email

 

moderator@mantaclub.org. A moderator should respond within 24 hours.

 

ii) If the response from the Moderator is not acceptable, or there is no response

 

within 24 hours, PM the Forum Administrator "Admin" user or send an email to

 

admin@mantaclub.org. The administrator will either get a Moderator to respond (in

 

the case of not receiving a reply) or will arbitrate if you wish to contest the

 

Moderator's response.

 

iii) If the Forum Administrator does not resolve the issue to your satisfaction, PM or

 

email the Chairman. The Chairman will investigate the matter and their decision is

 

final.

 

Posting questions or issues that should be directed to a moderator onto a Forum

 

thread, failure to follow this procedure to resolve an issue, or challenging the

 

decision of the Chairman is not allowed.

 

3.i. Disciplinary procedure

 

Users who violate these Forum rules shall be sanctioned as follows:

 

i) First Current Offence: notification by Moderator, appropriate "clean up" action to

 

be taken by violator or Moderators.

 

ii) Second Current Offence: 1 month suspension from the Forum and (if a Club

 

member) suspension from Club activities.

 

iii) Third Current Offence: banned from Forum, deletion of account and (if a Club

 

member) cancellation of membership indefinitely.

 

In each case, a Current Offence is a violation of the Forum rules by that user that

 

has occurred within the immediately preceding 6 months.

 

4. RULES FOR MODERATORS

 

4.a. Moderate only when absolutely necessary

 

Forum posts do not need spelling fixes or clarifications from Moderators. Remember,

 

it is not your Forum any more than it belongs to any other user, so you should not

 

act as though you own the Forum. Moderators should strive to be invisible.

 

4.b. Moderate only through the Moderators user

 

Moderators should moderate only through the "Moderators" Forum user or by using

 

the moderator@mantaclub.org email alias; they should keep their own forum ID and

 

email address separate for normal Forum activity.

 

4.c. Moderate swiftly and dispassionately

 

Moderators should apply the Rules for Forum Users (Section 3. above) in a timely

 

manner, equally to all users of the Forum. Penalties in Section 3.i. above should be

 

applied as stated, without further leeway for friends or extra penalties for foes.

 

Moderators who do not moderate in a dispassionate manner will be removed and

 

may be banned from the Forum.

 

4.d. Keep Moderator discussion off the main Forum

 

Moderators should keep discussion amongst themselves about possible Moderator

 

action, and should limit it to email, PM or a section of the Forum that is accessible

 

only to Moderators. If Moderators cannot agree on a course of action, they should

 

consult the Forum Administrator and/or the Chairman for a resolution. The

 

 

Chairman's decision is final.

 

 

×
×
  • Create New...