Please note: There are civil and criminal laws against certain forms of speech like libel, defamation of character, harassment and threats. Please contact us if you see any such content. It is the prerogative of any poster who feels any laws have been violated to pursue legal action. Posters are responsible for what they post, and should realise there may be serious consequences for illegal behaviour.
Suicide threats/threats of violence: The admin of the forum will ALWAYS contact a poster's ISP if we think there's the remotest chance that they may come to harm/harm others. In addition should there be reason to suspect that an animal is at risk the RSPCA WILL be informed.
It is also a condition of your registration that you read the following before posting on the The Forum. See the FAQ Pages for registration and logging in/out problems.
1. Please read the boards for a while before posting: that way you won't repeat questions/threads that have already been asked. Use the 'search' function to see if your topic has already been discussed.
2.The use of the hidden log in is a privilege and not a right the availability of the hidden log in is at the sole discretion of the administrator.
3. Your user id and password are individual and may not be used by anyone else. Impersonation by another person using that password and name is an immediate ban.
4. No blatant advertising of any kind unless you are a rescue organisation looking for help in re homing an animal or have had permission to advertise. This is aimed at commercial organisations rather than individuals and organisations that fund raise for rescues\animal welfare groups . We are not interested in hearing about your company/web site/product/new song/gig/glowing rave underpants. This is a non-profit, community discussion forum, not a free advertising resource and offenders will be given a warning. Persistent spammers will be banned and reported to their ISPs - or worse.
5. Starting new threads. PLEASE give new threads concise and meaningful titles and post them into the appropriate forum. Vague titles (e.g., 'look at this!') just waste time and waste bandwidth. Please take the trouble to spell check your posts.
6. Replying to posts. Do not post up huge reams of cut and paste text, but make things easier for others by summarising the article and including a link to the unabridged version. Users who make a stream of posts with no meaningful content and/or continually post up off topic material in inappropriate threads/forums will be warned and eventually banned if ways are not mended.
Please note: because of server space and performance issues, old posts and entire threads may be deleted without warning - although where possible warnings will be given of any impending culls\purges. PLEASE MAKE COPIES OF THREADS IMPORTANT TO YOU
7. Starting new polls. If you wish to create a poll, carefully consider all the possible/relevant options BEFORE posting and ensure that there isn't already a poll on the same topic. Completely flippant and pointless polls will most likely be deleted.
8. Trolling/direct linking. Do not directly link to 'hostile' web sites (leave gaps in the URL if you wish to refer to them). Anyone found posting up malicious links on other sites and/or trying to stir up 'board wars' will be banned. Persistently disruptive posters will be banned. Repeated efforts to derail the debate could result in forum access termination. Deciding who is a troll or what constitutes troll like behaviour is the prerogative of the staff team.
ยป Trolling FAQ
9. Multiple identities are not generally allowed if you require a posting ID separate to your rescue ID please contact the admin for permission..
10. Racism/personal abuse/defamatory postings/gratuitous swearing etc is not allowed. We welcome lively and robust debate and have no problem with swearing (where appropriate) but posters using these forums to re-enact infantile playground battles will be warned. Please respect people's privacy and refrain from posting up personal details without their permission. Do not mess about with user names or refer to people by their real names (unless they already appear in their user name, of course). Threads that descend into personal insult-a-thons will be edited and could end up being binned and the offending member placed on premod or banned.
11. Remember: the staff team run this site in their own time and for no profit or pay, so unprovoked or sustained personal attacks may result in a ban - show some respect for their hard work! If you are unhappy with the moderation of a post or thread please contact the Host via pm, arguing publicly with a host or admin will result in a warning, continuing after a warning could result in a temporary or permanent ban.
12. Gore/shock-fest/explicit pics and porn are unacceptable, You can check an image's size by right clicking on the image and selecting 'properties'. If you wish to refer to a large image, write a short description and link to the image, including a reference to the full image size if possible. Any images above 628 pixels wide WILL be deleted or, if the host has time, changed to a link. Larger pictures below this size will be removed at the host’s discretion if it is felt the user is going overboard with pictures. Please respect copyright.
13. 'Report this post' option. This is your way of helping the hosts turf out troublesome posters/trollsters and advertisers. Please do not use it for anything other than posts that clearly break the rules listed here. If a post or thread disappears, DO NOT start a thread asking why - PM a host or post up a polite request for information in the feedback forum (and nowhere else) instead. This does not mean that the decision is up for debate.
14. Nutters 'Sheeple'-accusing, bigoted gun nuts, ranting xenophobes, God-squad, disruptive 'comical' alter-egos, conspiraloons, fruitloops and small minded bigots are not welcome.
15. Legal stuff - Please respect the copyrighted work of others. Note that any material posted on these boards may be archived. Fair use policy is applied at this site.
16: Private Messaging is provided to the members of The Forum as a service intended to enhance the 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 forward that message to an Administrator or Host right away. Although private messages are normally only accessible by those who send and receive them, they are part of the database and as such, property of The Refuge. The administrator, if so inclined, could locate the Private Messages in the database and read them. They are private, but not necessarily secret.
17. The Management may, at its sole discretion, restrict, suspend or terminate the registration of any user who violates any of these terms of use, or for any behaviour that the Management, believes is inappropriate, regardless of whether or not a technical breach of the rules has or has not taken place.
18. Membership of this site is at the sole discretion of the management. The forums and the chat rooms are provided for active members who wish to participate in an interactive online community. Non active members are liable to have their membership suspended and or removed without notice.
19. The interpretation of the rules is at the sole discretion of the management. They are not open for debate or discussions, if you do not like them then you are free to leave. There are thousands of forums on the internet where you can moan, rant, rave and scream and be a complete fruitloop at the owner’s expense. This isn’t one of them!
20. Banning/Temp bans If a user is banned they have two choices:
1. Apologise profusely to the staff in the hope of being reinstated.
2. Never darken the doorstep again.
Temporary bans can be implemented if a poster goes over the top - these usually last from 24hrs to a week. Banned posters trying to sneak back in will be re-banned immediately and permanently. Persistent attempts will result in a mail to their ISP.
If a poster is banned, DO NOT start a thread demanding an instant, in-depth explanation: politely PM a host instead (although we're under no obligation whatsoever to dedicate time to answering individual requests).
Temp and Weekend bans. Posters who are "temp banned" on a Friday will find their ban extended for the whole duration of the weekend (i.e. if you get banned on a Friday or a Saturday afternoon, you won't be allowed back on until Monday morning). An apology to the involved member of staff after a temp ban will go a long way to showing you are willing to abide by the rules in future.
Posters temp banned twice in a two week period will immediately be banned for seven days (i.e. the second temp ban in a two week period will automatically be extended to 7 days).
NOTE: Ignorance to our policies is not an acceptable excuse for violations. We want to provide a friendly community for everyone and protect the identity and privacy of all forums users.
Members who will enjoy posting here will have a sense of humor, be willing to take responsibility for what they choose to post & be able to deal with their own disputes privately or with limited intervention from the staff. Members should also be aware that humor is subjective and that you may sometimes not be amused by things your fellow members find funny, in which case we suggest you either report the post for the staff to consider or simply opt not to read the thread. Members who continue to participate in threads they find uncomfortable are choosing to do so voluntarily and thus must take responsibility for their choices.
We hope you enjoy The Forum
Kind Regards
Admin
We reserve the right to add rules or change the rules without any prior warning.
Wed Apr 08, 2009 3:27 pm