Community Rules

Forum Message Policy

• Acceptable Language
  In general, we accept language that is commonly heard on network television evening news. Gratuitous obscenity and/or explicit or implicit descriptions of sex do not belong in this forum. Messages containing vulgar language or profanity are not allowed. Partially masking an unacceptable word with asterisks or other symbols does not make the word acceptable if it is still recognizable.


• Respect For Others
  While disagreements will understandably arise, we ask that members try to correspond in a friendly and good-mannered fashion. Personal disparagement, libel, slander, and harassment are unacceptable. Please try to focus on the issues, not on your correspondent. Attack the message, not the messenger! Personal attacks on other members are not permitted, regardless of the perceived provocation. If you are offended by someone else's message, you may bring it to the attention of the forum staff; but please do not respond "in kind" to any perceived offense by another member.


• Member Names/Handles/Name Issues
  The use of obscene or otherwise offensive forum names, handles or nicknames is not permitted.
  
  Impersonation of another user or a public figure, living or dead, is not permitted.


• Unacceptable Messages
  The following types of message are NOT permitted in the forum:


• Any form of direct or indirect personal attack on another forum member or any member of the RV Forum staff.
• Inappropriate familiarity (alluding to another person's private life or asking personal questions of a person whom the questioner doesn't know well).
• Messages that have the purpose of disrupting forum discussion. Such disruption can include one-liners, multiple postings of the same offensive message, and other forms of harassment.
• Duplicate messages across the forum. In other words, posting the same message in more than one of our message boards.
• Messages from other forums or privileged information may not be posted without the specific permission of the original author.
• Repetitive messages of the same material which ignore the general discussion taking place in a topic. In other words, posting the same, or nearly the same message over and over again when replying to members.
• Messages that are propaganda in nature and ignore a topic for the purpose of furthering a particular agenda of the person, a group or organization.
• Commercial advertisements, ads for information exchange (petitions, surveys, questionnaires), and soliciting for funds. 'Associate links', such as amazon associate links, that pay a commission are considered commercial advertising, and such links are not allowed.
  We do, however, allow private for-sale ads, and these should be posted with For sale or Sale in the subject line. A sale is considered private/non-commercial if the seller is merely disposing of a personal item or asset rather than being in business to sell such items/assets. If you're unsure, please drop a personal message or email to the Forum Administrator.
• Messages which attempt to disrupt operation of the RV Forum by directing users to competing forums, groups or web sites.
• Bad mouthing the forum staff, the forum software or the software developers.


• Attempts To Organize Boycotts
  Please do not attempt to use the RV Forum as a platform to organize a boycott against a company. Rants against a manufacturer, dealer, or repair shop for real or perceived mistreatment are generally not acceptable.
  
  On the other hand, reports of poor quality products or poor service, giving the circumstances, are generally acceptable.
  
  
• Political and Religious Ranting
  Political and religious rants can lead to some ugly discussions and arguments, even among otherwise polite and friendly people. Over the years, RV Forum members have expressed a desire to avoid these kinds of discussions in our forum, preferring to maintain harmony. So, please post your political and religious views elsewhere such as one of the many alternative venues that cater to such discussions.


• Copyright and Fair Use
  No forum message or library file may contain any copyrighted material of any kind or in any form unless the author/owner has given permission. The only exception is the exception of 'fair use' that is contained in the current copyright law.
  
  Quoting one or two lines or a paragraph of a copyrighted work (fair use) should be sufficient to get a point across and then a link (URL) to the article will permit other members to read the entire article. Alternatively, a member might summarize the main points of an article in their own words and then provide a link to the original work. We encourage members to NOT use extensive back quoting from copyrighted articles to make points during a discussion. We will not restrict members from using a back-quoting method, but the more quotes that are used the more at risk the message will become for copyright infringement under fair use and we may be forced to move the message out of view.
  
  Determining a possible fair use infringement will, in most cases, be a matter of judgment. We would ask that members use their best judgment in writing messages where fair use quoting is included, and the staff of this forum will use their best judgment in determining if the message has exceeded the limits of fair use.


• Violation of the Registration Agreement, Terms Of Service, or RV Forum Rules.
  RV Forum staff may remove from public view any message which, in its sole discretion, appears to be inconsistent with the Registration Agreement, Terms Of Service, or RV forum rules. Based on the nature of the violation, a member may be banned the forum, or otherwise prevented from posting messages, by the RV Forum management. Members who are banned from the forum may contact the RV Forum Administrator to discuss the reason(s) for the ban.
  
  

General Guidelines On Posting Messages

• Message Board
  Post your message to the most appropriate message board. This places your message so the most interested and knowledgeable Forum members will be likely to see it. Posting a query about TV satellite dishes in the Shade Tree message board may result in the most informed members NOT seeing it. Messages posted in incorrect/inappropriate message boards may be moved by forum staff to assist in you getting the most people seeing your message as possible.


• Message Subject
  Give your message a clear and appropriate subject. Not everyone reads all the message boards. Some just browse, only reading messages if the title is interesting. If you're asking a question, you want to get others involved in answering you and an appropriate subject helps.


• Message Content
  Be specific in what questions you ask in your messages. Please don't "shotgun" broad, general questions; Ask direct questions about what you want answers to. That way, more members will be likely to respond and with more informative answers to your questions.


• Replying to a topic
  The nature of our forum software is such that, when you post a reply, you're actually replying to the topic, not to an individual. If your reply is intended for a specific member, please be sure to include the member's name or screen name in your message. Alternatively, use the Quote feature to quote a small part of the message you're replying to.


• Grammar And Spelling
  We do not attempt to enforce any rules of grammar and spelling. However, please try to compose your message carefully so that it will be easily understood. A spellchecker feature is included on the message composition screen.


• All Caps
  Please do not use all capital letters (or upper case) when typing your message. It is certainly easier to type with the CAPS LOCK on, but online it's considered somewhat rude and is perceived as the equivalent of shouting. It also makes your messages difficult to read, especially for the visually challenged who use software to read the messages to them.


• Quoting In Replies
  The forum software allows you to easily quote from a message that you're replying to. This can help clarify what it is that you're replying to or commenting on. However, please avoid quoting an entire message in your reply since this can be annoying for others following the discussion and adds unnecessarily to the downloading time of messages.


• Links to personal web sites and blogs.
  We have no issue with links to non-commercial personal web sites and blogs. However, these links should be placed in one of two locations:
  
  (a) Visit your Profile and insert your link in the field Website URL. At the same time ensure you enter something in the field Website title. These actions will result in a 'globe' icon appearing beneath your avatar in forum posts. Folks can roll their cursor over the globe to see the title of your site and, if they click on the globe, they'll be taken directly to your site.
  
  (b)Put the URL in your signature line.
  
  Links (URLs) that are primarily intended to invite visitors to other sites and are not in direct response to the subject matter of the thread are unwelcome here and will be removed by the forum staff.
  
  Links in the body of forum messages deemed to be commercial ads or solicitations will be cause for banning a member from the forum and their message(s) removed. We have zero tolerance for such links, otherwise known as spam.


• Signature
  Creating a signature via your forum profile eliminates the need to repeatedly type the same information into every message. The signature will be automatically appended to your forum messages.
  
  Forum members typically include their name(s), location, and make and model of RV in their signature. Listing all your assests, family members, and pets really isn't really necessary, and results in unnecessarily long signatures.
  
  We ask that members follow the same guidelines as those listed for forum messages when creating their signature. This includes the use of appropriate language and avoiding political or other positions that could inflame or offend others.
  
  
• Personal (Private) Messages
  Personal (private) messages are enabled in the RV Forum and should be used for private discussions between two parties. However, the Personal Message feature is not intended to replace email for the bulk of your private discussions.

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