Board Guidelines

Go to bottom of page

Board Guidelines
No personal attacks! From time to time, discussions may grow heated. This is to be expected considering the wide range of people with differing backgrounds and experience that visit here. Reasoned, passionate debates are fine. Personal insults, name calling and attacks however have no place here. Obscene, vulgar, sexually-orientated, hateful, threatening, racist, sexist or discriminatory posts are not permitted. This board is frequented by people of all age groups and backgrounds. Help others. The forum is a community, and works best when people share information. Give feedback. If someone helps you by answering your question, try to add a follow-up response letting them know if it worked or not. Don't post material which is knowingly false or defamatory, or violates a person's privacy. This includes copying ads from other web sites which contains personal contact information (this also violates copyright). Give people the benefit of the doubt. Sometimes people can write something which you may find offensive. Before launching into a public condemnation though, please consider that the person may not have intended to cause offence. It is very easy to misinterpret a post on forums. Check with the person to find out what they intended. Be forgiving of people's mistakes. No-one is perfect. Public condemnation or judgemental posts on the forum of a person's actions (regardless of how wrong you think they may be) is unacceptable under any circumstances. I am sure we have all done something in our life where, in hindsight, was not the best choice. Keep personal conflicts / breed politics away from the board. Unfortunately in the dog world, many 'enemies' are made. If you have a problem with a person away from the board (e.g. from dog shows etc.), don't bring it to the board. (This includes masked attacks supposedy made in jest or in normal topic conversation). Be welcoming of new members. Posting for the first time on an established forum is daunting enough without being jumped upon and given the third degree. Do not chastise them for not reading the forum etiquette. Make them feel welcome in the community and politely direct them towards this page. You are not obliged to reply to every post on the board, so if you feel the need to give them the third degree before replying to them, then don't reply. This also applies to people who you consider to be trolls (as they may in fact not be). If you think the person is a troll, report it and let the moderation team deal with it. Post comments such as 'troll alert' etc. at your own expense. Keep your message and questions on topic. Do try and keep to the topic of the thread. If you want to raise a new issue then consider whether a new topic is more appropriate. Stay away from 'Bloodbath' threads Occasionally a thread will turn into a bloodbath (for the want of a better word) before we can get to remove it. If you notice this type of thread (you will know if you are ever unlucky enough to see one), we advise that you do not add your own comments and stay well clear of it. All participants in such threads (where it is obvious that it has turned nasty) will be appropriately dealt with. The Administrators of the board reserve the right to remove members, without warning, if a member is deemed to be in anyway hostile, confrontational or arguementative in any posts made on the site. The Administrators also reserve the right to take preventative measures by removing the PM facility and placing the member on moderated posts if they felt the member is, in anyway, causing ill feeling. No Trolling A troll is a person who posts just to inflame others then sits back and watches the fireworks. Useful Tips - Use the PM system rather than email. Its probably best to not disclose your email address for all to see. (Go to your user CONTROL PANEL to edit this setting. - Before posting a question about how the forum works, or how to use a feature, check the comprehensive forum help. There is a link to the main help system in the top right corner, as well as a Help forum with FAQ's where you can ask questions. - Message a Moderator or Admin if you need assistance - preferably the forums moderator(s). They can assist you in a variety of ways.

Board Guidelines

No personal attacks!
From time to time, discussions may grow heated. This is to be expected considering the wide range of people with differing backgrounds and experience that visit here. Reasoned, passionate debates are fine. Personal insults, name calling and attacks however have no place here.

Obscene, vulgar, sexually-orientated, hateful, threatening, racist, sexist or discriminatory posts are not permitted.
This board is frequented by people of all age groups and backgrounds.

Help others.
The forum is a community, and works best when people share information.

Give feedback.
If someone helps you by answering your question, try to add a follow-up response letting them know if it worked or not.

Don't post material which is knowingly false or defamatory, or violates a person's privacy.
This includes copying ads from other web sites which contains personal contact information (this also violates copyright).

Give people the benefit of the doubt.
Sometimes people can write something which you may find offensive. Before launching into a public condemnation though, please consider that the person may not have intended to cause offence. It is very easy to misinterpret a post on forums. Check with the person to find out what they intended.

Be forgiving of people's mistakes.
No-one is perfect. Public condemnation or judgemental posts on the forum of a person's actions (regardless of how wrong you think they may be) is unacceptable under any circumstances. I am sure we have all done something in our life where, in hindsight, was not the best choice.

Keep personal conflicts / breed politics away from the board.
Unfortunately in the dog world, many 'enemies' are made. If you have a problem with a person away from the board (e.g. from dog shows etc.), don't bring it to the board. (This includes masked attacks supposedy made in jest or in normal topic conversation).

Be welcoming of new members.
Posting for the first time on an established forum is daunting enough without being jumped upon and given the third degree. Do not chastise them for not reading the forum etiquette. Make them feel welcome in the community and politely direct them towards this page. You are not obliged to reply to every post on the board, so if you feel the need to give them the third degree before replying to them, then don't reply. This also applies to people who you consider to be trolls (as they may in fact not be). If you think the person is a troll, report it and let the moderation team deal with it. Post comments such as 'troll alert' etc. at your own expense.

Keep your message and questions on topic.
Do try and keep to the topic of the thread. If you want to raise a new issue then consider whether a new topic is more appropriate.

Stay away from 'Bloodbath' threads
Occasionally a thread will turn into a bloodbath (for the want of a better word) before we can get to remove it. If you notice this type of thread (you will know if you are ever unlucky enough to see one), we advise that you do not add your own comments and stay well clear of it. All participants in such threads (where it is obvious that it has turned nasty) will be appropriately dealt with.

The Administrators of the board
reserve the right to remove members, without warning, if a member is deemed to be in anyway hostile, confrontational or arguementative in any posts made on the site. The Administrators also reserve the right to take preventative measures by removing the PM facility and placing the member on moderated posts if they felt the member is, in anyway, causing ill feeling.

No Trolling
A troll is a person who posts just to inflame others then sits back and watches the fireworks.

Useful Tips

- Use the PM system rather than email. Its probably best to not disclose your email address for all to see. (Go to your user CONTROL PANEL to edit this setting.
- Before posting a question about how the forum works, or how to use a feature, check the comprehensive forum help. There is a link to the main help system in the top right corner, as well as a Help forum with FAQ's where you can ask questions.
- Message a Moderator or Admin if you need assistance - preferably the forums moderator(s). They can assist you in a variety of ways.