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Forum rules

Revision as of 23:01, 2 May 2008 by Gords (Talk | contribs)

Due to the increasingly large number of members, forums, threads and posts on the Overclockers Australia forums, it is necessary to have some rules in place to give members guidance and define what is acceptable and unacceptable behaviour.

You must agree to these forum rules and this document regarding defamation and free speech if you want to use the forums.

The OCAU Forums are a privately-owned system with access provided to the public under limited conditions. We reserve the right to revoke your access, without warning or notice, for any reason that we may or may not disclose. We may also remove your messages or threads at our discretion.


Contents

Forum-wide Rules

Preface

The Overclockers Australia Forums become busier every day. Due to the large number of posts and threads created every day (and the administrative work that entails), the admins cannot send a Private Message (PM) to everyone who breaks one of the rules outlined on this page. In some cases, your post or thread might be edited rather than deleted; usually the admin who edited it will put in a reason for editing it. If this is not the case, and you genuinely do not know why your thread has been deleted, the best thing to do is to politely contact an admin of that forum or a forum-wide admin (both of which are listed here).

Forum Etiquette

  1. Please post politely and show respect to other forum members. If someone posts something that you think is offensive, do not respond to them in the thread! Instead, use the Report Post function to notify the administrators of the post or thread. The Report Post icon (http://forums.overclockers.com.au/images/buttons/report.gif) appears next to every post in the forums.
  2. Do not hotlink files or images on other websites that you are not hosting yourself, unless you have the permission of the website owner. OCAU is a busy website and linking files in our forum can cause considerable bandwidth and/or load issues for remote hosts. It is fine to hotlink images from sites that specifically allow hotlinking (e.g. ImageShack or the UGBox Image Store).
  3. Do not quote images; this includes thumbnails. Either change the [IMG] tags to [URL] tags, or just replace the pics with "<snip>".
  4. Do not quote large posts unnecessarily. If the person above you has posted a long message, don't quote the whole thing. Either refer to them in your text (e.g. "gords: I disagree...") or just replace the large amount of text with "<snip>".
  5. Don't post any copyrighted material unless the copyright on that material is owned by you, or you have the permission of the copyright holder.
  6. Post new threads in the appropriate forum. Please take a moment to read the forum descriptions on the main page and post your thread in the most appropriate forum.
  7. Cross-posting (posting the same message in multiple forums) is not allowed. If you cross-post, it is likely that your threads will be closed or deleted.
  8. Posting personal information about people (including, but not limited to, real names, telephone numbers, street or postal addresses and email addresses) is not allowed without permission from that person.
  9. Do not try to get around the word censor. Some words are automatically censored by the forum software; this means we don't want you to post them! If you try to get around the word censor your post or signature will be edited or deleted.
  10. Please choose a sensible and polite title for your thread. The thread title should be concise and informative. Thread titles which contain swearing, or do not give any information about the content of the thread (e.g. "HELP" or "hey...") may be renamed.
  11. Please use the EDIT button instead of posting multiple consecutive posts. There is now a "multi quote" feature as part of a recent OCAU VB upgrade that allows you to preselect all posts you would like to quote in your reply.
  12. Search the forums before you post a new thread!

Abusive Posts

  1. Offensive, illegal, abusive, threatening or deliberately inflammatory messages are not to be posted. If the admins are made aware of them, they will be deleted and the offenders may be banned.

Spam or Useless Posts

  1. Do not spam the forums with links to your business or website. If you'd like to advertise on OCAU please email Agg, the owner of the site.
  2. Pyramid schemes, affiliate programs or any links containing affiliate identifiers are not to be posted. This includes putting them in your signature! If you do this, your post or signature will be removed or edited by an administrator.
  3. Useless posts and threads are not welcome. Posts that don't contribute anything to forum quality (such as, but not limited to, "haha", "LOLZOR!", "xyz FTW", "Quoted for truth", any post with "10char" in it, posts that make reference to dragons, or smilie-only posts) will be deleted by the admins without notice. If you're not sure whether a post qualifies under this rule, ask yourself whether it adds anything of quality to the forums. If it does not, please save your time (and the time of the admins) and do not post it.

Adult Content

  1. Adult content of any kind is not to be posted. Not only are our forums open to people of all ages, but they are also viewed by many people at work, school or other places where unexpected adult content is inappropriate. Posts and threads deemed inappropriate will be deleted.

Piracy and Copyright Circumvention

  1. The rules about piracy and copyright circumvention apply to operating systems, software, games, DVDs, Blu-ray Discs, music CDs and so on.
  2. The discussion of software or hardware copyright circumvention methods is not allowed. This means that posts or threads about warez, leaked alphas/betas, key generators, illegal torrents, hardware modchips and no-CD patches will be closed or deleted.
  3. Threads which requesting a 'backup copy' of any of the above (OS, software, games etc.) will be closed or deleted.

Misc

  • There is to be only one forum account per person. If your account is banned, you as a person are banned. Multiple accounts believed to be "false" accounts for another will be banned. If you persist in creating false or duplicate accounts after you have been banned, formal complaints will be filed with your ISP and legal avenues may be pursued.
  • OCAU has a "Private Messages" system. These messages are called private because they are not available for public view like your other forum messages. In extremely rare situations, usually when investigating trading forum complaints, the Senior Administrator may view your private messages.
  • OCAU's trading forums are for occasional use by private individuals. Commercial sellers, selling new and/or multiple items, must be site sponsors in order to advertise and are restricted to our Sponsor Specials forum. Vendors may respond, within reason, to messages in the "What/Where Should I Buy?" forum if they can provide the service or product required. Note that spamming, excessively promoting your business or promoting your business in a manner that we deem unethical will result in the cancellation of your forum account. This includes advertising via our Private Messages system or via forum email links.
  • By becoming a member of the Overclockers Australia Forum system, you agree not use the Overclockers Australia Forums to post any 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 violative of any law. You remain solely responsible for the content of your messages, and you agreed to indemnify and hold anyone else, including Overclockers Australia and the Forum Operators, harmless with respect to any claim based upon transmission of your message(s).
  • Further, by becoming a member you indicate your agreement that the contents of all messages are the responsibility of the individual message posters and therefore agree not to hold Overclockers Australia, the Forum Operators or any other entity associated with the Forums responsible or in any way liable for damages of any kind with respect to the content of any message on the Overclockers Australia Forums and to the extent permitted by law you waive all rights to make any claims against Overclockers Australia, the Forum Operators or any other entity associated with the Forums. You agree that if you have a complaint about a message contained within the Forums your first and only action will be to notify an Administrator so that we may remove the message if necessary.

If you do not agree to these terms, do not become a member! We wish you much happiness in one of the many other forum systems on the Internet.

Specific Forum Rules

General Topics

Newbie Lounge

  1. The Newbie Lounge is a flame-free zone. It is a safe haven for those people that have questions that are generally so simple that they might get laughed at or flamed in other forums. Posts that break this rule will be quickly and harshly dealt with.
  2. What/Where to Buy threads posted in the Newbie Lounge will be closed. Threads that ask about what parts to buy, or where to buy them from should be posted in the What/Where Should I Buy? forum. Questions about how to connect a part, how to upgrade a part, or even about whether parts are be compatible are fine to be posted in the Newbie Lounge.

Overclocking and Hardware

There are no specific rules for this forum. However, forum-wide rules still apply.

Troubleshooting Help

There are no specific rules for this forum. However, forum-wide rules still apply.


Specific Hardware Topics

Modding

  1. Employees of vendors (apart from site sponsors) are not permitted to advertise their products in this forum. Threads which advertise products will be closed at the discretion of the admins. However, to encourage discussion of new products, there is no problem with non-employees of vendors discussing products.
  2. Threads asking "Where can I buy XYZ?" belong in the What/Where Should I Buy? forum. However, if you are after an obscure part and have already tried posting in the What/Where Should I Buy? forum, PM one of the Modding forum admins for permission to create a new thread in the Modding forum.

Electronics

There are no specific rules for this forum. However, forum-wide rules still apply.

PC Audio

There are no specific rules for this forum. However, forum-wide rules still apply.

Extreme Cooling

  1. Do not post aircooling/HSF questions in the Extreme Cooling forum. It is for discussion of non-standard cooling methods only (e.g. Peltiers, water and vapour-cooling and modified air-conditioners and refrigerators). Aircooling threads belong in the Overclocking and Hardware forum, and will be moved there if posted in the Extreme Cooling forum.

Enterprise Computing

There are no specific rules for this forum. However, forum-wide rules still apply.

Networking, Telephony and Internet

There are no specific rules for this forum. However, forum-wide rules still apply.

Video Cards and Monitors

  1. This is not the What/Where Should I Buy? forum. If you want help spending your money, please post a thread there.
  2. If a thread already exists on the topic you're about to post on, please reply to it rather than starting a new thread. It is a good idea to check the Current Useful Threads sticky and search the forums before posting a new thread.

Storage & Backup

There are no specific rules for this forum. However, forum-wide rules still apply.

Memory

There are no specific rules for this forum. However, forum-wide rules still apply.

Portable and Small Form Factor

There are no specific rules for this forum. However, forum-wide rules still apply.


Manufacturer-specific Forums

Intel Hardware

There are no specific rules for this forum. However, forum-wide rules still apply.

AMD Hardware

  1. The AMD Hardware forum is not the What/Where Should I Buy? forum. Threads posted in the AMD Hardware forum that belong in the What/Where Should I Buy? forum may be moved, closed or deleted at the discretion of the admins.

VIA Hardware

  1. The VIA Hardware forum is not the What/Where Should I Buy? forum. If you want help spending your money, please post a thread there.

Apple Hardware & Software

There are no specific rules for this forum. However, forum-wide rules still apply.


Software Topics

Windows Operating Systems

There are no specific rules for this forum. However, forum-wide rules still apply.

Other Operating Systems

There are no specific rules for this forum. However, forum-wide rules still apply.

Graphics and Programming

There are no specific rules for this forum. However, forum-wide rules still apply.

Games

General Software


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