APT Forum Acceptable Use Policy

You agree, through your use of this service, that you will not use the forum to post any material which is knowingly false and/or defamatory, inaccurate, abusive, hateful, harassing, threatening, invasive of a person's privacy, or otherwise illegal. You agree not to post any copyrighted material unless the copyright is owned by you. You agree not to use this forum in any way to defraud others.

APT must also reserve the right to reveal your identity (or whatever information we know about you) in the event of legal action arising from any message posted by you.

Additionally, you agree to consult and follow the General Guidelines and Provisions in good faith.

APT reserves the right to reproduce, edit, remove, or distribute any post contained in the forum.

Monitoring Policy

The real-time nature of this bulletin board makes it impossible for APT to review messages. We do not necessarily actively monitor the contents of the forum for accuracy, sanity, or decency.

We do not vouch for or warrant the accuracy, completeness or usefulness of any message, and are 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 APT. Any user who feels that a posted message is objectionable is encouraged to contact the moderators. We have the ability to remove objectionable messages or posters and we will make every effort to do so, within a reasonable time frame, if we determine that removal is necessary. This determination is made in the best judgement of moderators according to their reasonable efforts.

Although APT does not and cannot review the messages posted and is not responsible for the content of any of these messages, we reserve the right to delete any message for any reason whatsoever. You remain solely responsible for the content of your messages, and you agree to indemnify APT with respect to any claim based upon transmission of your message(s).

General Guidelines and Provisions

1. The AUP must be respected in full.
2. No trolling. Don't make posts that are inflammatory.
3. Ad hominem and personal attacks are not permitted. Excessive flaming will not be tolerated.
4. No pornographic, sexually offensive or sexually explicit material.
5. Respect the privacy of others. Do not post other's private phone numbers, addresses, pictures, etc., without their express permission.
6. Abuse of editing privileges is not permitted. Editing posts for grammar or information is acceptable and encouraged, but after an initial grace period of 10 minutes, users may not delete/edit content for the purpose of evading possible moderation (removing flames, trolls, etc.).
7. Each forum member must maintain e-mail. All users must provide a current, frequently read e-mail address in his/her internal profile.
8. Do not place foul language in thread subjects and restrict its use elsewhere.
9. No commercial-oriented posts except within the commercial forum area.
10. Post in the right forum.
11. HTML is currently enabled. Embedded objects, iframes, java and javascript should not be used.

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Posting and Moderation Guidelines

For the sake of transparency these are included here so that Members are able to see the guidelines issued to moderators.

If you, as part of the Moderation Team, feel that a user has "crossed the line" one too many times, then check what other moderators think and if necessary issue the user a private warning via the private messaging system or email. If the warning goes unheeded escalate it to the webmaster. If the abuse is such that immediate action is required, lock the account and escalate it to the webmaster.

Sometimes people can write something that 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 and mailing lists. There is absolutely no need to resort to insults. Respect others' views even if you disagree with them.

Remember you are acting as a representative of APT, so your views should match those of the organisation. If you aren't clear what that view is then ask first, post later.
Moderator postings should be concise, factual and written in a manner that conveys a desire to assist in a successful discussion for all parties.

Personal Topics;
Public posts should be open and inviting to all members. Personal topics are threads that, whilst posted in public forum, are intended for a discussion between only a few members. These kinds of topics are frowned on and should be locked/removed as soon as they are discovered. Personal discussions among a select group of users should take place in a private messaging system. So politely direct transgressors towards this facility.

Flaming;
In the most common sense definition, is saying something negative in an attempt to get a more negative response.
This is completely and totally unacceptable. It will not be tolerated, and in most cases where moderators indulge in it expect disciplinary action to follow.
Never resort to personal insults, never extend a debate beyond the topic on hand needlessly, and try to avoid patronising language.

If you come across postings that you consider inflammatory issue a polite warning via the private messaging system or email.

• Ask the user to desist.
  
• Draw their attention to the AUP linked on the index page of the forum.
• Draw their attention to the fact that they are perceived to be bringing the forum into disrepute.

If they do not acknowledge their error or persist with further inflammatory remarks, escalate the matter to the webmaster who will then decide the most appropriate course of action based on the circumstances. This may include direct contact with the user or account suspension.

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Last revised 2nd June 2008 by Hugh Spencer.