[Trotter]

encaustic-absorbed Greetings Members!


We want to continue to grow Tech-Forums into an active community for web users worldwide. These rules are in place so that all members can enjoy their time here.

1) Be Respectful
Treat other members as you would have them treat you. This means no flaming, insulting, or belittling other members.

2) Stay on Topic
Posts in a thread should not deviate from the original topic. For a new discussion, make a separate post. Along with staying on topic, it should be noted to post in the right area! Before 40 posts you will have your post moved and advised where to post. If you are beyond the 40 post mark your post can be deleted without notice. Each area has a description on what is included in that area.

3) No inappropriate language or images
Avoid vulgar, racist, and sexist comments, as well as swearing. We have a Zero Profanity policy. There is an automatic censor, but that does not mean anything it misses is necessarily acceptable. The censor should never have to be used, as appropriate language should be used initially. Do not post pornographic, violent, gory, or otherwise offensive graphics or links. Images should be scaled down as necessary to maintain a consistent and readable forum layout.

4) No Spamming
Spamming is a broad term. Spamming includes unauthorized advertising, unproductive and useless posting, post-padding, empty posts, referral and associate links, pyramid schemes, etc.

Along similar lines, do not "double post". Double posting is making another post directly after a post of your own. The edit window for member posts is 24 hours, so any post within this time frame should be edited into the earlier post. While there may be case by case exceptions to this, such as new information or a price drop in a Buy/Sell/Trade thread, for the most part double posting is not allowed. Double (or multiple) postings will be either merged by the mod staff, or simply deleted. Since double posting is also form of spam, warnings and/or infractions may accompany this action.

Along with this, post in the right forum. Any member with 40 or fewer posts trying to learn the site and where things belong will just have their thread moved to the proper area and advice given. If you have more than 40 posts your thread can be deleted without warning and if it continues to happen a infraction given.

5) Keep Things Legal
Any discussion, links, or information on hacking, cracking, serial numbers, pirating, warez, or any other illegal matters is not allowed. This includes talks of Emulators and Torrents. The links provide the information needed.
Talks of items that are not yet available by any legal means will also be taken in under this rule. This includes Games, Operating Systems, Service Packs and Betas not released yet to the public. Since there will be no way for people to obtain these by any other means then by Piracy or Warez.

6) No Avatar or Custom Title Abuse
Avatars and custom titles are subject to Rule 3. Titles may not contain "Banned", "Administrator", "Moderator", or any of their abbreviations.

Using a copy of a moderator, super moderator, or admin badge, user title, or any other such identification will be grounds for this.

7) Signatures must adhere to the following specifications:

1. Text signatures may not exceed 15 lines in size 1, or 8 lines in size 2. Text size 3 and above is not allowed. Text size 1 may only be used with a graphic, with no more than 8 lines.
2. The combined size of all images in a sig is a maximum of 468x120. Please keep the file sizes small for loading times.
3. Any scripts that display a user's IP address and browser information are not allowed.
4. HTML is not allowed in signatures. Some HTML scripts disrupt the layout of the forum and so have been disabled.
5. Signatures are subject to Rule 3.
6. Signatures are a privilege. They are granted for use when you reach 40 posts. If you abuse the system and try to get to 40 posts as fast as possible you will lose this privilege.
7. F@H team members being allowed to break the image restriction by having a F@H stats signature and a milestone userbar.

8) The Buy/Trade/Sell area is a privilege.
It is not a right. You must earn you way into this area with having 100 posts. As with the signatures spamming you way to 100 posts will get you disbarred from this area. The B/S/T area has a very special set of rules to follow. Read up on them so you know them before you get access and start to post there.

9) Off-Topic Area is also a privilege.
It is not a right. You will gain access to this area at 40 posts just like your signature. This area has its own set of rules as well. Read up on them and get to know them before you enter so that you do not get into trouble upon gaining access.

10) Questions or Concerns
If you have a question, comment or concern contact the Moderator of the area you have the issue with. If they can not resolve the issue they will refer it to the next person in line.
Confidential concerns can be posted in the Confidential Discussions forum. Only the original poster and the moderator team can see these posts, and any discussions there are treated as both private and confidential.

11) New Members have certain requirements that must be met before access is granted to certain features, namely Signatures, PM (Personal Message) System, B/S/T (Buy/Trade/Sell) Forums, and the OT (Off-Topic) Forums. The requirements are as follows.

• 40 good posts to get a signature. Posting things like "LOL" or "That is some good information" will get you noticed real fast and get your signature use blocked before you even get it. A couple posts like this are fine, but 40 posts just so you can put up a link to your site will not be allowed.
• 40 posts to gain access to the PM (Personal Messenger) System.
• 40 posts to gain access to the Off Topic forum.
• 100 good posts to reach the B/S/T Area.

For a full explanation as to why these measures are in place please refer to this topic started by our Administrator, Trotter.

12) Enjoy yourself! Have a great time posting and we look forward to your feedback.

When the rules are breached, the moderators and administrators may issue infractions, remove privileges, or choose to ban a user immediately, depending on the severity. Ignored warnings and continued offense usually result in banning.

The administrators and moderators reserve the right at all times to edit or remove any posts, images, signatures, avatars, and custom titles.

Tech-Forums reserves the right to change or alter these rules at any time without notice. Anything not expressly covered in these rules is subject to an Administrator/Moderator's approval. An Administrator and/or Moderator’s word is final.

Tech-Forums is here for informative purposes only. We are not here to help bypass, or otherwise negate, security or any other measures put in place by a Employer, School or Parent. We are not here to do your school work for you either. We will help explain results or help you to find information to get results but we will not flat out give answers to homework or school work questions. School is for learning. Getting the answers handed to you is not going to help anyone in the end. Any topic of such matter will be instantly closed.

Anyone impersonating a moderator, super moderator, or admin will be subject to an immediate ban. This includes if such a comment was made in jest or as a joke. Such matters are taken seriously no matter what the content of the message or your relationship with the member(s) included in the topic.

*** Note: Only ONE account is allowed per individual. Anyone who opens an additional account will be immediately and permanently banned from the site. If there will be more than one account in a household contact an Admin via PM or email before the new account is started. We are not mind-readers and will automatically assume that both accounts belong to a single person.

If you wish to contact a Forum Administrator with a question in regards to a Account or these rules we can be reached at:

Trotter: Trotter (@) tech-forums (DOT) net
Mak213: Mak213 (@) tech-forums (DOT) net

We will answer any and all your questions in regards to your account here at Tech-Forums.net, as well as to answer questions in regards to what is acceptable per our policies.

Updated: 03 April 2009

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Regarding avatars, signatures, and special areas:

Forum privileges have been set up on usergroups. These usergroups allow for different forum privileges to be earned as members participate in the community, and thus are based on the number of posts made by members. Here is a current breakdown of those permissions and the usergroups for them:

Registered Users (0 -39 posts):

• Only forum provided avatars
• Profile pic, 100x100
• Forum titles

Registered Users Extra (40 - 100 posts):

• Same as above
• Signature allowed, text only (according to the rules)
• Custom avatars allowed, 80x80

Registered Users Extra BST (100 - 249 posts):

• Same as above
• Custom avatars allowed, 100x100
• Graphics and text sigs allowed, maximum size of 300 x 100 (accoding to the rules)
• Buy/Sell/Trade forum available

Registered Users Extra 2 (250+ posts):

• Same as above
• Custom avatars allowed, 120x120
• Graphics and Text sigs allowed, maximum size of 600 x 150 (according to the rules)
• Custom forum titles.

Any and all of these privileges can be revoked, but will only be revoked if there is reasonable evidence that calls for it. Also, any member "spamming" their post count to try to gain access (such as a multitude of useless or very short "I agree" type posts) will quickly find either their posts deleted, their access revoked, or both.

Updated 03 April 2009

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The Infraction System is a way to give points to members that break the rules. Here's the point system:

• Sig Rule Violation is 5 points and expires after 6 months.
• Inappropriate Language is 5 points and expires after 1 month.
• Small Infraction is 5 points and expires after 14 days.
• Flaming is 10 points and expires after 14 days.
• Necroposting is 10 points and expires after 14 days.
• Piracy/Warez is 15 points and expires after 1 month.
• Spam is 15 points and expires after 1 month.
• PM Spam is 15 points and expires after 1 month.
• Inappropriate Thread/Post is 20 points and expires after 1 month.
• Permanent Ban is 1000 points and never expires.

Custom Infraction is whatever points that an Admin wants to give and will expire whenever they want.

The points will accumulate until they expire. If a user accumulates a certain amount of points, there are automatic bans. The accumulated points are:
30 points is a 7 day suspension.
75 points is a 1 month suspension.
150 points is a permanent ban.


The Infraction System is a disciplinary system designed to help members conform to the rules. That's why this system has a set amount of points and a set amount of time for expiration of those points. The auto ban is also a great way to show that abiding by the rules is imperative. Note: Some of the infractions are extended. That means a user will receive extended expiration times if given a second infraction that matches an existing active infraction. For example, a user is given a small infraction that expires in 14 days. An hour later this user is given the same infraction for another post. Since the user already had an active small infraction, this new infraction's expiration time is added to the end time of the previous infraction. Effectively, this new infraction will now end 27 days and 23 hours later instead of the default of 14 days. If the user was given a third infraction, it would be added to the end of the second infraction as well, which in this case would put them in the temp ban.

Explanation of Infractions (this list is not all inclusive):

Sig Rule Violation is self-explanatory. See the sig thread.

Inappropriate Language is for bypassing the profanity filter, and may be for insinuations and inuendos.

Small Infraction is for small offenses that might not be covered in the other categories.

Flaming is self-explanatory.

Necroposting is when a thread older than 3 months and is posted in. If the thread is over 3 months old. Do not post in it. The 3 moth limit is not from the date the thread was created but from the date of the LAST post in the thread. The date can be found by the user name.

Piracy/Warez is self-explanatory.

Spam is a broad term. Spamming includes unauthorized advertising, unproductive and useless posting, post-padding, empty posts, referral and associate links, pyramid schemes, etc.

PM Spam is when a member is reported for sending spam via PMs.

Inappropriate Thread/Post is anything that is not allowed here. This is a tech forum.

Permanent Ban is 1000 points and no one will ever accumulatively achieve this. This amount of points is given to one time spammers and those that will never be allowed back.

If you receive an infraction, only you and the Forum Leaders will know. It is not a public record that everyone can see. I hope this helps with understanding the system.

*Please refer to the RULES, News and Announcements forum often to find any changes or additions made to these rules.