Announcements

[Dave]

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.

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.

5) Keep Things Legal
Any discussion, links, or information on hacking, cracking, serial numbers, pirating, warez, or any other illegal matters is not allowed.

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.

7) Signatures must adhere to the following specifications:

• 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.
  
• The combined size of all images in a sig is a maximum of 468x120. Please keep the file sizes small for loading times.
  
• Any scripts that display a user's IP address and browser information are not allowed.
  
• Signatures are subject to Rule 3.
  

8) 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.

9) 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.
Updated: 01 May 2008
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The Infraction System is a way to give points to members that break the rules. Here's the point system:

1. Sig Rule Violation is 5 points and expires after 6 months.
2. Inappropriate Language is 5 points and expires after 1 month.
3. Small Infraction is 5 points and expires after 14 days.
4. Flaming is 10 points and expires after 14 days.
5. Spam is 15 points and expires after 1 month.
6. PM Spam is 15 points and expires after 1 month.
7. Inappropriate Thread/Post is 20 points and expires after 1 month.
8. Permanent Ban is 1000 points and never expires.
9. 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:

1. 30 points is a 7 day ban.
2. 75 points is a 1 month ban.
3. 1000 points is a permanent ban.

The Infraction System is a disciplinary system to get members to 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):

1. Sig Rule Violation is self-explanatory. See the sig thread.
2. Inappropriate Language is for bypassing the profanity filter, and may be for insinuations and inuendos.
3. Small Infraction is for small offenses that might not be covered in the other categories.
4. Flaming is self-explanatory.
5. Spam is when a member does a link drop, not for the join and only spam people.
6. PM Spam is when a member is reported for sending spam via PMs.
7. Inappropriate Thread/Post is anything that is not allowed here. This is a tech forum.
8. 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.

[nitestick]

You may have heard of Folding@Home before, you may have seen the userbars or you may not have a clue what I'm talking about. Whatever the case, Tech-Forums has a Folding@Home team and we would like you to join. Our team number is 12864.

What is Folding@Home?
Folding@Home is a project conducted by Stanford University. It's purpose is to investigate the folding and misfolding of proteins. While it may sound insignificant, this work is actually very important. The behaviour of proteins can cause diseases such as cancer, so studying them can provide valuble information towards prevention and cures.

Stanford's project revolves around computer generated simulations and analysis. Performing the simulations requires an incredible amount of computational power................

This is where you come in.

The "Folding@Home Client" fetches small pieces of work from the F@H server, your computer will perform this small simulation and then send all the resulting data back to Stanford. The great thing about the client is it will only use "idle" computer time. In other words it will only use computer power that is not being used by you so you practically won't even notice a difference, you can help out without any detriment to your computing experience.

What do you need?
To run Folding@Home all you need is a working internet connection and either a computer (running a windows 98 or higher/Mac OSX/Linux) or a PS3. PS3s work great for Folding so if you have one please consider running the PS3 client. You can also fold using certain ATI graphics cards.

Are there any benefits for running Folding@Home?
Aside from the satisfaction of having played a small part in research that may well cure a multitude of diseases, there are a few perks. For your dedication you can have your name added to our milestone list. You also get a break on your signature restrictions with F@H team members being allowed to break the image restriction by having a F@H stats signature and a milestone userbar.

You can find more information at Stanford's website here
The client can be downloaded from this page.
Our team page is here.
And our milestone list is here.

For setting up an ATI card, see Ethereal_Dragon's guide.

Please don't forget that our team number for Tech-Forums is 12864!

Thanks,
Nitestick