Forum Rules and Guidelines

[kiwigeo]

Welcome to the ANZLF

One of the main inspirations for starting the Australian and New Zealand Luthiers Forum back on the 9th of July 2007, was a desire to provide a stringed instrument builders forum that fitted more with the laid back Australian and New Zealand approach to life than that offered by many of the forums based in other countries which most founding members of this forum had belonged to at some stage.

We did not want to impose any rules or restrictions at that time, preferring to keep things informal with a more 'shed talk' feel. When membership numbers were low, this approach served us very well and we had few problems. However as the ANZLF approaches its 4th birthday, it has become increasingly clear that not only has our forum grown in popularity, but so to has the breadth of individual personalities making up its membership, and the diversity of their thoughts and interpretations about what should, and what should not be allowable at this forum.

Recent developments had also clearly demonstrated that it had become impossible for the administrators to keep everybody happy and the forum on track. The bickering and challenges over policy and forum rules, which in the past had remained unwritten, but were based upon what had been assumed by the administrators as common knowledge forum etiquette, and just plain good manners, has only served to disrupt participation in the core focus of this forum. With that, it has damaged the experience of participation for the vast majority of members who do not seek to involve themselves in such debates and are happy just to have a spam free local environment in which to exchange information about their chosen craft.

Given that it has only ever been our intention to provide the members of the ANZLF with just that, we find that our hand has now been forced to draft the following rule set which has been approved by the administrators of this forum for immediate implementation, and is in effect for all members who choose to use this forum from this point forward.

As you read your way through the short preamble and list of six rules, please consider that they should never effect how the vast majority of our members have interacted with this forum in the past. It is acknowledged that these rules do appear quite dictatorial coming from a bunch of blokes who did not want 'any' rules to begin with. But it needs to be clearly understood that the administrators of this forum give their 'limited' free time on a voluntary basis, and with that in mind, it was decided that if this forum was to continue at all, then we would need to have a rule set that would allows us to use the time spend in administration more effectively, so we can deal with any issues quickly and decisively, and free up more of our time to participate in the core focus of this forum with the rest of the members.

When all is said and done, that is the only reason that we want to be here, and the only reason that the lights were ever tuned on at the ANZLF.

Cheers

Bob

PREAMBLE: This forum is not a democracy. Its policies and rules are determined only by its administrators whom make themselves available to provide this forum to its users on a voluntary basis. This forum generates no form of income. The costs associated with the day to day operation of this forum are covered by either the admins and/or donations from a small number of forum members. The provision of this services does not imply any form of responsibility for those choosing to use this service. Use of this service should not be viewed in such a way that could give rise to the expectation that some form of commitment has been made to the user by those providing it. Rather, this forum should be seen as a service that is provide to the user 'free of charge', and in that, free of any form of obligation to the user.

RULES:

1: The manner in which this forum operates shall remain at the sole discretion of its administrators. No open discussion by regular members relating to the management of this forum, or its policies, will be tolerated without specific invite to do so within a topic created by this forum's administrators specifically for that purpose. Any concerns held by member relating to the running of this forum are to be directed to any of the administrators by 'personal message only' where upon it will be presented for consideration by the administration team.

2: There is an expectation of acceptable behaviour by those who use this service which is based upon common forum etiquette as interpreted by the administrators of this forum. Please conduct yourself in a fitting manner while accessing this service and there will be no problem. However should you conduct yourself in such a way as to evoke a warning from the administrators of this forum, that warning should be considered first and final with deletion of your account and refusal of access to this service being a possible option should you fail to comply with our request to desist.

3: This forum encourages open 'unsolicited' endorsement to be posted by its users about any relevant businesses to our core topics with which they have had a positive experience as a standard and 'full paying' customer. Like wise we encourage members to share links to any product relevant to our core topic which they feel would benefit other members of this forum, if they have no direct affiliation to that product that would see them rewarded, favoured or otherwise advantaged as a result of its sale. This forum also permits the inclusion of a singular link to any business related web page that is owned, operated and hosted by that member, to be placed in the field provided within the users own profile settings. However any level of 'uninvited' endorsement or promotion of any business enterprise to which a user has an association through which they gain any form of reward, favour, or advantage, is not permitted to appear in any content posted by that user. This restriction includes any URL link (including those inserted in a users signature), any images, or any text, that is deemed by 'the administrators of this forum' as being promotional in nature. Any content that is determined by the administrators of this forum to be in breach of this restriction, will be deleted without consultation, and a warning will be sent to the offender with failure to desist resulting in that user being denied access to this forum on a permanent basis.

4: The decision to allow any business operator or affiliate to post on this forum in a commercial sense shall remain at the sole discretion of its administrators and is 'strictly' by 'invite only'. Any user of this service seeking to gain access to this forum in a commercial sense by canvassing any administrator of this forum by public post, email, or private message, shall have their account immediately deleted with further access to this service denied on a permanent basis.

5: All determinations made by this forums administration team relating to access, and restriction of the service we provide to any member, group of members, or business interest, will be final. The administration team of this forum reserve the right to edit and/or delete any content they deem necessary to conform to these rules. The administrators of this forum also reserves the right to add to, remove from, or otherwise edit, the contents of this list of rules at any time, and at their own discretion.

6:By accessing this forum users are agreeing to abide by all of the rules, restrictions and guideline listed above.

Thank you for your support

The ANZLF Administration Team