About Us: Forum Rules & Policy

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Basic Rules

Please read the following rules and guidelines very carefully. By proceeding to post you agree to these rules and must obey them at all times. Refusal to obey these rules will result in the appropriate responsive actions by the moderation team. Please note that LB reserves the right to revise and alter these rules, guidelines and policies at any time, without warning.

We have implemented the following guide for using our community forums. This guide is designed to strike a balance between the main goal of our forums, providing support, and keeping the relaxed and welcoming atmosphere for the user community.

We require all posts to be polite, constructive, and on topic.

All material posted or uploaded to the forum remains the property of the original poster and Londonbikers.com Ltd is the licensed distributor of such content. The administrators of this site reserve the right without notice to access or view all such material (including posts, profile information, emails sent through the forum software, and Personal Messages (PMs)), to edit the subject of a post, or to move, reclassify, or delete any post or other material that is deemed inappropriate or disruptive, fails to conform to these forum rules, or to ensure proper indexing and searchability. Please note that, from time to time, topics may be removed for being inappropriate even though your individual post in that topic may have been perfectly fine. Please do not feel this reflects badly on you.

Having fun is good. We like fun. Please keep it positive and polite. We may take action against posts and/or topics that could cause unrest in the community beyond a civil and polite disagreement.

You may not make personal attacks on other users or staff members, either in public forums or private messages.

You may not use overly gross profanity. Many visitors access the site from professional places, such as offices, and this risks the visitor getting into trouble, or embarrassed. We have word filters in place for the most vulgar terms. Circumventing those word filters will result in punitive action.

We reserve the right to ban any member who violates our guidelines or disrupts our community. We will be fair and provide ample warning in most cases.

If you have an issue concerning our services, policies, or staff, please use a personal contact method such as a private message or email to a staff member. The staff and moderators are listed here. We take serious complaints to heart and will do our best to address them.


The Forum Rules

1. There will be no racial, ethnic, gender based insults or any other personal discriminations.
   
   
2. There will be no posts meant to offend or hurt any other member, in a manner which is offensive or inflammatory.
   
   
3. Spamming is not permitted; please keep all your posts as constructive as possible.
   
   
4. Pornography, warez, or any other illegal transactions may NOT be linked or attached in any shape or form. This includes avatars.
   
   
5. Users may not argue a moderators decision publicly. Any and all complaints directed at a moderator must first address the moderator in question via PM. If the problem can not be resolved, then the moderator and user must send their positions to the forum admin. The forum admin will make or change any and/or all final decisions.
   
   
6. Pictures may be posted as long as they are not explicit or offensive. For best results, resize your images down to 800x600 in size. Images larger than 1024x768 will be shown as links at the end of the post to ensure everyone can easily view the thread on their screen.
   
   
7. Signatures may contain images, but may not be any larger than 300x100; 468x60 banners are also permitted (within reason). If your signature is larger than the allotted size given or deemed unacceptable by staff, you will be requested by a moderator to resize or change your image. Please also try and keep text signatures under 5 lines. Failing to comply with a moderator's request will result in the removal of your signature.
   
   
8. Advertising, commercial-related or competing products are all forbidden in any relation to your account except by explicit permission of the staff.
   
   
9. Remember to post in the correct forum. Take your time to look at other topics and see where your topic should go. If your topic is placed in the wrong forum, it will be moved by a moderator.
   
   
10. If a topic is recognised as being posted in the wrong forum, or if the post is a violation of our guidelines then please contact a moderator via PM; please do not respond publicly to the member - a member of staff will do what is required upon contact. Any person/s who attempt to present themselves as a Moderator by posting negatively to a member's topic (which has been posted in error and requires locking or moving to another forum) will be sent a PM warning.
    
    
11. Any impersonation of a user within these forums, in any mode of communication, is strictly prohibited and will result in a banning. This includes gaining access to another members account.
    
    
12. Linked and locked topics may be pruned regularly to reduce page clutter. If you have a question about where your topic went, please PM a Moderator or Administrator before starting a new topic asking where it went, or posting a duplicate of the original topic. We will be happy to provide you with a link to the new location, or a reason why it was locked and/or removed.
    
    
13. If you are linking to external content, you should link directly to that content. It is unacceptable to use link-thru systems to mask the originating URL, and cases where this is found to be happening may be edited or removed as appropriate.
    
    
14. If you are hot-linking (showing from another site) images or other content from another site, its good manners to provide a link to the site as well, so that viewers can see where it came from. This is a courtesy for the remote site’s administrators.

Violation of any of these rules will result in consequences determined on a case-by-case basis, by the moderation team.


Explanations

Purpose

The purpose of the forums is to discuss ALL topics of biking. The LB forums are here to offer a structured and open place to discuss anything biking related, and a space is also provided to discuss off-topic subjects.

We reserve the right to stop excessively long and unproductive threads.

Acceptable Topics

Nothing relating to biking is off topic for the LB forums.

Humor is encouraged. Goodness knows we can all use a little bit now and then. The use of emoticons is also encouraged; they go a long way towards expressing the mood of your post and getting your point across. :o)

Off Topics

If you feel you have a post that is off topic but may be of use to the community, please post it in the General Chatter forums, which is off-topic friendly.

Misunderstandings

LB has members from all around the world, which brings together a collection of individuals with different personalities and different ways of communicating ideas. In the electronic medium, it is easy to misinterpret a comment as sarcastic or offensive, when no such message was intended by the original sender. Please keep this in mind when reading and responding to posts.

Flaming and Rough Mannerisms

No Flames: The posting of any material that defames, maligns, slanders, or is uncivil to any other individual or group is strictly prohibited. Please keep the tone of posts respectful of others.

Let us be clear. Flaming and/or harassing behavior will NOT be tolerated. Posts shall not request harassing, abusive, aggressive, or hostile actions to be taken against another individual or group, whether a member of LB or not. Do not respond to flames directly on the site.

Furthermore, the defaming of other discussion communities will not be tolerated.

Repetitive violations of rules and/or flames with foul language or subject matter inappropriate for the LB forums will result in penalties being placed by the moderation team.

Provoking another member of LB into a confrontation is grounds for REVIEW by the moderation team.

In the event that your actions are reviewed due to rough mannerisms you will be given an opportunity to explain the situation. If we find that you were simply misunderstood, no action will be taken against you. An apology to the other member may be required.

Unacceptable Material

Including the following in your postings is considered unacceptable by LB:

• Copyrighted material
  The redistribution or posting of copyrighted material without written permission from the copyright holder is strictly prohibited and can result in the immediate suspension or removal from LB. This includes any material posted from another website or person. This also includes all forwarded e-mail.
  
  
• Advertising and Spamming:
  Advertising of any kind is not allowed by LB, unless given prior consent by the forum administrators. You may submit your site URL for critique, or suggest it as a place to find help for a particular topic being discussed. But blatant plugs, advertising, or spamming of any kind will result in the offenders immediate removal from LB.
  
  
• Solicitation:
  This is considered the same as Advertising and Spamming. The discussion of prices for products and certain services is acceptable. Advertising your rates for the purpose of business solicitation is not allowed on the LB forums, without permission of the forum administrators.

A list of subjects that fall under this heading are:
o Products or services you are selling or are considering selling
o Website advertising rates ("banner ads", etc.)


• Foul language and inappropriate material:
  Keep in mind that members may view the site from locations that require a professional outlook, such as offices. Please refrain from cussing or using any other foul language. Also, refrain from discussing material that would be considered inappropriate for minors.

Issue Procedure

The LB moderation team are there to ensure the balance is kept in the forums, as part of this, there may be times when a member breaks the forum rules and comes under inspection of a moderator. A moderator will do everything they can to settle any breach of the rules, or dispute, as fairly as possible.

To prevent any unfair treatment of a member who has broken the forum rules, a three-strike penalty system is in place to ensure that the member gets a second chance to continue their membership with LB.

• Strike 1 – Yellow Card
  You are given a formal warning by a moderator and given a chance to redeem yourself. This will remain active for three months.
  
  
• Strike 2 – Red Card
  If you offend again under a yellow card, of if the offence is serious enough, you will be suspended for a period of one month. After this period, the red card will remain on record for 12 months.
  
  
• Strike 3 – Black Card
  You are banned for one year. During this period you are not able to use the site and any communication with members of the community, or staff is forbidden. After the year, your membership will be reinstated, unless a forum administrator decides otherwise.

The moderator and forum administrator’s decisions are final.

We believe that this approach will ensure that people are dissuaded from breaking the rules, but give them a fair set of chances to redeem themselves. Whilst LB is not an open organisation, it strives to offer a democratic approach to its forums.

To contact the moderation team, or the LB staff, please see here.