We try to maintain an open forum, but to do so we have a few rules. These can be changed at any time, so you are responsible for checking them periodically.
1) Respect the moderators and each other. No flaming, racist comments, ad hominem (personal) attacks. Discuss content; do not attack someone's spelling, grammar, or posting style. No trashing someone's religion. No posting of someone else's personal information.
2) No off-topic posts. Always post in the appropriate forum. Don't hijack other's topics by changing the subject. Moderators will move any topics to the correct place without warning, or delete them.
3) No pornography. Remember, the board welcomes all ages. Keep it clean.
4) Limit your profanity to no more than one or two cuss words per day.
5) No cross-posting. Don't duplicate your posts in more than one place hoping more people will read them.
6) Use the forum's Search function before posting questions. It's probably already been answered.
7) No double posting. If you need to correct your previous post, edit it.
8) No spamming in any form. This includes sigs which must be limited to reasonable size (e.g. 728X180).
9) No trolling. Do not post simply to rile someone up.
10) No personal vendettas. i.e., No one-on-one back and forths. Take it to email. Don't argue with an idiot; people watching may not be able to tell the difference, and the best outcome you can hope for is to win an argument with an idiot.
11) Each forum member may have only one account.
12) Each forum member must maintain their email address. It must be a current, frequently read address.
13) Do not abuse the PM and email service.
14) Post in English only. We cannot moderate posts we cannot read.
15) No unpaid commercial advertising in signatures, avatars, posts or anywhere else outside Classifieds. Regular users may include links to their own personal non-commercial websites.
16) No images above a PG-13 rating. This includes avatars, .sigs, and inline images.
17) No posting of copyrighted material. This includes pictures and files, but equally as important are articles from blogs, magazines, newspapers, etc. Post a link to the article. You may quote brief parts of the article if you comment on it.
18) No fundraising or soliciting is allowed. Fundraising and soliciting are both defined as the raising of funds or requesting money on behalf of someone.We understand that tragedy occurs to our friends, and we feel an overwhelming desire to help, but the moderators lack the resources to verify either the need or the ultimate disposition of funds. If you know someone in need or are wondering where to best contribute, refer to Charity Watch or Charity Navigator. Nonmonetary collections for charity or disaster in the form of donations-in-kind, such as food, clothing, household goods and furniture, toys and the like may be requested on the forum (in General Chat) with the approval of the moderators.
19) You grant S&B a non-exclusive license to publish all material submitted. In other words, don't ask us to delete your stuff later.
*) These rules may be changed at any time, without notice.
*) We are not responsible for anything anyone else says or for any damages that may result. You are using these forums at your own risk.
*) Your use of the forum constitutes acceptance of these rules. In other words, if you don't like the rules, please leave.
Penalties:
1) First offense. Your post may be edited, deleted, or moved. The topic containing the post may be locked.
2) Second offense. Your account will be suspended for one week.
3) Third or more offenses. Your account will be suspended indefinitely, and your IP address logs will be saved.
Complaint Department:
We cannot possibly monitor the entire board 24/7, so we welcome input from our members concerning rules violations.
Do NOT contact us simply to complain about something someone else has said; we are not responsible for their words and we will ignore/hang up on you. Address them directly via email or in the forum.
The staff may also be contacted via the board's email function, or via IM if listed in their profiles. In order of most to least likely to be online the direct email links are:
Willis
Tony
Jenniffer
Alicia
Classified Guidelines:
Commercial ads are allowed, but must be of a local nature or of direct interest to Shannondale/Blue Ridge area residents. There is no charge for Blue Ridge area residents operating home-based businesses. Commercial rates: $40 contribution per quarter, $65 with a logo or other graphic (including links). Contributions are tax deductible(information on request).
Buyer beware. The ads you see are posted by members for members; the management makes no effort to verify anything.
Shoutbox rules:
When entering the S&B shoutbox, you agree not to:
1. harass, threaten, embarrass or cause distress or discomfort to another S&B member, subscriber, user, or other individual or entity using or accessing S&B shoutbox;
2. transmit via S&B shoutbox any information, data, graphics, text, files, links, software, or other materials ("Content") that are or may be considered to be unlawful, harmful, threatening, abusive, harassing, defamatory, vulgar, pornographic, obscene, hateful, racially, ethnically or otherwise objectionable, or in any way violates any copyright or other intellectual property or proprietary rights of any person;
3. impersonate in S&B shoutbox any person, including, but not limited to, a S&B employee, host, or manager;
4. disrupt the normal flow of dialog in the S&B shoutbox or otherwise act in a manner that negatively affects other members;
5. post or transmit any advertising, promotional materials, or any other forms of solicitation.
S&B can not ensure that shoutbox messages may not contain material that could be offensive to some.
S&B does not monitor or resolve disputes between users; however, we will revoke the membership of users who are continually abusive.
Some Shoutbox (and Chat) hints:
*) Your public statements in the S&B shoutbox are not private. Anyone can copy what you are saying. Always assume log files are being kept.
S&B does not verify any information posted by users or others or guarantee the proper use of such information by any party.
* People often idle for hours, then turn off their computer without looking at the shoutbox. Never get upset if someone seems to be ignoring you.
* Likewise, it is not unusual for logouts to be quick and sudden. Do not get upset if someone seems to be trying to avoid you.
* One list of chat abbreviations can be found
here . Expect to see them often.
* Flooding, or filling the shoutbox window with lots of messages,
prevents other chatters from being able to participate in the
conversation.
Please don't do it.
* AVOID USING ALL CAPS. It is the virtual equivalent of shouting and
should be done sparingly.
* Go easy on the emotions to allow other users to interact in the room.
Altering our database (& deleting accounts):
Wholesale editing yours or another's posts or other information is a violation.
Threads normally lock and archive a month after the last response. We want to encourage members to post new threads instead of digging open old wounds.
Requests to edit these archives (including deleting your account) will be considered on a case by case basis. Submit your request in writing to a moderator (http://www.shannondale.org/contact.html) and allow 30 days for consideration. If approved, there will be a waiting period of no less than sixty days before alterations are made. The database will be backed up and archived prior to the edits.
To summarize: Never post anything to the internet that you don't want read by everyone you know (and everyone you don't). Put your brain in gear *before* you post. Don't say it if you don't mean it. If you're joking, use smilies liberally.
The opinions expressed by forum moderators are their own and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of Shannondale & Beyond, Inc.
