DiecastSociety.com CODA
Over the 10+ years that DiecastSociety.com has been in operation, it has developed a specific personality. The single most common comment or feedback, outside of scale model inquiries that we get about the website/forum is with regard to its level of good-natured, and well-mannered content and conversation. With the recent situation still fresh in mind, we’ve taken steps, in better hopes of making the website/forum a better place for all.
Over the years we have indeed had a few incidents where our moderators/administrators have had to step in and adjudicate inappropriate behaviour, and it is with this variable definition of acceptable behaviour in mind that we seek a common understanding of what is reasonable and acceptable. As we all know, DiecastSociety.com cannot be all things to all people, and as such, we seek to nominate the following as a guide to how this website/forum stands on basic principles. If you require any clarification, please contact the team via the online form.
1. FREEDOM OF EXPRESSION
In principle, there is freedom of speech on this website/forum. As long as a topic or comment fits in the appropriate section/article of the website/forum, outside of this it will either be removed, moved or edited.
1.1
Should one of the remaining website/forum rules have been injured by a subject or a post, the freedom of speech can be limited. The sanction possibilities for a such violation are determined by the moderators and administrators.
1.2
No topics or posts are allowed concerning: Pornographic content, incitement of the people, incitement to racialism, or posts injuring human dignity, also, a contribution may not incite the violation of the laws or give instructions in addition. As well as we do not tolerate radical political statements. The administrators and moderators decide what radical means from case to case.
1.3
Moderators/administrators are always allowed to edit posts of other users or to remove them if they believe it is required due to the content. This intervention is at the discretion of the moderators and or administrators. Any edited comment will have the following tag “** THIS POST WAS EDITED, SELECT COMMENT(S) DID NOT MEET WITH DS CODA **”
2. APPEARANCE AND BEHAVIOUR
Each member of the website/forum already undertakes his or her own responsibility to interact and deal in a civilized manner with others. This includes compliance with the laws of Canada as well as the expected etiquette, etc. concerning the prevention of abusive language, insults, and slander. Every other member is to be treated in such a way as you would like to be treated.
2.1
Members always have to follow the instructions of the moderators and administrators. There are no exceptions to this rule.
2.2
New posts should be created in the thematically matching board. The moderators and administrators may move incorrectly positioned posts without notice or comment into a more suitable or appropriate forum. Also, the moderators and administrators are authorized to close a thread or article if the topic has moved too far outside of the original subject.
2.3
You should abandon insults of every kind towards others – even if these are provoked. In case of insult or other offences, every user is asked for attention and sends a message to an administrator or moderator to inform about the circumstance.
2.4
If a dispute arises (as opposed to a normal discussion) between two or more users, they should resolve their conflict outside the common area of the website/forum. The moderators and administrators decide, what goes beyond a normal discussion and is already a dispute. In order to end a dispute externally, the parties will be asked to settle this through personal messages, e-mail or instant messenger programs.
2.5
All posts should be written in an appropriate form – this includes spelling and punctuation. If for various reasons (such as dyslexia) this may not be possible, please forward a message to the administrator or moderator in advance.
2.6
Successive posts from one user should be avoided for reasons of legibility (called double posts). The forum software allows the user to edit their own posts using the “Edit” function. If a double post is useful for structural or similar reasons, it is allowed (ex. for showing several models with one post for each model).
2.7
It is also not allowed to write a whole post in capital letters. The use of bold, italics and coloured letters are only intended to highlight individual words or sections of text or to make a list.
2.8
Excessive use of exclamation points and question marks is prohibited for reasons of readability.
2.9
The quote function should be used only in cases where is not replied to the previous post. Furthermore, irrelevant parts of the quotation should be removed. This helps all members to follow a topic without reading ‘unimportant’ items more than once.
2.10
Please use the website/forum “Search” function before creating a new topic, maybe your question was answered in the past.
2.11
Before submitting a post, please make sure that the topic is still up-to-date. Do not post in old threads (ex. 3 months / the moderators or administrators will decide), this is only allowed for significant reasons only.
2.12
Any manipulation of the forum or the attempt thereof is prohibited. It is not allowed to increase the post-counter by senseless posts (spam).
2.13
Any advertising of services is prohibited for legal reasons. There is a special area in our forum where individuals can offer their goods. Any personal sales or want ad requests are only allowed in the “Classifieds” forum. Please adhere to all rules found within each section/forum. The use of the signature for sale offers and requests is not permitted.
2.14
Shop owners or site sponsors are not allowed to make self-promotion outside the intended area. Please keep posts within “Dealer’s Corner”.
3. PERSONAL USER PROFILE
Each user has the right to fill their profile with personal information in accordance with the forum rules. (For example, no illegal content, etc.). Failing this, any signature can be removed by the administrators in violation.
3.1
Using the signature option of another forum member should be avoided and may be prohibited by a moderator or an administrator. Furthermore, signatures that are perceived as offensive by other members will be removed by the administrators. The definition of “offensive” is reserved for administrators and moderators.
3.2
Each user can use an avatar in addition to his profile if it follows the existing forum rules. It is not permitted to use an avatar of another user. It is also prohibited to link images of external websites. The avatar can be uploaded by the user in the profile which is saved on the forum server. Avatars that are perceived as offensive by other members will be deleted. The definition of “offensive” is reserved for administrators and moderators.
4. PRIVATE MESSAGES AND EMAIL
The forum provides private messaging. These are an aid for private communication and will not be read by the board leadership.
4.1
The same principles regarding the behaviour in the forum are valid for private messages. It is not allowed to send private messages if the recipient does not want them. Review forum options to allow or stop messages – See DiecastSociety.com forum FAQ.
4.2
It is prohibited to publish your private messages or e-mails from other members without their pre-authorized consent. Absolutely zero tolerance here.
5. VIOLATIONS AND PENALTIES
The moderators/administrators have the following options in case of incivility on the website/forum rules: sending a private message to that user, with a request for correction or warning, editing/moving/removing individual parts of posts and topics, changing or removing avatar and/or title of a member’s user, changing or removing signatures/pictures of a member, restricting access to the forum (disable individual areas), excluding the user from the website/forum or finally, banned outright. We have the right to take legal action or provide content of the subject with possible user information to authorities as per Canadian law and policies.
6. LEGAL NOTICE
The operator of DiecastSociety.com does not assume any liability for the accuracy of any given rule or arising damages. There is no right to the completeness of the rules. It is always possible to extend the rules without prior announcement if this is necessary.