SBW Forum Rules updated 1-1-2008.

General Rules: This is mainly an un-moderated board.

Members are responsible for their own posts and actions. The Admin team do not accept any responsibility for anything written, said, or done on the site.

We will not censor posts unless we are asked to by the author of the post, anyone mentioned in the post, or unless the post contains items that are in breach of the rules.

The site host does not allow links to adult sites, or any thing that may cause offence. Any dodgy links shall be deleted and the poster will receive a warning.
Do not post items that may lead to the site being closed down by the host.

Please post in understandable English, this is a website, not a mobile phone, TXT speak is not acceptable.

We do not tolerate abuse of any kind: racial, religious, homophobic, bullying, or anything that could be interpreted that way in our, or a reasonable percentage of our members, opinions.
Extreme abuse and threats of violence against members, from guest users and other members, on the public forum and/or SC section, shall be deemed “GROSS MISCONDUCT” and will result in the offending party/parties being suspended or banned.

SBW shall remain a neutral zone and will not tolerate inter/intra club politics/feuds.
If members of the site are in different local scooter clubs that are having issues with other clubs this is not the place to continue, or start, arguements or harrassment.
Any complaints will be dealt with under our abuse & bullying policy.

It is polite “netiquette” that new members post an introduction in the “Who are we?” section. However that is optional and up to the individual, just expect people to comment if you don’t, it’s just a nicety.

Guests are welcome to ask questions and seek advice we will help if we can, please keep it scooter related. (We are aware some people might have a technical question but may not necessarily wish to join the forum).

We request that if you are going to post items for sale that you register and introduce yourself in the “Who are we?” section.

First posts selling items will be deleted by the Admin team, this is not a commercial site.

Advertising posts by non-members will be immediately deleted by the Admin team.

We DO NOT allow the sale, or exchange of V5C (log book) documents as this is ILLEGAL.

Internal Mail (IM's):
Internal Mails done through the site are logged for security purposes automatically by the site software. Only Admin have access to the archive of logged messages and we value the privacy of our members.
Be assured any messages you send will remain private.
If you do not wish messages to be stored then please use the PM (Private Message) option as these are not logged. Or ask the person you wish to contact for their personal e-mail address.

Disciplinary Procedure:
We have a “warn-o-meter” warning system in place, it counts from 0 to 10.
If a member posts something that is in breach of the rules they will be warned by a member of the Admin team.
If a member reaches 10 warnings then they will be suspended for a period specified by the Admin team based upon the nature of the situation.
If a member is suspended twice in 12 months the Admin team will decide wether, or not, to ban the individual, either for a set period, or indefinitely.
The individual member that has been warned, or banned, can contact an Administrator to ask for an appeal to review the situation.
Appeals will not be considered from any other party, only the person/s involved.
In certain cases the Admin team may impose a temporary suspension of 48 hours to one week to give time for situations to settle and to research information from the people involved.
Admin reserve the right to a deciding vote, and their decision will be final.

Copyright issues:
Do not post links, footage or images which may be subject to copright. This includes footage from TV shows, archive newsreels and the like. If a member finds something that may be of interest, a link to the host and a list of appropriate keywords IS allowed. Any offending links will be removed. Repeated breach of this will result in warnings being given.

Signatures:
Can members please only use text for signatures, or if you feel the need for an image, or video clip, is necessary please only use one image and keep it avatar height and do not exceed the width of the page (say 4 avatar widths).
Multiple or large images, or video clips, will not be allowed, Admin will request people to keep images within the size limits, if images are not resized by the individual, then they shall be edited by Admin. Large/multiple images cause problems for members on dial-up connections and take bandwidth space.

Annual Clean Up:
We have an annual clean up of the member list in January of each year. We delete any un-used and zero posting accounts. If no-one has posted anything for over 12 months then their details will be erased. If you wish to re-join you can just re-register. Dead accounts take up bandwidth space and affect the speed the site runs.

Shoutbox:
Impersonating other members in the shoutbox is not allowed. Anyone caught doing so will have their shoutbox privileges removed.

The rules are there for the protection of the site and it's members.

As legislation changes and the site grows the rules will be updated to ensure the site stays the best on the net.

Thanks. The Admin/Moderating team.