Forum Rules / Guidelines

[Warren]

Purpose Statement

 

The FNZAS Fishroom Forum is a place where members can come together to share knowledge, ask questions, and discuss aquarium keeping. We encourage people of all ages and levels of experience to participate.

 

Terms of Use

 

By accessing this forum, you agree to be legally bound by the following rules, by any by-laws of your country, and/or the country where the FNZAS Fishroom Forum is hosted, and by International Law. All the posts you make express your own views and opinions. FNZAS will not be held liable for posts made by you or others.

The FNZAS shall not be held responsible for any data that may be compromised as the result of unauthorised systems activity.

All communications between users and FNZAS administrators or moderators are confidential but may be used as legal evidence if further action is taken against a user for misconduct, or if requested by NZ law. The FNZAS will not release personal user information held on the site unless required to do so under NZ law.

The FNZAS may alter the rules at any time and without prior warning however and we will do our best to inform users by posting the amendment(s) in the Announcements forum.

 

Terms of Use.

You agree to abide by the Forum Rules and Guidelines below and any laws be it of your country, the country where the FNZAS Fishroom Forum hosted or International Law. Not doing so may lead to you being immediately and permanently banned, with notification of your Internet Service Provider if deemed required by us. The IP address of all posts is recorded to aid in enforcing these conditions. You agree that FNZAS Fishroom Forum has the right to remove, edit, move or close any topic at any time should we see fit. As a user you agree to any information you have entered to being stored in a database. The FNZAS  shall be held responsible for any hacking attempt that may lead to the data being compromised.

 

 

Forum Rules

 

The FNZAS does not tolerate harassment or bullying and we endeavour to maintain supportive environment for all including junior members under the age of 18. By participating in this forum as a private or commercial user, you agree to

 

• be polite, helpful and show total respect for others at all times, either in posts, PMs or emails.
• refrain from using vulgar language (or implied), posting sexual references or sexually oriented content.
• not post any private information about another user without their permission including photos, non-public names, e-mail addresses, telephone numbers, physical or postal addresses.
• acknowledge the author/photographer of any content posted that is not your own and give the source, for example; title, author, journal name, web link that fully identifies your information source.
• not use this website in any way for individuals or businesses to prospect customers, form buying groups, arrange a bulk purchase or plan a group import. Other websites and businesses may not use this website with the intention of prospecting for new members.

 

 

Images are not hosted on this site but can be embedded or linked to from other sites. Images over 640 x 640 pixels, or larger than 128kB, are automatically resized to allow rapid loading by a range of viewers.

 

User Accounts

 

The FNZAS reserves the right to allow or decline anonymous email addresses if necessary. Changing your email address at any time after registering will result in your account being automatically disabled, requiring an administrator to reactivate it. The moderating team will endeavour to reactivate your account as soon as possible but will not be held liable for consequences of any delay.

Multiple accounts for individual users are only allowed with permission from the moderation team. Where two or more people share one user account, they are jointly responsible for their conduct in the forum.

Commercial members are retail outlets or businesses offering items for sale in commercial quantities, and/or prices. These members may talk about their own products only; no discussion (good or bad) of a competitor’s product is allowed. Commercial members must not hijack topics by other members, push their own products in private member threads, or spam users by email or private message. Order queries should be directed to private contact (e.g. email, phone). Commercial members may announce product availability in the other areas of the forum with a link to their commercial section advert; for example: in a thread about algae in Freshwater section, a Commercial member may post “This might help your problem (insert link to thread in commercial section).” The FNZAS reserves the right to remove posts if commercial members are seen to be spamming or overly pushy or their products.

Personal users who have an aquarium-related business may apply to the moderation team to have a commercial account for advertising purposes. The avatar of a user with multiple accounts will have the accounts listed under the user’s location; this is set by the administrators and cannot be edited by the user. Multiple account holders are not permitted to converse with themselves in threads in an effort to promote their own products.

Both commercial and private members are required to limit their signature to no more than 3 lines, with no images embedded or linked. The site rules apply to all signatures.

 

Private Trade and Exchange Section

 

This forum is for private individuals to list aquarium related items that they have for sale, want to give away, trade, or buy. Goods for sale must be goods purchased for personal use and not purchased with the intention of resale. Private individuals repeatedly selling the same types of goods will be required to become a commercial seller and provide the necessary documentation/proof for this. Posts must contain the minimum information required. These guidelines are listed at the top of the Private Trade & Exchange forum page.

The Private Trade & Exchange section is for classified type advertising only; private auctions are not allowed. Links or references to auctions on other websites are allowed as long as they don’t otherwise breach any other rules or conditions listed on this site or on the other auction site. Under no conditions should this site be used to bypass the other website’s auction rules. The FNZAS will not be held responsible for misrepresentation of goods for sale on other sites..

Wholesalers and importers may only advertise products available in retail outlets and must not use this site to sell direct to the public.

 

Commercial Trade and Exchange Section

 

This forum is to be used by commercial members who are retail outlets or businesses offering items for sale in commercial quantities, and/or prices. The FNZAS will not edit user posts to further an advertising agenda. Once private users post in response to a commercial member’s post in the Commercial Trade & Exchange, the commercial user is solely responsible for the discussion that ensues except where forum rules must be enforced by moderators. If commercial users do not wish for private users to comment on their threads, they can request the threads be locked, but only before any private users have posted.

 

Consequences of breaking the Forum rules

 

The moderation team may remove or edit posts, as well as move or close any topic without warning, if they do not conform to the rules herein.

If a user breaks the forum rules they may receive a warning via private message or email. If they reoffend within 183 days they will receive a one month ban. Should the first breach of rules warrant it, either a one month ban or a permanent ban will be issued immediately and without prior notification.

Should a member who has previously been banned continue to disregard the forum rules the FNZAS reserve the right to permanently ban the member, at any time, from the Forums. This ban may be for any rule breach and may be put into effect immediately and without prior warning.

Serious infringements will include notification sent to your Internet Service Provider. The IP address of all posts is recorded to aid in enforcing these conditions.

Should a multiple-user account receive a warning or ban due to the behaviour of one user, it will be carried by all users who share the account. For households that have more than one account, if one account holder is banned, they may not post from a non-banned member’s account. If this occurs both users will be banned. Bans apply to all accounts held by a user such as those with a private and commercial account.

 

Complaints Procedure

 

If a financial member of the FNZAS is not happy with actions taken by an Administrator or Moderator, they should first lodge a complaint with the Fishroom Subcommittee, who will make a ruling. The subcommittee may be contacted by emailing [email protected] . If the member is not satisfied with the Fishroom Sub Committee’s ruling, they can then lodge a complaint with the FNZAS Executive, via the FNZAS Secretary [email protected] . The Executive will discuss the case and make a ruling. This ruling will be final.