Forum Rules

  1. Forum Rules
    1. Posts are to be made in the relevant forum. Users are asked to read the forum descriptions before posting. Posts made in the wrong forum will be moved by a moderator. Users consistently posting to the wrong forum may be given a warning (see policing below).
    2. Users should post in a way that is respectful of others. Trolling, flaming, bullying or abusing others in any way will not be tolerated and will lead to a warning and their post will be removed.
    3. Users are asked to not act as “back seat moderators”. If users note an issue which contravenes something in this policy document they are welcome to bring it to the attention of a member of the Website Committee, BOD, or Officer. Users who consistently “act” as moderators may be warned.
    4. Users should remember this board is aimed at a general Jeep audience. Posting profanity, pornographic or generally offensive text, images, links, etc. will not be tolerated and will lead to a warning and their post will be removed.
    5. Users are asked to respect the copyright of other users, sites, media, etc. Users linking to or re-printing material without permission will receive a warning and their post will be removed.
    6. Users should respect the bandwidth of other users and sites. The use of inline ([img][/img]) image tags pointing to data stored on third party systems for which the user has not received permission to link to may be removed.
    7. Users should post in a way which is consistent with “normal writing”. That is users should not post excessive numbers of emoticons, large, small or colored text, etc. Similarly users should not SHOUT or use excessive punctuation (e.g. ! and ?) in topic titles or posts. Users consistently abusing this will be warned.
    8. Users are welcome to use the test forum for general “test purposes”. These may include checking signatures, testing a link or image, etc. (subject to previous points on decency, etc.). Users posting in the test forum just to increase their post counts will be warned.
    9. Spam is not tolerated here under any circumstance. Users posting spam will be warned and their post removed. If the user’s sole purpose on the forum is to spam, their account will immediately be banned.
    10. The Website Committee reserves the right to edit or remove any post at any time. The determination of what is construed as indecent, vulgar, spam, etc. as noted in these points is up to the Website Committee and not users. Questions concerning their actions can be addressed to them via email or personal message. Any post made regarding actions taken will be removed.
    11. The above forum rules where applicable also apply to private messaging. Abuse of the private messaging system may lead to warnings (as above) and/or the revocation of private messaging. Also use of the private messaging system is for ‘private’ discussions between parties. At no time should private messages be quoted in the public or private forums, unless permission has been obtained from all parties involved.
  2. Signatures
    1. Signatures may contain up to five lines (one line being that displayed on a browser opened to 800px width) of text (of small or normal size) and/or one image, valid combinations include; a single image of no more than 60px high, 468px wide and 6KB in size. Signatures containing an image this large may also include one line of small size text. Signatures containing an image of 30px high may include up to three lines of small size text or two lines of normal size text. Images of 15px height or less may allow up to three lines of normal size text or four lines of small size text.
    2. Text sizes should be between 9 and 12 (small and normal). Text in signatures is subject to the same conditions as posts with respect decency, emoticons, etc.
    3. Links are permitted in signatures. Such links may be made to non-Nova Jeepers material, commercial ventures, etc. Links are included within the text and image limits above. Links to offensive sites may be subject to removal.
    4. Animations that do not exceed standard sig limitations are allowed on a temporary basis and subject to review, and may be removed by the Website Committee. Users abusing these rules will be warned
  3. Avatars
    1. All users are permitted to utilize a gallery avatar or to link to one of their own (subject to previous points on misuse of bandwidth). User defined avatars are to be no larger than 140 pixels square, contain no image which attempts to portray the user as having an official status here (e.g. mimicking ranks), may not exceed 21KB in file size and have a consistently high availability (i.e. links to images on slow servers or those prone to failure may be removed).
    2. Avatars are subject to the same conditions as posts with respect decency, etc.
    3. Any user abusing these rules will be warned and/or may lose their avatar privileges.
  4. Policing
    1. Northern Virginia Jeepers Association operates a three strike policy for all forum users and club members. Continued display on the forum of prohibited behavior will result in actions by the Website Committee, Officers, or BOD as described below.
    2. Arguing with, or posting regarding a received warning will lead to an immediate additional strike. Should this exceed to the third strike a temporary ban will be put in place immediately and the User Account will go under review.
    3. Users who feel they have been unfairly warned are welcome to contact the relevant persons by personal message. If they feel you were treated badly they may remove a warning. If you feel their decision is also unfair you may contact an Officer. Their decision is final. Contacting Officers over warning matters should be done so as a very last resort.
    4. Any attempt to circumvent a temporary ban will lead to that ban being made permanent. Circumvention includes re-registering under a non-banned username, changing IP addresses to evade an IP ban, or registering a new email account of evade an email ban. Circumvention also includes posting as another user.
    5. An exception to the three strike rule applies when users contact Website Committee members, Officers, or a member of the Board of Directors personally (via any method) and post insulting, indecent or vulgar material. Such users may be subject to an immediate and/or permanent ban.
    6. Permanent bans are a last resort and thought is given before implementing them. A permanent ban will be decided based off a vote by the Board of Directors, Officers, Website Committee and/or all three depending on user’s access.
  5.  

* First Strike – Users will first be issued a warning by personal message or email that will never expire

** Second Strike- 1 to 2 week account suspension

*** Third Strike- User Account review by Website Committee, Officers, and Board of Directors resulting in longer suspension, permanent ban or other action

**** Northern Virginia Jeepers Association reserves the right to add, modify, and/or remove any of the fore mentioned rules with or without notice.****