Global Forum Rules

[VodkaFish]

Posting Rules
* Before posting your question, search the forums. Your question or comment may have already been discussed, answered or resolved.
* Postings must be on topic of the thread/forum you are posting to. The moderators will move them to the appropriate forum-area if needed or are entitled to remove them.
* Create a concise subject that adequately summarizes your topic. For example: "Can the Lightning Win the Cup Again?"
* Do not use words such as "Urgent" or "Important" in your subject line. Every post here is considered important.
* Do not use all capital letters, excessive question marks (?) or exclamation points (!) in your subject or content.
* If you have made an error in your posting, feel free to use the "Edit" function. Adding a reply to your own message is unwanted. An exception is for news postings.
* If you are unsure of your post, feel free to ask one of the moderators before posting.
* Please refrain from "IM speak" here. For example: "how r u" should be written out "how are you". These are forums, not a chat room, and there is no point in speedposting here.
* If you make a post in ALL CAPS, it will be deleted. If the subject is in all caps, it will be deleted.
* If a thread is locked/deleted, do not make a post asking why. If you want to know why, send a polite e-mail to a Moderator of the forum.
* Please refrain from one-word replies.
* Try not to quote long posts, especially for short replies. If you reference the post shortly, that should be enough.
* Do not copy posts from other websites, it's plagiarism and it's just not polite.

Community Rules
* Help others. The forum is a community, and works best when people share information.
* Be patient. All the participants of this forum, are using the forum and participating in discussions on their own time.
* Give feedback. If someone helps you by answering your question, try to add a follow-up response letting them know if it worked or not.
* Welcome newcomers. Do not chastise them for not reading the forum etiquette. Make them feel welcome in the community and do not make them feel dumb or silly. Remember your own first steps here?
* Make it clear to the supporters on your topic if a problem is solved and show your gratitude by thanking them for the help!

Strictly Forbidden
* No Spamming - do not post any advertisements in the forums.
* No Flaming - do not post defamatory, abusive, vulgar, hateful, racist, sexual, harassing or obscene messages in the forums.
* No Racism - do not post any ethnic, gender or any other type of "slur" that's meant to offend someone. Your message will be deleted. Any type of hatred in this form, purposeful or not, will be deleted.
* No Harassment - respect the female members please. Any comments seen as harassing will not be taken lightly. There will also not be a double-standard, female members are expected to treat the male members with the same courtesy.
* No Headhunting - do not repeatedly target a specific member and go into each topic they do just to instigate an argument.
* No Trolling - do not attempt to upset the general decorum of the forum.
* No Preaching - everyone is entitled to their opinion, but this forum will not be used to give religious or moral instruction, especially in a tedious manner.
* No Crossposting - your posting topic should always fit into one (1) forum. So there is no need to post the same posting into several forums.
* No Illegals - do not post copyrighted material or links to websites containing illegal software.
* No Dual Posting - do not setup multiple accounts on this forum.
* No Posting of Private Messages - there's a reason they are Private Messages. Keep them private.
* Avatars, signatures and other profile options should not contain any material involving porn, religious material, animal/human cruelty or ideologically charged images or text.
* Signatures may not be quotes from other members.
* Doing one of the above will lead to the removal of your message and possibly the banning of your account and IP-address from this community indefinitely.

Rules, Moderators & Administrators
* Changes to these rules can only be made by the publisher of this website.
* To be sure everyone in our community is living by these rules, Moderators are watching the forums. Moderators are set in and off by the Administrators.
* Moderators have additional rights in their forum. Besides the closing or complete deletion of threads, they can also move them or make them sticky.
* Moderators can and will set up additional posting rules which meet the characteristics of their forum. Please read the descriptions of each forum. Please post in the correct one. Certain forums have certain formats - please follow them.
* If you think a moderator is abusing his or her power, feel free to contact an Administrator using the "Contact Us" link below.
* Super Moderators are Moderators which have moderation rights on all available forums. Super Moderators are set in and off by the Administrators.
* Administrators are people maintaining the technical background of this community. They are setting Moderators and Super Moderators in and off.
* If you think an administrator is abusing his power, feel free to visit another website.

Final words
* Enjoy the forums and learn a lot by helping others as well.
* Feel free to contact the administrator if you are unsure about these rules.
* Updates to this site will be posted in the Help Desk.
* As this is a hockey forum please remember that just because someone doesn't like your favorite player or team doesn't mean they're taking a shot at you. There's no reason to be offended.
* The same rules for the forum apply to the chat room.