General : Forum Rules: In DepthIntroductionThe Community forums offer a valuable resource for feedback, discussion, help and interaction between staff and other users. Over the years the forums have built up a knowledgeable, welcoming and friendly community.
Customer feedback is important to PlusNet, who welcome all of it, be it is positive or negative. The Comms Team are on hand, mostly in the
Community Support forum to answer queries and participate in the dialogue.
The forums are moderated by customers, namely; James (James_H), Daniel (assos), Roger (rogerloxton), Barry Zubel (Barry), & Jonathan (chillypenguin). The moderators are not paid and volunteer their time freely. They do not get any special insight into what PlusNet are doing or when your ticket is going to be answered.
The role of the moderators is to ensure that the forums provide an enjoyable and informative experience for all. They also ensure that the Forum Guidelines and rules are followed. The moderators have the right to edit, censor, delete or otherwise modify any posted message.
If at anytime you have reason to question the actions of a moderator, in the first instance send a PM to the Moderator, if your issue still cannot be resolved then contact a member of the Comms Team; Mark Kelly, James Bailey, Matt Taylor, Bob Pullen or Mand Beckett who will discuss this with the moderators and make a final decision on your case.
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Forum LanguageThe official language to be used with all postings on these forums is English. Except in the dedicated Polish language forum.
Back to Contents ArgumentsThere is a fine line between discussion and argument which is at times hard to define. In general a discussion becomes an argument when the postings become personal and if this starts to become obvious then the Moderators will take necessary action which may include removal or locking of posts.
Back to Contents TrollingA troll is a person who posts inflammatory messages, to disrupt the discussion or to upset its participants. The word, or its derivative, "trolling", is also used to describe such messages or the act of posting them. This behaviour will not be tolerated.
Back to Contents Personal attacksThese are usually caused by discussions turning into serious arguments as mentioned above. Please think before posting anything that would be defined as this sort of attack. For example "Username is an idiot" Personal attacks are not welcome on these forums and will be dealt with firmly.
Back to Contents Impoliteness toward forum staffThis is when someone impolitely argues against any of the forum staff. (Forum staff include PlusNet staff, administrators and moderators.) An example would be: “How dare you lock that thread you stupid moderator!” However, saying something like “Could you please unlock my thread, because I feel there was no need for it to be locked.” would be perfectly fine.
Back to Contents Use of inappropriate languageThe use of swear words, or disguised swear words, in a post is not allowed on the forums. Any attempt to avoid the swear filter will be dealt with.
Back to Contents Cross PostingWe do not allow 'cross posting' where a user posts the same text in more than one forum. This wastes resources as forum users have to read posts twice. It also causes confusion to the original poster as they may well find that replies are disjointed over 2 or more threads.
Back to Contents Posts/threads in a totally wrong placePlease try and check that the topic you are starting is in the correct section of the forums. Moderators will move posts that are obviously in the wrong section.
Back to Contents Advertising on the forumsForum users are not permitted to post advertisements or commercial solicitations on the forums. This includes offering goods or services for sale. However, there is no problem with users posting links to their web sites in signatures or posts, provided the posts are materially useful and are not simply seeking to promote their products (e.g. recommending themselves for every query).
The advertising or offering for sale of your own personal items is permitted in the
Classifieds forum.
Back to Contents Posting inappropriate materialDiscussions which mention the circumnavigation or attempted circumnavigation of PlusNet's terms and conditions (including traffic shaping) will not be allowed to continue or develop.
The moderators can and will take appropriate action including removal of posts if such discussions are started.
Also remember that these forums can be viewed by all ages and not just adults. Sexual, Racist Items or links to explicit material will be removed and if this is repeated then action will be taken against the poster.
Back to Contents Illegal file sharingP2P (or peer-to-peer) software is not illegal in itself, nor is sharing files over it. What is illegal is the sharing of copyrighted files - over P2P or not. Therefore, discussions about P2P software in general are allowed on these forums... However, discussions about or links to sites distributing copyright material are not allowed.
Back to Contents Off Topic Posts (OT)It is inevitable that threads in forums can veer off course from the original topic. Rather than drag a thread off topic, you should start a new thread in the appropriate forum and post a link in the original thread. Please note that reasonable deviations from a topic's starting point are allowed, if discussions on the topic's original subject have finished.
Back to Contents User removal of a moderators noteIf a moderator leaves a note in a post, this must not be removed. They are left so the forum community knows what has happened to the post, and why the moderator has carried out any action. Hence, we treat this unofficial removal very seriously.
Back to Contents Contact Us ticket postingThe posting of Contact Us tickets is permitted but the CS Agents name must be removed, unless prior permission has been given by the agent in question. Posting a ticket number will enable PlusNet employees to look into anything you might want to highlight.
Back to Contents Posting of Personal DetailsWithout the express permission of the user these are not to be posted on the forums. This includes the content of pm's (personal forum messages) or emails received from moderators or staff.
Back to Contents All CAPS titles/postsThese can be annoying not only because in general "netiquette" they represent shouting, but the letters are also harder for the human brain to distinguish, thus making them harder to read. Therefore, posting in all caps is not permitted.
Back to Contents Signature ImagesCertain signature images that are available for use on the Internet reveal information like your IP Address and Browser. These are not allowed on the forums as some more inexperienced users feel that these are in some way breaching their security and privacy.
Back to Contents Avatars and SignaturesThe forum moderators reserve the right to ask any member to change their Avatar and/or Signature, should they feel that it is inappropriate, or does not comply with the following guidelines;
Avatar size should be limited to 80 x 80 pixels and a maximum file size of 20K.
Use of the PlusNet (Force9, Free-On-Line, Metronet) Logo as an Avatar is reserved for staff.
Signatures should use no more space than 4 lines of standard sized text would, this includes any blank lines and images you choose to use. Image based signatures should be limited to 80 x 560 pixels and a maximum file size of 20K.
Back to Contents Choice of forum DisplaynameThe forum moderators reserve the right to ask any member to change their displayname, should they feel that it is inappropriate, disrespectful or an attempt impersonate another user.
An example of an unacceptable name could be Chi11ypenguin.
Back to Contents Too many emoticonsSome people get over-enthusiastic with emotions. There should be no need for more than two or three emoticons together in a post.
Back to Contents "Rubbish" postingSome people think it is amusing to post in "rubbish" language... i.e. using odd characters instead of letters or even letters in no particular order. This is not permitted.
Back to Contents Bumping of posts"Bumping" is the act of adding to a thread just to get your topic back to the top of the list in a forum and should not be done.
Users who keep bumping their topics face action that may include the locking of the topic and / or removal of forum access.
Back to Contents Use of QuotesQuotes can be a very useful way of making your reply to a post clearer by indicating which post or part of a post you are referring to.
However using them incorrectly can be annoying and make threads very hard to read.
The following rule applies to the use of quotes.
Only quote the full content of a post if :-
a) it is NOT the post immediately before your reply
b) You find that your reply has been forced onto a new page (then edit in the full quote if it's needed.)
In all cases you should think before quoting and wherever possible only use a part of the post you are replying to in order to make it clear which bit of a post your reply refers to.
The Moderators will remove unnecessary full quotes where they are posted immediately after the post being replied to.
Back to Contents Banned membersIf a poster is banned from posting or accessing the forums that ban includes using another members account or log on details to access the forums or asking another member to post on their behalf. This action could have consequences for the other forum member.
A ban will in the first instance be for a minimum of 48 hours while the case is considered by the Moderators and PlusNet staff. Following that it may be removed or extended depending upon the circumstances.
If the user then gets banned again it is more than likely possible that this next ban will be for an extended period of time and could even be permanent.
Back to Contents Other removal of forum accessUsers with free accounts do not have access to the forums and users who downgrade to a "free" account will have access removed.
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General: Forum Rules In Depth