To post on this forum, you must register. By registering, you agree to abide by the following rules.

You agree that you will:

• Keep your posts relevant to the subjects in the forum, and, when replying, to the subject of the initial post.
• If you are replying to the opening post - please make sure that your reply is relevant to the subject matter or the conversation. Posts that go heavily off topic, especially if they try to turn the conversation around to a different subject matter, may be edited or deleted. Repeatedly doing this will result in a warning.
• Note that we aren't trying to be spoilsports, and wont warn you if you throw in some random comments or go a bit off topic for a laugh - forums are supposed to be fun as well as supportive and helpful. This rule is aimed at preventing ranting and disruptive posts.
• Note that the forums under the "general introduction, discussion and chat" are fairly vague anyway, so general links and discussion are fine here.
• Not post anything libellous (false) or inflammatory about any individual or any organisation.
• Not to question whether a poster is telling the truth. All posters are asumed to be telling the truth. Posts like "how do you know he/she is genuine" will be deleted and the poster will be warned. If you feel that a poster may be lying, just do not reply to their post. If you feel really strongly that a poster is lying, report the post and the admin/moderating team will decide what action to take.
• Not post any swearing, rude or abusive language.
• Not post the names or other personal details of yourself or any other individual, (including phone numbers, addresses, or anything that may be used to uniquely identify yourself or others).
  If you wish another individual to get in touch, you may post an email address, but to prevent your email address being picked up by spammers, we suggest that you ask them to personal message (PM) you.
  Contact details for relevant organisations are welcomed.
• Not post advertising, spam or promotional content that is not directly relevant.
• Not to discuss anything illegal, e.g. music and software piracy
• Not knowingly post content or links to content that violates the copyright, trademark, patent or other intellectual property right of any third party. Furthermore, if you subsequently discover that anything you have posted does violate the above, you will submit a request to the admin team for the relevant material to be deleted.

You agree:

• That all posts are to be in English. We cannot check the content of foreign language posts so they will be deleted.
• That you retain full responsibility for the content of all your posts.
• That the admin/moderation team retain full right to edit and/or delete any posts, and warn and/or ban any user at any time, without having to give a reason (although we would normally give a full explanation).
• To indemnify the owners and admin team of this website from any and all claims and/or damages (including reasonable solicitors charges) resulting from any claim brought by any third party relating to content you have posted.

Also, please be aware of the following:

Each person may have only one member ID. If you have forgotten your login details, please contact the admin team and we will see what we can find. Please do not register a new account.

Please do not write posts IN ALL CAPITAL LETTERS. This is known as SHOUTING, and can be taken as very rude. It is also very difficult to read. Posts in all caps will be edited and may be deleted.

Try to be helpful in what you post. Feel free to disagree, but disagree with the post, not the person. "I think you have made a mistake, or you possibly don't understand - This is what I think..." is great! "Shut up you idiot - you are talking rubbish" is bad. Constructive criticism is what forums are for. Destructive critisism is what warnings and edit functions are for.

Specific Guidelines For Media Organisations:

We are more than happy for media organisations to post on the forum, asking for people to come forward with stories/discussion of their experiences for broadcast or publication, but ask that you abide by the following.:

• Please include the name of your organisation, and, if possible, a link to your website
• please include a contact name and email address or phone number for your organisation
• Please give some indication of where and when the stories/discussion given will be broadcast/published and any linked publications, e.g. if your magazine is given away with a newspaper.
• Please give as much more information as you can about yourselves and about how any information given will be used. As you are obviously aware, the issues discussed on this forum are quite sensitive and the users are understandably concerned about telling their stories elsewhere.

We reserve the right to change these rules at any time, although if the change is major, an announcement will be made in the "News and announcements" forum and may also be emailed to all the users.

Any posts that break these rules will be modified, moved or deleted as is necessary, and the poster will be warned, and possibly banned, as set out in question "what happens if I break the rules"