KarateForums.com User Guidelines

[Patrick]

Participation in the KarateForums.com website constitutes agreement to the following guidelines, which apply to posts, profile information, avatars, signatures, any other content on this site and participation in general. This includes private messages, which we have the ability to read, but only do so when a violation is reported to us or we have a legitimate reason. Although rare, it does happen. You cannot initiate any conversations via private message or send any e-mails via the site until you have reached 25 posts.

Because of the live nature of the discussions on this community, it is not possible for us to review and/or confirm the accuracy or validity of a message before it is posted. If you believe that someone has violated our User Guidelines or you have spotted content that may otherwise require attention, please click the report post icon (http://www.karateforums.com/templates/subSilver/images/report.gif) in the upper right part of the post where the violation is located. If the thread has numerous violations in it, you need not report each post; simply report one post and note that you spotted other violations in the thread, as well, in your report before you submit. Include a brief description of what you believe is wrong. After you send your report, forget that the post(s) exists. Do not post "I have reported your post" - do not further reference the post in the thread in any way. If you feel that the report post feature is not appropriate for reporting a certain type of violation, please feel free to send a private message to a staff member or contact me.

Notification is strongly encouraged - we need your help to keep up the quality that KarateForums.com is known for. It is also voluntary and anonymous, but in no case should a user respond to a situation personally, thereby aggravating the situation further. Responding to a violation in an inflammatory manner is a violation in itself and will result in appropriate action.

This is a for profit website that will attempt to generate revenue through avenues that we deem appropriate, including advertising and credit for sales generated through links posted by members, or otherwise, on our website. Any content that violates our User Guidelines will be removed. Interpretation of our guidelines is at the discretion of the staff.

1. Cross posting is not allowed and will result in the removal of one or more posts. Cross posting is defined as posting the same information in two or more locations. When posting your topic, please try to post it in the most appropriate place within the organizational structure of our community. Identical topics posted in the same or different forums will be removed.

2. While member post count has meaning, it should not be taken too seriously. Attempts to artificially increase your post count are prohibited. This includes the mass creation of short or meaningless posts. Please limit consecutive replies, posted to the same thread, within a short period of time.

3. Advertisements are not allowed. Generally speaking, posts made specifically for the promotion of a website, product or service are considered advertising or, at least, posts made that unnecessarily send people to a website that you are in some way affiliated with. It does not matter if it is a commercial website, a personal website, a non profit website, etc. We do authorize and/or sell advertisements on a case by case basis. If you are interested in utilizing this option, please contact us.

All signature links must be kept in your signature in your profile. Anyone found to be posting excessive links to their websites or suspected of using "sneaky" advertising methods is in violation of this guideline. You may only post a link to your site/a site that you are in some way affiliated with if the link specifically answers the question that is being asked and the answer cannot be simply posted without the link. Even then, link directly to the page where the information can be found. General and unnecessary links will be tagged as advertising. If you are found to be excessively posting links to your site (or you appear to be seeking out threads where your link may be relevant, so that you can post it), you may lose the ability to post links to your site.

Videos may include light branding in good taste, such as a watermark or the mention of an organization and link at the start and end. However, the video must be used to encourage conversation here. If you are posting a video as the start of a thread, you can't just post a link to a video. You must begin a discussion that exists here. This is a place to start conversations, not simply drop links to videos. If you are responding to an existing thread, the video must add value to the conversation and speak directly to what people are talking about.

This should only be done where a video offers a visual that will enhance a discussion, including competition footage and the demonstration of techniques. In those cases, a video is a worthwhile visual aid. A video, where you talk about why McDojos are bad, does not offer a necessary visual. Instead, you should just start a discussion on that topic and not include the video.

When sharing a video, please post a link directly to the video hosted on a third party video sharing site, like YouTube. Please do not embed it on your website and then link to your website. Please do not tell people, in your post here, that they should comment on another website, subscribe to your channel, etc.

If it becomes clear that you are only here to post links to your videos, and not to engage with the community at large, we will restrict your ability to share videos.

4. You are not allowed to post an affiliate URL that leads to you earning cash, banner impressions, credits, points, etc. These links are also not allowed in your profile or signature. This includes a link created to simply redirect someone to an affiliate URL.

5. Do not post personal, real life information such as home addresses and home phone numbers. Do not demand of or continually press other users for personal information, including their background in the martial arts. Ask once, if you must. If the person you are asking does not want to answer, do not press them further.

6. As this is an English speaking community, we require that posted content be in the English language, so that it can be well received and properly monitored. This excludes martial art and technique names (which must still be posted in English characters) as well of pictures of organizational badges which may be posted or used as avatars.

7. Vulgar language and inappropriate material is not allowed and will be removed. Abbreviations, self censoring and attempts to circumvent the word censoring feature of the community software also violate this guideline. If your post contains a word that is censored by the software, you must remove that word or the post will be removed. If you feel that the censor is acting in error, please contact us.

We try to maintain a family friendly atmosphere whenever it is possible within the main subject matter of this community. Please keep this in mind when participating.

8. When linking to outside websites, you must ensure that the content of the link is appropriate for our community, in line with the guidelines laid out here. This includes mentioning or referencing a site, even if the mention is not hyperlinked. If you post a link and that link is automatically censored, it is considered to be an inappropriate link and you should remove it from your post immediately. If left, all posts that feature inappropriate links will be removed.

9. Posts that discuss illegal activities, transactions or websites such as warez, cracks, etc. will be removed. This includes the posting of information that you have obtained illegally.

10. Non martial arts related political and religious discussions are prohibited. If it is believed that the end result of a discussion will be political or religious (with no relevance to the martial arts discussion taking place), the post may be removed. Likewise, strong political and religious sentiments should be kept out of profiles, signatures and other content.

11. Do not post copyrighted materials (articles, videos, audio, etc.) that you do not have permission to reproduce or distribute. For text articles, most of the time you may quote a small portion of the article (usually no more than 1/5 or 1/6) and you must link to the source (if online) or provide the source (if offline). Posting the entire article, even with the source, constitutes copyright infringement. This is not the place to illegally trade or distribute copyrighted (or those with questionable copyright status) video or audio clips.

12. When posting and linking to images, videos, files, etc., please refrain from hotlinking. This is the direct linking to of images (.jpg, .jpeg, .gif, .png, etc.), video (.avi, .mov, .mpg, .mpeg, .wmv, etc.), audio (.mp3, .wav, etc.), archives (.zip, .rar, etc.) or otherwise downloadable or streamable files, on servers that you do not have permission to link to, instead of linking to the page where the item can be found. This includes providing a direct link to the file, even if that file is not embedded into your post. This practice costs the server owner money and resources.

13. Respect is the name of the game. You must respect your fellow members. Please refrain from inflammatory and defamatory comments as well as flaming, taunting and general disrespect. Do not simply put down the opinion or advice given by others. If you don't agree with it, say why - respectfully. Don't just tell them they're wrong. Do not make uninvited remarks about typos, duplicate posts, posting styles, etc. This is not the place to aggressively pursue attacks and accusations on one's chosen style or background. We all have different opinions and different backgrounds.

When an opinion based discussion is being had, do not state things like "there is no argument" as if your opinion is the only one or the only one that matters. When someone has clearly stated their opinion, do not say things like "Are you serious?" and "Are you kidding me?" Remember, this is not a debate club. This is a friendly discussion community. Allow people to have their opinion. No one is to act as some sort of opinion judge, responding to each one to say whether they agree with it or not or whether or not it is a valid, well thought out opinion.

We do not allow threads to be started to discuss who or what is the most overrated, who or what is your least favorite, etc.

14. Any and all health and medical advice and information given on this community is intended for general discussion and educational purposes only. It is in no way intended to serve as actual, individual medical advice. In no way does participating in these forums constitute a formal or informal doctor/patient relationship. These forums are not limited to physicians, doctors or other health professionals. In fact, all members are invited to participate. Because of this, we assume no responsibility for any posts. It is possible that some information may be inaccurate, incomplete or otherwise flawed. No information is endorsed or verified by KarateForums.com or any health professionals. Your health is important and you are responsible for your own health care and well being. If you have any medical concerns at all, you should consult a physician or other health care professionals as you deem necessary.

15. We do not allow discussions debating what the best martial art is nor do we allow discussions debating what martial art has the best something. This includes discussions such as "What is the best martial art?", "What is the best martial art for street fighting?", "Does BJJ have the best kicks?", "What martial art has the best footwork?" and the like. The exception to this is for individuals who need help choosing a martial art. In these cases, the person who needs assistance must make it clear that they need help selecting a martial art and must list the martial arts that are available to them in their area. They cannot simply ask what the best martial art is for them - there must be a list of arts. They must offer some details (even if they are few and vague) about their needs and their situation (body type, environment, etc.).

16. Signatures are limited to 5 lines of text. This includes blank lines. No images. The text in the signature may be customized by the BBCode in use on the forums. It is recommended that you stick with readable fonts and colors and that the size is not too large. You may mention websites and ventures that you are in some way related to, as long as they are otherwise appropriate for this community. Focus on things that you like, not things that you don't.

17. Each user is allowed to create one account. If you would like to change your username, please contact us and, most likely, we can do it for you while you can keep all of your profile data, posts and other content.

18. Automated account creation, participation and content scraping is not permitted.

19. We know that people will have to leave our community (of their own free will or otherwise) from time to time and to that end, we do not delete accounts, posts or other content posted on our community. All content is granted to us with perpetual electronic publishing rights because any content posted on this community becomes a part of the community, even if you no longer are. You may request an item to be removed at any time, but we will decide when and if to remove content from our community. If you wish to no longer be identified with our community, we will be glad to close your account and alter your profile information to remove all identifying characteristics. After account closure, you will no longer be able to participate in this community and this action is not reversible.

20. Moderators and the administrator have the final say on anything. If you have a problem, you may make a complaint to them directly and not publicly on the website. Creating threads or posts that question or reference administrative decisions or potential administrative decisions, such as post removals and thread closures, is not permitted. We are not perfect and if you feel that we have made a mistake, please privately contact a staff member and we will review the situation. If you would like a copy of your removed post so that you can adjust it and repost, please contact us. As long as we wouldn't prefer you to simply start over, we'll be glad to send you a copy.

21. If you ever need clarification on any part of our User Guidelines or have a question, suggestion, a bit of feedback or a problem with the site, please feel free to contact me directly to ensure that it receives the proper attention. Please do not post it in the forums as it will be removed.

22. Whenever you are participating in this community, please keep in mind that we strive to create a fun, friendly and inviting atmosphere. So, please have fun and enjoy the forums!

Freedom of speech rights do not extend to privately owned websites, such as this one. These guidelines detail the types of behavior and activities that are allowed here.

If a user violates our guidelines and shows a disregard for them, our staff and our community, they run the risk of losing their account. We reserve the right to deactivate any account and to edit or remove any content without warning. These guidelines are subject to change at any time without notice.

Do you have a question about our User Guidelines or anything else? Do you have a suggestion? Do you want to offer some feedback? Or are you experiencing some trouble with the site? Well, no matter what it is, please do not hesitate to contact me and I will be glad to help in any way that I can.

Thank you for visiting KarateForums.com.

Edited September 10 by Patrick