Posting Guidelines (Updated 04-20-2011); Your Identity; Advertisements
Posted By: Moderator on 2009-08-10
General Posting Guidelines
Updated: 04-20-2011
MTStars encourages and accepts the opinions of all of its posters. We want posters to be able to express their perspectives and views. We do not moderate the boards for niceness. You will often find posts and, sometimes, specific posters presenting ideas and thought lines that are in opposition to your own. Tolerance, acceptance and patience should be demonstrated by everyone. You may want to skip certain posts in order to fully enjoy the board(s) for your own experience. We encourage open discussion and even vigorous debate about TOPICS or ISSUES. Civility and respect should be maintained. MTStars will not be tolerating personal attacks of any kind.
A few basic guidelines for posting are provided below; however, it is not an exclusive list. It is expected that all posters will abide by these guidelines. MTStars also reserves the right to update this list of guidelines as necessary.
- Foul language, hate speech, violence, threats, cyberbullying, cyberstalking, trolling and abuse of posting privileges will not be tolerated. No poster here has the right to demonstrate these behaviors. Leave the foul language completely. If you cannot debate or discuss the topic or issue without personally attacking the poster, it is best that you not respond to that particular post.
- Remember: You are responsible for YOUR posting behavior. Don’t join in with posters who are acting out. Don’t try to moderate their behavior. Actions taken against your posting are due to your own behavior.
- Absolutely no grammar, spelling, punctuation police! Do not correct posters on spelling, grammar usage, punctuation, etc. The ONLY exception is for items specifically asked about on the Word Help board.
- Don’t try to moderate. Report posts that you feel violate the posting guidelines. You can do this by clicking the Options box when viewing a post and choosing the Report This Message option.
- Do not post private, indentifying or privileged information of any kind. This includes names, initials, account/client names or references, email addresses, telephone numbers, etc. Do not post communications from your company or any company.
- Use URLs (links to Internet sites) with a summary of the information you are trying to share.
- Do not redirect posters to other forums, blog sites, selling sites, social media platforms, etc.
- Do not post your personal website, business, etc., without expressed consent from the Administrator/Moderator.
- If you have questions as to why your post was edited or deleted, check your email as you will have a moderator notice in your inbox explaining the reason for the action taken. Do not complain about it on the board.
- Remember that your email address is NOT provided to anyone by MTStars at all. By posting, you agree to accept emails from posters through the board. The posters emailing you will NOT see your address. However, if you respond to an email received through the MTStars board, you will be exposing your email address.
What does it mean if your post was edited, moved or deleted?
It means that information within the post was against posting guidelines and, therefore, removed or the post was deleted. Remember that all replies are lost when posts are deleted. If a post belongs on a different board, it will be moved to the appropriate board.
What does it mean if you try to post and you see a message about being banned?
There will be a reason given for the banning. Please note this is usually to get your attention to stop an unacceptable behavior. However, repeated behavior ignoring posting guidelines may result in a permanent ban. Please follow the instructions on your ban notice to reinstate your posting privileges if possible.
If you have any questions at any time, do not hesitate to contact the Moderator. Happy posting!
Google Ads vs MTSO Ads -- All Posters Read/Respond Please
MTStars wants to know what you, the posters, prefer for this environment.
By continuing with the Google Ads, we can help defray the costs of running the board. We know they can be a bother sometimes but it is either that or having MTSO ads that greatly restrict what can be discussed on the boards.
Please let us know your thoughts by sending an email to cher@mtstars.com with your preference in the subject line (Google Ads or MTSO Ads).
ALL POSTERS READ - YOUR IDENTITY ON MTSTARS
I have addressed this in the past and, due to the content on the board currently, I believe it would be in everyone's best interest to repeat it on occasion. Let's be perfectly clear about a few things on posting on MTStars and posting on any board. There are 3 topics here each of you need to read:
1. Your identity when posting on MTStars: Your identity is safe on MTStars, including your IP address, your email. Your IP address is not and will not be given out unless we receive a court order to do so. Even if you receive an email through this board, ONLY if you reply back to that email will your email address be revealed to that person. If you receive email through this board, the individual sending the email to you has read a post by you and is emailing you blindly - they have no idea who they are emailing.
Anyone making any suggestion whatsoever that your identity can be determined or verified or retrieved from MTStars through actions by MTStars (other than through a US court order) is libeling MTStars and just trying to panic all of you. It is a lie.
2. Exposing your identity on MTStars or any other forum: This is something YOU do. You do not have to list your name for others (individuals or companies) to recognize you. If you give enough information, it can be very apparent who is posting. So, you do need to be very aware of this. Especially if you are discussing details which tie you to a specific situation with a company - if you talk about it, that company probably will recognize who you are. This can happen on ANY forum - even private ones. Who reads this board? EVERYONE! Anyone can read it. Anyone can post here. Individuals, companies...everyone reads here. Do not think that your own company does not read this website to see what is posted about them. Even private boards (where you have to sign up to be a member and then log in to post) can only offer you so much protection. Anyone can become a member of a forum and then read all the posts. So, again, if you give out too much information you are giving away your identity.
3. Posting on other forums: I want to make sure that all posters here are aware of this situation: No other forum, including MTStars can guarantee you they will never reveal your information. Especially those that use free forum software and online applications to provide their boards (e.g., Proboards) as they don't even own their own board and domain! All posts belong to the company they are getting their free lease from! In any event, if a forum is hit with a court order, they will have to give up that information (and it can be given from the website host). So, do not believe any other individual who promises you such safety - it is limited anywhere. I just wanted you to be aware of it.
If you have questions about any of this, please email me.
Moderator (Cher):
cher@mtstars.com
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