Guidelines
Opel Manta Owners Club Forum Rules
These rules govern the use of the message board forum of the Opel Manta Owners
Club (UK) (the "Forum").
DISCLAIMER. Other than official Opel Manta Owners Club ("Club") announcements
and notices, the Club does not vouch for or warrant the accuracy, completeness or
usefulness of any message, and is not responsible for the contents of any message.
The messages express the views of the author of the message, not necessarily the
views of the Club. Individual members remain solely responsible for the content of
their messages, and as a potential poster, you agree to indemnify and hold the Club,
the officers, Forum Administrator, Moderators and Forum sponsors harmless with
respect to any claim based upon transmission of your message(s).
1. DEFINITIONS
Unless defined in these rules, all capitalised terms used herein are defined in the
constitution of the Club, attached hereto by reference.
1.a. Forum Administrator
The Forum Administrator manages the Moderators and is answerable to the
Executive Committee for all matters relating to the Forum. The Forum Administrator
ensures the software and hardware keeps running and that the rules for users and
Moderators are adhered to; however, they are not concerned with day to day content
of the Forum.
1.b. Moderator
Operates within the Rules for Moderators (Section 4) and ensures the Rules for
Forum Users (section 3) are complied with. The Moderators are not concerned with
the hardware and software of the Forum, they are concerned with the content. There
should be no fewer than 2 Moderators, no more than 8.
2. APPOINTMENT OF FORUM ADMINISTRATOR AND MODERATORS
The appointment or removal of the Forum Administrator or a Moderator shall be
announced on the Forum within 24 hours of such appointment or removal.
2.a. Forum Administrator
i. The Forum Administrator is appointed by the Executive Committee, and is
answerable to the Executive Committee for all administration and moderation tasks.
The Forum Administrator may be, but is not required to be, a member and / or a
member of the Executive Committee.
ii. The Forum Administrator may be removed by the Executive Committee and a new
Forum Administrator appointed if the Forum Administrator wishes to leave the post
or if the Executive Committee believes that the actions of the Forum Administrator
are inappropriate or not in the best interests of the Club.
2.b. Moderator appointment
i. The Executive Committee shall recommend certain Club members to the Forum
Administrator from time to time for appointment as Moderators.
ii. The Forum Administrator decides whether to appoint a nominee made by the
Executive Committee in his sole discretion.
iii. The Forum Administrator can only appoint Moderators without Executive
Committee nomination in the case that there are fewer than 2 Moderators. In this
case, the Forum Administrator may only appoint Moderators up to a total of 2.
iv. The Chairman and Forum Administrator both have Moderator access to the
Forum, although neither are Moderators.
v. None of the Club committee (executive or not) is automatically a Moderator,
although committee members may be given section moderator access to areas that
are directly related to their committee post. For example, if there is finance section
on the Forum, the treasurer would be a section moderator.
vi. Moderators may request to have their Moderator access removed if they no
longer wish to be a Moderator. Such a request may not be refused and should be
actioned as soon as possible.
vii. The Forum Administrator or the Executive Committee may remove a user's
Moderator access to the forum if they believe the actions of the Moderator are
inappropriate or not in the best interests of the Club. Neither the Forum
Administrator nor the Executive Committee are required to give the Moderator prior
notice of this action.
3. RULES FOR FORUM USERS
3.a. General behaviour
Be tolerant, understanding and respectful of other people's point of view. If you
strongly disagree or are upset over somebody's posting, simply respond by stating
your point of view. Do NOT criticize, censure or ridicule others for their beliefs,
opinions or views.
We encourage you to be active in generating new threads and share your own
insights on the threads posted. We expect you to extend courtesy and respect to
your fellow posters. We would like you to engage in lively, dynamic interaction with
your fellow posters. Please be reminded that you are not to start an argument, post
a topic or message to draw angry reactions (trolling) or to insult or malign your
fellow posters. Personal attacks will NOT be tolerated. Using epithets, slurs, and
name-calling are offenses that will be dealt with immediately by the Moderators.
Flaming nor inciting others to do so will NOT be tolerated.
The use of signatures and avatars are permitted so long as they do not exceed the
maximum size as stated in the User Control Panel section.
Avoid "shouting" on posts by submitting a post that is in full CAPS. When advised by
a Moderator, you should edit such posts to remove the shouting, or you may request
a Moderator delete the post.
Chain letters, pyramid schemes, and solicitations are inappropriate on this Forum
and may be deleted immediately with no further explanation. Members who post
such schemes may be suspended from the Forum and, if they continue to post, may
be banned without any notification or warning.
3.b. Only one posting on a topic is allowed
Use the SEARCH function before posting a new thread. If Moderators find your post
to be the duplicate of another, you will be advised of such and reminded of the rules.
Repeated duplicate posts may be subject to deletion by a Moderator. In extreme
cases you may be subject to the disciplinary procedure.
3.c. Keep it clean
You agree that you will refrain from posting any message / material which is
knowingly false and/or defamatory, inaccurate, abusive, vulgar, hateful, harassing,
obscene, profane, sexually-oriented, threatening, invasive of a person's privacy, or
otherwise a violation of any law; this includes personal avatars, signatures and
photos that may accompany any post. Insults and slurs made either publicly or
privately (through personal messaging) in the course of such continued discussion,
willful disregard of the rules of this Forum and ignoring the warnings and actions of a
Moderator will not be tolerated.
The Forum will automatically censor most profane words, however any text
insinuating profanity (using abbreviations, another language, leaving one or two
letters missing in the word, etc) will also be considered as profanity itself.
3.d. Ownership, copyrights and trademarks
You agree NOT to post, advertise or sale any copyrighted material without the
express written permission of the copyright owner. Proper credits must accompany
quotes or posts lifted from other sources. In the event that the Moderators find
content they believe to be plagiarized, we reserve the right to delete any without
prior notice.
3.e. Classified advertisements
The Club takes no responsibility for any transaction that takes place between
consenting parties in the Classifieds Section of the Forum. We DO NOT verify sellers
or buyers and will not intercede on either the buyer or seller's behalf. We advise all
members to use caution when conducting private transactions. Detailed guidelines on
the use of the Classifieds Section may be found in the Classifieds Section.
3.f. Access
This forum is used and maintained by the Club for its members and sponsors. As
such, visitors to this Forum who are NOT members of the Club shall be allowed
access only to certain sections of this Forum. If you have access to areas reserved
for Club members you may not copy all or partial posts from, or provide links to,
posts in such areas to users who are non-members.
3.g. Reporting offensive posts
If you feel that a posted message is objectionable you should contact a Moderator
immediately by email to moderator@mantaclub.org or PM to the "Moderators" Forum
account. If Moderators determine that removal is necessary, they will do so
immediately with or without notification to user who posted the message.
3.h. Grievances
If you disagree with the behaviour of another Forum user, you should in the first
instance "take it outside" and attempt to resolve the issue privately via PM or email
with the Forum user concerned. "Fighting" on the open Forum is not tolerated.
If you cannot resolve the issue privately, or if you have an issue with the actions of a
Moderator, you should use the following procedure to resolve the issue:
i) In the first instance, PM the "Moderators" Forum user or email
moderator@mantaclub.org. A moderator should respond within 24 hours.
ii) If the response from the Moderator is not acceptable, or there is no response
within 24 hours, PM the Forum Administrator "Admin" user or send an email to
admin@mantaclub.org. The administrator will either get a Moderator to respond (in
the case of not receiving a reply) or will arbitrate if you wish to contest the
Moderator's response.
iii) If the Forum Administrator does not resolve the issue to your satisfaction, PM or
email the Chairman. The Chairman will investigate the matter and their decision is
final.
Posting questions or issues that should be directed to a moderator onto a Forum
thread, failure to follow this procedure to resolve an issue, or challenging the
decision of the Chairman is not allowed.
3.i. Disciplinary procedure
Users who violate these Forum rules shall be sanctioned as follows:
i) First Current Offence: notification by Moderator, appropriate "clean up" action to
be taken by violator or Moderators.
ii) Second Current Offence: 1 month suspension from the Forum and (if a Club
member) suspension from Club activities.
iii) Third Current Offence: banned from Forum, deletion of account and (if a Club
member) cancellation of membership indefinitely.
In each case, a Current Offence is a violation of the Forum rules by that user that
has occurred within the immediately preceding 6 months.
4. RULES FOR MODERATORS
4.a. Moderate only when absolutely necessary
Forum posts do not need spelling fixes or clarifications from Moderators. Remember,
it is not your Forum any more than it belongs to any other user, so you should not
act as though you own the Forum. Moderators should strive to be invisible.
4.b. Moderate only through the Moderators user
Moderators should moderate only through the "Moderators" Forum user or by using
the moderator@mantaclub.org email alias; they should keep their own forum ID and
email address separate for normal Forum activity.
4.c. Moderate swiftly and dispassionately
Moderators should apply the Rules for Forum Users (Section 3. above) in a timely
manner, equally to all users of the Forum. Penalties in Section 3.i. above should be
applied as stated, without further leeway for friends or extra penalties for foes.
Moderators who do not moderate in a dispassionate manner will be removed and
may be banned from the Forum.
4.d. Keep Moderator discussion off the main Forum
Moderators should keep discussion amongst themselves about possible Moderator
action, and should limit it to email, PM or a section of the Forum that is accessible
only to Moderators. If Moderators cannot agree on a course of action, they should
consult the Forum Administrator and/or the Chairman for a resolution. The
Chairman's decision is final.