Everyone is welcome to participate in the "Lightweight" Backcountry Forum Community.NEW MEMBERS
Registration - Personal Information:
We realize that sharing personal info is potentially risky in any venue, including the internet. Here in our forums, a small amount of personal data is necessary for establishing your account and identity. Beyond that, any info that you provide is voluntary and optional. However, we encourage you to tell us as much as you can about yourself. It is helpful to all the members if we know a little about you like where you're from, what type of hiking you like to do, favorite places, hobbies, etc. You will find that this info helps in building relationships with other members and in cultivating trust that goes a long ways, for example, when executing transactions in the Classifieds Buy/Sell Forum. As you can see from the precautions mentioned below, we try to protect existing members and their information. Thanks.
Initial Restrictions to Protect Existing Members:
Each new member that registers is automatically assigned to the "New_Users" group. In order to protect existing membership from SPAM and those who might register just to sell their stuff, promote their business, post polls or use our search engine for research purposes, or for similar reasons other than participating as a member in this community, we place temporary restrictions on new members. These restrictions are removed when one of the following is satisfied.
(1) reaching 25 approved postings in the community forums, each new user is automatically moved to the main users group and gains full member standing and benefit.
(2) a new_user can also petition the moderators for full user status after they have been a member for 30 days. This is not automatic, you have to ask.
Restrictions placed on new users until one of the above options is satisfied:
(1) no write access to the Classifieds (Buy/Sell) Forum
(2) no signature block available within your postings
(3) no "shout box" write access
(4) 60 second delay between searches
(5) PM (personal msg) to only one member at a time
(6) no creation of polls within postings
(7) cannot view other member's profiles
(8) no upload of attachments
RULES
:: NO Foul Language (read notes below)
:: NO Photos deemed inappropriate for family consumption
:: NO Flame Wars (read notes below on acceptable flaming artistry)
:: NO Unauthorized Advertising (read all the notes below)
The standard rules apply. No foul language in any way, shape or form, and this includes partially disguised spellings such as "sh!t" and "fukin". No advertising of any kind. NO FLAMES! NO SPAM!!! Follow the rules & guidance of good NetiQuette. Also read the guidance provided in the "General Discussion Forum" section, below.
As stated above, messages which the administrator or the monitors judge to be offtopic, overly arrogant, confrontational, or disruptive such to promote wars of words will be deleted - without comment. Worst case scenario is that repeat offenders will be banned - without comment.
Also, all messages posted become the property of the Backcountry Forums?. Basically, that means we can republish them in other parts of this website, in order to preserve them over a longer period of time - e.g., tips, reviews, gear lists could be republished elsewhere.
Buy & Sell classified ads posted in the Buy & Sell Gear forum will be maintained for approximately 60 days and then deleted. If your gear hasn't sold by then, you can repost your advertisement.
Personal messages (PM) will also be maintained for approximately 60 days and then deleted. If you wish to keep an archive of your PMs, then cut & paste them to your personal computer.
CROSS POSTING
The Backcountry Forums has mulitple boards, each with its own subject matter. This could lead to confusion about which board to post in. Accordingly, your response may be to post in multiple boards, in order to compensate. Please don't do this! This cannot be allowed because it would quickly flood the databases with unnecessary, duplicate content. Take a couple of additional seconds to make your best choice of boards then post in only one. If your choice is erroneous, a moderator will probably move it for you.
FORUMS ARE MONITORED
The boards are monitored. That is, each board has at least one monitor who manages the board according to this policy statement. They will routinely review posted messages to ensure that message content meets the requirements set herein. Messages not in line with this stated policy will be edited or deleted, at our discretion, with no subsequent notification. Repeat offenders of policy will be educated or temporarily or permanently banned. This sounds harsh but has rarely happened.
UNAUTHORIZED ADVERTISING
Innovators, entrepreneurs, inventors, if you have new ideas you'd like to test out on the "lightweight community", please feel free to do so, but don't confuse interacting with advertising. Unauthorized advertising is not allowed! If you have a legitimate advertising offer for us to consider, please contact us.
Unauthorized advertising includes posting links to external sites, thus drawing this forum's readership to other websites for the benefit of those websites. This includes outdoor-related subject matter, such as, articles, gear for sale, trip reports, gear reviews. Rather, this type of information can very well be posted here in The Backcountry Forum, in its entirety.
Any exception to the above restrictions - e.g. for long-standing, contributing members involved in daily discussions - is at the discretion of the forum moderator team.
Cottage-Gear Advertising. Gear makers from small shops (which we refer to as "Cottage Gear Manufacturers") may possibly advertise in the forums for a small annual fee. To request more information about this opportunity, please inquire HERE !
SURVEYS - Rules for Posting Surveys
You may not post links to surveys located outside of this forum. Posts containing such links will be deleted. Repeat violators may be banned from the site at moderators' discretion.
You may post surveys in the following manner: (1) Start a new topic of discussion soliciting members' feedback via either personal message (PM) or by posting their responses within the forum (2) You may use the Poll Manager to create polls using the forum software. The Poll Manager is accessed through a link when you start a New Topic.
NOTE: This survey policy includes Survey Monkey. We have lately had several surveys posted by alleged "high school students" which use the Survey Monkey website to host their surveys. We suspect Survey Monkey is being used to mine user ip's for purposes of advertising/spamming. In other words, if you go to Survey Monkey, you may end up receiving considerably more unwanted advertising/spam.
SEARCH for TRAVELING PARTNERS - Rules for Acquiring Backcountry Buddies
Common sense, common sense, common sense. This caution is for all forums at backpacking.net. Be prudent at all times and do not take risks. If someone on the forum with whom you are not acquainted (especially new members) wishes to get together for any reason (backcountry travel, fishing, etc.) exercise due diligence to vet the person by inquiring of other members, other forums, other resources, before committing to a get together. Obviously, you do so at your own risk. We cannot and do not accept responsibility for any experiences you may have while meeting up with other forum members (i.e., folks you communicate with on this forum). Thanks.
Policies for Specific Forums
GENERAL DISCUSSION
The guidance below is appropriate for the Backcountry Forums, in its entirety, but moreso for the General Discussion forum because that is the appropriate forum for backcountry discussions related to the environment, society, culture and so on where heated arguments, beyond your control, can occur. We hope this guidance will clarify the intended direction of these Forums -- what we can and cannot accommodate:
::: If you are a person who wants to discuss politics for the purpose of arguing political issues, if you want to discuss environment for the purpose of arguing environmental issues, if you want to argue for the sake of listening to yourself and your debating skills, if you want to argue for the sake of argument or if you want to test the mettle of the moderators in carrying out the forum's policy, then we have to tell you that this forum was not designed to accommodate you. This forum was never, never intended to facilitate such and the moderators and members want no part of it. If the foregoing fits your motives and desires, then we might recommend that you seek another venue. I believe that un-moderated argument of political, environmental, socioeconomic, etc. issues is a mainstay at many boards and news groups - just not here. Nothing negative personally is intended by these comments, but sometimes what you want and what we intend to provide are not compatible. :::
BUY & SELL OUTDOOR GEAR!
The Buy & Sell Gear forum is a "member's only" service wherein forum members may negotiate gear-exchange transactions amongst themselves. The original intent of the Buy & Sell forum was and is as a convenient place for registered members to sell used gear to each other - period! Unless otherwise noted (see eBay Policy below) any other uses, such as advertising for established retail stores or for advertising personal businesses, are prohibited and messages posted will be deleted without comment.
eBay Policy: If you have a business in eBay, you may not advertise your business nor your goods within the forums nor link to your business from within the forums. This is viewed as doing business, as mentioned above. If on the other hand, you as a member see a hot deal (unrelated to your business) on eBay and want to pass-on the tip to other forum members, this is okay - this is acceptable. If you are selling a piece of personal gear in eBay it is okay to post the link to your personal auction.
Also, read the section regarding the Buy & Sell Gear forum in our DISCLAIMER. In addition to the disclaimer, there are helpful tips on how to conduct business in this forum more safely.
Thanks,
Definitions
SPAM - Spam is the internet equivalent of junk mail. Spam is bad manners, breaks the rules of all reputable service providers, and is often illegal.
FLAMES - Flaming has come to refer to almost any mail insult. For more information, click here!. There is an art of flaming that is acceptable, and although is little more than the exercise of creative, mature communication skills, it is practically a lost art and the meaning of flaming now has a very negative connotation. To learn more about the art of flaming, click here!
NETIQUETTE - How to behave oneself while online. To learn more about the practices of good NetiQuette, click here! Also, here is a link to "The Net: User Guidelines and Netiquette" and additional resources here: Internet User Guidelines and Etiquette
Basic Disclaimer
Original TLB Disclaimer, from 1996:
...... if you happen to break your neck in the backcountry while thinking
about something you heard here, we empathize but accept no responsibility.
Our original disclaimer, stated above, is still valid.
The TLB Forum is a private entity which we have made available for your use, at your own risk. We, at TLB, accept zero responsibility and liability with regard to your use of these private forums. We make no promises to you, with respect to their performance, longevity of their existence, their content or lack thereof, and to your overall experience, including your compatibility or incompatibility with the forums community. We also disclaim responsibility and liability for anything you might say against someone else and what they might say about you! We always reserve the right to delete or remove anything in the forums that is against stated policy. Furthermore, we disclaim responsibility and liability for everything else that we didn't mention above.
By entering this website, to include the TLB Forums (and related archives), you agree with our disclaimer. You agree that your use is at your own risk and that all your experiences here in these forums, your resultant thought patterns, and subsequent actions are no one's responsibility but your own.
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