Everyone is welcome to participate in the "Lightweight" Backcountry Forum Community.INITIAL DISCLAIMER:
We do our best to maintain security and keep your personal information secure, but we cannot make any guarantees. We admit hackers and that sort of person are smarter than we are. However, we do our best to protect your information. You enter these forums at your own risk so take every precaution. Change your password regularly. Be prudent with personal information that you make available to the general population. Thank you.!!
NEW MEMBERS
NOTE to NEW MEMBERS: We would greatly appreciate your filling in your profile, to at least some degree. This is especially helpful to us if you will be asking questions. We are unable to help you if we don't know your location (state/province is fine, we don't need your address!) and where you generally backpack, in addition to other info you are able to provide.
Thank you very much for helping us to help you!
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
NOTE: the moderators reserve the right to delete "For Sale" postings from newly registered members who appear to have circumvented the minimum number of posts requirement, by making multiple, low content posts within a brief time span just to pass that requirement.
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.
The guidance below is appropriate for the TLB 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 the TLB Forums -- what we can and cannot accommodate: