» Site Rules |
To help you gain the most from our PoliceWives.Org Forums and Chat, please familiarize yourself with the following rules and guidelines regarding participating in the message forums and chat rooms.
Please note this list does not include the full terms of service (also known as your user agreement which you saw during registration). These rules and guidelines are designed to help give a better understanding of what behavior is expected and make your experience more enjoyable and safe.
Rules (DON'Ts):
1. No discussion of any illegal activity or threats of violence. (ie. illicit drug use, or threatened or intended physical harm).
2. No use of explicit, obscene or vulgar language or images and/or messages, including racist remarks.
3. Publicly criticizing another member in any forum (either in the public forums or private forums) is prohibited. This includes name calling, provoking, enticing, etc in any way, shape or form, including the use of analogies. Regardless of the "extent" or the "intent" of the statement, if a member informs you they are offended by the statement and staff deems it is a reasonable request you MUST remove or EDIT the comment at once (As you see some of the issues discussed here are highly personal. "Flaming" and insults, however, will not be tolerated. Agree to disagree. This applies to both the forums and chat. I do not know the best way to explain common sense; you either have it or you don't. If you're posts reflect that you don't belong here, you can be banned without reason. The point is, please respect the board and it's members. In addition to posts you may not flame, harass, etc. members by e-mail, pm or in any other public posting.
4. No advertising or links to advertising or "Spam" is permitted (including signatures). Advertising or Spam is defined as posting a link for the purpose of selling, soliciting or promoting by someone that has ownership or other "vested interest" to the web site involved, including efforts to promote other online forums or web sites by web site owners without prior permission. This excludes those sites listed in the affiliates section. If you are a web site owner and have a link that fits into our categories that you want to share, please submit it to our link directory and we will review your submission. Posts and links about LEO related fund-raising (including nonprofit fund-raisers) are permitted. If the fund-raising is to drive members to another support site the post must be approved by the admin first. Trying to get other members to join other forums, even if hinted is prohibited. Sending pm's, e-mails, or in any way, shape or form to do this are grounds for banning. This includes posting links to the site in your signature or your nickname on the boards. If any post by you, or your signature implies in any way the direction of members to your forums, you will first be warned, then banned. Links to helpful web sites (commercial or otherwise) are allowed when they are posted by someone without any "vested interest" AND whose purpose is NOT to solicit, advertise, promote, fund-raise, etc. However, you must have at least 5 posts before you are allowed to post any links.
5. User names. No use of multiple user names. Please register and use only one username for the forums. Posting under multiple user accounts will result in administrative action (ie. banning).Users that choose to come back under an alias after they were banned are not welcome and will continue to be banned. Your user name may not contain explicit, obscene or vulgar language. In addition your user name should not include - your last name & department, location, etc. Should your user name need to be changed for just these reasons staff will do it for you once within your first week of membership. After your first week you may change your user name by purchasing the privilege under Effects shop - Privilege to change your username.
6. No posts of copyrighted material. Information copyrighted or owned by any individual or entity other than the person posting should not be posted on the message boards without the consent of the owner. In addition, materials found or downloaded here may not be used in e-mails, myspace, facebook, or any other personal or private groups without permission from the admin. This includes but is not limited to avatars and our designs.
7. No cryptic posts. Using cryptic messages to "skirt" the rules is not permitted. All posts must be in English, this includes your signature, etc. Quotes in other languages are allowed, but you must PM the admin with the translation.
8. Topics of an adult nature are limited to the Adult boards. If you are unsure if your post goes in the adult section contact a staff member. The Adult Topics forum may contain explicit sexual language and content. This board is closed to spouses. To gain access to the Adult Topics forum you must purchase the privilege in Point Downloads. For more information on how to obtain this please look under Help and How to.
9. Do not disrespect moderators. Be respectful in both the forums and any private communications with moderators. Moderators are volunteers that donate many, many hours of their own time to help in the forums and chat rooms. Violations of this rule will not be tolerated.
10. No SHOUTING. Remember, using ALL CAPITAL LETTERS in posts is considered yelling and rude, plus it is difficult to read.
11. Do not post offline personal contact information (ie. your home address, phone numbers etc.) and do not ask for personal information from others.
12. No duplicate posts. To delete accidental duplicate posts, login first, then open the message you want to delete, then select the Delete Post button on the top right hand corner of the message box.
13. No irrelevant or off-topic posts. Posts which are not relevant to the forum topic may be deleted or moved at the staff's discretion.
14.No lengthy signatures. Tags in signatures must be part of approved avatar combo packs. They may be no bigger than 250 high x 500 wide.
Signatures may be no longer than 3 lines, but the total of the lines may be no higher than 500 and no wider than 500. (So, you can have 2 lines of 250 each or 3 lines of 150 each). Countdowns count as one line. You may have multiple signature items / blinkies per line, as long as the total width does not exceed 500 pixels.
15. Badge Bunnies and Anti-police viewers are not welcome here as it should be obvious you're in the wrong place. If you want to ask an honest question like "I'm curious about..." is fine. However, a question like "Why are all cops s?" is not acceptable.
16. E-mail. If you have registered using a yahoo, msn or gmail account you will be asked to change it. Your ISP should be able to provide you with an alternate e-mail address. If you need help setting this up contact the staff.
17. Photos. When submitting photos for contests you are assuming copyright. Do not post photos you do not own. If a photo has been submitted to a contest you are giving us permission to use this photo for various site use including, merchandise, promotion and advertising. Please ensure any personal information is not in photos. if you need help editing a photo to remove information, such as department name contact the staff. Once your photo has been used it may not be withdrawn for any reason after the contest has ended. You may remove photos before contest end. For example, if you submitted a photo to the hot cop contest and it is used in the calendar you may not contact us to have it removed for any reason. Your submission of the photo is acknowledgment that you agree to this. Additionally, pw.org is not liable for any copyright infringement on your part and you may not pursue legal action regarding the use of your photo. Pw.org agrees to use the photo in a secure manner which includes but is not limited to not including or publicly releases the name of the photo submitter, any subjects in the photo, the user names or e-mails of any parties or any other personal information regarding the photo or its submitter. The exception would be in the case of an legal investigation by a law enforcement agency or court who provides proper paperwork entitling them to the information.
18. Removal of your posts, photos etc. Should you no longer want posts, photos (excluding contest entries) may only be done by the member. Staff will do its best to honor your request but due to time constraints it is your responsibility to remove these.
19. Banned members. Staff at its discretion may need to ban members based on major rule violations. After 3 months in most cases you may request to have the ban lifted by contacting the admin for information on this process. Lists of banned screen names will only be provided to other LEO related sites upon written request. Discussion of banned members and the event leading to ban may not be discussed in the forums. For more information you may contact the admin.
20. Liability. You are responsible for your posts and threads. If you can see it, we can see it, so they can see it. Remember that.
21. If we suspect you are discrediting us offline or at another website, blog, myspace, facebook, etc. with our name "Policewives.org" or "PW" "Pw.org" as a reference, or any name that the reader associates with us, you will be banned from this site and our entire domain permanently. This includes the design mall and any and all sections we maintain. In addition, you are not allowed to post here discrediting any other LEO related site without permission except in the case of scams, etc. and those must be pre-approved by staff.
22. If your ip address shows up on any of our hack alerts, you will be banned indefinitely and your host/and proxy server will be notified of the details. This means attempting to gain access to restricted areas, viewing restricted files on our server, etc.
23. You are not aloud to re-post private messages in open threads for others to view. Members can however forward the private message to a Moderator for review if they feel it to be necessary.
Guidelines (DO's):
1. Check for open topics. Before posting a new topic, please check to see if there is already a topic open on the subject.
2. Post only one quote, question, joke, and devotional per day in each topic.
3. Report posts that violate the rules and guidelines by selecting the report post button (red rectangular button!)at the top right corner of the post to notify the administrator. We will act on the report as quickly as we can. Do not reply to the offending post as that typically only encourages the poster.
4. Lend a helping hand. A bit of compassion can go a long way toward helping people with life's challenges and reaching out can help alleviate feelings of loneliness. We're all different, but we're really all the same. At sometime or another, we all need or want help or simply someone with whom we can share our burdens or successes.
5. Don't be afraid to share. If you're feeling alone or hurting, don't be afraid to share your fears and tears. And of course your joys as well. You can go to the calendar and add any upcoming special events so that we can share them with you and send you encouragement.
6. Welcome new members. When newcomers arrive, say "hi" and welcome them. Help new folks "learn the ropes" about how to find information and resources, save time, and how to get involved.
7. Use descriptive titles for new posts. Avoid "generic" post subjects like "Help" or "Question". You will receive a better response to your posts by being more descriptive about the content of your post. In addition be sure your topic belongs in the forum you are posting in.
8. Ask questions. If you are not sure about something, something bothers you, etc. contact the administrator or one of the moderators immediately or post in the appropriate forum.
More How To Information
Avatars: Paid members only may purchase the rights to have an avatar of their creation uploaded which must be no wider than 250 pixels. They must be approved by the admin (Angel) before purchase. Do this by using the avatar Approval Form. After the avatar is approved you must then contact a mod to have the avatar uploaded. You may only do this once per month.
If you are not a paid member, you can win a personalized avatar in an auction. Avatar auctions are posted in the avatar auction forum. Should you want to bid in the auction you do so by replying to the appropriate thread. When you bid, include the name of your avatar gallery and the name you would like on your avatar. The avatar maker will contact you if you are the winning bidder, and you will then award the avatar maker with the amount of credits of your high bid.
*If you win an avatar from Angel, you will need to fill out the avatar claim form.
You may only use avatars that are in your own gallery. Use of other avatars will result in staff modifying your profile to remove the avatar. Repeated use of others avatars will result in loss of privileges.
Avatars from this website may not be used on any other websites.
Although the option is in your profile, you may NOT link to remote avatars. If you do, it will be removed. This option is there so that you may use the living avatars feature. You will find your avatars (including living avatars) by going to the “User CP” link and clicking the edit avatar link. For the living avatars, you can pick your person, dress them up, buy goodies, etc. For additional information on how this works go to the Help and How to section.
Until you are able to win your own avatar, you may choose any avatar (that is not currently in use) from any of the Rookies galleries.
Avatar maker: Avatar makers must be verified members, and must be invited to join the avatar makers team. Signups or invites will be done periodically. Once a part of the avatar makers team, you will be assigned a day of the week to auction off your avatar. You will also be required to make rookie avatars (which much be sent to Tanya to be uploaded once approved). All avatars must be approved by Angel (the administrator) at the beginning of the month in their post for approval that month. Avatars must be no wider than 250 pixels and no higher than 500 pixels, not include any patches (ie. police or policewives) and you must not use any prohibited/copyrighted material in the avatar (Pay attention to the rules of the site you download any tube or artwork from and make sure you give credit to the artist if they ask for it). For additional details about the rules please go to the Help and How to section. For additional information regarding copyrights and artists / tubes you can use, visit the Fun with PSP forum.
Verification/Paid Membership: Verification and/or paid membership is not required to participate. For the members who have paid to help support this site, please read the following: Although we are sincerely appreciative of your contribution and dedication to this site, we have to be fair when it comes to the rules.
To become a paid member and/or verified, you must first be active on the site 30 days and have made 15 posts. Then we must first verify that your spouse or significant other is currently employed in a law enforcement position. We do this for the privacy, safety, and security of our members and their families. It involves a phone call to the department confirming employment, and also to you. All information is kept private and only used for Law Enforcement status verification. Additional information on what is needed is found in the Menu under membership. Membership fees are nonrefundable.
As a verified member you receive access to pw verified member boards, special contests, and zone boards.
As a paid member you will receive the following benefits in addition to the benefits received as someone who is verified: access to private member boards, discounts on special merchandise, discounts at some national merchants, and more. Please refer to the verification / membership information page for more details.
Policewives.Org forums and chat rooms are staffed by volunteers. While they may not have answers to all your questions, staff is here to help in any way they can. Staff has the right to edit or delete posts without prior notice that violate of the rules above. They are also responsible for keeping promoting participation in the forums and chats. You can spot a moderator because their posts indicate that they are moderators, and their screen name is a shade of pink. Angelw is the admin and you will see my screen name in dark purple. I may be contacted by e-mail at honie@localnet.com. Other volunteer groups have special colors too. Here is a legend of all the groups and their colors-Legend:
Admin, Mods, Verified Members, Warm Fuzzies, Member Rep, Members & MICS
Each staff member, being human with different life experiences, may see things through slightly different eyes and some variance is to be expected. However, staff members promise to base their decision making on the content of posts rather than personal feelings about the person posting in them.
If you have a question for a staff member on a decision, you can e-mail them and discuss it privately. They may not see things the same way you do, but they are open and approachable. You are not allowed to argue decisions publicly on the boards.
Please note that the owner of this site will not debate technicalities of these rules, and inappropriate behavior of any kind (if viewed by the owner is inappropriate) can ban you from this site.
Please Remember:
Users that do not abide by the rules may be subject to having their posts edited or deleted, their member account temporarily or permanently banned from further access and/or deleted without notice. Rules and guidelines may change at any time, please re-read them regularly.
|
|
