Post by moderator2 on Apr 14, 2010 14:31:45 GMT -5
Disclaimer
Information contained in this web site, and its associated web sites, is provided as information to the Internet community. We try to provide quality information, but make no claims, promises or guarantees about the accuracy, completeness, or adequacy of the information contained in or linked to this web site and its associated sites. Advice must be tailored to the specific circumstances of each case; nothing provided herein should be used as a substitute for the advice of a competent veterinarian. All individuals should consult their adoption group, veterinarian, or trainer in the event of specific medical or behavioral problems, and not rely on any discussion board as the sole source of information.
The GRA Forum enforces a set of rules of membership for a very simple reason:
To ensure that the discussion forums are a friendly, unintimidating and informative venue for posting messages about the retired racing greyhound as a pet.
Messages which contravene these rules will be deleted.
The Terms of Service in a Nutshell (followed by a more detailed summary)
• Access to the GRA forum is a privilege not a right
• This is a moderated forum
• Post in a polite and respectful manner
• All content belongs to the GRA forums
• Harassing another user will result in the removal of your account and access
• When requesting removal of your account, know it will be completed and is not reversible
• Public departures (I'm leaving etc.) will result in account suspension and/or removal
• Concerns about moderation will only be made in private. Use either the E-mail or PM functions of the forum
• Any blatant and continued disruption will result in account suspension and/or removal
• Moderators have the final say, actions are not negotiable
• Rules of this board are subject to change without notice
• Anti-racing material will be deleted.
• Don't burn bridges!
GRA Discussion Forums User Agreement and Terms of Service
The real-time nature of this bulletin board makes it impossible for the GRA Administration Team to review messages or confirm the validity of information posted herein and we don’t guarantee the information as such. We do not necessarily, actively, monitor the contents of the GRA Forum for accuracy, sense, or decency. We do our best, but occasionally, things slip by.
You agree, through your use of this service, that you will not use the GRA Discussion forums to post any material which is knowingly false and/or defamatory, inaccurate, abusive, hateful, harassing, threatening, invasive of a person's privacy, or otherwise violates any law. You agree not to post any copyrighted material unless the copyright is owned by you or by the GRA.
At no time are you to use information gathered from the GRA Forum to contact any person or entity in a way that any reasonable person would determine to be abusive, hateful, harassing and or threatening, or invasive of a person's privacy.
Additionally, you agree to this very important thing:
To consult and follow the General Guidelines and Provisions in good faith.
We do not vouch for or warrant the accuracy, completeness or usefulness of any message, and are 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 GRA, the GRA Forum or any entity associated with the GRA Forum. Any user who feels that a posted message is objectionable is encouraged to contact us immediately by email or by PM. We have the ability to remove objectionable messages and we will make every effort to do so, within a reasonable time frame, if we determine that removal is necessary. This is a manual process, however, so please realize that we may not be able to remove or edit particular messages immediately.
Although the GRA Administration Team does not and cannot review all the messages posted and is not responsible for the content of any of these messages, we reserve the right to delete any message for any reason whatsoever.
The GRA forums will not be used for arguing the rules with Admin. If you need to question or protest the rules, please PM or email GRAmod. You remain solely responsible for the content of your messages, and you agree to indemnify and hold harmless, GRA or the makers of the bulletin board framework and their agents, with respect to any claim based upon transmission of your message(s).
The GRA Forum must also reserve the right to reveal your identity (or whatever information we know about you) in the event of legal action arising from any message posted by you. All data that is passed to and from the server is logged and subject to review.
The GRA Forum reserves the right to reproduce, edit, remove, or distribute any post contained in the GRA forums. All posts become the property of the GRA Forums, except when copyrighted material is posted (and hence properly cited).
You may only create one single user identity. Do not share this account and do not make more than one single account for yourself.
Please note that chain letters, pyramid schemes, and solicitations are inappropriate in the GRA forums.
General Guidelines and Provisions
The Rules
The GRA forums aren't run by rules, per se. Rather, it is moderated by the Administrators and moderators who put themselves in the position of making difficult judgment calls. Most of these Guidelines are geared towards just improving the state of the forum. Some of these Guidelines are more prohibitive, however, and they function as rules.
The GRA Forum is for the discussion of the retired racing greyhound as a pet. There are thousand of websites out there for the discussion of every other subject under the sun so we'd appreciate it if you stuck to the topic of greyhound pets.
Off Topic is the ideal place for friendly banter and rants.
In all forums there shall be no insulting people. Aggressiveness and/or abusiveness will not be tolerated. Don't make posts that are inflammatory just to get people riled up. Remember, if it appears like aggressiveness to us, it qualifies for penalization. Substance is the key to any argument. We will not tolerate posts that create an intimidating atmosphere on the forums and we will not accept provocation as an excuse. Access to any or all parts of the GRA Forum is a privilege not a right and it can be revoked at any time without warning.
The GRA Forum is a public community and as such, wishes to make a positive first and lasting impression to the general public. Because of this, we feel it is necessary to take the stance that we neither condone or encourage letter writing campaigns, telephone barrages, or private solicitations, with the GRA Forum as the point of reference, in response to any controversial articles or cross postings. Any posts of this nature will be found to be in violation of the TOS and promptly edited and/or deleted, and the original poster warned. Under no circumstances are you permitted to alter a moderators edits. Doing so may result if your access being removed.
Solicitations for greyhound adoption groups other than the GRA should be posted on other forums, not the GRA Forums. This includes solicitations in the signatures of members.
In the same vein, we also feel it necessary to discourage blanket PMing (Personal Message system) of forum members for the purpose of raising personal donations, for GRA members who appear to be in need. If you feel you have good cause to raise money for a private party, please email or PM the administration with your request and it will be reviewed. In some cases, we may make an exception.
Ad hominem attacks are not welcome. Criticize ideas, not people. Flaming will not be tolerated.
Don't be persistently snide or disruptive. We may not notice one or two posts, but if you consistently post messages that are more about 'having a go' at other members, than contributing an informative opinion we will notice it and penalize you.
Moderators can and will delete any posts or threads they feel are not contributing in a useful and positive way to the forum.
Do not ask us to penalize another member on the forums. If you have some gripe or objection with what another member has said, send us an email but do not inflame the situation by raising issue on the public forums.
No asking or polling whether Admin was right or wrong to take an action. We enforce these rules as fairly as is humanly possible. If you need to protest our enforcement of the rules, email or PM GRAmod.
No pornographic, sexually offensive, sexually explicit, or objectifying material. Simple rule. Administrator's judgment applies here. Sexually suggestive images will be deleted.
Respect the privacy of others. Do not post other's phone numbers, addresses, email addresses, pictures, etc., without their permission. Privacy includes posting images of other people, their names, their pets and/or children without first getting their express consent.
No commenting or guessing about any perceived problem behavior or issue with any greyhound at the kennel, bounce or otherwise. Offers posted to adopt any dog about to bounce are inappropriate, and should be directed to the GRA, not posted on this forum.
If you are thinking of returning your greyhound because you are having serious problems with him/her, you should be calling Bill for advice rather than posting on the forum. The forum can be very helpful with less critical issues.
If someone is having a problem with their greyhound and asking for help on the forum, don't post a reply unless you can actually help with the problem, having experienced it yourself.
Do not use foul language. We do have several younger members and children of regular members visit frequently. You have all the time in the world when writing (as opposed to speaking), to think about how to say something and rephrase it, so there is no excuse for foul language however passionate you may feel about something. Use of foul language whether indirect or disguised is always inappropriate. Our automatic censoring application will prevent the use of most foul language.
Do not post information on animal abuse. While we are sensitive to the subject, we have found through experience that such posts only enrage the community and do nothing to help the issue. A better outlet is your local ASPCA.
Commercially-oriented posts must be submitted to GRAmod by the vendor in order to be posted in the merchandise forum. The merchandise forum will be for information purposes only, messages will be posted by moderators only. Any discussion of products or services can be posted in other appropriate areas.
Certain informational threads on the forum will be posted and locked; this is done to benefit members looking for useful information. Often times discussions are held within threads that people want to access for the information contained in them, rather than any social discussion. It shouldn't be necessary to wade through discussions to get to the information you want. You are free to open a new thread to discuss any information posted on the forum, but the informational threads need to be kept succinct.
The boards will be cleaned out every 60-90 days to remove old threads that have no informational value contained in them. Important posts will not be removed, nor will posts announcing the passing of a grey, or Picture Gallery posts.
Titles (such as Newbie, Junior Greylover and Hound Nut etc.) are accredited to members according to how many messages they have posted and are for fun. They are not meant to discredit or diminish anyone. If you hate titles, feel free to ignore them.
These TOS are subject to changes and additions as required by the GRA.