Unethical, abusive or disruptive behavior will not be tolerated, regardless of whether it is addressed by any specific rule.
Respect your fellow posters: Personal attacks, trolling, and flaming are not allowed. Any such post will be removed by the moderators. In the case of repeat violations, the offending poster will be banned.
Respect your moderators: Moderators are volunteers who are helping make this site a safe, productive, valuable resource for all visitors.
Report disrespectful postings: If you see a post that violates the first rule, please report it to a moderator. The "Report to Moderator" link is at the bottom right corner of every post. Don't encourage such behavior by replying in kind. Doing so might result in you violating the first rule. Likewise, if you have an issue with another poster's behavior, report it to a moderator. The community as a whole determines what is acceptable. Repeated complaints will result in action (warnings or banning) against the offending poster.
Under 3 Word Posts: Do not post short one word, two word, or three word posts or some other single-word reply in a thread like "what?" "hi" "i'm gay" or smileys :-) etc. . These posts are an obnoxious waste of server space, essentially announcing that the poster has nothing worthwhile to contribute. Poor posts are annoying and they add nothing to the thread whatsoever.
Keep personal arguments off the board: If you have a personal issue with another member please keep it private by taking it to email or personal message. Don't post the contents of personal messages without the author's permission. This includes disagreements with a moderator--handle them by private message.
Stay on topic: An occasional off-topic post or two is no biggie. When it's habitual, or when a new idea changes the subject for several posts, it's time to suggest a new thread, or move the conversation to an existing thread.
Advertising: Advertising for CSBA member Businesses only is allowed in the CSBA Business News board. No advertising may be placed in any other board. Advertising posts must include valid contact information. Advertisers must have a valid CSBA membership and must inlude their contact information in their post. No multi-level markting ads may be posted.
Post constructively. Negative feedback can be very useful, provided that it is presented in a civil, factual manner. Tell us what you don't like and why and how you feel it could be improved. Posts that are insulting and rude may be deleted, no matter how valid the ideas behind them may be.
Do not post images that can be considered obscene or graphic
Profanity, and gratuitous, graphic sexual referencs and theats of any kind will not be tolerated.
Avoid redundant posts: Try to avoid it, don't make it excessive, that's the general rule. If it gets really excessive, we'll ask you to stop.
Do not post articles in their entirety. "Fair Use" copyright law allows you to quote a few paragraphs that convey the nature of the article. Always provide a link to the entire article.
No hotlinking: Do not hotlink to images from a site that is not your own. Hotlinking is posting an image by directly linking to it from a server which you do not control. This includes avatars, signature images or pictures (allowed only if the site owner agrees). Hotlinking is bad netiquette: it robs the website owner of bandwidth and could even increase their bill.
Keep signature banners appropriately sized. Oversized banners, in pixel size or in image size, quickly graduate to being obnoxious, particularly for users who have lower resolution screens. Please keep your banners to a maximum of 50 pixels by 600, and no larger than 40 KB in size. Animations are appropriate and allowed only in chat threads.
Spam: Posts consisting of a single word or that are not helpful or contribute to the thread in any way will be removed.
Double posting: Try to refrain from double posting. If you accidently make a double post or topic, please notify the moderator to have the duplicate removed.
Caps lock and "txt" speak: Try to refrain from POSTING IN CAPS LOCK. It's annoying and unneeded. We also ask you communnicate on our forum in non-"txt" speak form.
Personal Information: Personal information such as email addresses, home addresses, phone numbers, etc, should be kept private and not be made public on our forum. We respect the personal information of others and by law we expect you to do so too.
Ban Reasons: The following are reasons for being banned from the CSBA Forum: the posting of ography; discriminatory remarks which are sexually explicit, harmful, threatening, abusive, defamatory, obscene, hateful, racially or ethnically offensive; excessive obscene or vulgar language; images which are sexually explicit, harmful, threatening, abusive, defamatory, obscene, hateful, racially or ethnically offensive; posts which discuss or illustrate illegal activity; providing links to sites that contain any of the aforementioned.
What does and does not constitute a violation of posting policies shall be determined solely by moderators. Any post, thread, FAQ, link, or member may be removed at any time for any reason.
