EXPcustom
Well-known member
Rules of Conduct on TGP
Revised on August 24, 2010
GENERAL RULES PHILOSOPHY: Before reading this, please read the Terms of Use agreement, which covers some things that are not covered here. Basically, we expect you to be courteous to others and to know the rules BEFORE you post. In addition, we figured out that we can't write rules as fast as people try to find ways around them. For that reason, the rules are written as simplistically as we can and you are asked to observe the spirit of the rules.
This is a privately owned website. We have the right to end your membership for any reason, and there is no "fair" or "unfair" about it. To put it bluntly, if you become a pain for us, we're not going to let you stick around. The job of moderating is too difficult to spend precious time trying to please a few people who can't/won't be happy with the way things are here. Some decisions ARE subjective, so the best way of remaining a member here is to not test the boundaries. If you choose to go to the edge of a boundary, you have only yourself to blame if we push you over the cliff!
A philosophical point that needs to be made falls under the "live and let live" concept. Some people are drawn like moths to fire to certain threads and end up arguing about the subject. If the topic is not against our rules, don't go barging into the thread to tell people how wrong they are to........well, whatever it is that they did that you didn't have to get upset about if you had just not opened the thread. A lot of arguments would be avoided if you stay away from things that happen to push your buttons. This is much easier than contacting us to tell us to make even more restrictions on what can be posted!
All moderator decision are final. Arguing with moderators will probably result in an end to your membership. With this many members, we just don't have the time to debate things. Just as a point of interest, less than 5% of our membership have ever received an infraction (see announcement titled "Understanding Our Infraction System") and far less than 1% of members have ever been banned. If over 95% of folks can exist and post here without getting an infraction, so can you!
If you believe that there has been a serious violation of our rules, there is an icon in the upper right hand side of every post (looks like a yield sign) that allows you to report that post. We do not have the manpower or time to read the more than 7000 new posts that are done every day on this website, so we depend on members to report posts that are significant violations of our rules. If the bold/italics words in this paragraph aren't obvious enough, please don't report minor issues or use the "reported posts" function simply because you don't like someone. In plain language, here are the rules.........
THE BASICS (General)
1. Don't antagonize or be rude to other members in your posts, PMs or emails. Being sarcastically rude is still being rude.
2. No obscene language, bigoted comments, illegal stuff, defaming, or copyright/trademark violations allowed.
3. No political or religious stuff in your posts or signatures. Anti-political or anti-religious stuff is also a no-no!
4. No “deals gone bad" posts. If you are screwed in some major way in an emporium deal, contact an administrator and we'll look into it, but we are not responsible for deals made. We DO ban people when we believe that they are ripping off other members.
5. Only one user account per member. If you are suspended and we catch you opening another user account during your suspension, you will be banned.
6. No shilling or spamming. Builders and dealers must confine their selling or discussions of their products to the Builders & Retailers emporium or the Builders and Retailers forum.
7. No posting of private communications or personal info of other people.
8. No arguing with moderators. Their decisions are final.
9. Builders and retailers may not say negative things about their competitors or competing products.
10. No excessive arguing or thread hijacking. If you haven't convinced someone in 1 or 2 posts, just let it go and don't beat it into the ground. Don't change the thread topic (hijacking). You can easily start your own thread.
11. No trolling, also known as attention-seeking, allowed. If we feel that you started something just for the attention or to cause problems, you violated this rule.
12. If you leave TGP or are banned, DO NOT ask us to delete your posts or your user account. You made the choice to register and we don't have the time to delete your account just because you don't want to be on TGP anymore. Per our Terms of Use, the loose translation is "we own your words" once you post them.
THE BASICS (Emporiums)
13. Only Supporting Members can post ads.
14. Buyer and seller beware! TGP is not responsible. Use commonsense when engaging in deals with people you don't know. Get full descriptions, photos, keep copies of all communications, talk to the person on the phone and, if your gut tells you that something doesn't feel right, don't do the deal.
15. We allow up to 4 ads per person in each emporium area at any one time.
16. One bump or comment per day in your ad is allowed. Use it wisely and respond to other questions via PM.
17. You must post a price or specifically what you want in trade in your ad. No fishing with ads that say something like "Will trade xxxx. What do you have?"
18. No negative comments allowed about someone's pricing or gear. If you think that the price is too high, move on and don't buy.
19. Only music gear can be posted for sale or trade.
20. Builders, dealers or “hobbyist for profit” ads must be in the Builders & Retailers emporium.
21. No auction ads unless item is on Ebay. Put “FA:”, “On Ebay” or “For Auction” in title of ad.
22. Do not post items for sale on behalf of non-supporting members. The supporting memberships are how we pay for the costs of the site.
23. Only one ad (make sure that it's the correct emporium!) per item being sold. Don't post the same item more than once or in more than one emporium area.
SUMMARY: Your membership to TGP is a privilege, not a right. If you don’t agree with the rules, you should find a discussion site that better meets your expectations. Although we value every member and want you to be here, if your membership causes us trouble, we may choose to suspend or ban you. We reserve the right to suspend or ban any member for any reason, not limited to the above rules.
Wow, I better not post there anymore because I have a weird sarcastic style of humor, I use the emporium alot so I dont want to get banned.
