Forum Rules
Why these rules?
There aren't many rules on this forum - we like it to be an easy going place and like to avoid all the crazy restrictions that other forums place on people, but please help us with this and follow the guidelines on this page. To help understand the rules here's a fun informational video:
(There's more from the folk who made the video: Internet: Useful Tips and the source for this video How To Behave On An Internet Forum
Moderation here isn't normally strict (apart from removing spammers) but this easy going attitude relies on members being responsible for their own posts. It has worked so far and will hopefully continue to work while members follow the rules below:
General conduct
Be nice to everyone else on the forum especially new members. New members
are important to the forum - they might stick around and contribute a
lot in the future. If a new member asks something that has been asked
a thousand times before then you might gently point them towards a thread
that will answer their question. Better still why not answer the question
yourself. You can use the stuff from the previous thread and look really
smart. I do that all the time. 
Flaming other members is not allowed here at all. If someone upsets you on the forum let a moderator know or use the report post function and let someone who is impartial sort the problem out.
Winding up other members (trolling)
Don't do it on any account. If it looks like you are deliberately trying to wind people up you'll quickly end up on the naughty step.
Family friendly
All sorts of people are interested in welding and it's good not to exclude them. Please avoid 'adult content'. Also do not post anything illegal, racial intolerant, or anything concerning violence, drugs, hacking, etc.
No advertising
Advertising not allowed on the forum.
Copyright (Images and Text)
Do not post images that do not belong to you. Any photo not taken by yourself, or any text not originally written by yourself will be automatically copyrighted by another person. You must seek the copyright owner's permission before reproducing their work otherwise this website will be in breech of their copyright
Liable
The forum may be held responsible for what you say, so please don't post any defamatory remarks about suppliers without good reason. For example saying "XXXX Welder Company sucks" without any justification would not be OK, but saying "I don't like my XXXX welder Co welder because it has a permanently live wire feed and that is annoying because of this and that and the other" should be OK. I'm no expert in these law things, but surely nobody can complain about facts that can be backed up.
Language
This is an English speaking forum so please post in English. Use the private message system if you want to talk to a member in another language. English is a second language for many forum members so please do not use abbreviated English of the type used in mobile phone text messaging. Please make an effort to spell correctly for the same reason.
Complaints
If anyone does have complaints about the information contained on the web site or the forum then contacting me is the best way to sort them out.
Respect Moderators
Please respect the wishes of moderators or admin. Moderating is not an easy job, so please don't make it worse by challenging moderators decisions. Accept and move on. If you do have a complaint about moderation please first calm down then politely private message the moderator concerned or politely private message me. There's probably a misunderstanding involved that can be sorted without argument. Do not start a thread about your complaint on the public forum.
Agreeing to the rules
A condition of using the forum is that you abide by the forum rules. We reserve the right to ban anyone who wilfully violates the forum rules, as access to our forums is a privilege and not a right.
The rules can change
The forum rules do evolve over time. Do check back every now and again for the latest version. (Last change 23 November 2008).
Enforcing the Rules
Moderators on the forum will enforce these rules. Our approach depends on whether we've got to know you or not.
If your first post is blatent advertising or link dropping we'll remove your post and block you from the forum. We have about three spammers every day on the forum so won't spend hours trying to help you stop spamming.
For existing members we might use the infraction system. It's a points system similar to the points you'd get for speeding, but there's no ban after so many points. We do count the points and will have a word if you continue to notch them up. If that doesn't work we are happy to moderate your posts before they appear on the forum, but that's a last resort as it relies on mods being on line when you post, otherwise things go out of sync.