User account

In opening and using your account for this site, you:

1. Agree to abide by the etiquette and rules outlined below when posting in the discussion forums or commenting on any content on this site.
2. Understand that breaching the rules and/or etiquette can result in deletion of your posts, and that continued breaches can result in your user account being temporarily or permanently disabled.
3. Acknowledge that all views expressed by contributors to forum discussions and other posts on this site are those of the contributors alone, and are not endorsed by the publishers and sponsors of any other material presented on the site.

General Etiquette

• Be aware that a large audience may see your post, and your words may come back to haunt you. Unlike the spoken word, your written posts will exist on this site for a long time.
• If you are responding to someone else's comments, try to include a quote or summary of their post, to provide context to other readers. But don't quote too much!
• Don't post personal messages (such as personal greetings, etc).
• Don't attack other people - attack their argument. If you take issue with someone else's position, try to explain why you disagree with them in a polite and professional manner, providing suitable supporting evidence as required.
• Don't start or perpetuate flame wars. If someone insults or attacks you, do not respond in kind.
• Don't SHOUT. Excessive use of capitalisation and exclamation points (any more than one) is considered shouting and can show that you're unable to adequately express yourself through the use of normal language. Small amounts of capitalisation, when used to emphasise a particular point, are considered acceptable

What are the Rules?

• No abuse, insults or personal attacks directed at any person, group of people, or organisation
• No defamatory comments - be aware that content posted on forum sites can be considered defamatory, if a reasonable person believes that the posted content could damage the reputation of an individual
• No posting of an individual's personal details - under any circumstances. This includes posting details of political figures, company staff, people that have wronged you, etc. It is inappropriate to post company contact details which aren't available publicly. An example of this might be an employee's desk phone number.
• Intolerance or vilification of other people's beliefs, culture, IQ, gender, physical or mental conditions, sexual preference / orientation or age is unacceptable
• No foul language (swearing) - in any language or any disguise
• No inappropriate or illegal material. Inappropriate content is considered to be any topic that would be unacceptable dinner time conversation when your grandma is over!
• No "For Sale", "Wanted to Buy" or blatant business advertising
• No forum spamming
• No complaints about moderation (use email instead)
• No posting of private correspondence (emails etc) or transcripts of private conversations (phone calls, face-to-face discussions). This is because there is no way to verify the validity of the text, and there may be copyright implications arising from the publication of such private communication, in a public forum, without permission of both parties. Public announcements are considered already in public view. In cases where such an announcement is made on a website, posting the URL is preferred to posting the complete text.
• When quoting material from an outside source, give due credit to that source. For example, if you post a quote from a news story, you must also include the URL or reference to the story.
• No plagiarism
• No abuse of the Australian Copyright Act, which allows quoting a maximum of 10% for critiquing purposes. If you wish people to comment on an article or news post, please include a link to the article, and only quote one or two relevant sections that highlight your point.