Forum Guidelines

Posting To Forums

Posting to forums enables you to communicate and collaborate with your friends and other Chefs. Examples of forums include anything listed in the main section of this site. These online forums are similar to the classic definition of the word: forum -- A public place or medium for open discussions. You access forums by clicking on the forum link and by clicking on the title of the individual forum you want to view. For example, you can click on the General Discussion link to see a list of available discussions. Then, you can click on the title of discussion you wish to view.

Please post in the appropriate forum. Don't be upset if we move your post to a more appropriate forum. In the event you find your post "missing", please attempt to locate it in what might be a more appropriate forum by using the Search feature.

Each forum has a name and a brief description with them. This makes information easier for people to find if they have a similar question or are interested in the same things.

We reserve the right to move, remove, or close any post for any violations or reasons we deem necessary. (Disciplinary action will be taken on a case-by-case basis depending on the severity)

Forum Etiquette

Advertising

Whether for personal gain or for private use, web sites, message boards, user created IRC channels and chat rooms which are not endorsed by acfutahchefs.org are not to be posted anywhere in threads (This also applies to all forums, threads, posts, private messages, userpages, profiles, avatars and signatures.), chat rooms or in IRC as we are unable to maintain the level of their content, which may or may not be suitable for children.

Profiles may be checked for content periodically & if deemed inappropriate will be removed and will be dealt with on a case by case basis.

Cross-Posting/Multiple Posting/Bumping

Cross-posting/Multiple Posting/Bumping is copying posts/threads several times throughout the forum or consecutive (one right after another) replies to a thread or posting to bump a thread to the top for no logicial or beneficial reason (Bumps are only allowed 24 hours AFTER your last post to the thread.). One thread per new subject / one reply needed (use the Edit feature if you need to add something).

Repeat/cross-postings will be removed/moved/merged as needed.

English Only

The moderators/administrators and other users must be able to read and comprehend your posts. To ensure this, we ask that everyone posts in English. All mods/admins are able to read and write in English.

Favoritism Posts/Polls

This includes posts that indicates "Who's the best cook, writer", etc. These often lead to confrontations when a person expresses a negative opinion about another person.

This also applies to all forums, threads, posts, private messages, userpages, profiles, avatars and signatures.

Flaming

Any posts that are hateful or mean in nature will be removed immediately. We do not tolerate attacks based on race, religion, gender, sexual orientation, or political affiliation or any posts indicating grieving other users on the forums.  No personal threats or harassment. This includes posting pictures representing an attack. Debate opinions and not the people behind them. This also applies to all forums, threads, posts, private messages, userpages, profiles, avatars and signatures.

Naming Names

This falls under "Flaming". Naming people or their characters in negative light is not permitted. That person is not able to defend themselves or their actions and what seems like an inappropriate action, which can often be a simple misunderstanding, can lead to a negative reaction against that person (avoidance, revenge).  If someone griefs you on this site, PM an admin or moderator or report their posts.

Highly Controversial Topics

These conversations tend to lead to violent outbursts based on strong personal beliefs. Posts which contain political commentary, religious or other highly controversial topics will be removed and action will be taken depending on the severity.

These topics may (but are not limited to) contain beliefs/opinions on religion, political subject matter (i.e., new governmental laws, candidates, etc.), abortion, sexual orientation and/or highly controversial current events.

This also applies to all forums, threads, posts, private messages, userpages, profiles, avatars and signatures.

Impersonation Of Other Users

Creating accounts on the site with similar names of existing users in order to cause chaos or misconceptions towards that user is not allowed and it can lead to permanent suspension from the site.

Anyone impersonating or acting like they are an administrator or moderator is not allowed and can result in disciplinary action. If a user finds a thread or post that is inappropriate please report the thread or post and let the administration and moderating staff handle the situation.

Anyone found to be impersonating staff will be dealt with immediately and harshly.

Irritating Posting Styles

This refers to posting styles which make it hard to read and/or comprehend what a user is attempting to state on their post(s). Mods and other users must be able to read and understand what you are posting. Use of all caps (indicates yelling), caps/lowercase variances (I wAnT A sEcReT fRiEnD), poor color choices for their text vs. forums background colors (such as white text on a yellow background), excessive punctuation (yes!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!) or letter repetition in a word (Woooooooot!) are both irritating and sometimes hard to read. These types of posts will be removed from the forums or edited by a mod.

This also applies to all forums, threads, posts, private messages, userpages, profiles, avatars and signatures.

Multiple/Sharing Accounts

Members are only allowed one username per person and are strongly discouraged from sharing accounts with other family members and / or friends. In terms of guideline violations, moderators/administrators may track multiple shared accounts from single or multiple computers as one account. If a guideline violation is severe enough, it may become necessary to ban/delete one or all of the usernames on the same computer, depending on the severity. You are responsible for anyone and everyone who uses your account and/or accesses other accounts from your computer.

The actions of one person could easily directly impact all known shared message board accounts.

NOTE: This does not apply to Admins/Moderators, we sometimes need multiple accounts to test technical issues that come up from various user levels and to do that properly it requires us to create "test" accounts.

Off-Topic/Nonsense Posts

If your post/thread doesn't make sense or is filled with gibberish, these posts will be removed. While we expect that some topics will stray a bit, if it completely hijacks the thread and/or disrupts the flow, those posts will either be removed or split into its own thread.

Personal Relationship Discussion

acfutahchefs.org is not a dating service.

Signature Lengths

Users should be considerate of other users on the forums. Excessive signatures cause the flow of the threads to be disrupted. Signature lengths over 10 text lines will be removed from user's profiles. This also applies to graphics that are larger than 500 x 200 pixels in length and width size. It doesn't matter how big the font size is as long as the total dimensions taken up by the signature text & graphic does not exceed 500 x 200 in pixel length and width.

So the total dimensions of the signature should not exceed this size:

Also, the file size of the signature should not exceed 200KB. We impose this limit as a courtesy for those on dial-up.

Spamming

"Spam" refers to posting identical and/or irrelevant messages to one thread or many different threads that have nothing to do with the intended subject, or posts that disrupt a thread or fill the message board with clutter. Mass PMing people you don't know or who haven't invited you to PM them, posting for the sole purpose of boosting your post count, threads with the sole purpose of posting "what I did today..." (this is a forum, not a blog or chatroom), excessive bumping of threads (you are allowed one bump per thread twenty-four (24) hours after the last post created in the thread!), one or two letter replies (i.e. ok, LOL, Yes, agreed, nods), and excessive use of smileys as a response are all considered "spam".

This applies to all forums, threads, posts, private messages, userpages, profiles, avatars and signatures.

Trolling

Intentionally posting false arguments, flames or personal attacks for no other purpose than to incite a negative reaction, annoy others or disrupt a discussion is also prohibited. These perpetrators are known as "trolls".

Anyone impersonating or acting like they are an administrator or moderator is not allowed and can result in disciplinary action. If a user finds a thread or post that is inappropriate please report the thread or post and let the administration and moderating staff handle the situation.

This applies to all forums, threads, posts, private messages, userpages, profiles, avatars and signatures with the intent to harass the members or staff of this site.

Violators of this policy will result in suspension of their account.