We are trying to provide the highest quality community experience for all of our members and following these guidelines is the best way to maintain a quality environment for all age groups, adn to ensure that members form all over the world can participate.
1)
Please try your best to use correct spelling, punctuation and grammar (SPAG) when posting on the Forum. This makes your posts easier to understand and readable by all. Please don't post in all capitals (LIKE THIS), as it is considered shouting and is hard to read. Also, talking in txt-speak is strictly prohibited. The personal pronoun 'I' is written with a capital I. After a full stop, like . (period), ! (exclamation mark) and ? (question mark), please use a capital letter in the next sentence.
Proof reading your post works wonders. There's a "preview post" button you can use, and once posted, an "edit"-button, so if you've spelt something wrong (etc), you can go back and edit your post!
WE have this rule because a) not all of our members have English as a first language, and b) our older members would not understand posts written in text speak. We aim to ensure that every post can be read and understood by everyone who comes on to the forum.
2)
Abuse of fellow board-members will not be tolerated - verbal abuse or mocking of members in forum posts is not allowed. Serious disagreements should be taken over
Private Messages. We will not tolerate personal attacks, on the grounds of race, religion, gender, sexuality, disability, or age. Nor indeed will we tolerate threatening behaviour , bullying or victimisation of another member , either on the board or by PM. This does not mean that you can't have a joke, or that you cant challenge someones point of view.
3)
One thread per topic. - Multiple threads about the same subject generates confusion and duplicate discussions, so please see if there already is a thread on what you want to talk about using the
search function. Try to stay on-topic. Off-topic talking will go on in the General Chat thread. When making a new topic, use a title that describes the content of your post. Don't use all caps or special characters to draw attention.
4) Negative discussion of actors' looks (e.g. "So and so is disgusting"/"minging"/"walking skin cancer", etc...) is forbidden.
5)
Multiple accounts are not allowed, so please do not join the board more than once. If another account is opened, that account will be banned immediately, and the original account will be penalised. If you wish to change your name, please notify the
Administrators or Moderators by PM and they will change it for you - please don't sign up new accounts. Anyone who has warnings on their account are automatically excluded from changing their user name.
6)
Promotion of other Home and Away websites in the main Forums is not allowed. If you wish to promote your website, please either use the
advertise your site or forum thread in General Chat Forum or place a link in your
Signature.
You may only post a link to another Home and Away website in one of our other Forums if the link is directly related to the topic in question.
7)
The board is designed for people of all ages, so please do not use strong language of any kind when posting.
8)
Any posts considered too explicit or indecent will be deleted at the moderators' discretion. Any action taken against the offending member will again be at the discretion of the moderating team.
9)
Only Home and Away related Avatars (icons under your name) are permitted for use on the Forum. Images on other subjects are strictly not allowed. They must be of 100x100px and no more than around 25kb in file size. If you aren't using an image from our Gallery, it must be hosted on your own webspace or from a website you have permission to use. Please do not use flashing images as your avatar, out of respect of members who suffer from epilepsy. Avatars should also be kept spoiler free. If you are unsure whether or not your avatar contains a spoiler, please post in the
Avatar authorisation thread located in the Comments and Suggestions board,
before you set it as your avatar.
If you use an avatar or an image created by another member, please seek their permission before doing so and also credit them for their work. Do not pass off another members work as your own.
10)
Signatures - Images in signatures are not allowed. Please try to keep your signature to no more than
FIVElines max and avoid using extremely large fonts, so that the board is kept clean and easy to read. Signatures should also be kept spoiler free. What you post is what is important, not how big your signature is.
11)
When posting in our Artwork and Creations forum, if you use flashing images in any of your creations can you please not post them directly on the forum. Instead can you please provide a link which clearly states that the image contains flashing. We obviously don't wish to deter members from posting their creations, but if you could do this then it will make things a bit more user friendly.
12)
Spoilers should be kept inside the spoiler-zone. This means that no spoilers whatsoever are to be posted in the other sections, not even inside a spoiler tag. We depend on members reporting threads and posts violating this, and any other, rule. Do so by clicking the "report this post" button, and contact one or more moderators (preferably one that is online, if there are some) to report threads containing spoilers, if there is more than one post. To keep the rest of the forum spoiler-free, please do not have avatars and/or signatures with spoilers.
13.
Do NOT 'copy and paste' content from Seven's Official Home and Away Website. We have been in contact with the Online Producer of the official site as to how we can try and cut this out. It is not fair on the creators and is also pointless. If you feel that a particular feature requires sensible discussion then just post a link.
Members should respect the decision of moderators. However, as a member you reserve the right to PM any moderator or administrator regarding action taken.
If you have any concerns about posts that break the rules or are out of line, please press the 'Report Post' button below that post.
We're also PM-able and online moderators are listed at the bottom of the forum homepage in green.