Below is our terms and conditions for the Expatica forums. I ask that you read this through and respect our guidelines. If you have any feedback or suggestions for Expatica, please post them at the link below, not in soapbox:
http://forum.expatica.com/Expatica-Feedback-Forum-f214.html

Thank you,
admin
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Expatica’s Discussion Forum Guidelines

Welcome to Expatica.com’s discussion forums. These forums are for you to discuss anything pertaining to your life abroad.

We ask that you respect each other and follow our guidelines, detailed below.

FOR NEW MEMBERS
We expect all new posters to show respect for other posters.
We encourage you to make the most of the forum while keeping in mind that it is a community which depends on the goodwill and responsible behaviour of its members. Do not make postings which are deliberately intended to upset other participants, start inflammatory arguments or interrupt discussions. Should you choose to display this sort of behaviour, Expatica or its moderators may intervene.

FOR EXISTING MEMBERS
Please treat new members with kindness and respect.
If a new member asks a question that you or someone else has already answered, please direct them to the relevant thread. If you can’t, please ignore the question and let someone else answer it.

FOR ALL MEMBERS
Expatica expects all posters to show respect for each other. We encourage you to make the most of the forum while keeping in mind that it’s a community which depends on your goodwill and responsible behaviour.

The most important thing to consider when posting a comment is: would you say it to someone’s face? If you feel that you might say something you regret, agree to disagree. You can’t convince everyone of your opinion.

Post intelligently. We ask that you consider the value of your posts. Your fellow posters and Expatica welcomes thought-provoking and insightful discussions, so long as all parties involved show mutual respect.

Don’t flame other users. Do not accuse another user of being stupid or anything synonymous with being unintelligent. Insulting others is a useless way to convey your argument. Should you choose to abuse, you may be issued a warning to alter your post. More than two warnings will result in your profile being deleted.

Don’t be a troll. A troll is “someone who posts controversial and usually irrelevant or off-topic messages in an online community, such as an online discussion forum, with the intention of baiting other users into an emotional response or to generally disrupt normal on-topic discussion.” (Wikipedia) If this is your goal, you’re not welcome here.

Respect your moderators. Our moderators are dedicated volunteers that only want to create a good environment for the rest of you to discuss. Expatica supports the moderators and grants them permission to enforce these guidelines and conditions within the forums they moderate. Showing public disrespect for them is not acceptable. If you have comments about a moderator or their actions, email me at jami.davis@expatica.com or PM "admin". Posting public comments about a moderator and his/her actions will be removed.

If you have general feedback for Expatica, email jami.davis@expatica.com or post it in the feedback section of our forums: http://forum.expatica.com/Expatica-Feedback-Forum-f214.html
If we feel your feedback is not presented in a respectful manner, we will remove it.



Expatica or its moderators may delete or edit any posts containing or linking to the
following:

* Racist, sexist or homophobic comments
* Making sweeping generalizations, using phrases such as “all _____ are so-and so”
* Trolling
* Slam-posts of any kind, including anything starting with “you are _____” (followed by an insult of any kind)
* Abusive, obscene, vulgar, slanderous, hateful, or threatening language
* Photos containing nudity, unlawful use, or verbal abuse
* Comments which contain defamatory statements or personal attacks on other participants
* Personal details of any other person (including phone numbers, real names and email addresses)
* Postings made under another person's name
* Pornography of any kind
* Commercial advertising, including (but not limited to) spam and for-profit ventures
* Posts containing inflammatory or unlawful material or references.
* Entire posts in a language other than English. Phrases or words will be tolerated, as long as they serve as an accompaniment to English text.
* Slandering a company’s name or services
* Multiple posts

Warning system
If you chose to ignore these bulleted conditions, a moderator may choose to delete a portion of the post, or the entire post. You will also be issued a warning. If you are given more than two warnings, your profile will be terminated. It’s pretty simple: treat others as you would like to be treated, and you will have no problems.

Locking threads
If Expatica or the moderators feel a thread has grown out of hand, we reserve the right to either split or lock the thread. A decision to do so will always be in the best interest of all users.

Expatica will allow only one username per user. If we find that you are using more than one user name, we will ask that you choose one and we will remove the other. If you continue to create and user more than one, and we have already warned you once, your IP address will be banned.

References to other sites will be allowed at Expatica’s discretion.

If you find any of these terms and conditions unreasonable, then we are not interested in
hosting you. Please find another forum that will better suit your needs.

Expatica.com takes no responsibility for content that users post in these forums, nor do we endorse or represent the opinions of users. In cases where the law has been broken, Expatica will notify the proper authorities if appropriate.

As a user you agree to any information you have entered being stored in a database. While this information will not be disclosed to any third party without your consent, the webmaster, administrator and moderators cannot be held responsible for any hacking attempt that may lead to the data being compromised.

The IP address of all posts is recorded to aid in enforcing these conditions. As a user you agree to any information you have entered being stored in a database. Expatica and its moderators cannot be held responsible for any hacking attempt that may lead to the data being compromised.

The Expatica community and its related functionalities and services are free of charge. By becoming a member you accept that Expatica may send emails with announcements and special offers to you. Please note that we will never give away your email address to 3rd parties; all email you will receive will be sent by Expatica.

Portions of this document were inspired by Ignatzmice Studios. We thank them for their insight.

If these are the rules and regulations for using the Expatica site someone should take a look at the UK Forum! Don't know what's going on there but over the last week or two it has been full of spam and ''guest posters'' for cheap designer/sports goods or Viagra. What's happening?

There is still no sign of any followup by Admin on the excellent (and EASY!) suggestion made by Wickerman and backed by me and Sun-n-fun to let the Mods monitor the first five posts of all new members. I do not understand why this very sound suggestion cannot be adopted. It would eliminate instantly the majority of spam.

Had another look at the UK forum this morning - still full of spam..new spam at that. Are you checking it out Admin? It really is spoiling the site and I imagine it's putting regulars off from posting on there.

To be fair, the moderator for the UK forum did check in last night (because he posted in the Expatica Feedback forum) and eliminated the lot, only for it to be replaced overnight.

They check in when they can; most are working full-time and doing mod duties on a volunteer basis.

There has to be a better way of ensuring that it doesn't happen in the first place though...I liked Wickerman's suggestion too...

Yes - you're right, I noticed some of it had gone to be replaced by more. Wickerman's suggestion was a good one and would certainly get rid of a lot of those sort of posts.

Spams on the Internation News forum are still present.

Hello folks,

just to let you know that I have just removed the spam postings in the UK forum. Spam is a constant problem and believe me no one is more anxious to get rid of it than we are.

Jami tells me that Wickerman's idea was investigated but was found to be unworkable with the software we use to run the forum.

Kind regards,
Matt

Thank you Wild Rose Country,

I have now deleted this also.

Kind regards,
Matt

There are three more in International News. They are posted by Shagua
Thanks Matt.

Thank you.

You are welcome maymaud.

Hello Wild Rose - nice to see that a lot of the spamming has been deleted!

I don't quite understand this one - can you define slander?? I personally welcome people's experiences with businesses as there are many bad ones that need calling out.

Hello Ratkat,

I suppose a dictionary definition would be something like: 'a false statement intended to damage a company's reputation'. I think that in the context of the forum the key concern is intent, i.e. are the statements in question intended to be malicious? Obviously there is some room for debate and we must treat each case individually.

As a rule of thumb we are trying to keep the forum as friendly and objective as possible. This is not to say that people cannot have an opinion or describe their experiences. But when the tone turns vindictive or a 'crusade' is being undertaken against a firm or individual party, then it may be neccessarey to take steps to ensure that the situation doesn't get out of hand. We don't need any witch hunts in the forums just constructive criticism and debate.

I hope that this clarifies things for you a liittle.

Kind regards,
Matt

How about the college students posting their survey in every single (almost) topic?

Yes I check it the other day but still there plenty of spam. I guess Wickerman's suggestion was a good one and would certainly get rid of a lot of those sort of posts.
Louelleg