IWDN Forum Rules

Welcome to the International Web Developers Network forums. There are a few rules we've put in place to make your experience more enjoyable and meaningful and to help us keep better track of visitor activities.

1. Respect other visitors
2. Forum-specific Rules
3. Meaningful contributions
4. No spam
5. Appropriate and inappropriate linking
6. Advertising forums - proper use
7. Use at your own risk!
8. Forum contents are public and indexable
9. Account limits
10. Scope of conversation
11. Proper use of your profile
12. Avatars, profile photos and image uploading
13. Custom Titles
14. Signatures
15. English-speaking mods require English-speaking visitors
16. The Number One Rules

Respect other visitors

Respect is a given on IWDN. Members will not always get along. They will often disagree and get into heated debate. But personal attacks will not be tolerated.

Forum-specific Rules

Some forums have rules that must be adhered to in addition to those listed here. Specific rules are posted at forum announcement. All visitors and members should familiarize themselves with these rules before posting in these forums.

Meaningful contributions

Useless posts that litter the boards prevent others from enjoying the services we provide. Everyone is expected to make meaningful contributions, especially when first joining the forums. The IWDN Social Club is open for all types of discussions, so long as conversation does not become obscene or illegal and the general respect rule is being followed. However, widespread use of the Social Club is a privilege earned, not a right automatically granted. While there is no minimum post count to use this area, newer members who appear to be making little or no contributions elsewhere will have posts removed, and further abuse may result in account deactivation at the discretion of site administrators.

Posts that fall into the suspect category include:

1. posts that simply agree with others, without giving any additional information or insight as to why this is the case.
2. posts that appear to serve no purpose other than to bump a thread into a more prominent position. Infrequent bumping of non-advertising threads may be tolerated.
3. posts defined by moderators or administrators to be spam (see below).
4. posts made on behalf of a banned member.
5. posts deemed to be unfit by moderators or administrators.

No spam

There are forums reserved for posting advertising messages. If you'd like to hawk your services, please choose the appropriate forum of those provided. A message related to the same service posted in more than one forum will be deleted. Advertisements inadvertently placed outside the advertising forums will either be moved or deleted, at the discretion of site moderators or administrators.

Registered users who spam other members through private messaging, email or information obtained by visiting links posted in threads will have their accounts immediately suspended.

Members may only promote the services of other companies if they have substantial firsthand experience as a customer. Recommending someone's services without having used those services yourself is not allowed. This includes promoting services about which you've heard from others.

The IWDN definition of spam applies to all referral links posted in profiles, signatures, titles and threads. You may not post a link that redirects the visitor in any way. Likewise, you may not post links to sites from which you may benefit from affiliation. You may only link to a site with an affiliate program if you are the owner of the domain, and in this case, the rule barring redirects still applies.

Appropriate and inappropriate linking

Forum visitors may not post links to sites containing illegal materials, including pirated software/warez, trojans, worms or software classified as spyware, adware or malware (final determination to be made by the moderating team). In addition, because this site is open for use by minors, visitors may not link to pages that contain pornographic material. Linking to gateways for sites containing such materials may be prohibited at the discretion of the moderating team. This includes visual materials of an "R-rated" nature as well. Links to sites with wholely obscene or grossly offensive language not commonly considered suitable for minors may be edited as well, again at the discretion of the moderating team.

This rule applies to thread posts, custom titles, signatures and profile information.

Advertising forums - proper use

The advertising forums exist for members to share information with others that is self promotional in nature, or to request that others promote themselves for the benefit of the thread starter.

Any advertisement featuring a product or service promoted through online means must be accompanied by a link to the home site for that product or service. Make sure you familiarize yourself with the No spam rules regarding affiliate/referral linking. Furthermore, the domains to which the advertiser links must either have full, accurate whois information in place (must be searchable - it does not need to be posted in the thread), and may not be protected by any proxy service. If you post a link that uses a proxy registrar, you must submit your real whois information to the IWDN Admins for verification.

Members are limited to advertising their own services only. Promoting other companies is not allowed.

Please review the stickies located within each advertising forum for forum-specific rules regarding proper use before posting.

Use at your own risk!

Advice, information, feedback and advertised services cannot be verified for accuracy or authenticity by IWDN administrators or moderators. Therefore, any member who makes use of another member's services or posted information in any way assumes all risks for doing so.

Forum contents are public and indexable

Please remember that anything you choose to post in these forums can be viewed by other members, guests, search engines and both harmless and malicious bots. We strongly advise you not to post email addresses or personal contact information within forum threads, unless you are willing to assume all risks associated with doing so.

Account limits

Individuals are allowed one (1) account, regardless of the number of businesses they represent. If multiple accounts are activated from the same location, all active accounts will be suspended. If more than one person at the same location wishes to sign up for an account, please notify site administrators using this form.

Scope of conversation

Discussions on the merits of a business, service or another visitor/member are limited to personal experiences only. Illegitimate revenge/vendetta threads will be handled as seen fit by moderators or administrators.

Proper use of your profile

IWDN members may fill in as much or as little of their personal profiles as they'd like. However, fields must be used appropriately. Members may not splash links throughout their profiles (signature and Website fields excluded), and advertising messages are limited to appropriate signature use. Members may use these fields creatively or humorously, but your profile is meant to define your personality, not to be used as a billboard. Members who use their profiles inappropriately will have them edited. Members who persist in this behavior may be warned or banned.

Avatars, profile photos and image uploading

IWDN members are permitted to post photos in their profiles and upload images in threads. All images must be treated with the same set of rules that govern the posting of text in regards to respect. In addition, images containing obscenity, violence, inappropriate sexual themes and any other offensive material will be edited or deleted, and the offending visitor/member may be warned or immediately banned from using the forums. We realize there may be some grey areas in how the contents and context of images are interpreted, and moderators will exercise their judgment when determining the appropriateness of an image, avatar or profile photo.

Avatars and Photo Profiles are not intended to be used for advertising. They are only for posting pictures for members to reference each other visually. Please limit personal promotions to text only in your signatures and custom titles. Feel free to have fun with your profile photo if you do not wish to post a picture of yourself, so long as you stay within the guidelines above.

Custom Titles

Custom titles are a privilege available to certain members based on activity on IWDN and rank. Custom titles are open for whatever use the member sees fit. You may use them to advertise or promote yourself. You may use them just for fun. However, the general respect rules apply to custom titles. You may not use your title to libel another member, nor will obscenity be tolerated. Also, certain titles are off-limits. You cannot post a title that indicates you are a site administrator, moderator or IWDN member unless you have actually been granted these rights. Titles are limited to 45 characters.

Signatures

Members and visitors are free to use their signatures as they see fit, with the following restrictions:

1. Signatures are limited to 255 characters.
2. Signatures may not be used to post specific promotional information. When referencing a site you own, manage or from which you profit, you are limited to a site name, link and general tagline. For example, "IMakeWebSites.com - home of really cheap Web design" would be just fine. "IMakeWebSites.com - home of the $300, 10 page + a logo plan" would not constitute an acceptable general tagline.
3. No more than two smileys.
4. No increasing text size, though multiple colors and bolding/italicizing are fine.
5. No images in signatures, except for IWDN-installed smileys.
6. The respect rule is in full effect.

English-speaking mods require English-speaking visitors

This is by no means an effort to discriminate against non-English-speaking visitors, but in order for moderators to do their jobs effectively, the language used within the forums must be understandable by them. In the future, if IWDN recruits mods fluent in other languages, we may consider allowing posting in those languages. But for now, thread titles, posts and signatures in any other language will be edited unless the use of that language is unavoidable for some reason and proper explanation is given. This rule does not apply to private messages. This rule does include "1337 H4x0R" speak, posting in ASCII, binary, XOr encryption or any language that requires deciphering.

The most important rule all IWDN members and forum visitors must remember is that the judgment of site administators is final, and supercedes the word of any rule stated on this page. Administrators will make all attempts to be fair and will entertain all reasonable appeals regarding decisions they make. Ultimately, their decisions will stand, however. This effectively closes any loophole or shortsightedness within the forum rules.

Please note: forum rules may be modified and additional rules may be made at anytime as deemed appropriate by site administrators. New and modified rules are enforcable retroactively at the time of their posting.