General Site Rules- Be nice to other members. Any name calling or general nastiness will not be tolerated.
- Be tolerant of all other users. Remember, we have members of all ages and levels of experience and enthusiasm, of different nationalities, religions and cultures. Rude or racist remarks and hurtfully sarcastic comments will be deleted and you will be penalised. Bear in mind that a sarcastic comment that an adult would laugh at may be hurtful to a young member.
- No swearing or cursing, this includes trying to bypass the installed filter by making variations to words. If the filter alters words in your post to ‘*****’, then edit the post immediately and change the offending word.
- Keep all content clean and tasteful. No nudity, violence, religious slurs, etc. If it may be offensive to another member, don't post it. This also applies to avatars and signatures.
- No flooding of the forums. Posts must be meaningful and not waste the time of other site users.
- Posts must remain on the topic of the thread.
- Leave all non-herpetology related posts within the "Chit Chat" forum, in which you can talk about anything you wish (within guidelines left to the discretion of the Moderators).
- No member may post on behalf of any member who has been banned from this site.
- Anything that is posted onto this site becomes public domain. The Administrators will not remove any posts or articles by request unless there are special reasons to do so, however the site does not claim intellectual property for the submissions either. If you would like to maintain copyright on any submissions, please ensure that you include a statement specifying what a user can and cannot do with your work.
- The Administrators will not delete any accounts, posts or articles on request.
- Before submitting copyrighted material on the site, ensure you have the author's permission. Quote the author's name and website at the beginning or end of the article. This applies to images too.
- There is a limit of one membership per person. Multiple people in the same household can have an account each (after Administrator approval), but accounts created for any other purpose will be deleted. Note that if a member is suspended, all other accounts in that household may also be suspended.
- Every member must have a valid, working email address registered on this site. This address does not have to be displayed for all users to see, but it must be valid. Users must also provide their full name, general location (suburb and state), and phone number, however this will only be visible to the site owners unless you put it in your profile. Failure to do so may result in deletion of account. APS guarantee that the email address will not be disseminated to any third party and will only be used for administrative purposes. Any change of email address should be updated as soon as possible on the system.
- Do not post public feuds or arguments in the forums. If you have a problem with another member, then PM them directly or lodge a ticket with 'Feedback/Complaints' at the Support Centre.
- If you have a problem with the way the site is run or the action taken by Moderators, then you must lodge a ticket with 'Feedback/Complaints' at the Support Centr. We will not tolerate open criticism of the site or the way it is run in any of our forums. Nor will we tolerate any criticisms of the Moderators or the Administrators. We do the work in running the site, so we control how it is run. If you find that objectionable, please feel free to move elsewhere. Otherwise, we welcome your input and hope that you will enjoy your experience on APS.
- There is to be no negative feedback of sponsors, businesses that are not associated with APS (like pet shops), members of the site or other similar discussion forum on the web. Likewise, promoting similar discussion forums is also not permitted without prior approval from Administrator. (See also the Advertising Rules)
- No member may make a post or thread that encourages others to break any law, or promotes illegal activity (for example, keeping without a licence, illegally taking animals from the wild, smuggling, wiring your own cages, feeding live rodents or freezing live rodents)
- Only registered charities with the explicit permission of the site Administrators may collect money using APS as an advertising medium.
- Members and sponsors require the explicit permission of the site Administrators should they wish run a competition on APS.
Advertising Rules- No unauthorised auctioning or selling of snakes within non "Show and Swap" forums is permitted.
- A member has the right to notify others once of his web site (not a discussion forum like APS – see next Rule). They can also have a link their signature. Any further promotion will be counted as advertising and members who do this will have their post deleted and be offered banner ads or site sponsorship.
- If a member decides to build their own site with an operating forum similar to APS, any advertising must be discussed with an Administrator and approved first.
- Any promotion and advertisement of businesses must be approved by Administrator.
"Shop and Swap" Forum Rules- Members must purchase a "Subscription" or "Seller" account before being able to post in the "For Sale" forums.
- Members may not post items on behalf of other members without Moderator approval.
- No links to other classified ads. If you have listed your item somewhere else, include a full description at our site also.
- No selling of anything illegal.
- Members who are sponsors of APS are permitted to make their ads "Sticky".
- All "For Sale" and "Wanted to Buy" posts must be kept relevant to the topic. There is to be no chit chat in the "Shop and Swap" forums. This includes comments like “Nice snake” and “wish I could afford that!”
- Members should respect the listed prices of items in the "For Sale" forums. Members criticizing high prices will incur an infraction. If you can buy the same item cheaper elsewhere, then buy it elsewhere. Replaced: “There should be no posts made to criticize the pricing set by the seller.”
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