Ottawa Honda Club Terms of Service

Ottawa Honda Club Terms of Service

Ottawa Honda Club administrators and moderators are the sole interpreters of the following rules/guidelines. They are the ones who determine whether or not a rule has been broken. Admins/Moderators also reserve the right to add/remove/adjust the rules/guidelines as necessary without prior warning.

These guidelines have been created to preserve our image as a professional and welcoming online community. Nobody should feel excluded because some members can't behave properly.

First, a short note about so-called "censorship." Some members have showed poor judgement on what is and what is not acceptable to post on an internet discussion board. This reflects negatively on the site as a whole and makes our members look very immature to the rest of the internet community. These guidelines have been created to preserve OHC's image - as much for the admin team as for you, the members.

Please save the "freedom of speech" whines for someplace else -- this is not a democracy.

Here are the rules:

1-1 General Forum Conduct

Level 1 Rules

Please refrain from posting in all-caps since this is considered yelling based on internet etiquette

Heated discussions are permissible however keep it under control at all times

Ottawa Honda Club does not use language filters because we believe in allowing our members to speak freely. Do so within reason however. Excessive use of profanity will be dealt with

Do not incite riots or instigate fights. Please do not refrain from spirited discussions but do not intentionally start antagonistic or inflammatory threads directed at another member

Refrain from posting images, or linking web pages and/or openly/blatantly critisizing anothers car simply for "comedic value". Just because its not your taste doesn't mean its not someone's taste. This rule will be strictly enforced so that everyone can feel as though OHC is as non-judgemental as possible

Keep flaming to a minimum and keep it within reason. Excessive flaming will not be tolerated

Do not post complaints regarding Ottawa Honda Club, the software, the staff or the servers in a public forum. Email or PM a moderator or administrator

People found encouraging obvious trolls, and/or mindlessly postwhoring in the threads they create will be dealt with as well

If you post images that are not work-safe BUT not under the pornography heading make sure you add a warning in your thread title. DO NOT post such images directly into an existing thread that does not carry such a warning. Use a link instead

- Screen Names

You are free to chose and edit your screen name on Ottawa Honda Club as often as you like PROVIDED it conforms to the following guidelines:

No profanity either exact or implied

No sexually lewd/derogatory terms either exact or implied

No racially derogatory names either exact or implied

Not similar to, or a mimic of another member's screen name

Not excessively long. Keep it to 20 characters or less

If your screen name is found to be in violation the Mods/Admins reserve the right to alter the name and/or ban you without prior notice.

If you are found to have created a screen name with the express intent of mocking/mimicking/harassing a specific member, both the mimicked account AND your real account will be banned.

- Avatar Guidelines

Common sense should rule however since some seem to lack it we have written the rules for everyone to see. You may use any avatar that does not fall under any of the following categories:

Nudity (regardless of whether private parts are shown or not)

Images that are racially, politically or religously offensive

Images that contain vulgar or profane language

No avatars of a drug/narcotic nature

Basically if you could expect to see it in public then it is probably ok. Public places mean malls, stores, parks etc. Nude beaches ARE NOT considered public places.

Groups and associations retain the right to hold a copyright to an associative, original avatar. Avatars taken from other member's without the express permission from the original holder are subject to removal.

The Mods/Admins also reserve the right to rule on any avatar in a case-by-case manner. The above is a MINIMUM acceptable set of rules to follow. Keep in mind that this site is viewed by many people at work. Images that fall under any of the above categories are not appropriate for a work environment.

Penalties For Violations:

Your avatar will be removed and you will be warned. You will not be asked to change/remove it. We will do so for you.

If you use a new avatar that meets the above criteria then no further action will be taken.

If your new avatar does not meet the above criteria then your avatar will again be removed and you will lose your avatar privileges indefinitely.

The Mods/Admins also reserve the right to ban members who blatantly disregard the criteria after their initial warning.

If you have any questions regarding the appropriateness of an avatar please message any Admin

- Signature photos

The avatar rule applies to signature files as well. The dimensions should not go beyond 160pixels by 600pixels. The actual file size of the signature can not go beyond 300kb in size. Even though they won't be hosted on our server, big signature files cause significant slow downs for people on dial-up connections. Please try and keep it within these limits. A good dimension for a signature would be 100x600 for a banner-type signature.

If the signature picture is too large, a private message will be sent first to give the member time to correct the file on his/her own.
If the member chooses to ignore the warning, the signature file found to be in violation of those rules will be removed by the Administrators.
Repeated offenses by the same member will result in the loss of signature file priviledges for that member.

- Post-Whoring

Do not post-whore. Post-whoring is defined by Ottawa Honda Club as the following:

Posts which contain no relevant contribution to the thread, topic, or site

Posting responses to a thread for the sole purpose of boosting post count

Posting derogatory and/or 1-word answers to a topic

Posts/Threads that are meaningless and lack the ability to elicit thought-provocative responses

Posting a short/simple response which shows you replied to the title and not the topic

- Sexually Explicit Topics

No sexually explicit or lude topics are to be created/discussed. Sexually explicit/Lude topics are defined as:

Topics discussing sexual acts/techniques

Topics that are sexually degrading

Topics that are sexually graphic in nature

Administrators/Moderators will be solely responsible for determining the appropriateness of a topic. Ottawa Honda Club reserves the right to add criteria to the above list without prior notice.

- Open Polls

Do not abuse open polls and limit the use of them to non-tech forums. Open polls allow for creativity as well as a broader range of answers but they are often times abused. Use the following notes when utilizing the open poll feature:

Do not use open polls in Tech threads. If you are looking for suggestions do not create a poll

Refrain from creating excessively lude/derogatory/abusive choices on open polls in the non-tech forums.

Mods/Admins have the ability to see who creates AND votes for each choice on a poll. These will be reviewed as needed and reprimands will be given.

Level 2 Rules

- Pornography

Absolutely no porn is to be posted at any time in any forum. Ottawa Honda Club defines "porn" as the following:

Sexually explicit pictures, writing, or other material whose primary purpose is to cause sexual arousal.

Images or movies containing full or partial nudity of any kind or acts of a sexual nature

Links to images, movies or sites whose content is pornographic as outlined above

The site Administrators and Moderators reserve the right to add and remove from the above description AT THEIR DISCRETION and WITHOUT PRIOR NOTICE.

- Threats of Violence

Do not make physical threats to any administrators, moderators or member at any time. These threats include, but are not limited to the following:

Threats of physical violence towards a member or a member's friends/family

Threats of stealing another member's possessions

Threats of vandalizing/defacing another member's possessions

Threats of hacking and/or defacing Ottawa Honda Club, its software or its servers

- Racial/Ethnic/Religious Slurs

Do not post anything that is racially, ethnically or religiously derogatory or offensive. This includes but is not limited to the following:

Use of racial slurs either in general or directed at another member

Use of derogatory names/terms describing ethnic/religious groups

Posting of imagery that can be considered offensive or derogatory towards a specific ethnic/racial/religious group
No one shall create or condone a post openly disparaging or in contempt of any individual or group of people based on race, colour, national origin, ethnicity, sex, sexual orientation, marital status, family relationship, age, mental or physical disability, religion or religious beliefs.

Members are cautioned to take the greatest care when referring to individuals not to insult another member by using a pejorative term referring to an individual's membership in a protected class. Moderators will actively pursue complaints raised about these issues, and enact sanctions, up to and including the deletion of the account of a habitual offender.

- Forum Spamming/Solicitation/Unauthorized Advertising

Do not spam Ottawa Honda Club forums. Spamming is defined by Ottawa Honda Club as the following:

Posting of links/ads/images in multiple forums for the purpose of promoting or selling products/services/websites not associated with Ottawa Honda Club or its owners.

Posting nonsense responses to every thread in a forum in a rapid fashion

Posting links promoting other web sites without being a current site Sponsor

- Creation of Screen names similar to others

Do not create a username that is similar to one already in existence for any reason at any time. Creation of such an account that is a mimic of a Ottawa Honda Club staff member's name will be subject to an automatic ban of not only the mimicked account, but all other accounts owned by that user.

Creation and mimic of ANY existing user's account with the intention of being malitious or degrading towards that user are also subject to an automatic ban of not only the mimicked account, but all other accounts owned by that user.

- Account sharing

Each member must post using their own account. Sharing accounts is not permitted. If someone is found sharing their account, the shared account holder will be warned. Repeated sharing will see the account locked until such action stops.

If an active account is shared with someone who was banned from OHC as a means bypassing the ban, then the shared account will be banned as well.

- Continuous/Habitual Level 1 Rule Offender

Any member who repeatedly/continually/intentionally violates Level 1 Rules is subject to be considered as a habitual offender which will make them eligible for Level 2 Consequences.

2-1 Reprimands/Consequences

Ottawa Honda Club staff reserve the right to adjust/apply any sanctions for any violation per the guidelines below. Also note that the staff reserves the right to make exceptions to the following guidelines on a case-by-case basis.

Level 1 Rule Violation may be punished by any of the following actions:

Verbal warning via post/PM/email

Change of user membership status

Application of post restrictions

Reset of post count

Loss/limiting of user rights

Level 2 Rule Violation may be punished by any of the above actions but also add the following:

User account ban

User account deletion

User IP ban

Note that no distinction is made based on time as a member or prior standing in regards to Level 2 violations. They are serious in nature and any first-time offenses from any member can result in the most severe of the punishments listed.

2-2 Appeals

If a user feels that a sanction was unjust or excessive he/she is encouraged to first talk with the moderator who assessed the violation.

Users can also email/PM an administrator.

Note however that there is no guarantee that an appeal will be heard or a decision overturned. (Read: Don't hold your breath. If you do not receive a quick reply, assume we denied your request.)

Everybody stay within the rules and enjoy the Ottawa Honda Club community!