1.0 GENERAL RULES

Use of The Forum is subject to our Disclaimer which prohibits unapproved advertisements, solicitations or other commercial messages, and false, harassing or abusive statements. All postings reflect the views of the author but become the property of Legal Junkies. Questions and information submitted in The Forum are assumed inquiries for general information and not legal advice.

The following General Rules apply to ALL aspects of The Forum. This includes forum threads, posts, links, user profiles, avatars, private messages, reputation comments, signatures, etc. Please Note: Since this is an English forum we ask that all communication be in English. Ideally this means using proper English, with appropriate punctuation and capitalization, at all times. Excessive abbreviations are particularly unwelcome. We appreciate that English is not the first language of many of our members but ask that they try their best never-the-less.

Any content found in violation of the General Rules will simply be deleted. Depending on the severity of the offence members found breaking the General Rules will be given a warning, temporary ban or permanent ban. Please do not complain if your post is removed because the content is considered inappropriate. Staff decisions on these matters are final.

These rules are only a guideline. If the situation arises where we feel the spirit of the rules are being broken or abused, we may take retrospective action on the offender(s).

1.1. Stay safe online

When using The Forum, the safety of our members is our number one priority. Protect your privacy and stay safe online by following these simple guidelines:

• Don't give out detailed information about yourself, such as your age, your telephone or mobile number or your home address - even if people ask for it.
• If someone asks where you're from, it's best only to say a region or a town - don't give anyone your home address.
• The only name you should give out on the forums is your registered username or your first name.
• Never send a picture of yourself, your family or your friends to anyone you don't already know and trust.
• Don't post your email address on the forums. The last thing you want is people hassling you with email messages.
• Be careful who you trust online and don't believe everything people tell you. If all you can see is the words they are typing, you can't be 100% sure that they're who they say they are.
• Meeting someone you have only been in touch with online can be dangerous.

Finally, if the behavior of another forums member or the content of any messages that you receive via the forums makes you feel uncomfortable or worried, please contact a member of the forums moderation team immediately.

1.2 Do not insult or harass other members

Posts of any messages that are obscene, vulgar, sexually-oriented, hateful, threatening, or otherwise violative of any laws are prohibited. We all enjoy friendly banter from time to time but please do not change that into personal insults or outright rudeness. Insults, harassment, flaming, trolling, baiting or other similar abusive behavior towards other members of The Forum will not be tolerated. Although the administrators and moderators of Legal Junkies forums will attempt to keep all objectionable messages off the forums, it is impossible for Legal Junkies staff to review all messages. All messages express the views of the author, and the owners of Legal Junkies forums will not be held responsible for the content of any message. The owners of Legal Junkies forums reserve the right to remove, edit, move or close any thread for any reason.

1.3 Do not provide inappropriate content

Any content (e.g. images, text, video, etc.) that is of a pornographic, extremely violent, repulsive or disturbing nature, or otherwise unsuitable for minors, is expressly forbidden.

1.4 Do not use more than one account

One User, one Account. The use of multiple accounts or allowing more than one person access to an account is expressly forbidden. If you are having trouble accessing your account, please contact a staff member. If you find your account has been banned, do not make matters worse by creating a new one to ask why. Instead, contact a staff member (via a private message) using your original account.

Duplicate accounts will be merged, removed or permanently banned without warning.

1.5 Do not solicit our members

Under no circumstances are you permitted to solicit our members for any purpose. This includes, but is not limited to referrals, subscriptions, registrations and signatures (electronic or otherwise). In general this means:

• You must not post links that contain referrer tracking ids
• You should not post links to sites where remuneration is offered for referrals
• You should not post links where our members are asked to register for something

2.0 POSTING RULES

These rules govern what posts and threads members are allowed to create on The Forum. They apply to ALL forums. The staff may allow exceptions to these rules or impose additional rules for certain threads and forums. Details of any such exceptions or additions will be given in forum announcements, sticky threads or the first post of an individual thread to which they apply.

Messages that break the Posting Rules will be edited, closed or deleted. Depending on the severity of the offence, members found breaking the Posting Rules will be given a warning, a temporary ban or a permanent ban.

2.1 Do not post nonsense

You are not required to reply to every single thread and post in a forum. Please only reply if you have something useful to add to the thread. Posts such as "I agree", "OK" and "Me too" are all considered nonsense. If you do not have anything helpful to say in a thread or you do not know the answer to a question, please do not post simply to say that you do not have anything to say or that you do not know the answer to the question. Posting just to "bump" a thread (i.e. move it to the top of the forum) is also considered nonsense.

2.2 Do not begin topics that lack purpose

We require that all threads serve a purpose; pointless threads will not be tolerated.

2.3 Do not "cross post"

You are not permitted to post the same question in more than one forum or more than once in the same forum. Please take care to post your question in the forum or thread for which it is best suited. Do not post your question to an existing thread when it is not relevant to the topic. Reading the description under each forum title, and careful use of the search features, should help you find the right location for your question. If you post in the wrong location please send a private message to a member of staff who will move your post for you. Please do not make the mistake worse by posting the same question again in another location.

2.4 Do not advertise your products, services or events

Advertisements, solicitations or other commercial messages are prohibited to post by all users of the forums. You are not permitted to post the URL of, or information about any website, product, service or event with which you are affiliated unless it forms an important part of an on-topic reply to a previous post, where providing the URL or information would be of specific interest to the topic. In keeping with the General Rules, this includes soliciting other members to send you electronic mail or private messages in exchange for such information. The Forum staff will not tolerate the use of its facilities to send or in any way distribute unsolicited advertising. All advertising must be authorized by a member of staff prior to its publication within The Forum; either by explicit exception in The Rules or by a private message from a member of staff.

2.5 No public personal conversations

This is a discussion forum not a chat room; threads with only two people chatting are generally dull for everyone else. If you want to chat with another member of The Forum please use the private message feature or contact the member directly using email or via IM.

2.6 Avoid flammable and cyclic topics

Please be aware that legal and law related discussions often cause very heated debates with little give or take on either side. They normally start out interesting and sensible but degrade rapidly. This produces the same arguments repeatedly for pages and induces many members to start "flaming" each other. Such topics will most likely be closed unless care is taken to keep the thread both interesting and polite.

3.0 SIGNATURE RULES

These rules apply only to member signatures. Users who do not wish to see member signatures may disable them in their User Profiles via the User Control Panel.

The Signature Rules are only loosely enforced. Nevertheless, signatures that violate them will be removed and/or replaced with a warning. Members who ignore warnings and keep violating the Signature Rules will receive infractions that may result in temporary or permanent bans. Annoying signatures, or those that break any part of the Forum Rules, may be edited or removed at any time without notice at the sole discretion of the staff.

3.1 Advertising is not permitted

Explicit advertising and solicitation in signatures is generally prohibited. The staff may allow exceptions to these rules or impose additional rules for certain signatures.

3.2 Content restrictions

Please refrain from including any image or text in a signature that could be considered a spoiler, or is otherwise in violation of any other section of the Forum Rules. In addition, your signature may not use the [quote] tag, [indent] tag, [image] tag, or any tag that hides some or all of the signature contents.

4.0 COOKIES

This site uses cookies as required for the use of the forum software. The forum software does not include any advertising or tracking cookies used to personally identify you. Use of the forum including browsing the site and/or registering constitutes your acceptance in the use of these cookies.

When you register (and also when you login using the form at the top of the screen), you will be given the option to 'Remember Me'. This will store your identity securely in a cookie on your computer. If you are using a shared computer, such as in a library, school or internet cafe, or if you have reason to not trust any other users that might use this computer, we recommend you do not enable this.

4.1 How do I clear cookies?

You can clear all your cookies set by the forum by clicking the 'logout' link at the top of the page. In some cases, if you return to the main index page via the link provided and you are still logged in, you may have to remove your cookies manually.