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admin
29-05-2011, 09:58
Here are the basic forum rules as copied from our old site. These rules are in addition to the Terms of Use (http://www.tenerifeforum.org/tenerife-forum/misc.php?do=showrules) that you agree to when you sign up for the forum.

They are common sense rules for a happy community and should not cause anyone any problem, however if you do wish to talk to someone about a particular rule, please use the helpdesk (http://www.tenerifeforum.org/tenerife-forum/support.php). :)

Topic Content :


Must not be written entirely in capitals or contain multiple words in capital letters unless an acronym.
Not be written entirely in bold.
The majority must not be bigger that text size '2' and in the forum default text colour.
No abuse, obscene content or anything you would not be happy for a child to see.
Be written in English and avoid excessive ‘txt’ speech (L8R, Wknd, etc).
No personal contact details. We have a perfectly adequate Private Messaging facility that is free to use. This is for your own safety.
No links to porn or warez sites. In addition, we would prefer that if you own one of these site, you do not link to us.
Comply with our terms of use (http://www.tenerifeforum.org/tenerife-forum/misc.php?do=showrules).
Contribute to the discussion. Personal messages to other users is not allowed.
Not be duplicated, i.e. posting the same message in multiple areas or times.
Not artificially ‘bump’ an existing topic to the top of the list of topics. If you need a thread bumped, please contact the helpdesk (http://www.tenerifeforum.org/tenerife-forum/support.php).
Have, when starting a new discussion, a descriptive and informative subject.


Topic Titles :


Must not be written entirely in capitals
May not contain text language
Titles must be descriptive and grammatically correct.


Advertising :


Commercial advertising is not allowed. Commercial advertising is deemed as an advertisement for a business, product or service where payment is requested or expected.
You may not start a thread advertising anything, commercially or non-commercially. You are welcome to reply with information about your product or service if a specific question is asked that would warrant an on topic reply.
Alternatively, members with 100 posts, or 'Tenerifian' status, can make 1 commercial advertisement in the Business Classifieds (forumdisplay.php?87-Business-Classifieds) section of the forum, as outlined here (announcement.php?a=2).
Sending other members advertising material by unsolicited PM is considered as spamming. Members who do this may be banned permanently.


Signature Rules :


Must be added via your profile page and not manually to each post
Have (when applicable) a signature added by the software and not manually added.
Have a signature which does not contain more than three colours (including black).
Not have a signature containing lines of symbols (-, ~, *, etc).
Not have a signature containing affiliate or any form of tracking variables.
Not have a signature that occupies more than 4 vertical lines (viewed at 1024x768).
Not have a signature containing more than 4 links (including max of 2 commercial links).


Membership Rules :


Duplicate accounts are not allowed, and will either be merged with the original account or deleted.
Usernames must not contain URLs or blatant advertising.
Usernames must not contain rude or objectionable words.


Moderation decisions are final. Please do not question moderator decisions on the open thread. We have a perfectly adequate helpdesk (http://www.tenerifeforum.org/tenerife-forum/content.php?150-Tenerife-Forum-Contact-Form) for any problems or queries you may have about any decision. Please us it in the first instance.

admin
31-08-2011, 11:46
Overview of Defamation Law - watch how you say things about people on the forum!

Just in the interests of informing all forum members about the laws regarding defamation (Slander and Libel) and how this may relate to items you may post on the forum.

If you are writing something about someone, or about a business that could be potentially damaging to that person or business, you are leaving yourself, the forum and our hosting provider and ISP open to prosecution. As a result of this, don't be surprised if you 'name' a person in a defamatory way that your post is edited or deleted by moderation.

In order to avoid such occurances, here is a little bit of info you can take a couple of minutes to read through to familiarise yourself with what you can or can't say while protecting yourself and the forum from potential action.

-----------------------------------------------------------------

Slander is defined as the spoken word and Libel is written - as in forums like this one.

Libel, however, also covers radio broadcasting, even though it is spoken, as it is considered to be 'journalism' which in theory comes under print.

A good source to have a look at regarding the libel and slander laws of the UK is HERE

If you are writing about a particular person it's worth keeping the following in mind (taken from the above document) :

Quote:

You can't defame nicknames when people don't know who they are.

So, if you spread a story about Greg Dyke not paying his TV licence, but called him Big Beardo McFluffy, he can't sue, even if he knows you are referring to him - unless other people know him by the same nickname.

On the internet the rules are exactly the same. There are no special internet defences. The only advantage is that web sites tend to have a smaller number of users, (so less people see it hence it's less defamatory so it's rarely worth the bother of going to court) and allegations can be removed promptly on protest from a defamed party.

On the web, the writer, the web site owner and the ISP can all be sued just like the writer, the magazine and the distributor in the print field. A link could also be potentially defamatory if you are linking to defamatory material.
Spanish law is similar to UK law, as we are all under the umbrella of the European Union. International law may differ slightly, with regards to the web, but if you stick to these general rules you should be OK.

Make sure you have substantial proof to back up any claims if you are going to put anything down in print. If someone chooses to prosecute you based on your comments, it's up to you to prove you're right, not them. They are innocent until the comments are proven correct. - Basically, if you can prove it, write it. If you can't, don't.
Try not to use people's real names - If a mate told you 'Sue from Blinker's Bar got sacked for stealing' either substitute Sue for another completely made-up name (that is obviously made-up, like Bubbles or something) or omit the name completely and the name of the Bar, if possible.

Here's a story on Spanish Defamation Law

and here's another quote about Spanish Defamation Law :


In Spain, defamation lawsuits can follow one of two paths:

a) The most serious cases may be criminally prosecuted based on the 1995 Penal Code,
articles 205 and following (libel and slander, private crimes that can be tried only after the
aggrieved party files suit). The case is decided in a criminal process by either a judge or
court, and the defendant may also be held liable for the compensation of damages.

b) Cases that are less serious, or that are similar to the preceding ones but the plaintiff does
not pursue a criminal lawsuit, may be tried as civil lawsuits. The judge or a court without a
jury may require the defendant to provide compensation, publish the resulting decision,
and/or abstain from future acts of defamation.

In Spain, a criminal case of this type follows a two step legal process:

it is first tried before a judge, and then before a court. The case may be appealed before the Second Chamber of the Supreme Court and may eventually be reviewed in the Constitutional Court. It is difficult to explain the coexistence of two Supreme Courts in Europe: the Supreme Court and the Constitutional Court. Judicially speaking, continental Europe is not monotheistic.

A civil lawsuit is similar.

Lawsuits usually last between five and six years, initiating with a claim and ending with the Supreme Court’s decision. The lawsuit may take at least two years longer if it is sent to the Constitutional Court.

Source : http://www.indret.com/rcs_articulos/...o_captions.pdf

admin
31-08-2011, 11:48
Additional T&C's regarding posting of copied material and content from 3rd party websites.

If you are copying and pasting information within a post from another source, please quote the source - either by copying and pasting the URL of the page the information is taken from, or by clearly stating the sourc of the information.

In order for the forum to protect itself against prosecution, any information not quoting the source will be moderated and may be edited or deleted.

For example, if I wanted to qualify a point I was posting something about, say, the treatment of Jaundice in infants I would do the following :

------------------------------------------------------------------------

Jaundice in infants is treated nowadays by phototherapy
Since the early 1970s, jaundice has been treated with phototherapy, a process in which infants are exposed to fluorescent-type lights which break down excess bilirubin so it can be excreted through the baby's liver. Source : http://www.babycentre.co.uk/refcap/89.html#3

------------------------------------------------------------------------

I made the point, quoted the text and linked to the source.

To make some sort of reference to the source of your information covers the forum under EU Copyright Laws and as also polite to the person who published the original material in the first place.

EU Copyright Law (Which covers both Spain and the UK) actually states that before any copyrighted material is reproduced, you must first seek the approval of the author... however it is widely accepted on the internet that this is not always possible, so a link to the source will surfice, or at least a reference to the source, such as : this information was taken from the Babycentre.co.uk website. It's often quicker and more specific to just copy and paste the URL though, than to type out the website address manually.

If you would like to read the EU Copyright directive, you can see it HERE

If you would like it explained in more layman's terms, you can get an overview of the Spanish laws (in English) HERE - however you can also click through to other countries on the site too.

Please be aware that the Tenerife Forum makes no warranty or representation in relation to any document that appears on this website.

The contents of these pages are provided as an information guide only. They are intended to enhance public access to information about Tenerife and many other matters.

While every effort is made in ensuring that material is accurate, Tenerife Forum accepts no liability for inaccuracies or errors on these pages and specifically to any third party websites who's links may be mentioned.

admin
31-08-2011, 11:48
Privacy on the Tenerife Forum

Members on the Tenerife Forum register with a name by which they wish to be known on the Tenerife Forum. It is generally considered to be good manners to refer to them by this name on public threads, even if you know their real name, unless the member states otherwise.

If you publish information about a member that they do not wish to be made public - for example name, phone number, images, places of work, e-mail address, 'pen name' for authors, address - then we will remove the information and may ban you if you persist in publishing such information.

This applies to, for example, group photographs or press photos that may include an image of someone who has expressed a desire for the image not to be shown. You can crop / pixelate the image if it is yours, but otherwise we may remove it.

This is the same approach that newspapers take to preserve privacy in photographs.

We also do not permit the 'outing' of people on TF. When someone posts on the Tenerife Forum they have the right to expect that privacy with regard to any identities they use on other websites will be respected.

We also ask you to not do the following without the permission of the person who sent the message to you :

- Post on public threads or in the chatroom PMs that someone has sent to you.

- Post on public threads or in the chatroom emails that someone has sent to you.

Posts on the Tenerife Forum may also show up on Search Engines such as Google. Please bear this in mind when posting personal information about yourself.

Finally, whilst the Administrator can delete all the PMs sent by a member, and also delete all the PMs received by a member, we cannot view any information about the PMs. In other words, we cannot see who PMs are sent to, who they are received from, how many PMs are sent or received and certainly not the content of PMs.

admin
31-08-2011, 11:49
Linking to and from the Tenerife Forum

We retain the right to remove from a post any link to a website that we feel is not in line with the ethos of the Tenerife Forum. This includes links to 'adult' sites, pornography, warez sites and 'hate' sites.

If such links are posted, they will be removed.

In addition, we would prefer that members do not link TO the Tenerife Forum from these sorts of sites. If a member does link us up to sites that fall in to these categories, we will ask that the link be removed.

admin
31-08-2011, 11:49
Online Personal Safety

Here are a few guidelines for using the Tenerife Forum that will hopefully make your experience a pleasant one.

Remember that information that you post is visible to anyone on the Internet; whilst we will warn you and occasionally remove things like street addresses or telephone numbers we see, it is your responsibility to keep an eye on what you post.

People may not be who they seem online; be cautious about sharing email and MSN details with people you have only just encountered on the Tenerife Forum.

Do not post personal contact details in the chat room.

If you plan on meeting someone you've encountered on the Tenerife Forum in 'real life', arrange to meet initially in a public place, for a short time and let someone know where you are and with who.

People wishing to use the Tenerife Forum to find child care, etc. do so at their own risk, and people should make themselves aware of the legal issues surrounding offering such services.

If you have any concerns about the activity of people on the Tenerife Forum, please contact a Moderator or myself and we'll look in to your concerns.

There is also a thread on meeting guidelines HERE (http://www.tenerifeforum.com/showthread.php?t=7003).

admin
31-08-2011, 11:52
The Infraction System

Some members may have noticed that the Moderators are using infractions for violation of the T & C's. This is part of the vBulletin system and it is meant to make it easier to deal with misdemeanours on the Forum and more uniform.

Depending on how serious a breach of the T & C's is, a member may be given a reminder without points or an infraction with points. The number of points given depends on the type of breach. The points given range from 1 to 5 and they expire after 1 week. A member receiving 10 current points will automatically be banned for 1 week in the first instance. All cases are not equal so we therefore have guidelines but these are not hard and fast.

Serious violation of the Forum rules may result in an immediate ban without warning, however we expect cases like this to be rare. They are almost always discussed by the Moderation team and agreement sought on action, unless of course action is required urgently.

Whilst using this system is not among the Moderators' favourite tasks it is a necessary part of their duties. The smooth running of the Forum is paramount so that members can continue to enjoy the time they spend here.

The infraction system is being used as a way of....

a) helping all the moderators to work together, as it's an automated system that keeps track of points/reminders etc, so users don't end up getting hassled by more than one mod for something minor

b) informing users when they have breached T&C's, as the previous system of 'editing posts' with a note on the post were rarely seen because people don't reread their old posts. This means that everyone is now made aware of the T&C's more easily if they hadn't already read them and are this means less work for the mods and less complaints from other users.

c) automatically informing users when their posts have been edited because of infractions, thus informing all concerned of changes.

This system is not meant as a 'telling off', more as information - to make you aware of the T&C's.

Moderator decisions are moderator decisions and will not be discussed on the public forum. All discussions of this nature will be removed without explanation. If you have a problem with a moderator decision, or you wish to discuss it with a member of the Admin team, please submit a private ticket in the Helpdesk.

A user's banning will NOT be discussed on the open forum or with any other member - period. A member is banned because they have broken one or more of the rules of the forum. Bans are only ever issued in serious cases or if rules are broken repeatedly, despite previously issued warnings. A ban will only be discussed between the admin staff and the member banned. Please do not ask for an explanation, as a refusal will often offend. Any discussion on the public forum regarding another member's ban will be removed without explanation.

admin
10-01-2014, 02:20
A moderator is a volunteer that monitors online interactions on a forum and makes sure that posters are adhering to the Code of Conduct, Forum Rules and/or the Terms of Use. The Tenerife Forum utilises anonymous moderators, so our volunteer mods can continue posting with their regular personas without the risk of being victimised. Our mods can disclose their status if they wish, but should not feel pressurised into doing so.

Our anonymous moderators can close, move and delete threads. They won't normally comment or post new threads, but they can, and should, leave messages on why a thread was moved or closed or in reply to posts regarding moderation issues.

When will a moderator delete or close a thread or post?

If the post or thread in question violates the Code of Conduct, Forum Rules or the Terms of Use (see the first posts in this thread).
If it’s a personal attack on another user or Tenerife Forum volunteer, or contains personal information.
If posters are being unnecessarily negative or trying to instigate arguments or stir up controversy (trolling).
If threads become off-topic and haven’t course-corrected in spite of attempts by the Community Manager or other posters.
If it’s spam, or looks like spam.

When will a moderator move a thread?

If it’s in the wrong forum.
If a similar topic already exists.

When will a moderator edit a post?

If the post contains personal information.

What isn’t within the scope of a moderator?

Mods are bound by the Terms of Use in the same way as any other member. As such, they are free to comment and participate on the Tenerife Forum within the guidelines set forth in the Rules and Terms of Use. They are not bound to another set of rules because of their status as a moderator.

If you feel your post or thread has been deleted/closed or otherwise moderated unfairly.

If you believe the mod's decision regarding your post or thread is still incorrect after having reviewed all the rules and notes within this thread you can either use the 'Report to Moderators' button which looks like a small warning triangle in the bottom left of each post, or if you would prefer your complaint to be more private please send a message through the Support System (http://www.tenerifeforum.org/tenerife-forum/content.php?150-Tenerife-Forum-Contact-Form) with as much relevant detail as you can manage including direct links to any posts or threads that could be used to form a proper picture of your complaint.

These policies are subject to change at any time without notice.