Forum Rules

DEFINITIONS:

Bulletin Board- a place where people can leave public messages, for example, to advertise things to buy or sell, announce events or provide information. The Midwest Community Forums are generally known as a bulletin board and were previously known as the MWT Bulletin Board.

Bumping- the act of replying to your own post in order to move the post to the top of the forum for those people that view the forum in chronological order. Bumping is sometimes disguised as an attempt to add more information to the original post. Replying to a post with a body message of "still for sale", "ttt" (abbreviation for 'to the top'), "bump", "update", is considered bumping.

Commercial- any person or individual that owns, operates, controls a business involved regular commerce. Indicators of a 'Commercial' enterprise are known paid advertising, repeated posts for the same or similar services and/or product, and/or posted hours of service.

Conference- a group of forums of a related nature, such as a discussion conference or a Buy Sell & Trade conference

Cross-Posting- the act of posting the same or nearly the same post in more than one forum.

Farm Animals- the types of animals usually raised for a commercial purpose such as milking, meat animal, sheering, etc.

Flamebait- a post which appears to have been deliberately posted for the sake of causing an argument. Often flamebait is of a religous or political nature and has repeatedly been discussed before.

FlameWar- a post which has become a battle of emotions that has left the subject matter and turned to frequent personal attacks against another members integrity or intelligience.

Flaming- the act of participating in posting flamebait or flamewars

Forum- a collection of posts of a related nature such as 'Cars & Trucks'

Moderator- people that volunteer to keep the forums running and in order. Will occassionally delete posts due to inappropriate content, enforce rules, and develop new concepts for forum operation.

PM- abbreviation for private message

Small Animals- usually common domestic pets such as dogs and cats and other small animals. Not farm animals that have become pets of the owner.

General Rules: The following general rules apply to all forums:

• Indecent or otherwise foul language will not be permitted. Language filters have been installed and any attempt to post indecent language will be rejected. Circumventing the language filter by using substitution characters (example: using ! instead of I) will result in a ban.
• HTML and images are allowed however they may not portray any image that would not be appropriate for public display.
• Racial or ethnic slurs, or comments that only serve to degrade an individual or group based on race, color, creed, sex or age will result in a ban.
• Images should be used with discretion. Avoid large numbers of images or images that are a large file size.
• Posting deragatory comments about private individuals that are not involved in public service is not allowed. Opinions regarding individuals in public service are allowed but must be in the nature of constructive criticism.
• Posting deragatory or sarcastic comments about our volunteer moderators or administrators will result in your privileges being revoked. If you don't like the way this forum is operated there are thousands of alternatives, please find one.
• Complaints of comments that reflect an unfavorable opinion about a privately owned business are prohibited.
• You may not have two usernames and furthermore, should one username be deleted/suspended/deactivated/cancelled or otherwise modified by administrators due to rules violations or other abuse you may not re-register for another username.
• Spamming will result in immediate ban. "Spam" includes chain letter solicitations, get rich quick schemes, multi-level marketing schemes or other items posted repeatedly. Individuals with items for sale or items that would normally appear as classified advertisements in local media are acceptable.
• You may only post an item in one forum. There is no cross-posting allowed.

Specific Conference Rules

BUY, SELL & TRADE CONFERENCE

• You are allowed to make two unique posts in the Buy, Sell and Trade Conference every 48 hours. Your posts may not be for the same item. After your post has received no replies for a period of five days you may post an update reply (bump) one time. You may only do this one time.
• You may not respond negatively to another persons post in the Buy, Sell and Trade Conferences. Examples of prohibited replies include "you can buy a new one for less", "your price is too high", "your car is junk", and other posts of a similar nature.
• No auction type posts such as "post your best offer" (Best offer via email or private message is acceptable) and no public offerings such as "I'll give you .....". Offers should be made through private message or email to the person posting.

DISCUSSION CONFERENCE

• Flame Wars are not acceptable. Posting a message meant to provoke or otherwise encourage argument or worthless debate is not allowed. If you have nothing constructive to post to a thread, do not post.
• You are allowed to start a reasonable number of discussion topics. Reasonable will generally mean no more than two topics per day with very limited exceptions.

BUSINESS AND EMPLOYMENT CONFERENCE

• Business service providers (contractors, day care, etc.)must provide contact details including a name, phone number and an approximate description of where they are located.
• Individuals looking for employment must post a method for employers to contact them such as an email address, phone or direct them to the users private message box.
• Employers are defined as someone that will establish an employee/employer relationship which mean a W2 will be issued.

Specific Forum Rules (NOTE: THESE RULES ARE IN ADDITION TO GENERAL RULES AND CONFERENCE RULES)

Small Animals

• Any shelter, rescue, humane society, adoption, or commercial enterprise posting in this forum shall include in every post their enterprise name (if available, otherwise personal name), address, and telephone number.

• ABSOLUTELY NO defamatory comments, warnings, negative posts, negative experiences, bashing, or other posts that call into question another posters legitimacy or that of their animals. If you have concerns of this nature take it up with your local law enforcement. POSTS OF THIS NATURE WILL RESULT IN YOUR ACCOUNT BEING IMMEDIATELY DELETED AND MAY RESULT IN ALL OF YOUR ISP'S IP ADDRESSES BEING LOCKED OUT

• If you post more than twice per month, with different animals in each post you are required to provide your name, and approximate location and contact information such as email or phone number.

Farm Community

• No pets or horses allowed in this forum.

Gardening

• This forum is primarily for discussion. Individuals may post inquiries about where to buy items or where they have found items to purchase but no direct sales are allowed in this forum.

Recipes

• Discussion only. Post your recipes and discuss ideas but no sales in this forum.

Real Estate

• Every post must have contact information including name and phone number.
• All posts must comply with Fair Housing Regulations.
• Realtors must post their full agency name, broker and/or agent name, address and phone number.
• Only one post per member, per week allowed in this forum.
• TRIAL FORUM- MAY BE ELIMINATED WITHOUT NOTICE