The Cruising Mackay Forum Rules

Introduction

By maintaining an account and posting on the Cruising Mackay Forums, you hereby agree to abide by these rules.

Breaching these rules can result in post or thread deletion, and continued breaches can result in your user account being suspended, under review or banned.

What do the Rules apply to?

The rules apply to all of the following:

• post contents,
• quoting of post contents,
• thread titles,
• user titles,
• usernames,
• web links on profiles,
• content of garage galleries,
• comments posted against garage galleries,
• content of images posted in the gallery,
• comments posted against gallery images,
• public email addresses,
• etc.

The Rules

Rules Summary

• The CM Forum Rules Summary
• General Netiquette

Personal Attacks and Defamation

• Personal Attacks
• Defamation and Libel

Unacceptable Content

• Racism, Sexism, Ageism and Religious Intolerance
• Foul Language (Swearing)
• Trolling
• Inappropriate Content
• Illegal Content and Activities
• Inciting Denial of Service / "Slashdotting" attacks

Use of External Information

• Personal Details and Private Conversations

Posts for Personal or Financial Gain
 
• Commercial Advertising

Posting Etiquette

• Crossposting
• Duplicates
• Pointless Posting Sprees
• Off-topic
• "Religious" Debates

The CM Forum Rules Summary

What are the Rules?

• No abuse, insults or personal attacks
• No excessively foul or vulgar language
• No trolling
• No inappropriate or illegal material

• No business advertising, unless with prior approval from Hoon
• No cross-posting
• No forum spamming
• No "religious" debates
• No defamatory comments
• No complaints about moderation (PM a mod instead)

What do the Rules apply to?

The rules apply to all of the following:

• post contents
• quoting of post contents
• thread titles
• user titles
• usernames
• web links on profiles
• content of garage galleries
• comments posted against garage galleries
• content of images posted in the gallery
• comments posted against gallery images
• public email addresses
• etc.

Return to The CM Forum Rules.

General Netiquette

The following general guidelines have been developed through experience in forum use over the years:

• Be aware that a large audience may see your post, and your words may come back to haunt you. This audience may potentially include past, present and future employers, staff at your place of study, friends, family, etc. And unlike the spoken word, your written posts will exist on Cruising Mackay for a long time.

• If you are responding to someone else's comments, try to include a quote or summary of their post, to provide context to other readers. But don't quote too much!

• Do not attack other people, attack their argument - and this does not mean changing "you are an idiot" into "your comments are idiotic". If you take issue with someone else's position, try to explain why you disagree with them in a polite and professional manner, providing suitable supporting evidence as required.

• Do not start or perpetuate flame wars. If someone insults or attacks you, do not respond in kind - because "they started it" is an incredibly lame argument when your post lands you in hot water with a moderator.

• Do not SHOUT. Excessive use of capitalisation and exclamation points (any more than one) is considered shouting and shows that you are unable to adequately express yourself through the use of normal language. Small amounts of capitalisation, when used to emphasise a particular point, is considered acceptable - although please note that Cruising Mackay offers other ways to add emphasis, such as through the use of [b]bold[/b] and [i]italics[/i] in your posts.

• Try to avoid making multiple consecutive posts. If you are responding to several different posts, please try to consolidate your response into one post, either manually (by copying and pasting your response between browser windows), or through the use of tools such as multiple quoting facilities built into Cruising Mackay.

Return to The CM Forum Rules.

Personal Attacks

Abuse, insults and personal attacks directed at other members and users of Cruising Mackay, are unacceptable.

If you disagree with someone on some point, please do not resort to name calling or personal attacks, rather you should argue with them on the merits of their points. This includes attacking people you perceive to be "trolls" or "flame baiters". If you have a problem with someone's behaviour, please PM a mod.

Abuse against any person, group or company outside of Cruising Mackay, which may land Hoon or any of the Mods in legal trouble, is also out - this includes abuse directed at workshops, their employees and their representatives.

Breaching this rule will attract an unfavourable response from the CM Moderators.

Personal Attacks via PM

Please note: Moderators cannot access your PMs.

However, if you receive a PM you find insulting or inappropriate, place the sender on your Ignore list (Control Panel>Menu>Options>Manage Ignored Users) and then PM a moderator (see How do I contact a Mod?) with details of the message and the sender.

If required, Admin can verify details by looking into the CM Database.

Return to The CM Forum Rules.

Defamation and Libel

Please be aware that content posted on forum sites such as Cruising Mackay can be considered libellous, if a reasonable person believes that the posted content could damage the reputation of an individual or company.

Defamation has been traditionally divided into two separate categories - libel and slander. The major practical difference between them is that in an action for libel, the plaintiff does not need to show financial loss to recover
(www.mds.rmit.edu.au/law/node6.html)

The tort of defamation prevents publication of material which `tends to injure the personal, professional, trade or business reputation of an individual or a company, to expose them to ridicule or to cause people to avoid them'
...
The essence of a defamation action is damage to reputation, not that the publication was untrue, or that it infringed on the privacy of the plaintiff.
(www.mds.rmit.edu.au/law/node5.html)

Return to The CM Forum Rules.

Racism, Sexism, Ageism and Religious Intolerance

Cruising Mackay is open to people from any race, gender, physical or mental condition, sexual preference/orientation, IQ, age or religion, and as such intolerance of other people's beliefs, culture, IQ, gender, physical or mental conditions, sexual preference/orientation or age is unacceptable. 

Return to The CM Forum Rules.

Foul Language (Swearing)

Cruising Mackay is a web site open to all ages at all locations including work and school, and the CM team want it to stay that way. As such, the use of foul language will be filtered to ensure people’s experience whilst on the site is not marred in any way.

Intentionally trying to bypass the swear filter will attract an unfavourable response from the CM Moderators.

Please also note that swearing which is contextually understandable, e.g. removing a letter, replacing letters with * or another character, or changing the spelling slightly, may also be moderated. 

Please note that swearing in another language is also unacceptable - regardless of how many people you think might understand it.

Moderation of Foul Language

The following points outline the basic moderation policy regarding foul language on Cruising Mackay, and applies to posts, usernames, quips, and any other content on Cruising Mackay:

• Content containing "heavy weight" swear words, specifically the F & C words, are undesirable on CM. All content containing such words - hidden or not - will be removed or filtered out.

• Content containing lesser swear words will not normally be moderated, provided the words are used sparingly (e.g. once in a post), and the content is otherwise on topic and useful. Use of such words in reoccurring content (usernames, quips, etc) is inappropriate and will be moderated.

• Content with swear words that are used in the context of a personal attack/insult will be removed, not necessarily because of the foul language, but for being a personal attack.

• Words like "crap", "damn", etc., are not considered swear words for purposes of this argument.

Return to The CM Forum Rules.

Trolling

"Trolling" is generally considered unacceptable on most Internet sites, including Cruising Mackay.

Content posted by serial offenders will be removed with prejudice, and repeated offences may attract a Zero Tolerance response from the CM Moderators.

What is "Trolling"?

There are many sites that discuss what "trolling" is and, by extension, what a "troll" is. Some examples include:

- Internet Trolling
- Slashdot Trolling Phenomena
- Trolling the Web
- The Troller

For purposes of defining trolling on CM, we will use the following definition:

A post in a thread or news comment that is solely intended to incite controversy or conflict or cause annoyance or offence is considered "trolling". The content of a "troll posting" generally falls into several areas. It may consist of an apparently foolish contradiction of common knowledge, a deliberately offensive insult to the readers of a forum / thread / news story or a broad request for trivial follow-up postings.

Note: Many posts may inadvertently cause strife as collateral damage, but they are not necessarily trolls.  

There are three reasons why people troll forums:
- to get attention;
- to disrupt threads; or
- simply to make trouble.

Career trollers tend for the latter two, whilst the former is the mark of the clueless newbie and should be ignored.
Adapted from Trolling the Web.

Inappropriate Content

Inappropriate Content

Inappropriate Content is considered to be any topic that would be unacceptable dinnertime conversation when your grandma is over. This includes (but is not limited to) any of the following:

- Sex and sexual acts;
- Violence and acts of cruelty to other humans or animals;
- Illegal behaviour;
- etc.

Breaching this rule will attract a Zero Tolerance response from the CM Moderators.

Note: Moderator discretion applies to posts containing such content within the Off Topic forum, in the spirit of maintaining a truly “Off-Topic” area in CM.

Offensive Websites

Cruising Mackay is open to people of all races, religion and ages, so links to websites containing offensive or unacceptable material, such as foul language, inappropriate images (images of a violent or pornographic nature) must be marked as such i.e. NSFW in the thread title, and will be subject to Moderator discretion regarding their longevity on CM. Sites portraying racial vilification (hate sites), warez links, etc., are unacceptable and will be removed immediately.

Breaching this rule will attract a Zero Tolerance response from the CM Moderators.

Return to The CM Forum Rules.

Illegal Content and Activities

 

Cruising Mackay does not endorse or condone anything that is illegal by deed, act, nature or implication. This includes:

Illegal Content

Discussion around obtaining illegal software, music, movies, TV shows, etc is completely unacceptable. This includes discussions about where to get it, links to sites that have it, when it is available, and discussions about how much of it you might have.

Illegal Activities

Discussion of illegal activities - be they criminal or civil - is unacceptable. This includes (but is not limited to) the following:

- Evading police (traffic related, or otherwise);
- Bypassing toll and/or phone restrictions (fixed or mobile);
- Infringing copyright;
- Bypassing copy protection (including the publication of CD Keys or activation codes);
- etc.

In addition, discussion of acts that may breach any ISP/Telephony/etc AUPs or education/employment/etc contracts you have agreed to, is also considered inappropriate. This includes (but is not limited to) the following:

- Bypassing network or any security related restrictions on your home/school/work/university/etc network;
- Bypassing speed caps on your Cable or ADSL plans;
- Hacking locked modems or phones;
- etc.

Breaching this rule will attract a Zero Tolerance response from the CM Moderators.

Return to The CM Forum Rules.

Inciting Denial of Service / "Slashdotting" attacks

It is unacceptable to post a URL (for a forum, message board or guestbook), IP address, e-mail address, or other contact details for an individual, group or company, with the intention of inciting others to abuse the entity in question, or attack a site through other means (DOS, DDOS, etc).

Breaching this rule will attract a Zero Tolerance response from the CM Moderators.

Return to The CM Forum Rules.

Personal Details and Private Conversations

Personal Details

Remembering that the internet is an extremely public place, and search engines worldwide are continually cataloguing Cruising Mackay’s contents, the posting of an individual's personal details is not recommended. This includes posting details of political figures, ISP staff, people that have wronged you, etc.

It is also inappropriate to post company contact details that aren't available publicly. Examples of this might be an employee's desk phone number, or details on a priority/escalation support line.

If the employee or the company has previously published these details, then it's probably okay. But if the details were provided to you as a customer because you have an unusual or critical issue, it's inappropriate to post it in the forums. 

Private Conversations

The posting of private correspondence (PMs, emails, etc) or transcripts of private conversations (phone calls, face-to-face discussions) are frowned upon, for two reasons:

1. There is no way to verify the validity of the text; and
2. There may be copyright implications arising from the publication of such private communication, in a public forum, without permission of both parties (see www.dcita.gov.au/ip/digi..._asked_questions).

Public announcements (such as product releases, catalogues, etc) are considered already in public view, and are thus considered fair game for re-posting.

The posting of IRC / ICQ / MSN / Yahoo / etc logs is frowned upon, because there is no way to verify the validity of the logs, they may breach copyright, and they often contain content unsuitable for Cruising Mackay (swearing, discussion of warez, etc).

Return to The CM Forum Rules.

Commercial Advertising

Hoon says...
Cruising Mackay is a community forum; it is not a tool for users to advertise their business.

In this vein, please be aware that, in general, the advertising of commercial ventures is considered unacceptable behaviour.

What is considered "acceptable" business advertising?

- You can use the "Your home page" link in your profile to link to your business site;
- You can use your custom user title to add a company name/site name;

- You can use your signature to mention a company name/site name;

- You can use your avatar to display a company image/logo;
- You are free to respond to any direct questions regarding the products and services you offer (but only if the user mentions your company or unique product/service); and
- If a user wishes to contact you, or requests you to contact them, then feel free to do so.

What is considered "unacceptable" business advertising?

- Creating threads or posts that serve solely to promote your business (whatever that maybe) without the express written permission of Hoon;
- The posting of prices, phone numbers, URLs, etc for your business; and
- The emailing or PM’ing of unsolicited advertising material to CM users.

Please note that members of the Sponsor user group are considered exceptions to these general business advertising rules, and have traded goods or services in exchange for the privilege of advertising on CM.

Site Sponsorship

If you wish to identify yourself as a site sponsor to obtain the privilege of advertising on CM, please contact Hoon, who will issue you a sponsorship pack for your consideration.

Unsolicited Use of Personal Information

The gathering and/or use of any Cruising Mackay users' personal information (email addresses, number plates, phone numbers, IM handles) for unsolicited marketing purposes (via PMs, email, telemarketing, etc) is completely unacceptable.

Any user found to be involved in such activities will be banned immediately.

In addition, such behaviour may also constitute a breach of the Australian Privacy Legislation and could result in civil and criminal penalties.

Return to The CM Forum Rules.

User Accounts

The accessing of user accounts is basically this: Use your own, not anyone elses. Anyone caught accessing other peoples accounts, causing flame wars or even just posting will cop an instant ban.

Return to The CM Forum Rules.

Crossposting

Crossposting Posts

Posting the same comments in more than one thread is considered cross-posting, and is not appropriate. Please choose the single thread in which your comments would be the most relevant, and post them in that thread only.

Please note that posting in multiple threads saying something like "Come look at my post/thread <insert link here>" is not permitted, and is also considered cross-posting, unless another user genuinely asks you to link your thread.

Cross-posting Threads

Posting the same thread in more than one forum is not appropriate. If you can't decide which forum to post a particular thread in, just choose the one that most closely matches and see how you go. If you don't think you are getting the right answers, ask a mod to move the thread to a more appropriate section at some later point.

Please note that posting new threads in multiple forums saying "Come look at thread <insert link here>" is not permitted, and is also considered cross-posting.

Return to The CM Forum Rules.

Duplicates

Duplicate Posts

Sometimes minor glitches can result in a user's post appearing more than once in a thread. Duplicate posts will simply combine the dupes into one single post, which is not a problem unless the user is aiming to accomplish this, in which case the post and/or user may be moderated.

Duplicate Threads

Threads that are known to be on the same topic as an existing thread may be either closed or deleted, and users directed to post in the existing thread.

Duplicate threads are identified to:

• Focus discussion in one thread;
• Prevent forums being cluttered with multiple threads on the same topic; and
• Allow users to find content more easily.

Normally moderators will elect to retain the thread that was created first, except in the case where a subsequent thread contains more discussion.

If a thread contains substantial discussion - normally over a page's worth - it will normally be closed, rather than deleted, and likely merged with the other thread.

Return to The CM Forum Rules.

Pointless Posting Sprees

Posting pointless comments solely to increase post count is not appreciated.

This occurs when a user posts a number of posts with the apparent intention of bringing their post count up to a point where they promote through the user ranks. This incudes Thread Bumping, Crossposting, or making Off-topic posts or threads.

First instances of this behaviour will generally result in a warning from a Moderator. Further instances may result in a stint on Post Suspension.

Posting Sprees in "To be deleted" Threads

Posting pointless garbage into a thread, just because there is an expectation that it will be deleted, will more than likely result in an instant punishment. If you know a thread will be removed due to being against the rules, do not post in it - simply Report the thread, and move on.

Return to The CM Forum Rules.

Off-topic

Off-topic Posts

Ideally, all posts in a given thread should have at least something to do with the topic of the thread. Having said that, some threads do have a natural discussion flow to them, which may move the discussion in different directions - while still maintaining a relationship to the topic.

Posting off topic comments in a thread may result in your post being removed, particularly if your post stands out as being off topic compared to the other posts in the thread, or if your post stands to interfere with a line of otherwise on-topic conversation within the thread. Unless, of course, you can make the moderator laugh, in which case it can stay.

Off-topic Threads

It is also possible for a thread to be considered off-topic for the forum in which it has been posted. For example, talking about what you’re doing on Saturday night in Mechanical and Electrical.

In such cases the thread will normally be moved to a more appropriate forum, or if no appropriate alternative is available, the thread may be deleted.

Return to The CM Forum Rules.

"Religious" Debates

Please note that this section DOES NOT refer to debates about religion.

"Religious" debates are so called because they have a lot in common with (but are not necessarily) discussions of religion and politics.

They consist largely of people expressing strongly held personal beliefs about things that can't be proven -- supposedly in the interest of agreeing on the best way to do something important (whether it's attaining eternal peace, governing effectively, choosing a car, or deciding which automobile manufacturer is superior). And, like most such debates, they rarely result in anyone involved changing his or her point of view.

Besides wasting time, these arguments create tension and erode the value of this open discussion environment.

Examples of Unacceptable Topics

The debate about Palestine and Israel is considered an unacceptable topic for this forum. There are far too many blind zealots on both sides of the argument who end up achieving nothing -- except wasting the precious bandwidth that Cruising Mackay is trying to liberate.

Quite simply, Cruising Mackay is a car forum first and foremost; the off-topic discussion areas are no more than an incentive for people to continue participation in the on-topic areas, and a sign of appreciation to those who do participate.

Other unacceptable "Religious" topics include:

• Holden vs. Ford;
• Rice vs. Bogan.

• Rice vs. Non-Rice.
• Intel vs. AMD;
• ATI vs. NVIDIA;
• Mac vs. PC;
• Windows vs. Linux vs. Mac OS X vs. etc;
• Xbox vs. Playstation;
• Firefox vs. Internet Explorer vs. Opera;
• etc

Return to The CM Forum Rules.

Street Racing and associated illegal behaviour

Cruising Mackay’s official stance is one of safe and comfortable driving and cruising, and cannot and does not endorse or condone foolish behaviour such as street racing, street drifting or other associated automotive tomfoolery. Discussions of such behaviour may result in the offending post(s) being deleted, and the user being given a warning.

Discussion of street racing shall be kept out of the forums – relegate it to PM or other avenues away from public eye if it is necessary

Return to The CM Forum Rules.

The Forum FAQ.

Main Forum:

News and Announcements
News and Announcements is for the discussion of all events such as cruises, or anything major happening on the site. Threads in this area can only be started by a member of staff, and will be immediately visible on the front page of the website.

General Discussion
General Discussion is for the discussion of anything that does not fall into the other main categories, and is normally related directly to Mackay or cars or cruising in some capacity. Anyone may start, read or reply to a thread in this area.

Street Cruising, Events and Shows

Street Cruising, Events and Shows is generally used for the discussion of anything cruising or car-show-related. Requests for information related to car shows, organisation of cruises or BBQ’s for the general public can be posted here by anyone.

Police and Media Discussion

Police and Media Discussion is used explicitly for the discussion of exactly that – police or media. If you see an article that gets your blood boiling, discuss it here. If you are fined for doing something you don’t agree with, discuss it here. Bear in mind however, most users of CM have limited tolerance for liars, and will expose flimsy stories as exactly that.

Site Feedback/Updates

Site Feedback/Updates is generally used by staff to present information on the forum software to the general public, such as outage information, maintenance, software feature updates and is where you might find a guide instructing you in the use of the forum. Here is also where you may lavish your glowing praise upon the staff, or suggest new ideas for our consideration and incorporation.

Guest/Validating Help

Guest/Validating Help is where absolute newbies can go to work out why they can’t access CM and is one of the only areas accessible to non-logged in users.

Technical Department:

Mechanical and Electrical

If you have a question about what that doohickie under your bonnet does, or how to change a cam, tyre, or headlight, or want to help others asking these questions, or just share your experiences with the mechanical and electrical side of cars and bikes, this is where to go.

Audio and Visual

Anything that plays music or movies in cars is discussed here.

Paint and Panel

All aspects of paint and panel work is discussed here – paint, decals, panel work.

D.O.T Q&A

Where you can post questions directly asking about the legality of certain aspects of your ride, or browse through dozens of similar questions that have already been answered. Our Inspector is on extended holidays at the moment, but when we have DOT support once more, he will endeavour to answer all your questions.

The CM Trader:

(Please note: we are in no way affiliated with the marketing juggernaut that is ‘The Trading Post’. Any similarity now, or in the past, present or future, is purely coincidental and unintentional. We’re sorry Mr Post, please don’t hurt us)

The CM trader is where you may post or view For Sale or Wanted ads. Please use it purely as a marketplace, and not as a secondary avenue of discussion. All posts must be genuinely relevant to the sale or procurement of the advertisement; posts such as “Wow I love this car, its such a shame to see it go” will be deleted.

Business advertising or suspected business advertising, with the exception of site sponsor ads, will be deleted.

Posts asking for an Expression of Interest (EOI) will be deleted within 24 hours if no price is posted.

The CM Shop

Advertises membership packages and items for sale through our own CM shop. Membership packages allow you increased access to CM, and all moneys raised by sale of memberships and sundry items goes into subsidising or paying for member’s events, such as dyno days and BBQs.

For Sale

You may post threads advertising items for sale here, or post in relation to an item you wish to buy. This area is strictly off-limits to spam, and will be moderated with prejudice. Ad should be concise, should contain real-world contact details and it is recommended you post pictures of the item in question, as it always lubricates the sale, and inevitably people ask for pictures anyway.

Pictures in For Sale ads may be uploaded to our gallery and linked to your thread. Try to keep images to a max of 800x600 pixels to make viewing easier for everyone. Press enter after linking each image in order to make the images flow down the page, not across.

Business advertising or suspected business advertising, with the exception of site sponsor ads, will be deleted.

Posts asking for an EOI will be deleted within 24 hours if no price is posted.

Please also note that threads containing illegal or stolen items will be deleted, the user the posted it will be banned and the thread’s author and IP address possibly reported to police.

Wanted

You may post threads aimed at procuring items here. The terms of the Wanted ad are defined by you, but again – no EOI. This area is also strictly off-limits to spam, and will be moderated with prejudice.

Please also note that posting ads for illegal items will have your thread deleted, user account banned and the thread’s author and IP address possibly reported to police.

Sponsors Directory:

Where CM Sponsors are allowed to post their own specials, and where you will find any discounts applicable to members of CM.

Off Topics:

Off topic threads are intended as less serious discussions, and will only be moderated in extreme circumstances.

Jokes and Funnies

Anything that is purely intended to be humorous is to be posted here. Keep it clean, MA Rated, if you think you might be offended, or under 15 please don't enter. If the content of your thread is slightly objectionable, please add a NSFW tag to the thread title when you create the thread.

Fast Food

Everyone must eat, and this is where we discuss our meals. Experiences, good restaurants, recipes, and Hoon’s very own “Cooking with Hoon” segment all live here.

Computer/Electronics Corner

Where the main population of Cruising Mackay may discuss computers, gaming consoles and gadgets to their hearts content.

Photography and digital art Zone

If you’re handy with a camera or photo manipulation like some of our talented users, then showcase it here. All discussions must be directly linked to photography, or digitally created/manipulated images.

Offtopic

The last bastion of a forum user, anything that does not fit into the main categories, shall be posted here. Offtopic will be very loosely moderated.