TennesseeWx Forum Rules and Posting Policies
Failure to follow these rules and policies will result in posting privileges being suspended and/or the offending account will be removed permanently.
1. The Tennesseewx forum is PRIVATELY OWNED. It is not a free speech zone. Membership is a privilege. Users who wish to participate must adhere to the rules of our system and abide by our standards.
2. You agree, through use of this forum, that you will not use this outlet to post any material which is knowingly false or defamatory, inaccurate, abusive, vulgar, hateful, harassing, obscene, profane, or threatening.
3. The following items are prohibited from being posted on the Tennesseewx forum and may result in administrative action without warning:
- Any post or pattern of conduct containing statements meant to shame or humiliate another member. Repeated offenses will result in posting privileges being suspended.
- Acting in the unofficial capacity of a moderator to correct the behavior of other members. If a problem arises, contact the Moderation team via private message. Pretending to be a mod is a serious offense and will result in the immediate banning of the offending party.
- Copyrighted material is strictly prohibited, unless the poster owns the copyright and must submit the copyright information upon request from the Mod staff. The first occurrence will result in a warning being sent to offending member, but the post, image, etc. will not be removed unless told to do so by the copyright owner. A repeat offense will result in the immediate banning of the offending party.
- Public discussion, complaining, or contesting of a specific infraction or administrative action, whether concerning oneself or another user is prohibited. Repeated occurrences will result in posting privileges being suspended.
4. Personal signatures are not only allowed, but encouraged. We ask, however, that you please be mindful of other members and try to keep the signature size within reason due to the impact it has on server bandwidth usage. If too much bandwidth is used, the forum might experience longer load times, especially during severe weather events.
5. The Mod team is responsible for day-to-day administration of the user base, reviewing user posting for compliance, and issuing infractions. Moderators operate under the unlimited delegated authority of the Administrator. Compliance with their instructions is mandatory, and undermining that authority or failing to comply is prohibited. The Administrator supports the decisions of the Mod team and except in extreme circumstances does not undermine their authority by reversing decisions.
6. The Mod team exercises complete control over the forum, including but not limited to modifying operating policies and access privileges without notice; removing, editing, or closing any topic at any time
7. The Mod team reserves the right to delete offensive material, but that right is rarely exercised. Deleting one post leads others to expect we delete any and every post that any member finds offensive. We do not delete content unless a serious violation of the rules has occurred and it is in the best interests of the community.
8. Once an account is banned, the user will serve a predetermined sentence commensurate with the level of offense that has occurred. That time period will be relayed to the user via PM notifying him/her of the impending account suspension. There will be occurences when a temporary ban will need to be levied against a member. We use this tool in the event there is an issue with what is being posted, and whether or not it is suitable. In the event we, the Mod staff, determine the post/message/image is permissible, the ban will be lifted and normal posting priviledges will be restored.
9. Any user caught in the act of trying to hack or disrupt any of the servers and/or software that this board is running is grounds for immediate account termination and you will be reported to the authorities. Trying to circumvent board security and banning filters via fake IP address is strictly forbidden and will result in immediate account termination.
10. This forum will not tolerate the deliberate spread and reporting of misleading and false information. This is not the forum for playing games when it comes to serious weather situations. This includes but is not limited to...
* Deliberate reporting of false local weather observations
* Misrepresentation of official forecasts
* False reports from storm chases or even "fake" storm chases.
A first occurence will result in the immediate banning of the offending member's account.
11. This site does not and will not tolerate any form of spamming. If you would like to link to your site, please do so in the "Weather Sites" forum. Also, if you want to post content from your site in another forum and link to it, you may do that. However, please don't just say one sentence and then give your link. That would be considered spamming. Any abuse of this rule will result in a warning the first time and posting priviledges being suspended the second time. The third occurence will result in a permanent ban. No exceptions.
12. Although call maps are encouraged, this forum does not allow forecasts being posted as Official Forecasts. Opinionated Forecasts are allowed, but ensure that a reader realizes that it is an opinion, and NOT an official forecast. First time occurence will result in a warning. Subsequent occurences will result in a suspension of posting priviledges and/or a permanent banning.
13. Last, but certainly not least, get along. Agree to disagree. We have a melting pot of different people with different political, religious, and meteorological backgrounds and views. We encourage spirited discussions in the appropriate thread. We ask our members to respect others members views and opinions. If a discussion somehow begins to get heated, the Mod staff will intervene and the thread will be locked for a predetermined amount of time. Unless the conversation falls into one of the previously mentioned topics (vulgar, disrespectful...etc.), members will not be penalized for voicing their opinion.
