UKTrainz:forum - Forum Rules - Updated: 09 05 2007

[ChileanLlama]

Hi and welcome to the forum, we hope you enjoy your time here and find useful and informative discussions.

As the title suggests, this is a UK Forum, dealing predominantly with the Trainz series of products in relation to the UK rail scene.

It is also worth pointing out, that despite other roles the organisers of this forum may have, the forum is totally independent of Auran. We are not funded or sponsored by Auran, and as enthusiasts are happy to help with operating Trainz, but we do not provide support on Auran's back office systems and availability of services.

In order for our members to enjoy visiting this forum a few house rules are necessary, which will be reviewed and amended over time as circumstances dictate.

By joining this forum it is your responsibility to acquaint yourself with these rules, which may be updated from time to time.


1. General Conduct

1.1) Swearing

No swearing is allowed. This also means swearing veiled through misspelling etc.

1.2) TXT and Leet Speak

TXT and Leet speak is not allowed. Forum discussions must be conducted in proper English.

1.3) No flaming or baiting

You will not provoke, flame or bait other members of this forum. Nor will you respond likewise.

This extends to sly, one line comments which appear to try to put someone else or their comments down for no purpose.

Keep to the facts. Remember that individuals may express themselves differently in electronic form, and quite often offence is not intended.

Report any abuse/flaming/baiting to forum_admin at forum.uktrainz.co.uk

1.4) Disruption/Trouble causing

Individuals joining with the apparent sole purpose of disrupting the forums for other members will have their accounts de-activated or deleted as the situation warrants.

1.5) Age limit

The forum is intended for sensible discussion of Trainz. In order to maintain the correct maturity we recommend members should be over 18 years of age (or if under 18 have their parents/guardians permission to register here).

1.6) No value comments

Excessive use of comments adding no value e.g. "me too", one liners is not encouraged, particularly when those posters do not add balance by more constructive postings at the same frequency.


2. Posting Guidelines

2.1) Inappropriate content

This forum is not the place to discuss politics, religion, sex, personal issues etc. Inappropriate content extends to usernames, images, links, signature files or anything which is likely to cause offence.

2.2) Word censor/filter

If a word or phrase is in the word censor and is modified to alternate text when you type it, then it is because we do not wish to have that word or phrase on the forum. Any attempts to circumvent the word censor will be deemed as a breach of the forum rules.

2.3) Screenshots

Screenshots may be posted in any thread.
Images should be in a compressed (.jpg, or .gif) format

Non-screenshots forum
- Images should not exceed 800x600 and 250kb

Screenshots forum
- Images should not exceed 1024x768 and 250kb

Any images found to be exceeding these thresholds will result in the entire post being deleted. If users repeatedly abuse these limits, posting rights for that individual will be reviewed.

2.4) Hot-linking of images

When posting images that are not owned by you, and are not on a web site owned by you (not Image shack or other Image hosting sites), you should provide the link only. This is Instead of displaying it as an image.

2.5) Posting in the relevant section

Please post in the correct forum. If you are discussing content or research for a project/content then use the Content Workshop forum.

Discussions relating to reviews of new content, or announcements of new content, should be made in the Release Announcements area

Posts asking for advice by saying "FAO Joe Bloggs" are not allowed and will be removed, as they add no value for other forum members.

2.6) Presentation

Please take the time to compose your post in a manner which is easily understood by the forum members.

If you are asking a question then give as much information as possible in order to help you receive a quick and relevant reply.

Pay attention to your spelling, grammar, and punctuation. If people find your posts hard to read they are liable to pay it less attention.

2.7) Off-topic posts

Off-topic posts, i.e. that are not Trainz related, are not allowed.

2.8 ) Trains discussion

Trains discussion is allowed in relation to Trainz projects. This forum is not designed to cater for in-depth discussions on train operations, operating companies or similar subjects which historically have frequently led to tension and arguments.

2.9) Payware discussion

- Discussion of payware content is allowed on the forum.
- Reviews of payware content are allowed on the forum.
- Debates on the rights and wrongs of payware are not allowed.


3. Distribution and Redistribution of content

No distribution or re-distribution of copyrighted materials belonging to another individual, entity or organisation is allowed.

Please remember that most content carries with it a license agreement, it is important that you read and understand this. While the item may be free, the original author may not wish the item to be re-distributed, and it still remains their intellectual property.

Simply put, if the content is not your intellectual property, it cannot be downloaded from it's intended source (e.g. Auran Download Station) and where no formal written agreement with the original author has been obtained, then you are not entitled to mail or host those items.

Additionally, we do not have time to check each and every licence agreement, therefore the onus is on the poster to confirm they have the authority to re-host/re-distribute items of this nature.

This of course means that in some circumstances content will be "lost" to many people if, for example, it has been removed from distribution, such as items no longer on the Download Station. This is sad, but no doubt reflects the author’s wishes. It is something we all will have to live with.

On this forum you may;

a) Ask for details as to an item of content you have seen.
b) Respond to provide the official link or location of the item in question.
c) Provide a link to a download of your own content.
d) Ask the original author of an item as to its whereabouts

On this forum you may NOT;

a) Ask for content to be e-mailed to you
b) Offer to e-mail another user content they do not already have
c) Host other people’s content. (Except where you have the original author’s permission - you must be able to provide evidence to support this.)
d) Modify existing content and offer to e-mail or redistribute without the original creators specific consent.

A list of content which can be freely swapped amongst members and is not subject to this section is available here:

4. Signature files

Signature files are permitted on this forum.

Images used in a signature should not exceed 500 pixels wide by 150 pixels high and should be no larger than 30kb. Multiple images are not recommended, but are acceptable if their combined totals are within the above limits.

Non-image signatures should not exceed 4 lines of text

Signature files must also conform to other applicable rules of the forum (e.g. non offensive material)

Non-conforming signatures will be removed without warning.

5. e-mail notification

If you have enabled e-mail notification for a thread and there is an issue with the forum sending you that mail we will deal with this as follows:

a) Mailbox full.

We will disable e-mail notification within your profile. It is your responsibility to turn this back on, once you have cleared the relevant e-mail account or increased your mailbox size.

b) Account no longer exists.

We will disable e-mail notification within your profile, and will add a comment to your signature to remind you to update your e-mail account - as we don't have a valid address to contact you directly!

You will then have to change the e-mail address in your profile and drop an e-mail to the admin account for us to manually reactivate your account . This is done very regularly, so should not cause too much inconvenience.

If you don't update your address and we continue to receive bounced e-mails from your old address, we will eventually (depends how much bounced mail we are getting) make your account inactive, then you will have to e-mail us to get it switched back on.

6. Forum organisation

6.1) Administrators & Moderators

The forum is owned independently of Auran or any other commercial organisation. It is maintained by enthusiasts at no charge to members.

The forum will not be held responsible for the content of any posts made by it's members. However, any offensive material will be removed as soon as is appropriate.

All members post here with the understanding that they are responsible and liable for the content of their own posts, and that the forum is provided as a "blank canvass" for them to exchange knowledge, ideas and partake in discussions.

6.2) Improvements

Suggestions for improvements may be made in the General Discussion area by any member. All suggestions will be read, but no guarantee is given that they will be adopted or feedback given.

6.3) Bugs and Faults

Bugs may be reported in the General Discussion area. No demands should be made, and you should set no expectations for timescales on resolution.

All issues will be assessed and consideration given as to when an update can take place. Typically this is one major upgrade per year, one minor upgrade per year and critical fixes as warranted.

Also ensure that your software, such as browser, configurations, ISP settings are correct before reporting a bug.

6.4) Regions covered

This is predominantly a UK discussion area and non-UK discussion is catered for in a single forum area. Threads in relation to non-UK regions will only be allowed within the Trainz International section. All posts in this section should be in English only.


7. Moderating decisions

7.1) Role of moderators

The moderators of this forum are all volunteers and their main role is to keep things pleasant and friendly for everyone.

7.2) Discussion of decisions

If you wish to discuss a moderating decision then please do so by mailing one of the administrators.

No discussion of moderating decisions will be permitted on the main forum. Nor will the reasons or nature of any action taken be discussed with any members not directly involved. Anyone found to be making an issue in public on a moderating decision will find themselves in breach of the rules.

7.3) Decision process

Any moderating decisions will not be taken lightly and all facts considered, however any decisions made will be final.

Rule breaches will be considered based on the circumstances. Each situation will be treated on its own merits, and the appropriate action taken, this includes, but will not exclusively be:

a) Admin and moderators may, without any explanation or warning, remove any posts not complying with these rules.
b) E-mail warning/clarification of rules
c) Official warning
d) Suspension of account for a defined period
e) Removal of account and ban from the forums

7.4) Lifetime bans

All bans are lifetime bans, and will not be revoked. Bans are extremely rare with only 3 in the last 4 years, however, banned individuals who have been allowed to re-join have again breached the rules, and once again been banned. Generally we will work with people and coach them through the rules giving them plenty of opportunity to change their behaviour, however a serious, deliberate and malicious breach of the rules would result in an immediate ban.

Anyone found to have circumvented the ban and rejoined will be immediately banned.

7.5) Removal of posts/content/images/signatures

Any links, images or posts made on this site will remain after a user has been banned. Any copyrighted information used by or hosted on this site with the permission of the banned individual will be removed at their request (e.g. Avatar images).

8. Non-UKTrainz moderation decisions.

- Discussions of moderating actions taken by another site's (including Auran) admin or moderator staff are not allowed here.
- Discussions of moderating actions taken by other sites should be dealt with on the relevant site or through private e-mail.
- Any coordinated attempt to harass, bully or influence another site's admin/moderators that takes place on this site will result in an automatic 1 week account suspension and possible permanent ban dependent on the severity of the case.
- Any public attempt to influence the moderators/admin of this forum based on actions taken elsewhere will also result in an automatic 1 week account suspension and possible ban dependent on the severity of the case.
- Any members found using the "UKTrainz.co.uk" name (i.e. implying this community forum) as leverage in their discussions at another site/forum (without prior agreement of the admin and moderators of this forum) will receive an automatic and permanent ban.

By all means you are welcome to e-mail any members of the admin team to discuss any concerns of this nature you may have. However those discussions should remain in private, as they are disruptive to the good nature of the forum, and are not directly related to the core subject of these forums.


9. Auran Forums and Servers

We do not receive an income from Auran to provide support when they have problems with any of their servers (forums, website, download station, chat etc). As such we have no control or inside information as to the problems or the status of their servers.

A link to Auran's Download Station/FTP server status is contained in the Technical Support Forum and can be found at: http://www.auran.com/planetauran/FTP_Status_Log.php

We will not tolerate discussions on the availability of Auran's servers on this site (particularly if they are complaints and "me too" type comments), we are powerless to assist with, or where the comments do not add any value.

Discussion on exceptional events will be tolerated in a single thread (exceptional being defined as a major incident or change, e.g. the complete closure of Auran's Forum due to a hard disk crash, or if a change to server software means a workaround for CMP is required, etc).

We at UKTrainz cannot answer queries on the availability or the resolution of issues at Auran.

Auran staff do not visit here, and therefore will not use this forum to keep you updated on their service availability.


10. Account removal

10.1) In the event of removing an individual from the forums, their posts will remain. Any copyrighted information owned by them, such as images etc. will be removed.

10.2) Inactive accounts will be removed after no less than 3 months inactivity (visiting and logging into the forums is considered activity, it is not necessary to post).

10.3) Unused accounts will be removed regularly, but not less than 1 month after registration. This applies to accounts which have been registered but never activated or used. For example, if the member has never logged into the forum after registering.

10.4) Accounts removed after a period of inactivity will not be restored. Individuals are welcome to rejoin the forum again, unless the reason for inactivity was a ban.