COMMUNITY GUIDELINES

This is a community of automotive enthusiasts. Watch your P's and Q's when you write and use emotion icons if you think someone might take something you say offensively.

RESPECT IS THE KEY
The Automotive Forums .com (AF) is a place where it's okay to be yourself -- be that harried, jovial, silly or sad -- as long as you always act with respect towards your fellow AF members. We promise that you won't have to leave your personality at the door. We promise to bring passion to our work and to our community and to act with appreciation for our members. We will listen willingly to your suggestions and complaints, and try to incorporate your ideas in everything we do.

Pretend you run these forums, ok so in essence you do. Before you hit the submit button think if you would allow that post on your site or on your forums. Only you can prevent Spam, post whoring and cross posting. Examples of these are outlined in the Appendix at the end of this document.

The AF Staff are here to help you so if you have a problem, e-mail it or post your request in the forums. We have many members that have knowledge in various areas. They are all willing to help you at the drop of a hat.

If you've been caught or accused of a wrongdoing, and or get banned for such behavior, don't get irrational. Most of the time, we revoke privileges as a safety measure, and we are usually just as quick to reinstate them.
Just e-mail us and ask what happened if you don't know why you were banned, or write to us and explain your side of the story. Tell us why you think it was ok or why you know it was wrong.

Please keep these Guidelines in mind:

GET TO KNOW THE COMMUNITY:
Automotive Forums is much more than an online discussion group for automotive enthusiasts. It's a community of people from all walks of life and backgrounds seeking and giving answers to anything automotive. We provide the format not only for automotive discussion but also off topic ones not automotive (see appendix). Please familiarize yourself with the posting format. Lurk and browse around the numerous sections to get a feeling of the community first. Get to know the Moderators. Use the search feature and any other feature in the forums general FAQ. You will find that many of your questions may have been already answered. This would reduce repetitive questions. Most sections have "Frequently Asked Questions" (FAQ) threads stuck at the very top of certain sections. These provide more detailed rules which should be followed. Once you get the feel of the format, feel free to post away. Bottom line… Browse, read, post and learn, but have fun doing it.

WELCOME NEWCOMERS
When newcomers arrive, welcome them to our growing community. Many of our community's "elders" (regardless of age) are a wealth of knowledge and have much to share. Help new members learn about how to find information and resources, save time, and how to get involved in the community.

DON'T ATTACK EACH OTHER
Attack the message, not the messenger. Criticize ideas, not the person. Don't attack others. Personal attacks and flaming on others will not be tolerated. Challenge others' points of view and opinions, but do so respectfully and thoughtfully ... without insult and personal attack. No violent, discriminatory language or personal attacks are allowed. Personal attacks are defined as personal, racial, ethnic and or gender based insults, slurs or derisive comments. We reserve the right to edit and remove any inappropriate posts.

KEEP PERSONAL INFORMATION PERSONAL
Think before you post or speak: Do you really want to put your address or telephone number on a public discussion forum or to share it during a live chat? We encourage you to keep personal information personal.

Similarly, do not ask for personal information from others. Discussion forum posts that request members to submit personal information to another party will be removed. Information that should be considered personal includes but is not limited to your home phone number, name, and age. If you must give this out for any reason, please do so privately via the forums private messaging system.

KEEP YOUR POSTS CLEAN
There may be places where explicit, obscene or vulgar language, graphics or behavior is appropriate however Automotive Forums .com is not one of them. Discussion forum posts that contain explicit, obscene or vulgar language will be removed. Similarly, discussion forum posts that solicit or offer explicit or X-rated GIFs, JPEGs or similar content files will be deleted without notice!
With each post you have the ability to edit them. Please use this feature. If you feel like adding more to your post or find you made a mistake, please insert an edit note to the message by using the edit feature. Placing back to back posts is considered spam, which can result in your message being removed from the thread.

BE COURTEOUS: AVOID DUPLICATE POSTS
Do not post the same discussion more than once on a discussion forum or on many forums. Duplicate discussions can be frustrating for other members, especially for those whose time and energy is limited. Weeding through the same discussion in multiple locations can be not only frustrating, but down right annoying. Duplicate discussions will be deleted. Reposting the same message repeatedly can be interpreted as SPAM and could result in the loss of your membership. Also be conscious of your fellow members and avoid making meaningless posts for the sole purpose of increasing your post count.

POSTING EDIQUETTE:
AutomotiveForums.com is a professional community where members expect to read posts with correct grammar and practical sentence structure. Any posts in all caps, and or funny mixed case such as "hey can u c thiz? L8r!" will not be tolerated. The same goes for language. AF is an English language based site. All discussions should be conducted in English. If you cannot post clearly, coherently, and in English, you will be given notice to do so. If you ignore this notice and continue to post incoherently, your posting rights will be removed.

THREAD TITLES:
Thread titles should at the minimum indicate what the thread is about. This not only helps in searching older topics but gives the viewer a quick glance of what the topic is about. It should not have any excessive exclamation or punctuation marks.

POSTING IN CLOSED OR OUTDATED THREADS:
If a thread has been closed, there is probably a logical reason for it. If you feel that the reason(s) for closure of the original thread are unjustified or wish further clarification feel free to contact any member of the moderating team. However, do not start a new thread about another closed thread.

Please avoid posting or voting in outdated threads. It merely clutters up the message board and makes it more difficult for fellow members to sort through the vast amount of information contained on the boards. If you have new and important information to add regarding a past discussion, feel free to start a new thread and if need be, add a link to the original thread.

ADVERTISING
AF has sections where members can buy, sell and trade automotive parts that they themselves are selling, wanting to buy or trading. These sections are only for members and not businesses. Unless prior authorization is given, Advertising is prohibited on the forums. Your membership will be revoked at first such offense. If you feel like advertising, please feel free to contact us.

SIGNATURES
Each member has the ability to display a signature. Please keep your signature clean, just like the posts. If you choose to create a signature for yourself, please keep it within a reasonable size. It is inconsiderate to your fellow AF member to place a book size of a signature in between every post. Anything not permitted in a post as outlined in this document should not be permitted in signatures either. In essence: