NOTE: You must agree to these TOS (Terms of Service) before using GeekHack ForumsBy posting in these forums, you agree to follow any and all directions and/or instructions given by Administrators and Moderators. Content may be removed and posts can be locked without warning or explanation for material posted that is deemed inappropriate by the Administrators or Moderators. Threads may also be temporarily locked and reviewed to determine if the thread's contents are inappropriate by Administrators and Moderators. Finally, GeekHack Administrators and Moderators reserve the right to delete posts that do not violate the TOS in an effort to clean up a thread. If a member wishes to dispute the actions of a Moderator, please contact another Moderator or an Administrator. The matter will be reviewed and handled promptly.
Forum Etiquette Members are expected to treat each other with respect, and be courteous of each other's opinions and advice, regardless of his or her relative experience. There are a few things that will not be tolerated:
Inappropriate Language - GeekHack forums are family-friendly. Many members have children who also view these forums, and these forums are intended to be accommodating to them, as well. Profanity is not permitted in pictures or posts on the forums and will earn a warning if posted. Discussion of bodily functions, whether vulgar or humorous, is inappropriate for these forums. Moreover, using acronyms, swapping characters, or slightly changing the word to mask profanity or other inappropriate language will not be tolerated. This applies to text, pictures, videos, or any external links contained in a post. Finally, users whose usernames containing inappropriate language or references to illegal activity will be given a chance to change their username, or it will be changed for them.
Personal Attacks - Personal attacks often lead to the trading of insults, and can throw the discussion of a legitimate topic off-track. Personal attacks are defined as issuing a single or repeated personal attack or attacks aimed at another member, rather than at their opinions or ideas. Criticizing a member's post is not considered a personal attack, but using terms that are derogatory, or designed to discredit a member is not permitted Furthermore, comments of a racist or sexist nature, as well as derogatory comments about national origin or sexual orientation, will be dealt with harshly, up to and including a ban from the forums.
Trolling - Trolling can be defined as when a member posts inflammatory, extraneous, or off-topic messages with the primary intent or consequence of provoking other users into an emotional response or of otherwise disrupting normal on-topic discussion. Trolling can also be accomplished by harassing another member by following them through various threads, creating threads directed at another member or group of members, or intentionally creating the same thread in various forums despite being warned or told to post in the correct forum. Members who feel they are being "trolled" should contact a moderator immediately, as this is the only effective way to prevent this behavior.
Personal Information - Do not post personal information (i.e. addresses, phone numbers, passwords, personal identification numbers, and images) or any other information considered private without the express permission of the individual. This is to protect both the poster and the person whose information is revealed.
Multiple Accounts - Do not create secondary accounts. Only in exceptional circumstances and with express permission of the moderation/administration team will an additional account be allowed. If you have an account issue, contact an Administrator via his email address or Private Message, and provide your information that would help identify your account, and provide a brief description of the issue. Creating multiple accounts to evade a temporary or permanent ban will increase your time away from the forums leading up to a permanent ban. If you have accidentally created a second account, please contact the Administrator so that it can be removed.
Abusing Forum Software - Using the forum's software and features to harass or troll others, violate the TOS, or use the features in a manner not intended by GeekHack is strictly prohibited. This includes the use of E-mail and Private Messages to harass or discuss illegal activities with other members. We can review PM's and E-Mails sent through the forums, as well as use other tools to investigate whether the forum software is being abused. Repeated abuse of the software or features on GeekHack forums may lead to a loss of posting privileges.
Posting Guidelines Members are free to post any topic on the forums, provided it is not prohibited by the TOS. All topics must be placed in the correct section, or a Moderator may move the thread to the appropriate area without warning. If you accidentally post in the wrong section, please PM a Moderator to move the thread to the correct section.
When making a post, please use common courtesy. Do not post in all capital letters, as this is considered "shouting" and is rude. Moreover, do not hijack a member's thread by creating an off-topic post by asking to sell your own stuff in another's thread, even if you have a similar item. Please wait until you have accumulated enough posts to start your own thread in Classifieds (you can start your own thread in Classifieds when you have accumulated 25 posts an 2 months membership). Furthermore, do not make off-topic posts, such as those with Meme or other comments suggesting a thread or member requires moderation (except as defined in the Marketplace/Group Buy sections). Such off-topic posts serve only to derail a topic. If you feel such a post/thread requires moderation, please use "Report to moderator" button to report that post without posting in the thread.
Otherwise, here are some limitations for posting on the forums:
Pornography - Posting pornographic material, nudity, or sexually explicit content will lead to a ban. As stated above, this is a family-friendly website, and pictures should remain of a family-friendly nature. For other information on what may be posted, see the section below dealing with images and links.
Illegal Activities - Do not discuss, suggest, engage, or encourage any ILLEGAL ACTIVITIES. Links provided to locations that deal with any such activity will be turned over to the proper authorities. Any discussion of, or reference to, obtaining; handling; and/or using narcotics and/or illegal use of prescription medications are expressly prohibited (for purposes of this clause, cannabis by-products not relating to industrial use are considered a narcotic). Discussion of pirating games, movies, and/or software content obtained through mediums, such as using peer-to-peer networks - torrenting, specifically - is prohibited and will earn a warning and/or loss of posting privileges.
Hotlinking - Do not post material where you do not have permission to distribute it electronically or otherwise. This includes posting images directly from a website. Images are to be hosted personally or by a third party host.
Copyright Protected Material - Observe all copyright laws, EULA's, TOS's and NDA's when posting copyrighted material. If the material belongs to someone else, credit the original author and include a link to the original source, if possible. Do not post messages that violate Federal, State, or Local laws which include, but are not limited to, anything that violates a copyright, trademark, patent, trade secret, or is bound by NDA (Non-Disclosure Agreement).
Spam - Spamming is the repeated posting of messages that are advertisements, abusive, or otherwise unwanted on internet forums. They can be in the form of links to external sites, with the dual goals of increasing search engine visibility in highly competitive areas such as weight loss, pharmaceuticals, gambling, porn, real estate, loans or computer software, and generating more traffic for these commercial websites. Members who "spam" in this manner will be permanently banned.
Self-Advertising - Self-advertising is defined as linking to an external website promoting either yourself, your family, a friend or recruiting or any other purpose where the poster stands to gain by posting such link. We may allow such links to be posted if the poster first asks the Moderators or an Administrator to review the content and express approval is given prior to posting. Otherwise, failure to first contact us may result in a thread/post being edited or deleted, and may be cause for a warning.
Buying/Selling/Trading - Buying, trading, or selling anywhere with the exception of the Marketplace is prohibited. We ARE NOT RESPONSIBLE for any loss due to any sale or exchange of any item in the Marketplace. You can find the Marketplace
here. If you cannot gain access to the Classifieds section please read
here. The Classified/Group Buy TOS, which is an additional TOS for buying/selling/trading, can also be found
here.
The definitions and examples above are not inclusive of the full meaning of those terms; the examples cited are merely to give a guideline to understand the rules. If there is any question about a decision by a moderator regarding your post, please email reaper@geekhack.org with all the details and it will get looked in to promptly.
On Images, Videos and LinksThere is some gray area for explicit or otherwise images and videos. Please use your best judgement; if you have any doubt that your picture may fall outside of the TOS, either do not post it or contact a Moderator for approval prior to posting. For all avatars, signatures, images or links to images, videos, etc. must not include any of the below descriptions:
This includes images of men/women in see-through or nearly see-through clothing
This includes images of men/women in any implied or expressed sexual or illicit act
Images/videos/etc. must not include any act of drug use, condone or celebrate drug use, or even imply drug use.
Images/videos/etc. must not include any act of violence, illegal activity or implied illegal activity or profanity.
Instant Email Accounts are NOT allowed Email addresses like @mailinator.com are not allowed due to abuse. Any site that allows instant non-secure "spam catching" email addresses are not allowed to post in the forums. If you become moderated due to this, you must change the email address on your main profile and contact a Moderator for help.
Forum Signatures and AvatarsSignature Size Limitations: - A signature is a limited-sized area for our members to display personal information about themselves and their keyboards. Your signature is viewable in your profile and on every post you make. To create or edit your signature, please login to your GeekHack forum account, go to Profile > Forum Profile > fill in your signature in the signature section, and please remember to save your signature. In order to provide a quality forum experience for all of our members, signatures are limited to 777 x 70 pixels (1,000 characters max). Within that space, you may use any text, link and/or content as long as it remains consistent with the GeekHack’s TOS and the Marketplace Rules.
Signature and Avatar Contents: - Your user avatars and signatures are subject to moderator evaluation and may be removed--with prior notification--if they are NSFW ("Not Safe For Work"), are against the ToS, have excessive animation, or are generally distracting from clear viewing of post contents.
"Report to Moderator" Button AbuseThis feature is only intended to help combat against SPAM as it is defined above in the terms of use. It is not what you think is an annoying post, or something you disagree with. Those that abuse this feature of the forums will be warned once, further infractions will result in a 7 day ban for the second offense.
Breaking any of the above listed forum rules may result in the loss of posting privileges and possible loss of your forum account.
GeekHack reserves the right to remove/ban any user, at any time, and for any reason.
A user who breaks the TOS will receive a warning PM and have a non-mute warning level be applied to their account. When receiving a third warning for a similar infraction within a 30-day period or a second warning within 24 hours, a mute will be applied to the account, rendering it unable to post for a period of time. The length of the mute may vary from 1 day to 8 days, depending on the severity of the incident.
If infractions continue after the mute has expired, a temporary or permanent ban will be applied to the account. A first ban will be for 1 week (7 days). A second ban will be for 1 month (30 days). A third ban will be for 3 months (90 days). The fourth ban applied to an account will be permanent. The moderation team reserves the right to skip steps in this process when necessary (eg. immediate permanent ban for spam accounts or stricter penalties for chronic rule-breakers).
GeekHack takes no responsibility for the content of any of the messages posted on our Forums or of the authenticity of its authors. We reserve the right to edit and/or delete any posting for any reason and without prior notification or explanation to the author. Moderators and Administrators frequently review forum messages for those that are in violation of the rules. Any messages found to be in violation may be deleted without warning or explanation. And also please refrain from starting a thread or posting about any banned member as it isn't allowed.
All opinions and views expressed on GeekHack Forums are solely those of their respective authors and are not necessarily those of GeekHack Moderators and Administration team.
GeekHack and its representatives will not be held liable for the result of the usage of any information provided on the forums, and disclaim all liability resulting in the use of the posted information.
GeekHack reserves the right to change the aforementioned rules at any time without warning or notice.
All messages posted on the GeekHack Forums become the copyrighted property of GeekHack.org.
By posting on the GeekHack.org Forums, you agree to abide by the above terms & conditions.
