POST CONTENT
Choose appropriate language as this site is intended for a family audience. "Flaming", insults, name-calling, and foul language are not acceptable. Any material (including, but not limited to, topic titles, links, avatars, images and signatures) that, within our judgment, are hostile, harassing, argumentative, defaming, derisive, offensive, abusive, sexually oriented, or derogatory will not be allowed, and will result in the post being edited, or removed from view, possibly without prior notice. Abusive posts, name calling, and insults directed toward or about anyone based on race, religion, ethnicity, sexual orientation, or gender will not be tolerated. We do not allow personal attacks on other members or staff either in public forums, at meetings, or through our private messaging system.
CMAS believes in integrity and respects what other forums have to offer. Because we realize members of
CMAS may also be part of other forums, do not degrade or discredit other forums, their administrators and
moderators, or their members. This includes slander and other offensive posts.
CIVILITY
We promote a civil tone of discussion. Select language that is kind and respectful of others, even if you don’t agree with their viewpoint or thoughts. Although our rules cannot specify every type of uncivil post, this does not imply that the administrators approve of disrespectful behavior. Please refrain from labeling members or deriding others for their opinions and experiences. Please contact a moderator if you feel that a member is being uncivil or breaking the forum rules, rather than responding in kind.
STALKING
Harassment of fellow members in any way will not be tolerated, and may result in restrictions of posting privileges.
OUR SPAM POLICY
Please make sure that you are posting for the good of the community, not just for the sake of self-promotion. Do not use the CMAS community for the purpose of excessive advertisements! Do not use CMAS as a basis for spamming or scamming our members. We take pm/email abuse very seriously, and it will result in the immediate removal of your membership and ban of your IP address, without warning. Our moderators reserve the right to edit or delete any posts they consider to be ‘Spam’.
IDENTITY THEFT
DO NOT impersonate anyone whom you are not, regardless of who the other individual may be, identity theft is illegal and will not be tolerated.
ABUSE OF EMAIL & PRIVATE MESSAGING (PM) SYSTEM
Posting the contents of an e-mail or private message without the sender’s permission is not permitted. Abuse of the e-mail or private message system is considered a banning offense and we encourage members to report this type of activity to the moderators.
COPYRIGHT POLICY
Do not post entire copyrighted articles or pictures. If you wish to reference an article, provide a brief excerpt and include a link to the original source. Generally, excerpts should not exceed three to four paragraphs. Plagiarism will also not be tolerated in our community.
USERNAME, SIGNATURE LINE, AND AVATAR IMAGE
All registered users must select a forum username that will appear with all of their posts. Members are expected to take care when selecting their usernames, which cannot be changed once they have been selected. Do not select a username that could be considered inappropriate or disruptive to the community.
Your signature line and avatar image must adhere to the forum rules for this message board. Images and avatars that contain offensive, abusive, threatening sexually oriented, pornographic, or advertisement material will not be allowed, and will result in the image or avatar being removed from view. In addition, we ask that members use sensitivity and not post images containing violence. This board has many young people involved and we wish to promote their involvement in our club. Material that parents would not wish their children to see is a general guide for what we consider inappropriate and although it is impossible to specify every potential problem, the administrators have the final authority to decide what is considered disruptive.
LINKS AND ADVERTISEMENTS
This forum does not permit the posting of any unauthorized advertisements or any links or material from commercial websites. Links are permitted if posted in the body of your message, but we reserve the right to remove any we consider inappropriate. Unauthorized Blatant promotion of products or websites is not permitted. Consistent inclusion of a link for the purpose of promotion of companies, or products is not allowed in either a post body or signature. Any exceptions are strictly at the discretion of the forum administrators. Contact the mod/admin teams with any discrepancies regarding this topic.
TOPIC RELEVANCE AND LOCATION
Select the most appropriate Category, Forum or Topic in which to post your message. Please take the time to look at all the forums and see where your topic should go. Proper topic placement is important because it keeps the CMAS forum better organized, therefore easier to read and navigate for everyone. Topics move further down the page faster in busier forums, thus causing the topic to become inactive and archived sooner than it might be if it were placed in its proper location. If your topic is placed in the wrong forum, a moderator may move it to the correct forum.
Members should make every effort to keep posts relevant to the topic. Hijacking threads with irrelevant information with intent to deviate the topic in a different direction is discouraged, and may result in the removal of posts.
Duplicate posts or topics are prohibited. Posting the same message across multiple topics and/or forums is not tolerated. A moderator will remove duplicate postings. Moderators posting new articles are exempt from this rule because some important articles are relevant to more than one forum or sub-forum.
PERSONAL INFORMATION
Remember that the general public can view all personal information in your user profile and posted messages. Before posting or editing your profile, make certain that you are posting information you want others to know. Anything you post will not be privileged or confidential nor will any replies to your postings. You may choose to deny other members the ability to send you email or PMs via the forum by changing your user settings. Also, when logging in, you may choose to not appear on the active users list. Personal information from users is only what the user freely provides. Access to any personal information in our forums database is granted only to authorized CMAS Administrators.
MULTIPLE ACCOUNTS
Multiple accounts are absolutely not allowed. Members are not permitted to create or use another screen name to avoid revocation of posting privileges. Previously banned members will be immediately banned, regardless of behavior. Don’t represent yourself as another person. If you are caught posting with multiple accounts, all will be suspended and/or banned.
Please report any member whom you feel to be in violation of these rules to a Moderator or Site Administrator immediately!
You agree, through your use of the website (
www.cmas-md.org), to abide by the forum rules, and you understand that violations will not be tolerated.
The Chesapeake Marine Aquaria Society Team (Updated 3/4/09)
Acting President -- Carl Huntley (Carlhuntley)
Vice President -- Carl Huntley (Carlhuntley)
Treasurer -- Tome DiNoto (TomD)
Secretary -- Dennis Kutlik (Patientman)
Public Relations -- Jessica Farace (90OcReef)
Webmaster/Membership -- Heather Ortega (Ortegah)
Librarian/Web Developer -- Mike Sturtevant (Kiknchikn)
Event Coordinator -- Open Postion
