POSTING
When posting to our message boards, please take great care to be clear, concise and to contribute to the community. Off-topic discussion may occasionally arise in a thread, but when the topic at hand ceases to be hamsters, the thread will be closed. If a discussion becomes private or no longer involves the community at large, please take it to chat or email. In consideration of all members, please don't use the boards as a private messaging facility.
Please proofread all posts, taking care to create a lasting and useful archive. Use language that an international community can understand clearly. Internet shorthand, excessive slang, and any vulgarity, obscenity or profanity is prohibited. Typing messages in all capital letters is prohibited as well, as this is the equivalent of shouting.
Please keep photos a reasonable size, and do not use graphics needlessly. When pages load slowly, we lose valuable participants who give graciously of limited time to help us with our pets.
CHAT
All members visiting the chat room are required to exhibit good conduct at all times. Scrolling, profanity, rudeness, or obscenity are prohibited. Should a host question an individual's conduct, the host may evict that member from the chat room for up to 24 hours. With a severe infraction, the member may be banned from HG entirely.
Members are welcome to use the chat room for gatherings unrelated to Hamsters Galore, but should relinquish it immediately for scheduled chats or for members gathering to discuss hamsters. The topic of hamsters takes precedence.
CITATIONS
When using books as a reference, give the title and author. If possible, include the publisher, date, and place of publication. Italicize or enclose the exact words in "quotes" so we can identify the words of others.
When using a web site as a reference, either give the URL or provide a link to the referenced page.
COPYRIGHT INFRINGEMENT
All posts must be the original work of the poster, with the sole exception of short quotations with fully cited sources. By posting to Hamsters Galore, you assert that all photos, artwork or text is your original work. Do not post writing, photos or other graphics created by anyone other than yourself without the creator's specific, written permission. Copyright also applies to private email correspondence, forum/message board posts and material on websites. If copyright is in question, the suspected text or graphic may be deleted until the question of copyright ownership is resolved and permission is granted or denied to repost the text or graphics. This protects members as well as the community. Copyright infringement is a violation of international law, the MSN Code of Conduct and HG policy -- an act of theft and cause for being warned or banned from the community.
DELETIONS
Anything deleted from Hamsters Galore cannot be retrieved.
EMAIL SUBSCRIPTION TO HG
All members should familiarize themselves with the correct usage of email subscription to HG. If a member elects to having email messages sent to an individual inbox daily, then later chooses not to receive them that way, only that individual member can change the manner in which messages are received. When replying to individual posts via email, a member must delete the original message (other than the quotes which are being used for reference) before clicking the send button.
COURTESY AND CONDUCT
No rudeness will be tolerated by members posting to our message board. Posts containing personal attacks will be deleted and the poster warned or banned. This does not mean that members' actions will not be criticized, but this will be done in a tactful and constructive way, as our goal as a community is to improve care for all hamsters. Criticism will be directed at the action, not the person.
HOTLINKS
Pictures that are embedded in your message text may not be hot-linked from another site. If such a graphic is found, it will be immediately deleted.
LINKS
All member links added to HG must be related to hamsters. No advertising is permitted, whether or not it is hamster-related.
PRIVACY
In the interests of protecting people's privacy, no personal addresses or phone numbers may be posted on HG. If a members posts his true name, he does so at his own risk. It is recommended that last names and ages of those under 18 years not be divulged. Parental permission should be obtained before posting personal email addresses, even in your member profile. The name of the city in which a member lives may be posted. Any exchange of personal information (such as addresses or phone numbers) must be done off line and not through HG. Use discretion when posting personal information. MEMBERSHIP PARTICIPATION
Posts on HG should be associated with the screens names of current members. No one may make posts on behalf of a non-member. If someone wishes to post, they must join and agree to abide by all our community's rules. This applies also to former members, whether they have resigned their membership or were banned.
OFFENSIVE CONTENT
This is a family-friendly forum. Offensive content will be deleted, and the member's posting privileges may be suspended or terminated. We are a global community, and anyone posting slurs of a racial, ethnic, sexual or religious nature will be banned outright. Children participate in this site, so inappropriate language, sexual innuendo and violent content are prohibited. If you have any questions about acceptable content, email the manager before posting in order to protect our community and your posting privileges.
TERMINOLOGY
Members should learn and use the proper terminology when describing hamsters. Commercial nicknames are highly discouraged. They will be edited from the Breeders Page in particular.
