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| Posting Policy - Please Read Before Posting |
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The PMCA Forum is a discussion and information-sharing site for people interested in Purple Martins. We encourage ideas, discussion, debate, and questions related to the management and conservation of the Purple Martin species. Opinions expressed by contributors do not necessarily
reflect the views of the PMCA. We encourage participation by people of all experience levels; however, we encourage people who are brand new to the hobby to do a little basic reading about martins & their housing requirements prior to posting. Basic information on martins and their housing requirements can be found at a variety of locations, in addition to clicking on the Frequently Asked Questions page:
We reserve the right to block specific users that abuse this forum and/or violate these policies. The private message and email services provided on the Forum are for the convenience of Forum users only. They are not to be used for commercial purposes or spamming. Spam is defined as "unsolicited usually commercial e-mail sent to a large number of addresses." Using this forum as a platform for many, impersonal messages qualifies as spam. Any violation of this policy should be reported to the PMCA immediately; violators will be blocked or banned. The title of the post should reflect the content of the post. Limit the title of your post to about 40 characters or less. Do not use a non-descriptive title to draw attention to your post. Responses to posts should be made as "Reply" posts. Improperly titled or placed posts may be moved or deleted. We also reserve the right to remove posts which contain clearly incorrect information. This Forum is a message board for sharing information about martins. We encourage people to refrain from making frivolous, chatty, or congratulatory posts. Because of the high volume of posts, we occasionally delete these types of posts to allow the Forum to load more quickly, and to keep from having to purge "meatier" postings as quickly. Also, a large number of frivolous posts tends to confuse newcomers and dilute martin-related posts. Our aim is to keep the Forum interesting and educational. We believe that it is our responsibility to remove postings that we believe are not in the best interest of martin conservation, or not in keeping with the focus of this Forum. Posters must exercise good judgment when posting or responding to posts about controversial or sensitive issues. If you feel strongly about a martin-related topic, feel free to make a posting about that subject, but do so in a reasonable, constructive, and non-hostile manner. If you can't exercise some restraint, then this isn't the place for you! Examples of inappropriate posts include (but are not limited to): posts that advocate or suggest illegal activity, posts that contain offensive language, posts that contain personal attacks or "digs" on other individuals or groups, posts of a hostile or vindictive nature, posts that glorify or vilify the necessary destruction of harmful and unprotected nest-site competitors (starlings and House Sparrows), posts that advocate cruelty towards (or protection of) these two species, posts that condone the illegal destruction of native wildlife, & posts that are unrelated to the Purple Martin hobby. Personal messages to one or two individuals should not be posted to the Forum--use private e-mail instead. Intellectual Property: Posts that present the "intellectual property" (images, art, designs, concepts, etc.) of another person as though it were their own will not be allowed on this forum. Intellectual property not credited will be considered stolen since it implies ownership belongs to the poster. If you would like to share an image found on another website, please post a link to that website, not the image itself. If you must post the image, you must include the source URL, photographer's name and any other information that helps indicate the owner. When posting images (including your own), it is advisable to note who created it, who owns it (if different), and when and where it was taken. We reserve the right to remove anonymous posts. Anonymous posts are easily traced by law enforcement agencies using the ISP address recorded with each post, but hidden from public view for your security. Posts containing or constituting criminal activity may be turned over to law enforcement agencies. Occasionally, posts are inadvertently deleted or, for a variety of reasons, fail to be properly transmitted. Occasionally, an inappropriate post is responded to (and a thread begun) before it can be removed. In this case, the entire thread is removed even though one or more of the responses is not necessarily inappropriate. Links to Other Sites: The PMCA reserves the right to remove posts containing links to (or advertising for) other sites. The PMCA generates revenue through Purple Martin product sales and reserves the right to remove posts that contain links to (or advertising for) commercial sites. You may not use the Purple Martin Forum for commercial purposes. While we invite discussion of all types of martin housing and accessories, commercial sales information or advertisements from, or about, companies and their products (or hyperlinks to these companies) may not be shared on the Forum, or through the private message and e-mail services provided through the Forum. Product promotion or hype (posting info about products that are not available to the public yet or repeated bumping of threads about products) are considered to be advertising and will not be allowed. Repeat offenders will be banned. Encouraging Forum users to bump such threads or post teasers about new products is not allowed. This policy does not preclude PMCA from posting its offerings, nor does it preclude Forum users from occasionally posting personal sales or exchanges of Purple Martin equipment. If personal sales postings get to be too much and detract from the main purposes of the Forum, we reserve the right to modify this policy. We reserve the right to remove any posting deemed inappropriate. This policy is subject to refinement and revision, as needed. Thanks for visiting! |