TST Rules

We ask that you familiarize yourself with and follow the few simple rules that exist in order to keep the forum friendly, helpful, and easy to navigate. If you have any questions or concerns, please Contact Us.

A. No Cursing

This helps to maintain a tasteful environment on the forum, and we hope all of our members will be able to express themselves fully without cursing.

1. There is a swear filter in place to automatically censor all of the words considered to be offensive, and members are expected to let it do its job. You will not be warned for typing out a curse word as is and letting the filter censor it, however intentionally dodging the swear filter so that the word is shown is against the rules.

2. Photos with clearly legible curse words are not allowed. Videos with a limited amount of cursing may be allowed if it is deemed that their comedic or informational value outweighs the offensiveness of the content. If there is any offensive content in a link that a member posts, they are responsible for clearly putting "NWS" (Not Work Safe) in the title of the thread and around the link itself in the post.

B. No Explicit Photos or Videos

Again, the goal here is to keep the forum attractive to any and all members: young or old, at work or home, conservative or not. If you are not sure whether the content you have is ok to post, please contact a moderator about it ahead of time. In some cases we will allow a photo or video that stretches the limits, but only if it is deemed that the comedic or informational value outweighs the offensiveness of the content. If there is any offensive content in a link that a member posts, they are responsible for clearly putting "NWS" (Not Work Safe) in the title of the thread and around the link itself in the post.

*There is a Off Topic sub-forum called "The Garbage Bin" where explicit content and cursing is allowed. By default, members are not able to view this section, but each individual can choose to view The Garbage Bin by following the simple instructions found Here

C. Be Respectful At All Times

Historically, car forums have been cluttered with nonsense and drama which inhibits a friendly, fun, informative atmosphere. TST aims higher than this, and it is essential that all members show respect to each other at all times on TriStateTuners.com. Communication across a computer can easily be misinterpreted and these misunderstandings can sometimes lead to a heated argument, usually over nothing. Making sure that your posts are friendly and respectful is a good way to avoid things like this. Please treat others how you would want to be treated and show respect to other members, moderators, and the forum in general.

D. Stay On Topic

It is vital to the organization of the forum that threads stay on topic. If you have something to say that doesn't fit under the topic of a thread that has already been started, please feel free to start a new thread. This makes it much easier for others in the future to read a thread or search for a specific topic and easily find what they are looking for. A side comment here or there is not a problem, but for the good of the forum please make the effort to keep threads on topic. After typing a response go ahead and reread it, and if it is not genuinely contributing to the thread then please do not post it.

E. No Non-Vendor Advertising

Advertising on the forum is reserved for supporting vendors only. Advertising is considered to be any form of promotion or sales which can be within a thread, signature, user profile, or elsewhere. Promotion of non-commercial sites like personal websites or other forums is only allowed when there is a mutually cooperative relationship previously established between the website in question and TST. It is up to the moderating team's discretion to allow or not allow this type of promotion.

F. Fictitious Usernames Are Not Permitted

Fictitious or multiple usernames are not permitted on the forum. If it is discovered that a user has multiple usernames and/or is pretending to be any one or anything other than who they really are, they will be banned along with any other associated usernames.

G. No Spamming

Spamming is when a member posts repeatedly on the forum to inflate their post count or to attempt to get the word out about something by posting it more than once. This clutters the forum and is therefore not allowed.

Closing Notes

There are only a handful of rules listed above, and each member is expected to follow them.

If you are unsure of whether or not it is ok to post something after reviewing the rules, please contact a moderator before posting it just to be safe. When a rule is broken, the proper procedure is for the moderator to assign the appropriate infraction points which may build up to or result in a temporary or permanent ban.

Users with a post count of less than 25 will not be able to create a new thread in the Classified section.

In some forums, there are additional forum-specific rules stickied at the top and they apply only to the forum they are posted in.

Forum users are responsible for knowing all forum-wide and forum-specific rules before using the forum. Forum rules are subject to change without notice.

Moderator Messages and Infractions

Moderator Messages and Infractions are used by the moderating team to moderate the forum and its members. The goal is to help keep the forum running as smooth as possible, and to protect the quality of the community on TST. Any time a member is sent a moderator message or infraction, they will be notified via PM about it.

Moderator Messages do not carry any points and can be thought of as an official moderator notification, not necessarily in a negative way.

Infractions are given when a forum rule is broken, and they carry points. It is the moderator's responsibility to assign the appropriate infraction in response to a user's actions by using a standardized system for consistent and fair treatment of forum members.

The points given with infractions vary in value, and may add up over time to penalize a forum member with a temporary 7 day ban, or a permanent ban.

Less serious offenses will receive fewer points, and more serious offenses will receive more points. Specific point penalties are listed in detail below. These point values may be modified in the future to better reflect the issues we find we are dealing with.

Knowingly going Off Topic - 1 point

Spamming - 1 point

Dodging Swear Filter / Inappropriate Language - 3 points

Insubordination (Second-Degree) - 3 points

Non-Vendor Advertising - 3 points

Disrespecting Another Member - 5 points

Posting Inappropriate Content or Link - 8 points

Insubordination (First-Degree) - 10 points, instant temp ban

Sucking At Life (The bad kind of Troll) - 100 points, instant permanent ban

Infraction points expire 3 months from the date the infraction is given, so they will not be permanently attached to the user's record. This means that if a user only has a problem every once in a while they will not be penalized, but if they have continuous problems the points will add up and the user will be penalized.

If a member reaches 10 points at any given time, they will be temporarily banned for 7 days. Hopefully in this time they will be able to take a deep breath, review the forum rules, and come back to the forum fresh and without any further problems.

In the extreme event that a member appears to only be here to cause trouble, they will be permanently banned and will no longer be able to visit the forum at all. This is done at the moderators' discretion and can be done without warning at any time.

Infractions are a private matter and moderators will only discuss a member's own infractions with them and no one else. Additionally, infractions are not for public discussion on the forum in any way. If you have any questions or concerns please contact a moderator via PM and they will be happy to help you.

If it is decided that a members actions are offensive and a blatant disregard of the forums rules, then they may be banned immediately without any prior warnings. This generally only happens when people are purposely trying to start trouble and I doubt many who do this are surprised that they are no longer able to access the forum.

None of the moderators like giving infractions, so we would all prefer that everyone familiarize themselves with the rules and follow them. Self-moderation is the best method for both users and moderators, so please do your part. If you feel that someone is breaking a rule, there is a "!" button at the bottom left of each post which will allow any member of the forum to "report a bad post" to all of the moderators. This is a sure way to have a post reviewed so please help us out and use this feature when necessary.

A short tutorial on how to report a post easily can be found Here.

Disclaimer

Although the administrators and moderators of TriStateTuners.com :: Home of Tristate Auto Enthusiast will attempt to keep all objectionable messages off this forum, it is impossible for us to review all messages. All messages express the views of the author, and neither the owners of TriStateTuners.com :: Home of Tristate Auto Enthusiast, nor Jelsoft Enterprises Ltd. (developers of vBulletin) will be held responsible for the content of any message.

By agreeing to these rules, you warrant that you will not post any messages that are obscene, vulgar, sexually-oriented, hateful, threatening, or otherwise violative of any laws.

The owners of TriStateTuners.com :: Home of Tristate Auto Enthusiast reserve the right to remove, edit, move or close any thread for any reason.

If you have any questions or concerns, please Contact Us.