Lesmahagow

OK, Before we commence to the really boring stuff, in summary, our rules are!

You may not post any obscene pictures or words.

When creating a new thread please use sensible titles and refrain from spamming with the same word or punctuation symbol in the title over and over. The admins and moderators may edit posts and titles where there is spam or spelling mistakes to ensure or forum performs well in search results.

We will endeavor to edit your posts, not to read differently.

Now the boring (But important) stuff.

The Forum rules have been updated 16th June 2010...

All forums have some basic rules, please ensure you familiarise yourself with them before posting

The Rules

Terms and Conditions for Membership

These forums are privately owned and run. Membership of the forums is not an automatic right of any user and is only granted on the condition that users accept all rules. If these rules are not acceptable to you then please do not use the forums. Any use of the forums is taken as your agreement to the terms and conditions. These terms and conditions and all the rules herein may be subject to change without notice and it is the responsibility of all users to appraise themselves of all updates.

To this end it is suggested that you re-read this document regularly.

1. Administration decisions, including moderation, of these forums is final!

1.1. Querying decisions is allowed, and should be conducted via Private Message, but only appropriate remarks will be acceptable and any abuse of a moderator or administrator will lead to an automatic ban.

1.2). Mistakes by moderators or administrators are inevitable and will be rectified where and as soon as possible but no assumption should be made by a complaining member that they have been the victim of some injustice and that a decision they disagree with will be overturned.

1.3). All administrators and moderators have TOTAL discretion to moderate posts and reply as they deem appropriate and any post may be edited and/or censored if it is judged appropriate by a moderator or administrator.

1.4). All members, including moderators do NOT have an automatic right to talk about anything and everything on this forum. This forum is a place of discussion and debate for residents or ex-pats of Lesmahagow and surrounding areas (the olde parish of Lesmahagow), to talk about subjects relevant to the geographical area or community. Not a place to discuss whether they look good in certain clothes, what they have just had for dinner or what the government is doing wrong at the moment.

1.5). Any member may be warned for breaking any rule. Any member may be banned for breaking any rule.

1.6). Any warnings, infractions or bans dispensed by admins or moderators are private matters between the moderation team and the individuals concerned. They must not be discussed publicly in an open forum.

2. Debate

2.1). These forums are a collection of sections which are dedicated to specific criteria and should NOT be considered a place to incite argument or debate which are based on moral, political, philosophical, sexual, ethical, or cultural issues.

2.2). Also these forums are PRIVATE and anyone who attempts to politicise the forums in a post or criticises policies by labelling the administration or policies will be banned.

3. Post counts

3.1). Members should not assume that size is everything. We do not admire high post counts here, but we do honour quality. A high post count does not always indicate that a member is respected for their opinions.

3.2). Spamming or posting gratuitously (i.e. "Repost" or "I agree" to achieve status on these forums is frowned upon and in fact you may have your posts removed if you continue to post along those lines. 'Repost' posts will be allowed if the poster posts a link to the original thread.

4. Post deletions

4.1). Any post which contravenes the rules in any way may be deleted without notice. Do not make attempts to usurp our authority by making the post again. When a post or thread is deleted the poster or thread originator will be sent a private message advising them of the action taken. Please do NOT start new threads asking where a post or thread has gone. If you are in any doubt please PM a moderator.

4.2). Do not spam the forums. This includes posts that deliberately take a thread off topic. We don't want to stifle the banter that takes place but it isn't any fun when a member asks a serious question only to find their thread taken over by members discussing other topics. The odd joke or quip is allowed as long as the thread gets back on topic immediately and remains on topic. Any post considered as spam will be deleted. You will subsequently be warned or banned if you persistently ignoring our guidelines.

5. Using Private Messages

5.1). You have the option to disable Private Messages and/or email notification but if you choose this option and cannot be contacted then you will not be able to accept notification of any warnings and may be banned for persistent offences of which you are unaware.

5.2). Do not use Private Messages to send anything illegal (in the form of text) to another member. If illegal you are liable for any consequences.

5.3). If a member complains that you are abusing them using Private Messages then this will be investigated and you may be banned.

5.4). If it is felt that you are abusing the use of Private Messages you will not be allowed to send them.

5.5). In the course of investigating abuse, the administrator and/or their representative(s) reserves the right to examine Private Messages sent between the members involved on the forum.

5.6). Private Messages must not be published on these or any other forums. They must remain private unless the originator of the message has given their explicit approval in writing for the contents to be disclosed.

6. Language

6.1). This is predominantly an English language site and as such we accept no responsibility for the inability of those who have trouble understanding the text on the forums including moderator replies.

6.2). Any post you make must be in English apart from language specific forums but you may accompany it with a translation to another language for certain purposes.

This does not mean you can start chats and just translate the whole lot.

6.3). Do NOT use text speak. As previously stated, we speak English here. TXT type messages are often difficult to read and you may have your post deleted if you use TEXT speak. i.e. how r u

6.4). The use of profanity is frowned upon on these forums. Search engines use robots to trawl through forums collecting data and previously these forums were once blacklisted for containing adult content. This is something we do not want to happen. There are swear filters that prevent the use of certain words. The excessive use of swearing or use of alternative spellings or substitute characters such as asterisks to circumvent this rule is NOT acceptable and such posts are liable to be edited upon discovery. If you insist on swearing then simply allow the filters to do their job. Breaching of this rule WILL result in the issue of warnings and infractions and continued breaching WILL RESULT IN A BAN.

7. Specific forums

7.1). General Chat and Private chat rooms (not yet generally) available. When available or within club micro sites please observe general forum rules.

7.2). General Chat is NOT an area where adult material of questionable taste will be tolerated. It must also be remembered that children can regularly visit this website and please consider this when you post. If a subject is deemed unsuitable it will be removed without warning.

7.3). Lesmahagow.com is not restricted to adults, please post accordingly.

7.4). Word Safely - Jokes that are suitable for all to view. They must not contain images, animations or links to material that may cause offence to anybody. In other words, keep it clean.

7.5). Not Work Safe - Basically if you wouldn't view it at work, it probably does not belong in here. Images and animations or any material that is deemed indecent or offensive will be removed without warning.


8. General Rules

Some of the decisions made over the following rules will, by nature, be subjective. We aim to ensure that the forums remain family friendly throughout.

8.1). No flaming or baiting other members. Attacks on other members will not be tolerated in any way shape or form. We will not tolerate discrimination of our members

for any reason including race, sexual orientation, hair colour, age, gender or religion.

8.2). No sexual references, pornography or unsuitable graphic imagery including links to such materials.

8.3). No use of what is considered obscene language.

8.4). No racist, cultural or religious defamation.

8.5). Do not post links to any illegal sites, in particular software piracy or 'Warez' sites including bulletin boards. This also means no such links should be added to your signature. We do not condone piracy in any way shape or form so please do NOT attempt to discuss such matters on these forums.


8.6). Signatures are available for supporters and should be kept to a maximum of either 6 lines of text or if you use a graphic it should no bigger than 450 pixels wide by 100 pixels tall. If you use text and a graphic please remember to reduce the height of the image accordingly.

8.7). Avatars can be used on these forums and can be no larger than 150 by 150 pixels or 39.1 KB (whichever is smaller). Pictures depicting sexual, racial, cultural, derogatory or religious defamation will not be tolerated. If an avatar is deemed unacceptable by the moderation team it will be removed and you may lose your right to display one in future. If you are in any doubt about an avatar please check with a member of the moderation team first.

9. Forum Bans

9.1). Unfortunately there may be occasions where we are forced to ban a member from accessing the forums. Where a member is banned from accessing the forums, be it permanently or temporarily, they are prohibited from using another member’s account to gain access. Should it be discovered that a temporarily banned member is accessing the forums using another member’s account, both accounts will be suspended for a further month and depending on the circumstances both may be suspended indefinitely.

9.2). Any member who is banned either temporarily or permanently is prohibited from creating or using another account to access the forums.

9.3). Any member who allows a permanently banned member to access the forums using their account may have their account suspended indefinitely.

10. Multiple accounts

10.1). Multiple accounts are NOT allowed on these forums and must NOT be used. Posting using different identities purely to enhance and support your own argument is NOT permitted. Should it be discovered that a member is using multiple identities their accounts may be suspended and they may be banned indefinitely. The only exception is where a second account is as a member of admin or as a spokesperson of an organisation within the community. The individual should not abuse their position within admin or the organisation to express a personal opinion but only that of the club or association they represent. The second account should never be used to support, debate or give a differing opinion within the same string. No admin account should be used to express a personal opinion on any subject. Instructions issued by admin should only be published after consulting  and agreeing any action with another member of admin.

11. Posting using another members account

11.1). Members may not use another member’s account to post of these forums. The right to participate in discussions on the forums is granted to the original holder of the account and is not transferable. In the event that you believe somebody has posted using your account please contact a member of the moderation team immediately and this will be investigated. If the moderation team suspect more than one person is posting from a single account they reserve the right to suspend the account until a full investigation has been carried out.

11.2). It is not allowed to sell your account or any part of it either on a permanent or temporary basis. Anyone found attempting to do this may find themselves banned or their account cancelled immediately.

11.3) All activity, edited posts, deleted posts, changes of email address etc. are recorded by the forum for the purpose of investigation, and as such will be used to determine any breaking of the rules.

12. Personal Information

12.1). Harvesting member details. No personal information for any member may be passed on to any third parties including email addresses and contact details. It is expressly forbidden to use these forums to gather such information and any such action shall constitute a breach of the site terms and conditions. If it is discovered that a member has done this we will not hesitate to pass their details on to the necessary authorities.

12.2). Poaching members. It is expressly forbidden to use these forums to poach members for forums that reside off this site. This includes the use of private messages for such a purpose. If you are in doubt, or if you are approached, please contact a member of the admin team in the first instance.

13) Warning System (Warnings and Infractions)

13.1). We operate a warning system on these forums that is used to advise members should they break the forum rules. We know that most members would not do this intentionally but sadly there will always be those who chose to ignore the rules. The system uses a points system and the more points a member gets the more chance they stand of having their account temporarily inhibited (see para 13.3 below) or in extreme cases, banned.

13.2). There are two types of notifications:

* Warning. This is issued for information only and is used to advise the member that they have broken a rule and that no further action will be taken at this time.

A record is kept of the warning and should the member repeat the offence they may get an Infraction.
This is used when either a member repeatedly breaks the forum rules or where it is their first transgression and we know that they were aware of their actions. Under normal circumstances an Infraction will be issued after a Warning. Infractions have expiry dates and when an infraction exipres the points are removed from the members infraction point count.

13.3). If however you amass enough points through infractions your account will be inhibited as stated in para 13.1. Below is a brief summary of the main changes if you are placed on the first restriction profile.

This is how you may be affected if you are a trusted member:

* The number of PM's you can send and receive will reduce from 20 to 5.
* You will no longer be able to create or vote in polls without moderation.
* All posts could be moderated.

13.4). There are other subtle restrictions on forum access and these along with the above will last for the duration the restriction profile.

13.5). Should a member receive further infractions they will move up to an even more heavily restricted profile at which point they will have very limited access to anything. This really is the last chance and should you receive any further infractions you may be banned from these forums for life without any further warning.


14) Selling / Swapping / Advertising items on these forums

14.1). In order to sell items on these forums you must be an registered member and an adult over the age of 18 (or supervised by an adult over the age of 18). Selling on behalf of others is not allowed. Meeting with people outside the forum is at your own risk.

14.2). Items must NOT be advertised or offered for sale outside the For Sale forum.


By using these forums you agree to abide by these rules in their entirety.

If you wish to discuss any of the above rules then please do so in Website Feedback/Questions.