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Posting Rules & Guidelines
The following Rules & Guidelines for making Forum Posts will help keep the Literacy Builders Community a Happy, Healthy, and Functional Family of Educators for years to come. When it comes to Posting Rules & Guidelines, we are not reinventing the wheel here, but are relying on proven rules used by other top forum sites on the web:
Post in the Right Forum
We’ve done our best to layout the forum categories so they are logical and make sense. When you are creating a new thread, do your best to get it in the right category. We want these forums to be value added and educational. The General Discussion is a good place to post if you have a serious question but are not quite sure where to put it. These forums are less stringently moderated, while specific forums are more strictly moderated to maintain their quality and usefulness.
And of course, we also have the Off-Topic Discussion forum. This is the place on the site to have fun and talk about whatever. From sports to the weather to what to buy your significant other for their birthday, anything goes in here. Just remember to keep it clean, keep it productive and keep it legal!
Avatars, User Names, Signatures, General Posting Guidelines
Member User Names and Avatars must be appropriate for a Public Forum of all ages. If the moderation team does not feel your Avatar or User Name is appropriate you will kindly be asked to change it (User Name will be changed to one of your choosing by Administration). Username changes can be made by an Administrator. Username changes are only granted in the case where a member accidentally registers with an inappropriate username (something offensive that must be changed, a full name or email address) or a special circumstance requires a change absolutely necessary. You may contact info @ literacy-builders.com to request this change.
Signatures are allowed, and may contain up to one external hyperlink (points to a webpage outside of Literacy-Builders.com), but should not be excessive in length nor contain any promotional text (enticing users to click). Traffic leaching will not be tolerated. Additional signature links are acceptable, so long as they point to pages within the Literacy-Builders.com site (favorite how to article, forum rules, etc.). Signatures should be small and tasteful and take up 1 - 4 lines max (including spaces) in the default font size (size 2 - nothing larger will be acceptable) (the last thing we want is to look at a forum thread and see 15 big signatures that take up all of the screen real estate). Signatures may also not contain any donation links or similar links. Moderators will determine what is acceptable or not.
During your posts, refrain from excessive use of colors, UPPER CASE LETTERS, and excessive use of emoticons. It is fine to express yourself using each of these means, but do so in a reasonable manner. Use common sense.
No Advertising Policy
Literacy-Builders.com maintains a No Advertising policy in the forums. Individuals/Businesses may not make posts promoting the sale of their own or other competing stores Products (Accessories, Services, etc.) or sales. Traffic Leaching is strictly prohibited. If you'd like to promote or advertise your products on Literacy-Builders.com please contact Craig E. Yaris directly. Craig can be reached via email, cyaris at literacy-builers.com.
Individuals looking to Sell or Swap personally owned items may post in the Buy & Sell forum.
Please note, if individuals (not related to the company selling a product or service) post on an item that is or becomes available in the Literacy-Builders.com store, if available for the same price or less we reserve the right to update posts to this link (gotta keep in business!).
Cross/Double Posting
Please post to the MOST relevant forum. Double or cross forum posting or other attempts at flooding the forum with a stream of posts will be removed. If you find that you have posted in the incorrect forum, please contact a moderator to have it moved to the correct location.
Bumping
This refers to posting with the deliberate intention to either pad your post count or to keep a thread 'hot' so it appears at the top of the forum. Bumping can sometimes be useful, but you must wait three days from the original post to bump the thread. Only one bump is allowed per thread per user. Literacy-Builders.com's moderator reserves the right to delete useless “bumps” at their discretion.
Make Meaningful Posts
While Literacy-Builders.com is geared as much towards Professional Development and connecting educators as it is to helping solve problems and staying on top of news and trends, all posts made within the site should be value added and on topic to the thread (even in the free for all). Hijacking a thread off-topic is a big No-No, and posts made for no reason other than to increase post count will be wiped from the site.
Use a Descriptive Title
This rule is simple; help us to help you. When you create your thread / post, think of it as if 'someone else' is reading it. With that in mind, make your subject lines related to the content of your post. Having a subject line of 'help' or 'now what', will not really help others later when they do a search for a particular issue. So, try to be a little more creative. Example: "How can I better incorporate Reading Workshop into my Kindergarten Classroom?"
Inappropriate Content/ Language
Please keep posts and links family appropriate. The administrator’s and moderator’s reserve the right to delete posts at their discretion if they are deemed inappropriate or offensive. Users will be given a warning for the first violation; any subsequent violation could result in a ban from the forum.
Personal Attacks
Do not flame, insult or post personal attacks against other users. Be courteous, not rude. Any instances or reports of harassment of members will be treated seriously. Literacy-Builders.com has a zero tolerance policy against this kind of behavior, which may result with an immediate temporary or permanent ban at moderators' discretion. Literacy-Builders.com is a friendly place - treat members with respect at all times. If you don't have something nice to say, do not say it!
Reporting a bad post
There is a "Report bad post" button on the top right side of each post (orange exclamation point) or you can send an e-mail to cyaris at Literacy-Builders.com
Use the Site Search and Forum Search
If you have a basic question that needs answering, depending on the specifics, there’s a good chance the answer might already be posted in the forums and/or elsewhere on the site. With the forums growing daily there is a lot of knowledge accumulating in the database. Doing site searches before posting will help keep things efficient.
Multiple Identities
Only one username or account is allowed per Literacy-Builders member. If you have forgotten your log in information, do not create a new account, please contact us. Users found with multiple accounts will be banned.
Keep it Legal
Posting this kind of content can result in an immediate and permanent ban. These kinds of activities can get Literacy-Builders.com in trouble, and nobody wants that, so just don't do it.
SPAM
A message to spammers - we have NO TOLERANCE for SPAM. Post a spam message and your account and all associated posts will immediately be deleted. No second chances. You won't get away with Spamming Literacy-Builders.com, so don't bother wasting your time. This also includes spamming via Private Message within the forums PM system. No link abuse, traffic leaching, member leaching, advertising, ADULT content or nudity will be tolerated! To help reduce SPAM only members with at least 10 posts may post links.
Forum Moderation Team
Literacy-Builders.com's owners and administrators trust that any action that a moderator does will follow the above guidelines, so please respect them, as they are volunteering their time to keep this site fun for all to use. If you feel that you are being treated unfairly, or have a question about a moderator action, send an e-mail to our Forum Manager. Forum Managers have final say in any forum moderation decisions.
Warnings/Ban General Policy
Forum moderators do not seek to issue warnings or bans to members. It is the aim of Literacy-Builders.com's founders, owners, administrators and moderators that the Community Forums be a friendly and welcoming environment for all Educators and Administrators. That said, members who do not follow the simple rules above and hurt the environment vs. help it will be warned. We would rather have everyone be an active member of Literacy-Builders.com, but action will be taken against members who continually break the rules and cause more harm than good. The general policy of the Literacy Builders Moderation team is 3 strikes and you're out. Depending on offense, the moderation team reserves the right to act more generously or with greater severity.
THE ADMINISTRATORS AND MODERATORS OF CRACKBERRY.COM RESERVE THE RIGHT TO MOVE, REMOVE, EDIT, CLOSE THREADS/POSTS OR BAN MEMBERS (HAVE POSTING PRIVILEGES REVOKED) WHO BREACH THESE RULES OR TERMS OF USE AT OUR SOLE DISCRETION, AND WITH OR WITHOUT PRIOR WARNING OR EXPLANATION. |
