[Paul]

Forum and Site Rules

You hereby agree to refrain from engaging in any inappropriate conduct when using any feature of PhotoTopix.co.uk. Inappropriate conduct will not be tolerated and may result in the termination of member privileges.

Inappropriate conduct is any conduct deemed by PhotoTopix.co.uk to be harmful to the online community, including:

• posting any content deemed by us to be obscene, sexually explicit, vulgar, threatening, harassing, or abusive;
• posting content containing nudity or violence;
• soliciting personal information from anyone under 18 years of age;
• providing a hyperlink to any website containing nudity or violence;
• soliciting or promoting any criminal activity;
• posting content which promotes hatred of any race, ethnicity, sex, gender, or religion;
• transmitting unsolicited email to the Company or any member;
  impersonating any person or entity;
• posting advertisements or any other form of commercial solicitation without express authorization from the Company;
• infringing the intellectual property rights of any third party, including copyright, trademark, patent, privacy, publicity or other personal or proprietary rights;
• posting any defamatory or otherwise false information; and
  posting or transmitting computer viruses or any other malicious software.
• flaming other members
• referring to other photography sites by demeaning PhotoTopix.co.uk

We assume no responsibility to monitor our forums but may do so at our discretion. Member posted content may be removed from PhotoTopix.co.uk at any time without prior notice.

Etiquette

• Always be considerate to other members
• If commenting or leaving feedback on another members photograph, always be positively constructive. If you do not like the image for whatever reason simply do not comment or leave feedback.
• If leaving constructive feedback, take the time to explain why the image could or should have been taken differently.

The etiquette rules are very simple. If a member is found to abuse and/or leave non-constructive and negative comments against any other members photographs, an infraction will be made against that member and if that members has been served multiple infractions for any reason a permanent ban will be enforced. This will be non reversible!

Hyperlinked Websites
PhotoTopix may contain hyperlinks to other websites. If you leave the Websites via a hyperlink, you do so at your own risk. We do not investigate the accuracy of content posted on such hyperlinked websites, nor monitor them in any way. We do not endorse or approve the opinions expressed on any hyperlinked website and we are not responsible for the accuracy of the information provided therein. You should take precautionary steps to ensure that you are protected from harmful viruses, worms, Trojan horses, and other malicious software that may be contained in such hyperlinked websites.

Content Posted By Members
By posting content on PhotoTopix you warrant that you are the creator and owner of the posted content, or that you have obtained prior written consent to post said content from a third party owner. When posting content originating from any third party, you agree to conspicuously post the name of said third party adjacent to said posted content. By posting content on the Websites, you also grant, and warrant that you have the authority to grant, the Company a limited license to display, reproduce, modify, and use any text, image, video, music, or any other content that you post on PhotoTopix.

The following rules apply specifically to the PhotoTopix Forums.

Membership

• Members may have only one account. If duplicate accounts are discovered, they will be deleted or merged.
• The forum rules apply to private messages, e-mails, avatars, profile pictures, signatures, and articles as well as to posts in the threads.
• Signatures must be in English and may not exceed four lines of standard-size text.

Forum Usage

• It is mandatory to comply with instructions posted by the moderators and administrators. Complaints about moderator decisions should not be made in the threads; instead, send a private message to the moderator concerned or an administrator. If a moderator deletes or edits one of your posts and you disagree with the action, contact the moderator concerned or an administrator; do not repost deleted material or interfere with moderator edits.
• Posters are responsible for the content of their posts; PhotoTopix does not accept responsibility for posts made by its members, nor do we vouch for the accuracy of the information posted.
• The language of this forum is English. All posts must be in English, and foreign-language articles should be posted as hyperlinks accompanied by an English summary of the main points of the articles.
• Please respect the privacy of our members of this forum. Personal information that may invade their privacy, such as the posting of private phone numbers or addresses, will be deleted.
• Be sensible about your own security, and don't divulge personal information about yourself that could compromise your safety.
• Hot linking of content from other websites is not permitted unless you have prior permission to do so.
• The Report Link button is for reporting inappropriate content in a post if no moderators or administrators are online. It should not be used for non-urgent communication with the moderation team.

Posting

• Threads should remain on topic. If you wish to conduct a private conversation with another poster, please do so via the private message system. Posts which are irrelevant or disruptive to the thread topic will be deleted or moved by one of the moderators.
• Insulting comments about other posters are not permitted. Constructive criticism is acceptable; insults and flames are not. We expect our members to treat each other with respect.
• We do not allow unsubstantiated gossip and speculation based on hearsay. Opinions should be backed up by reference to published reports.
• Threads and posts containing information already posted by others will be deleted or merged; empty posts containing irrelevant short exclamations or comments will be deleted.
• Discussion of other forums should be limited to photographic content. We do not allow criticism of other forums or continuation of disagreements that started elsewhere.
• Threads and posts that violate the rules will be deleted or edited. However, the real-time nature of the board means that moderators may not see the offending posts immediately. We reserve the right to delete or edit posts without notice at any time after they are posted.

All the above rules also apply to our gallery feature.

Copyright
All content on the forum must be in compliance with international copyright law. Material that violates the copyright law will be deleted.

Please note that violation of the forum rules will result in a formal warning, suspension, or permanent ban, depending on the frequency and severity of the violations.

Now all that is over, the most important thing to remember is to be friendly, have fun, be helped and help as many other members as possible!. Good luck in developing your photographic skills!