FTO Australia Club - Please read before posting

Please read before posting. Area also contains general club updates.
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Bennoz
National President
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Joined: Fri Jan 21, 2005 6:00 pm
Location: Sydney
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FTO Australia Club - Please read before posting

Post by Bennoz »

All FTO club members:

First - Your Club Committee details.
Note: when you are looking to contact your local member & are unable to - by all means approach another one. We are all easy going people & are always happy to help in anyway we can.

(Moderators - please feel free to edit and add any contact details)

1st point of contact
State Coordinators
They should be contacted for information on events, FTO Help, General Information, Club Matters etc.
NSW: Aza (Aza013) Aza013@ftoaustralia.com
VIC: Gav (SILVERFISH) SILVERFISH@ftoaustralia.com
QLD: Simon (I8AFRE) I8A4RE@ftoaustralia.com
QLD: Yang (Borepyano) borepyano@ftoaustralia.com
SA: Tim (vipfto) - vipfto@ftoaustralia.com
SA: Kieran (Kiz)

Club Secretary
General club correspondence, issues if you are having trouble getting hold of your state coordinator, general club related issues that you feel should be looked at by the committee.
Karen (kazbah)
Email: kazbah@ftoaustralia.com

Vice President
Queries relating to sponsorship, marketing, treasury, or where you feel you have not received a response from previous points of contact:
Dwayne Stocks (dstocks)
Email: dstocks@ftoaustralia.com

Club President
Ben Coulson (Bennoz)
Email: Bennoz AT ftoaustralia.com
Site maintenance, escalated issues, and for instances where you have not received a response from any of the other contacts.


An explanation of the IMC
Who are they & what do they do?
The IMC is the Independent Moderating Committee.
The IMC is there to help keep the forums friendly and on-topic.

Rules/ Guidelines for the IMC when Moderating.

IMC's will read posts, if a post is going off topic - a note will be posted asking for the conversation to go back on topic.

If a thread becomes abusive/ derogatory etc.. against a member/company, and as long as two or more IMC's agree, then they can moderate the thread (the need for two avoids individual bias).

If another IMC is not available immediately - then one IMC can move a thread to a quarantine area for review by another IMC member.
If on review by another IMC, the thread is deemed acceptable, it will be returned to the original area. If not, it will stay in the quarantine area.

IMC's will quarantine messages rather than delete them. Although the IMC's do not need commitee approval, the commitee will review the quarantined messages for breach of club rules, as only the commitee has the power to act on breaches of the rules.

If the situation requires escalation, IMC's can contact the committee by whatever means are most convenient for advice and/or a decision.

Forum Moderation: IMC
(Independent Moderating Committee)
VIC: James (Supplanter) - Supplanter@ftoaustralia.com
QLD: Sam (FtoSam) - Sam@ftoaustralia.com
NSW: Al (AJ) - AJ@ftoaustralia.com

Rules & Guidelines to posting on http://www.ftoaustralia.com

Please post in proper English
Do not use 'txt spk' or slang. This is an information database. People search it for various things - they do not search using txt spk or slang.
Please use correct grammer & punctuation. No one likes to read a wall of text, which is not helpful if you are seeking assistance with a problem.

Ensure that your new topics are in the correct forum.
It makes it easier to keep track of topics and saves the moderator team from constantly moving topics.
Example: You have an idle problem, ask the question in the FTO help section.
Example: You have just fitted a new spoiler & are looking for comments, post in the Styling section.
Give your post a relevant heading to help with future searches.
Example: You have a gearbox problem title your post “Gearbox Problem" not “HELP! I've got a problem" etc.

Do not associate FTO Australia with illegal activity that could lead to prosecution
Being a car club, we are a legal entity. Do not associate FTO Australia in any thread with the following:
Illegal driving techniques (Breaking your state laws, speeding, drink driving, burnouts, handbrake turns etc)
Violence (toward another person, toward another vehicle, vigilante violence towards anyone)
Defamation (defaming people or companies. Legitimate complaints are acceptable within reason but there is no such thing as freedom of speech, unless you can afford to pay for it)

Cars For Sale, Parts for Sale, Wanted to Buy Sections
Are only for Private sales use. No Traders Allowed
Traders must contact Committee members via PM, if they wish to advertise products.
Do not post anything in a for sale thread unless you are interested in the item / car in question - especially when it comes to questioning the sellers sale price.
You wouldn't post your disapproval regarding a price on an Ebay or Carsales add for an item you have no intention of buying would you.

Do not post topics or replies containing:
Subjects which you may think have been covered before, try using the Search function.
Flames directed towards other users (locked on sight, possibly with a temporary ban).
Anything not relating to the original subject of the topic, although we are quite flexible with thread deviation, try too keep on topic. (Although Gibberish Chat is much more flexible).
Any derogatory comments based on age, gender, race, ethnicity or nationality (which will be met with a swift ban).
Profanities. Any fully visible profanities will be edited with **** or similar. Gibberish section is more flexible with this.
Images linked from other sites without their permission. If a linked image does not display correctly & instead displays a copyrighted logo or similar, please remove it or a IMC or Committee member will. (simply giving a URL is much more polite.)

Gallery Rules
The gallery is intended for pictures of your car, or other club sanctioned events. Do not post pictures of your Saturday night - stay relevant.
The gallery has facility to add comments to peoples pictures, as such, the same rules apply to comment posting as forum posting - see above section
No posting pictures that contain nudity, derogatory or disturbing images
No posting pictures of any illegal activities
Maxiumum picture size is 2Mb
Users are only to create 1 personally gallery for their car
Gallery will be moderated by the same team that moderate the board
State Co-ordinators will have moderator facility as well - as there are state specific folders for cruise pics etc
Rule breaches of the gallery are subject to the same moderation disciplines as forum breaches. Users can be banned, from both forum and gallery.
Moderators are bound by the forum rules defined in this post to apply whatever penalities are appropriate.

Locked topics
Topics are locked for a reason, usually to do with breaking of the posting rules.
Do not start a new topic similar to the one that has been locked, it will be deleted and a warning issued.
Do not cut and paste sections from a locked topic to start a new topic with, again it will be deleted and a warning issued.
You can question why the thread has been locked via a pm to the relevant Committee Member.

Posting for the sake of increasing your post count
All posts of this nature will be deleted and your post count reduced to what it was previously.

Do not promote your own site, unless:
It's to show off something cool you've done.
It's a personal site.
It's to help somebody find something they're looking for.

Do not post spam.
Spam includes advertisements, content deemed inappropriate or illegal, and flooding of the boards.
Spammers will receive a swift kick in the ass, as well as a lengthy ban.

Your private messaging capability may be disabled if abused
A central list of PM and e-mail abusers is kept, so repeat offenders will be banned.

Ensure that your signature:
Does not contain excessively large images, annoying animations or offensive pictures or text.
Follows all the rules applying to posts themselves.
Does not exceed 500 x 100 ie:
Image

Ensure that your avatar:
Is not more than 90 pixels in width, or 90 pixels in height.
Does not exceed 6kb in size.
Does not contain annoying animations, or offensive pictures or text.

Use of the Off-Topic forum
The off topic section is for the discussion of anything not FTO related but please still try to stay reasonably sensible. Threads in off topic will not be deleted or moderated unless they are one of the following:
Defamatory/libelous.
Offensive.
Using the thread for free advertising.
Contains nudity / sexually explicit material of any kind

Please make sure you follow these guidelines.
If any moderator asks you to comply with one of these rules, you must comply.
If you argue the rules with a moderator, you'll be warned, and all members of the committee will be notified, then a decision will be made. Keep it up, and you'll receive a temporary ban.

Moderators have the following options when implementing the rules:
For minor breaches, such as thread hijacking for personal gain or offensive language
A warning will be posted in the thread.

For more serious breaches, such as repeating the above offences after a warning or flames directed at another user, the thread will be locked & posted in by the moderator stating why. Offender(s) will also be PM'ed.

Example:
Thread locked for breach of the following rules:
Derogatory comments made directly to forum members


For the most serious breaches, such as posting of explicit material or failure to comply with a moderator request. The thread will be locked & removed from the public forum. Offender(s) will be PM'ed.

Person(s) in breach of rules will be notified by PM, with any possible penalties stated – see below for penalties. Moderators have the right to apply whatever method they feel necessary.

Penalties for breaking the rules
1st warning to offenders is given when a moderators post as such in the thread.
2nd warning for repeat offenders or more serious breaches is done via PM.
3rd warning comes in the form of a 1 week ban from the forum

Further action is a 1 month ban

Ultimate action is a lifetime ban

Timeframes on warnings are at the discretion of the moderator.

Any banned person(s) creating secondary accounts in order to continue posting on the forum will have an IP based ban implemented so they can no longer view the website at all - the already enforced ban period may also be extended.

Disclaimer
You are responsible for any actions you may take and the consequences of those actions, based upon advice or information you receive online. Remember this is a public forum and posters are of various ages and experience. The Club and/or Committee will not be held responsible for any damage and/or loss resulting from information posted on the forum.

If you are uncomfortable with any of these rules or feel they can be improved in any way, please PM the Club Secretary Kazbah and your suggestion (if reasonable) will be added to the next FTO Australia meeting agenda for discussion.

Enjoy the FTO Australia Forums!
If you have any problems, just make a post in the appropriate forum, and somebody will be glad to help you.

The moderators are here to make everyone's visit more enjoyable, so if you experience any problems with abusive users, please tell a moderator.
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