VATSIM-UK Community Terms and Conditions

Last modified: 20th May 2013, Revision 12
Overview of changes:
- Clause 2.4 updated to allow screenshots/images in forums other than the screenshot forum.
--------------------------------------------------------------

VATSIM and VATSIM-UK have a goal of providing an online environment which serves the needs of the flight simulation and virtual air traffic control community. Whilst maintaining the network, we encourage friendly discussion and debate on our forums, whilst also providing somewhere for you to have a chance to make friends all across the world or generally unwind with other people who share the same passion as you.

The rules outlined below offer guidance for using the VATSIM-UK forums. These rules are here as a concrete framework which members of the forum should conform to whilst participating. These rules not only protect the members of this forum from malicious abuse or annoyances, but also it protects them from over moderation. However, it must be remembered that administrators of this forum have the final say towards the specific action to be taken (if any) for any violation of the rules.

In addition to this, the administration team reserve the right to close and/or delete any thread or post, and delete any signature that is deemed unacceptable for any reason, regardless of whether the specific violation is listed in the terms and conditions. It should also be noted that the VATSIM-UK administration team do not seek to please everybody. Instead we aim to please the largest majority of the membership in order to achieve a happy medium. Any user that is unsure of whether their topic or post will break the rules should be very cautious and reconsider whether the content should be posted. Whilst the administration and moderation team do their best to ensure that the forum is a happy medium we cannot monitor everyone and every topic/post.

Therefore if you feel insulted/belittled/hurt because of a members post directed at yourself or about you, then you are the one that is required to report it using the “report topic/post” icon. In order to ensure that everyone has a chance of putting their past mistakes behind them, VATSIM-UK operates a tariff system for offences. The offences listed within these Terms and Conditions are also given a certain tariff weighting. When you get moderated for an offence, this value is added to your warning level. Every 3 weeks one (1) point will be removed from your account. This allows you to have past mistakes forgotten but also to allow us to monitor who is having issues adhering to the forum rules. Any questions or comments should be addressed towards the management team by emailing management][at][vatsim-uk.co.uk.

1. Requirements
1.1 All communication which takes place on these forums is governed by the rules set forth in the VATSIM User Agreement, Articles 3.1 sections A and B, which may be viewed at http://www.vatsim.net
1.2 Administrators and Moderators of this forum are designated individuals to enforce the terms outlined herein and ensure a smooth and consistent running of the forums. They are appointed and removed at the sole discretion of the administrative team and decisions regarding appoints/removals are non-discussable with members. Members should remember that Administrators and Moderators are governed by the Terms and Conditions also.
1.3 When registering on this forum, members should provide us with their real first and last name as their display name; their VATSIM registered email as their forum email address and their correct and active VATSIM Certificate ID number as their username. Any account that doesn’t meet these requirements will be automatically suspended and become irretrievable.
1.4 Any thread or post that is believed to be in breach of the VATSIM-UK Forum Terms and Conditions should be reported via the “Report Topic/post” icon. Members that take matters into their own hands will be treated accordingly and may be seen as part of the dispute.
1.5 Members are asked to avoid posting defamatory comments about specific individuals on the forum. There are ways and means of dealing with these problems and publically slandering the individuals concerned is not the correct way. Any member found to be doing this will be disciplined as outlined in the group 3 offences section of these terms and conditions.
1.6 When a thread/post/signature/member is considered to be in breach of the terms and conditions, a moderator will, in the first instance, remove the offending content. In the case of a thread/post being removed, a message will be left with either a written reason from the moderator explaining the removal or the Terms & Conditions clause that has been broken will be put in its place. Where content has merely been removed in this way, without further disciplinary action being taken, there is no right to appeal, although all moderation carried out is subject to on-going review by the administration team.
1.7 Where a member has repeatedly broken the Terms & Conditions intentionally, they may have their access to the forums removed for a specific amount of time by the administration team. In this instance, the member will be contacted by email to inform of the reasons for removal. If a member feels that disciplinary action brought upon themselves was unfair or unjust, they may appeal to the administration team within 5 days of the disciplinary action occurring via management][at][vatsim-uk.co.uk. A member must be notified of the outcome of their appeal within 5 days of the appeal being submitted. Once an outcome has been given and the member notified, there is no further right to appeal and the decision of the appeal is final. Discussion of any appeals is an automatic right for removal as outlined in the group 3 offences section.
1.8 VATSIM-UK reserves the right to modify and change the terms and conditions at any point without prior warning. The administration team will do their upmost to ensure that all members are contacted when a change to the Terms and Conditions occurs.

2. Group 1 – Minor Offences (Unintentional)
All offences listed below are generally committed unintentionally and therefore do not warrant hard lined punishments. However continued breaches of any offences in this group may result in a period of suspension from the forums. These offences all come with a Tariff weighting of ONE (1).
2.1 Multiple / Duplicate Postings – All new threads belong somewhere. Therefore, when starting a new thread, decide which forum it is best suited in and post it there and only there. If after posting a topic you believe it is better suited elsewhere, simply use the “report topic/post” icon and request that a moderator moves your topic to the more appropriate forum. By following this guideline, you can help to keep our forums clean & tidy and ensure that we do not waste our donated resources on provide a forum full of duplicate topics. Any announcements from staff are excluded from this rule.
2.2 Excessive Signature Content – whilst we encourage members to add a personal flair to their accounts by having a custom signature in which they can express themselves; we ask that members ensure they exceed no more than 4 lines of text. A member’s signature will be removed entirely if in breach of this rule.
2.3 Oversized/Excessive Signature Images – In addition the limit on the number of lines allowed in a signature, members are asked to ensure that when placing images in their signature, they do not exceed a cumulative width of 450 pixels and a cumulative height of 160 pixels. A member’s signature will be removed entirely if in breach of this rule.
2.4 Screenshots and Images - as some members may be browsing from a connection allowing limited data usage, or using a mobile device, threads containing large images or a large number of images should be labelled '[Photos]', '[Screenshots]' or '[Images]', unless they are posted in the dedicated 'Screenshots and Images' forum.

3. Group 2 – Advertising and Spamming
VATSIM-UK wishes to remain impartial towards other organisations and companies. Therefore, members are asked to follow the terms outlined below in regards to advertising and spamming on these forums. Continued offences may result in lengthy bans or removal of a member’s forum account. These offences all come with a Tariff weighting of TWO (2).
3.1 Virtual Airlines – Promotion of virtual airlines or similar organisations is prohibited. This includes advertising staff positions, recruiting pilots, posting press releases or attempting to raise the general awareness of said organisation. Links to virtual airlines in signatures will be accepted however discretion should be used. This excludes posts within the Events forum and associated sub-forums and small advertisements in forum signatures.
3.2 Products for Sale – Members are not permitted to post links to products or direct advertisements of products for which they are profiting in anyway. We are more than happy for members to discuss what hardware to buy, or what add-ons look good and so on, but this isn’t an auction site!
3.3 Spamming – Spamming of the forums or a members private message inbox is strictly prohibited. Spamming is considered the posting unwanted or unhelpful topics on a continual basis in order to advertise items for sale or forcefully put ones point across.

4. Group 3 Offences – Major Offences
All members of the forum have the right to be able to participate without feeling victimised, picked on or scrutinised by other members. Any member found to be committing a group 3 offence may be subject to harsher penalties than for previous offences. These offences all come with a Tariff weighting of FOUR (4).
4.1 Crude, Rude or Socially Unacceptable Language – This type of language will not be tolerated on these forums. The VATSIM-UK forums are here in order to provide a place for members of this network to come together and communicate. Members of VATSIM can be aged between 13 and 70+ and therefore the forum should be free of profanity and vulgar language – this includes posting links to images/videos that contain this type of language. The administration team have taken all reasonable steps to prevent this language from appearing on the forum (through the use of profanity filters) however any member attempting to bypass these filters will be considered in breach of this term.
4.2 Inflammatory & Irrelevant Posts – VATSIM-UK does not wish to discourage healthy debate and discussion of topics posted in this forum however posts that are made with the intent of arguing or “debating” in a defamatory, inflammatory and non-productive manner will not be tolerated.
4.3 Sexually Explicit Material or Language – As stated in earlier parts of the Terms and Conditions, the age range for VATSIM can be anywhere between 13 and 70+. Therefore, it is considered unacceptable to post images/videos or links to websites that contain sexually explicit material aimed at those 18 and over. The use of sexually explicit language is also prohibited. The profanity filter will attempt to remove these kinds of words from posts; however any attempt to bypass the filter will be treated as a breach of this term.

5. Group 4 Offences – Computer Misuse
Members found to be committing any offence listed below will be subject to immediate removal with no right to appeal. The administration team will then continue to report the member to their ISP and prevent them from accessing the forum and other VATUK web services indefinitely. The matter will also be passed up the chain to the Board of Governors. These offences don’t come with a tariff weighting as they result in your account being terminated.
5.1 Threats and Harassment – All members on this forum are entitled to go about their daily browsing routines without fear of violence or being the recipient of malicious threats and harassment. Therefore, any member found to be threatening or harassing another forum member either on the forum or via private message, will be subject to disciplinary action as outlined in this section.
5.2 Hacking– Any member found to be “hacking” or interfering with the forum software in anyway will be subject to removal. “Hacking” is to be considered as: maliciously attempting to access restricted parts of the forum software; attempting to break password protection on the administrative features or control panels. “Hacking” may be considered to be any other malicious activity that interferes with the daily routine running of the forum as determined by the administration team.
5.3 Illegal Activities – Amongst those activities outlined above, members are not to discuss any illegal activities on this forum. This includes, but is not limited to, posting cracks / hacks / serials in order to circumvent copyright protection, discussion of how to download torrents and/or pirated software, discussion of how to hack or any other illegal activity.


Revision History

--------------------------------------------------------------
Revision 11: 18th July 2012
- Clause 1.6 has been reworded with no other significant changes.
- Clause 2.4 has been changed completely outlining the general rule for screenshots/images when it comes to the VATSIM-UK forums. There is a dedicated forum for screenshots/images now and this should be used instead of cohorts of images appearing in other forums where they will be moved.
--------------------------------------------------------------