OSWCC Forums Terms of Use
Last revised 2/19/05

Welcome to the Ohio Star Wars Collectors Club forums! We simply ask that you respect your fellow members and use common sense when posting. When those factors are lacking, we resort to the forum terms of use listed below. Please read through them and familiarize yourself with them - then enjoy the forums!

Who this forum is for:
These forums are for use by the members of the Ohio Star Wars Collectors Club (OSWCC), and requires registration to post and participate. Registration requires entering personal information such as address and phone number to be used for maintaining membership. Any information obtained will only be available to members of the Senate. The information will remain private unless a member wishes to post such information on the forums themselves.

Administration and Moderation:
These forums are administrated and moderated by a mix of elected club officials and other members who have been appointed to the responsibility based on their willingness to volunteer and the recommendation of the Regional Directors. The purpose of the Mods is not to censor, filter, or otherwise screen your posts. Their duty is to maintain the forum in an organized fashion, and to maintain peace and goodwill within the club should any issues arise - which we understand will from time to time. They will not monitor every post made and are not meant to be watchdogs. In fact, this forum should be self-policed by it's members, and any issues brought to the mods' attention for review only when necessary.

Screen Names:
In order to better promote familiarity with other members from all parts of the state (and parts unknown,) a member's real name will be used as the screen name. Please do not request a Star Wars character name unless you legally change your name to that character's name.

Avatars:
There is a large selection of pre-made avatars available in the forums. Feel free to use any or none of them. Custom avatars that you make or find in another forum are not permitted at this time. Forum appropriate avatars may be considered for addition to our library for use by all members if you'd like to submit them for consideration to an administrator.

Cross Posting:
Please refrain from deliberately posting the same or similar information in more than one topic. Example: Posting new finds in both 'Collectors Corner' and 'Store Reports'. If you see this has happened, please alert a Moderator so they can delete one of the threads or combine them as needed.

Linking:
Please do not post links to adult or otherwise inappropriate websites/pages in the forums. Please keep links "all ages" friendly. If you have any question whether or not the link is appropriate - it's probably not.

Auctions and Advertising:
Auction links are allowed unless they violate another forum guideline (i.e. a link to an adult auction), but please place such links in the appropriate section of the forum.

Personal Information:
Please do not post another person's personal information on the boards unless you have explicit permission from that person to do so. You are free to post your own personal information on the forums, but be aware that it will be available to all members. If you wish to keep that information private please use the private message or e-mail links available through the forum software.

Images-Forums:
If you wish to post an image to the forum, please upload the image to your personal web space or to an image hosting service such as PhotoBucket. Do not direct link an image from other fan/collecting sites such as Hasbro, Rebelscum or Galactic Hunter. Please keep file sizes under 75k per image in order to keep the pages loading quickly for all members. Remember that many members are on dial-up connections.

Images-Website/Archives:
You are welcome and encouraged to submit photos from OSWCC events and/or collection photos to OSWCC at any time! We value being able to document club activities wherever and whenever they may occur! While you will always retain your ownership rights to those photos, by submitting them to OSWCC you are granting OSWCC perpetual license to use those photos for the purposes of historical documentation and public promotion of the club unless otherwise agreed to by you and OSWCC in writing prior to submission. OSWCC reserves the right to refuse, deny the use of, or alter any photo submitted and deemed unsuitable for presentation for any reason. Should you have any questions about this, please contact an OSWCC Senate member prior to any photo submission.

Signatures:
Please apply the general rules of the forum when creating your signature. Images are not allowed in signatures. To avoid clutter please try to create signatures with no more than five individual lines of text, this includes spaces, or line breaks.

Spoilers:
Please denote possible spoilers when posting Episode III information. Remember, some people wish to remain in the dark about the events of Episode III until it's release.

On-Topic/Off-Topic:
Please make sure to keep your topics in the proper forums.

Topics to Avoid:
In the general interest of the club and this forum, please keep the topics of real-world religion and politics (and any
relationship they may have to fictional ones) out of your posts. This board is not an appropriate place for such discussion and the topics tend to polarize membership adversely.

Buying/Selling/Trading:
Posts made in the "Swap Meet" section should be primarily toy or collectible based. Other types of items may be listed from time to time, but the thread title must be marked with the "Off Topic" symbol of "OT."

EXAMPLE: OT: Subwoofer for sale

All transactions between members are made at your own risk. In the event that something goes wrong with a transaction, please work it out in private. Moderators of the forum will not be able to act as mediators in the event your transaction does not work out. Please remember that the forum is no place for a personal battle. All transactions after the initial post should take place through the private messages or e-mail.

A Buy/Trade/Sell Feedback thread has been set up so that you can voice your opinion on transactions with other members. This is encouraged to be used for positive and negative feedback. In the event of a disagreement, please state your claim and the facts without resorting to name calling and personal attacks. Posts that deteriorate into personal attacks and name calling will be deleted and/or locked if necessary and the person/persons involved will be held responsible.

Inappropriate Language and Images:
Language and visual content on these forums should be no more explicit than contained in the Star Wars films. Absolutely no pornography of any type will be tolerated. Please remember that while some members may view these forums from their home PC, others may view them in a mixed or work environment. Please do not use language or post images that could be considered offensive, defamatory, or otherwise socially unacceptable. This includes language and/or images that could be considered defamatory of another members race, religion, or sexual orientation. Flagrant or continued abuse of this rule may result in being suspended or banned from this forum.

Flaming, Trolling and Baiting:
The purpose of this board is primarily to facilitate discussion of the Star Wars films and related merchandise and collectibles. We realize that disagreements will occur from time to time. Healthy debates are allowed and encouraged but we ask that you maintain a mutual respect for other members during these debates. Please refrain from 'flaming,' 'trolling' and 'baiting' in these discussions. Members that continually start topics or reply to posts in such a manner, or post that clearly are meant to bait with the intention of creating a flame war may be suspended or banned from the forums.

Threats and Intimidation:
Threats from one member to any other member or group of members of any type will not be tolerated, and are punishable by suspension or permanent banning from the forums and the club. This includes threats made in a public thread as well as any that might be made through the Private Messaging system that are brought to a moderator's attention.

Suspensions and Bannings:
Members that violate the Terms of Use of the forum can be suspended or banned based on the severity of the offense. Normally a first offense will result in a one week suspension. A second offense will result in a two week suspension. A third offense can result in an extended suspension or ban from the club. The severity of the punishment will be determined on a case by case basis, and determined by a committee of the Senate and forum moderators. In any case, you will have the opportunity to appeal to this committee and plead your case before any action is taken. We hope to never have to suspend or ban anyone.

Leaving the Club:
If you decide that this club and its forum are not what you were looking for when you joined, please e-mail or Private Message (PM) a request to one of the administrators to remove your membership. Voluntary resignation or other kinds of involuntary removal from the club does not nullify rights granted to OSWCC by you while you were a member for items such as photos, club promotional items, etc.. Those rights remain perpetual.

Closing:
The forum rules are subject to change as needed. These rules will be sent to new forum members as they are approved. In the event any changes are made to these documents, they will be sent to all current members. Again, mutual respect and common sense is strongly encouraged to avoid necessary enforcement of these rules.