Terms and rules

WHAT’S BEST FORUM TERMS OF SERVICE

Welcome to our forum! Our goal is to have a friendly place where everyone shares ideas and information without the level of bickering and angst that other forums tend to create. To that end, we have a set of rules that we would like to follow and be aware:

1. We don’t control what members posts. Furthermore, please understand that we cannot and will not read every post on the forum. As such, nothing should be viewed as opinions of the forum owners.

2. Any post, and any portion of a post, which, in the sole discretion of the forum administrators, serves only to insult personally a member is prohibited. Violation of this Term of Service may result in a warning; a second violation may result in a temporary suspension; and a third violation may result in termination of your membership. Any such post, and any such portion of a post, may be deleted with or without notice.

3. Please do not use this forum to post any material which is knowingly false and/or defamatory, inaccurate, abusive, vulgar, hateful, harassing, racist, obscene, profane, sexually oriented, threatening, invasive of a person's privacy, or otherwise violates any law. We reserve the right to delete any message that in our sole opinion falls in these categories and serve up administrative action to any member because of them.

4. Our forum is home to a number of industry experts who take the time to contribute their deep expertise for the benefit of the forum members. Please keep in mind that there is no compensation for these experts. Therefore we ask that you show utmost respect toward them and their writings so that they continue to participate here and share their knowledge with us. Disagreement is certainly allowed but not disparagement of the individual or hostile personal attacks. Treat them as you would treat a professor at college and you will be fine.

5. While most of our forum is open for anyone to participate in, certain areas are more restrictive such as expert sections that only allow thread creation by specific people. Other sections such as analog audio have specific rules regarding challenges from the opposite camp. We appreciate your compliance with the written rules in the specific section.

6. Please do not attempt to moderate the forum on your own. If you see objectionable posts, please report them. We will deal with them. Above all, focus on the topic being discussed, rather than the person discussing it.

7. Use of proxy servers to hide your identity in is frowned upon and will subject you to disciplinary action including termination of your membership. If you like to be hidden from the forum, you can remain a visitor.

8. Your forum administrators rule with a gentle hand. But should the occasion arise where we must take immediate and strong action, we will do so. In that case, our decisions are not subject to debate.

9. Where possible, please avoid generalizations which create heated arguments. Please don’t say “all amps sound the same” but rather, “all the amps I have heard sound the same to me.” Following this rule not only makes for a calmer atmosphere, but also saves you hours and days of aggravation while you try to defend your point of view!

10. Posting topics involving politics, religion or firearms are not allowed and will be removed with appropriate warnings issued to the member. Repeated offenses can result in membership ban.

11. Members should avoid posting copyrighted material and or anything of illegal nature of any sort include methods for circumvention of copy protected material. Violations will be dealt with swiftly and strongly and repeated violators will be subject to account termination. Any complaints by a copyright owner concerning allegedly infringing material appearing on the site should be addressed to wbfwebmaster@gmail.com and should comply with the requirements of http://www.copyright.gov/title17/92chap5.html#512']DMCA 512 (c). Any poster who believes material was wrongfully removed may provide a counter-notice in accordance with DMCA 512 (g)(3).

12. Signatures should not be longer than 4 lines and preferably shorter. They can link to your place of business but with no advertising of any type.

13. If you work in any industry relevant to the topics discussed in our forum, you must show that clearly in your signature. While we encourage our industry insiders to use their real names (or parts thereof), aliases are allowed as user names.

14. Avatars are allowed but must be “kid” and “work” safe.

15. You are only allowed a single account. If we discover duplicate accounts we will terminate both of your memberships and take other administrative action.

16. We reserve the right to reveal your identity or whatever information we know about you in the event of a legal action arising from any message posted by you.

17. While we rule with a gentle hand in managing the forum, we reserve the right to terminate membership of anyone that we believe in our sole opinion to be disruptive to the well being of the community.

18. All material posted becomes the property of the What's Best Forum. All postings and material contained in this site are copyrighted and may NOT be republished or reposted without express written consent of forum administrators.

19. WHAT’S BEST FORUM name and logo are trademarks of the forum owners and are not to be reproduced in any manner without explicit approval from us.

20. A dealer, distributor or manufacturer who is not currently in an advertising relationship with the forum may not post a price, quantity or other term of sale or transaction for, or describe with specificity, a product, component or service.