Updated: January 1st, 2010

Our rules are enforced by our team of moderators and administrators via a user infraction system. When a member is given an infraction, they accrue points which remain on their record for a time period. 10 or more infraction points will result in an auto-ban from PinStack effective until the number of active points falls below 10.

Remember to Search
Before you ask a question, search PinStack to see if your question has previously been asked and answered. You can even link to a thread that you've found in search results and highlight what help you may still need.

What Will Happen: Repeat threads will be merged with existing threads of the same topic.
First offense: Member will be warned via user infraction system. Warning will be documented.
Second offense: 2 point infraction will remain on user's record for 1 month.

Don't ask others to Search
Please do not tell other members to use the search feature. If you don't don't want to answer then don't reply esp if to suggest to the user to search. We privately contact users who post without searching. If you'd like to help then use the "report post" feature to alert us of such users.

What Will Happen: The offending post will be edited or deleted.
First offense: Member will be warned via user infraction system. Warning will be documented.
Second offense: 2 point infraction will remain on user's record for 1 month.

Keep It Organized
Please help us to keep the site organized by taking the extra minute to make sure you are posting in the correct place: for example, smartphone discussions and support in the appropriate forums. Remember, PinStack Blogs are industry blogs; NOT personal blogs and not for support questions.

Do not post threads with generic subjects such as "HELP ME" or "PROBLEM". Clearly state a phrase describing the problem as the thread's title. Do not flood or double post the forums by posting the same question more than once (ie in multiple forums). Do not hijack threads by posting your question in another member's support thread.

What Will Happen: The offending post or thread will be moved or renamed and exact duplicates deleted.
First offense: Member will be warned via user infraction system. Warning will be documented.
Second offense: 2 point infraction will remain on user's record for 1 month.

Keep It On The Site
Do not post asking for an answer to be sent to you via email, PM, IM or PIN. Problems and their responses assist others who read them. Please do not email or PM forum staff with your support questions.

Whenever possible, include images as attached files instead of using the [img] tag to host them on third party servers. What inevitably happens is the files eventually get deleted and you're left with broken images. Do not manually post signatures in your posts. Instead, you may create a site-wide signature within your user control panel. Posts must contain actual content and substance and cannot simply be external links.

What will happen: Emails, fake signatures, and personal information will be snipped out of offending post.
First offense: Member will be warned via user infraction system. Warning will be documented.
Second offense: 2 point infraction will remain on user's record for 3 months.

Keep It Spam-Free
Do not spam, advertise, plug your website, or engage in any other type of self promotion. To encourage open, unbiased (incentive-free) discussion, it is prohibited to refer to sites you own or are affiliated with.

No affiliate links are permitted anywhere within PinStack. Self-promotion links are permitted within forum signatures provided they do not contradict with any other site-wide rules, such as inappropriate language, content and must not be business related websites.

What will happen: The offending unsolicited post will be deleted (or plugged URLs removed and even banned).
First offense - plug: Member will be warned via user infraction system. Warning will be documented.
Second offense - plug: 5 point infraction will remain on user's record for 3 months.
First offense - biz promotion/SPAM: 5 or 10 point infraction will remain on user's record for 6 months.

Content not style
Please resist the urge to get artistic with posts. It's about content and not style. Use colors and large fonts sparingly, usually to emphasize a small piece of text in your entire post. Do not post new threads or replies in all caps. Use caps to stress areas within the body of your post but all caps should NOT be used for thread titles. The Moderation Team will delete such threads or posts. Do not cut and paste text or images from external content and news sites. You may link to external news articles but you must provide your own description. Many users end up cut and pasting ENTIRE articles without any credit and these rules address that and also ensure that such post are done only by the PinStack team in the correct manner.

What Will Happen: The offending post or thread will be removed.
First offense: Member will be warned via user infraction system. Warning will be documented.
Second offense: 2 point infraction will remain on user's record for 1 month.
First offense - Cut&Paste: Member will be warned via user infraction system. Warning will be documented.
Second offense - Cut&Paste: 5 point infraction will remain on user's record for 3 months.

Keep It Clean
We strive to be a community geared towards the professional. We strongly encourage all posts to be in full-sentence English. Please do not use "chatroom" abbreviation/jargon unless posting via Blackberry.

Our privacy policy requires members to be at least 16 years of age, but demographic surveys have shown the average age of our members to be over 30. Mature language and concepts are therefore acceptable on PinStack to the point that would be acceptable on daytime family television, but offensive postings are not. To ensure that standards are maintained we have implemented a filter that will edit out inappropriate language in your postings. However, common sense should prevail and if you are unsure if a word is acceptable or not, please don’t post it. It is prohibited to use alternative characters in an attempt to circumvent the bad words filter.

What will happen: Offensive material will be removed from the offending post(s) or censored by bad words filter.
First offense: Member will be warned via user infraction system. Warning will be documented.
Second offense: 5 point infraction will remain on user's record for 3 months.

Keep It Pleasant
Do not troll by posting anything with malicious intent against another member (including, but not limited to, racist, sexist or religiously prejudiced remarks).

What will happen: Derogatory posts will be deleted. Flame war threads will be locked.
First offense: Member will be warned via user infraction system. Warning will be documented.
Second offense: 5 point infraction will remain on user's record for 6 months.

Keep It Legal
Do not post pornographic material or link to it. In addition, do not post content relating to anything warez or illegal acts. This includes tech support troubleshooting for pirated software or P2P programs (i.e. Gnutella, Kazaa) used to obtain pirated software. If you've found BETA smartphone software elsewhere you may link to it. We can't ban the web. However, do not host any beta or even official software on PinStack. Also, do not post links to such software if you are the uploader. Please ensure you own the rights to everything you post and be aware of the transfer of rights when posting.

What will happen: The offending post will be deleted and legal authorities may be contacted.
First offense: 5 point infraction will remain on user's record for 6 months.

Useful guidelines:

Provide Details
When you have a question or need help, the more detail your provide, the better someone will be able to help. Your Blackberry Operating System (OS) version), 3rd party software version, Blackberry device model, and Network Carrier are some useful details. Mainly, you should provide the details necessary for someone else to reproduce your problem.

Make relevant, meaningful posts
Every post on PinStack should add some sort of value to the forum, whether through technical value or community value. Threads and posts that do not contribute positively to our community will be locked or deleted at the discretion of the Moderators. For example, replying to very old threads (many months or years old) or replying with "Welcome to pinstack!" in answer to support requests serves no benefit to our forums. However, replying to old technical threads or other smartphone related threads with updated or additional info is not only welcomed but encouraged. Keep in mind the value of each post before posting.

Images
If you need to share an image to clarify a problem or explain a solution, you can attach or link to an image in your post. Please keep the image size down to no more than 600x600 this helps viewers running at lower resolutions see things properly. If the image is larger then attach or link to it but do not embed in into the page.

Respect Fellow Members
At PinStack you will find professionals; developers and new users. Everyone brings something unique to the forums. Your personality, experience and self-expression adds dimension and helps make PinStack an interesting and useful place. Be yourself—but always remember to respect your fellow members no matter their knowledge level. Remember, we all have to start at the bottom. Be tolerant of those who disagree with your opinions and discuss differences in a constructive manner. Personal attacks will not be tolerated!

Moderation Team
PinStack has the highest regard for the individuals who volunteer their time to be a part of our Moderation Team. We trust that any action that a moderator does will follow the above guidelines, please respect them. If you feel that you are being treated unfairly, or have a question about an action, you may contact them via PM, or send a PM to the Admin (Hayden). Public posts related to forum Moderation will be deleted AND infractions will be used if deemed fit by our Moderation team. If other members break the forum rules such as double posting, thread hijacking, spamming, insulting other members etc, use the "Report Post" button to alert Moderators. Let Moderators do their job. We will not tolerate members who decide to Moderate other members, insult their actions or tell them what to do from what not to do. Repeat of this will also result in a further actions.

In Closing
This document acts as guidelines for both our users and our Moderation Team. We cannot imagine every circumstance however, and thus we reserve the right to change these rules, remove/edit posts, profiles, ban users, etc at our discretion. These Rule & Guidelines do not supersede any terms set forth in our User Agreement or Privacy Policy.

DISCLAIMER
Although our members & especially our Moderation Team will seek to assist you please keep in mind the following disclaimer:

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