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
600x
600
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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OUT OF OR RELATED TO THE CONTENT, ITS PERFORMANCE OR ITS FAILURE TO
PERFORM.
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BE LIABLE TO YOU FOR ANY DAMAGES WHATSOEVER BE THEY DIRECT, ECONOMIC,
COMMERCIAL, SPECIAL, CONSEQUENTIAL, INCIDENTAL, EXEMPLARY OR INDIRECT
DAMAGES ARISING OUT OF THE USE OF OR INABILITY TO USE THE CONTENT,
INCLUDING NEGLIGENCE, STRICT LIABILITY, OR ANY OTHER KIND OF CIVIL
LIABILITY, EVEN IF PINSTACK.COM HAS BEEN ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF
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