TMF Rules and Regulations
The Mini Forum Rules and Regulations
To enhance the quality of the discussion on TMF, it is required that all members must abide by the Rules and Regulations outlined in this document when posting messages.
Violation of these will result in a warning being issued, further or more extreme violations will result in either a permanent or temporary ban. The action that is taken will depend on the severity of the violation.
This is a forum ran by volunteers and all decisions on how it is run are ultimately made by the Administration team. The Administration team's decision is final.
General Forum Rules
TMF is intended for users of all ages, so we ask that persons of a younger age should be taken into consideration when posting content onto the public forums. Therefore it is expected that members use common sense when posting messages.
Copyrighted Material
TMF does not allow the posting of copyright material on the forum unless the copyright is owned by you or by this BB, or you have specific permission from the copyright owner to do so. Once you post the material you assume all responsibility for it. Failure to adhere to this policy will result in the post and material being removed and a warning given to those making the post.
If you would like to reproduce any of the material from TMF you must ask the original poster's or TMF's permission first.
No scans of magazines that are still for sale by Mini Magazine will be allowed on the forum, that's anything up to 6 months old is not permitted under any circumstances unless you have received written permission from Mini Magazine.
Magazines that are 6 months old are also only permitted if permission is obtained from the magazine staff
Signatures
Users are requested to appreciate other users of the site and keep the size of their signatures to a reasonable size. A reasonable size is a maximum height of 125 pixels or 5 lines of text, with a maximum width of 800px. Signatures may be edited if too large.
Thread Topic Titles
Topic titles such as "Problems" or "Help me" will often be ignored, members will be more likely to view a thread if the topic title is more definitive. We want to help, however we can't if we are not lead to the thread.
Reporting A Thread
If you feel a thread is going off-topic, or you wish to report any breach of the rules listed above, DO NOT contact a staff member directly. Please use the 'report' function to the bottom left of each post. This will alert the entire moderating team, who will investigate the thread and take any action they deem necessary.
Classifieds Section
The Mini Forum is a public forum, accessible to anyone. The for sale/wanted sections in the Classifieds area are kept open and moderated for the use of TMF users.
All purchases must be arranged between the seller and prospective buyer, TMF is not involved in any transactions. Please make sure you get full contact details from the other party before sending items/monies. This will assist you should you have any problems with the transaction.
We reserve the right to remove all classified adverts made by a user should any of their transactions be reported to us. If any problems do occur with a buyer or seller and these are not resolved the user shall be banned from buying and selling on TMF.
If a member is selling an excessive number of items we will ask them to register as a trader.
TMF will not accept any liability for subsequent losses/damages during posting, or for incorrect description of items for sale.
Buying and selling of items is to be kept in the classified section, any wanted or for sale posts in incorrect areas of the forum will be removed without notice; members purposely using the wrong section will receive a warning.
The sale of vehicle ID (V5s, VIN plates, etc) is explicitly forbidden on TMF, any adverts or posts condoning this activity will be removed with actions taken against the poster.
The sale of Weapons/firearms is strictly prohibited on TMF any topics or classifieds willbe removed.
The use of Bank Transfers is not recommended for purchases. TMF recommends using a recognised payment method such as PayPal, who can then deal with any disputes between buyer/seller. When paying via Paypal DO NOT pay as a GIFT. Should you do this you will not be able to dispute any issues that arise.
Traders Section
Any member who wishes to advertise products or services MUST register as a trader to do so even if they are only gauging interest in their product.
The Traders section is for use by registered traders - to become registered please read the announcement in that section which explains the process. We ask for all trader adverts or forum topics of this nature to be posted within the categories of the trader section, we will remove all posts by unregistered traders and any in the incorrect area.
Registration is free and will only cost you 5 minutes of your time.
TMF are not endorsing any trader who has a Traders account with The Mini Forum, the system is in place to help customers with any trader issues.
Contacting Staff
Please do not contact members of the TMF team regarding general Mini-related problems, post your question in the appropriate forum section and other forum members will have the answer you need. You will have a better chance at getting the answer you are looking for in a timely fashion.
Staff may be contacted regarding content violating the Rules and Regulations, site errors, or any other matter of urgency relating to the site.
All staff members are listed on the following page:The TMF Team
General Disclaimer
The TMF Administration and Moderation team reserve the right to edit or delete any message that does not adhere to or comply with these Rules and Regulations. We also reserve the right to ban individuals who repeatedly violate them. If your thread is moved to the junkyard or deleted, you will be contacted via a Private Message if necessary.
To ensure that the forum Rules and Regulations are enforced the moderators have the ability to edit, move, rename or delete all content posted to the public forums, which includes but is not limited to Threads, Posts and Polls.
Please note that it is impossible for us to confirm the validity of posts on this forum. Please remember that we do not actively monitor the posted messages and are not responsible for their content. We do not warrant the accuracy, completeness or usefulness of any information presented. The messages express the views of the author, not necessarily the views of TMF or its staff members.
Warning System
All TMF users have a personal warning bar under their avatar. Moderators and Administrators are able to warn members who break the rules and issue the penalty associated with that rule.
The penalties are as follows:
- Warning Level 1 - 1 day posting ban (minimum)
- Warning Level 2 - 2-7 day posting ban (at the moderators discretion)
- Warning Level 3 - indefinite ban
E.g. - if Joe receives one warning for spamming a thread he will receive a 1 day ban. If he comes back a week later and receives 2 further warnings (therefore increasing his warn level to 3), he will be banned indefinitely.
Each of the following Rule Violations will result in a MINUMUM Warning Increase of 1 level
Spam
Posts that are completely off topic or pointless and topics posted in order to raise post count or generally irritate other forum users will be removed. This includes posting the same message in multiple forums, the threads will be merged and the various original posts will be removed.
Single word replies to threads will be classed as spam. These posts are neither useful nor helpful, and will be removed where necessary.
The definition of spam is subject to the administrator or moderator's discretion.
Copyright Infrigment
Continual disregard for the copyright rule above
Explicit and Pornographic Images
This includes, but is not limited to any distasteful photographs or images containing explicit imagery. Furthermore, this includes those of a graphic or vulgar nature, which would be deemed unsuitable for a community forum for all ages.
Flaming
Actions considered as Flaming (the act of being offensive towards others) will not be tolerated, we try to allow people to voice their opinions, and allow for debate. However we do not want to see posts that offend other forum members.
Use of Foul Language
The use of profanity will not be tolerated. Please show respect for yourself and the members of TMF. Many profanities are automatically removed by the forum software, any attempts to circumvent the censoring imposed by the board will be removed and repeat offenders will have their warning level increased.
Offence Towards Groups
Any racist, sexist, xenophobic, and other remarks towards a minority or specific group of people, will be deleted and the member will be warned or banned. The internet is one world, colour or creed is not an issue here!
Utilising the Private messaging system for abuse or threats is also frowned upon and action will be taken if the system is abused.
The BMW MINI
TMF is BMW MINI tolerant and posts that are in any way offensive towards owners of BMW MINI's will be removed and the forum member will be warned. Continual disregarding of this will result in further action being taken.
TMF however is focused on the Classic Mini, therefore it is appropriate to direct any technical advice on BMW MINI's to a more relevant forum if you cannot answer the question. Below is a link to MINI2 - an online community dedicated to the BMW MINI
MINI2
Post in English
When posting on the forums, please use English! Don't speak entirely in all-capitals, or so called 'TEXT' speak. If you're able to speak good English, use your abilities - computers provide you with a full keyboard, and there is no need to shorten words to letters (for example you = u, and your = ur) therefore please use full words.
The forum software (with 95% of browsers) includes a spell-check facility - please use it! Any words spelt incorrectly will be underlined in red. Excuses such as "I suffer from dyslexia" no longer apply due to the introduction of this software. The spell check button is the "ABC" one found when composing posts.
Continual use of capital letters or ‘TEXT’ speak will initially receive a written request by a Staff Member asking the member to refrain from using it. Further violations will then incur a warning.
Usernames and Accounts
When creating a user name, please take into account the Rules and Regulations, any abusive/bad language seen in usernames will be looked upon harshly and will be deleted on sight.
More Severe Warnings as follows can lead to an Indefinite ban without previous warnings
Sock Puppet accounts
These are strictly not allowed. A sock puppet is an account made on an internet message board by a person who already has an account for the purpose of posting anonymously. Use your own account for posting personal opinions. Posts from known sock puppet accounts will be deleted and the puppet account will be banned from TMF. In addition, if it has been deemed that the Sock Puppet account has been created for malicious reasons then the original account will also be banned.
Serious Abuse of Forum
Should it be deemed following deliberation by the admin team as a whole that any individual has brought the forum into disrepute or continually flouts the Rules and Regulations then the normal warning system will be null and void and the user in question will immediately be banned to protect the forum and its members from continuing abuse.
Enjoy Yourself!
Above all else we are here because of our love and enthusiasm for the Mini. We want you to enjoy yourself while getting the most from your Mini and your visit to the forum. Keep these Rules and Regulations in mind when posting. These rules are subject to change as situations arise. Check back here if you are unsure about content that you wish to post.
