Forum Rules

Registration to this forum is free! We do insist that you abide by the rules and policies detailed below. If you agree to the terms, please check the 'I agree' checkbox and press the 'Register' button below. If you would like to cancel the registration, click here to return to the forums index.

Welcome to TheScubaForum.com. This website is owned and maintained by Burton’s Dive Service ("us", “we”, "Burton’s Dive", "BDS", “TSF” and “The Scuba Forum”). The use of this website is subject to the following terms and conditions that you should read carefully. By using this website you agree to be bound by these terms and conditions. If you do not accept these terms and conditions then you may not use this website.

Although the administrators and moderators of thescubaforum.com will attempt to keep all objectionable messages off this forum, it is impossible for us to review all messages. All messages express the views of the author, and neither the owners of thescubaforum.com, nor Jelsoft Enterprises Ltd. (developers of vBulletin) will be held responsible for the content of any message.

As with all agreements we are sure to have left something out. Thescubaforum.com reserves the right to add to or amend these terms without any prior warning or the mutual consent of its users. By completing your registration with us, you agree that you’re The Scuba Forum participation will conform to any such additions or amendments to these terms.

Membership

• In order to become a member of the website and to post to the website you must register an account with us. Registration is free. No personal information will be delivered to any third-party.
  
• You must provide your real first and last name during registration. This information will not be available publicly and is only for thescubaforum.com administrators/owners.
  
• You must maintain a valid email address associated with your membership account. The valid and required e-mail address is used only for confirming your registration details and password (and for sending new passwords should you forget your current one). If you do not receive an activation email within a few days, please contact us.
  
• This forum system uses cookies to store information on your local computer. These cookies do not contain any of the information you have entered above; they serve only to improve your viewing pleasure.
  
• The creation of multiple accounts ("sock puppets") for one person is prohibited. The forum administrators may have additional “user” accounts strictly for the testing of forum function.
  
• You must not share your membership account or details of your account with other individuals and no one may log onto your account other than you.
  
• By becoming a member of the website and by posting here you grant us a license to permanently display your membership account (including its status) and to publish your words indefinitely.
  
• Membership of this board is a privilege not a right and is at the absolute discretion of thescubaforum.com. If you break any of these terms or behave in a manner detrimental to the good of this website then at a minimum you will be warned either via Private Message (PM) or an infraction (which might result in a temporary suspension), if you continue with that behaviour or break other rules or if on review we think your infraction was serious then you will be banned. Serious infringements of these terms will result in an instant ban.
  
• If you threaten someone in any way on the forums or via its private messaging system or perform or condone any unlawful act or behave in a manner which harms our community then you will be instantly banned with no warning.
  
• Infractions and bans are private matters between this website, its staff and individual users who receive said infraction or ban. The reasons for these actions may not be made public or discussed on the website.
  
• Please be warned that the consequences of being banned are that you will be unable to access the website, your account will be placed into banned status and your account will be publicly shown to be banned and all your posts will be shown to be published from a banned account.
  
• While we respect a user's desire to request a review of the status of their account when banned, we specifically forbid the use of sock puppets (multiple user accounts) or another user's account to make such a request. All such requests must be sent to admin@thescubaforum.com for consideration. At this point of the process, we will not correspond any further unless we change your status.
  
• You may cancel your membership at any time when your account is in good standing (e.g. while not in receipt of an infringement or ban). Please inform an administrator if you wish to cancel your membership. Your account will be marked with a status of Membership Cancelled and will be deactivated. Any posts you have made will be shown to have been made from a cancelled account.
  
• To request reactivation of a cancelled membership account, please contact admin@thescubaforum.com where a review of your request will be made.

Website Content

• While we encourage discussion about a wide range of subjects, there are certain areas which elicit more animosity and subsequently far more flames. As a result you agree that discussions involving politics, religion, nationalities or anything of a sexual nature be handled with tact and discretion, or moved to other message boards that are better venues for these topics and will not be discussed on this website.
  
• Cross Posting / Reposting / Reprinting of information from this site is forbidden without written permission of the site owner.
  
• Spam, data mining or recruiting our membership is forbidden.
  
• Please try to make thread titles as descriptive as possible when creating a new thread. This will help prevent forum clutter with multiple threads about the same topic.
  
• Please try to post new threads in the appropriate forums.
  
• You agree that when posting in an existing thread you will not hijack the thread or attempt to take it off topic.
  
• If you wish to respond to a thread that has been inactive for some time, create a new thread and reference the old one in your opening post.
  
• When posting you will not spam, troll, flame or insult members.
  
• Excessively profane, insulting or mean spirited language is not allowed here.
  
• Harassment or bullying or threats of any sort are not tolerated and may result in an instant ban of your user account.
  
• You agree and understand that the debates may become passionate but you will not to resort to personal attacks. If you feel that you have been attacked, you will not retaliate but instead use the "report post" button at the bottom of the post (red triangle with black vertical line located under user avatar) to notify us.
  
• Posts advocating or condoning illegal activity are not allowed on the board.
  
• Commercial posts are only allowed from site sponsors / advertisers. Any other commercial posts will be deleted.
  
• You agree that no advertising, contests, lotteries or the like will be posted without permission from the administrators/owners of thescubaforum.com
  
• We reserve the right to edit or delete any signature we do not feel is appropriate for the website.
  
• Nudity or overly provocative images or racist or offensive images may not be used for Avatars or submitted anywhere on the website.
  
• You agree that the moderators and administrators have the last word in any dispute and are responsible for the smooth running of the website and have final interpretation of these terms and conditions of use.
  
• Respect each others’ privacy: do not post other's phone numbers, addresses, pictures, etc. without their permission.
  
• At The Scuba Forum, discussion forums serve a different purpose than chat rooms. Long threads which exist for the sole purpose of creating a chat environment are not allowed in the discussion forums at The Scuba Forum. We ask that this type of interaction be confined to our chat rooms which have been created for this purpose. Threads in our forums which turn into "chat threads" will be edited or removed.
  
• You agree to keep all “expert advice” safe and accurate. Do not offer any information that you feel may cause someone to do something unsafe.
  
• You agree that moderators and administrators at their discretion and when they deem it in the best interest of thescubaforum.com, may edit or delete avatars, pictures, posts, articles, maps, threads or any other information submitted to the website. They might also split threads to ensure a thread stays on topic and/or give infractions (which might result in a temporary or permanent ban) to users who fail to follow these rules. They will also ban users when necessary.