Toy Soldier Forum Rules and Etiquette

The Treefrog Treasures Toy Soldier Forum is a place to exchange information and ideas, post pictures, chat, and most importantly have fun!

Please abide by these rules so it can be an enjoyable experience for everyone.

 

Agreement: By using these boards you agree to abide by the following rules:

1.  Privacy:  The Treefrog Treasures Forum requires an email address for board registration.  This allows us to reset your password if you forget, or contact you if needed.  We respect your privacy, and your email and/or other personal information will not be disclosed or sold to a third party.  Your email address is NOT displayed in your user profile, unless you specifically select to display it.  We encourage you to fill out your user profile (favorite maker, favorite area of collection, occupation, interests, etc.) but this is optional and if you choose to enter this information, it will be visible to others in your user profile.

2.  No Offensive Content:  Do not use profanity, racial, ethnic, religious, or other slurs, or post images of graphic violence, nudity or pornography or any other offensive material.   We'd like for our members and guests to all feel comfortable here and to be able to visit the site at work and share it with friends and family without issue.  Also please avoid discussion of current political issues (see Respect for Other Members).

3.  No Commercial Posts or "SPAM":   Unless you are buying/selling/trading toy soldiers and toy soldier memorabilia in the appropriate Collector Classifieds and Online Auction areas, posting of advertisements for products or services, links to auctions, affiliate links, links to promote websites, and so forth is not allowed.   Spammers will receive an automatic ban.

4.  Respect for Other Members:   Remember that there is a person on the other side of that screen.  Feel free to discuss opinions, but keep it to the issues.  No name-calling, personal insults or flames.  

"Our reaction to other persons, especially those with whom we do not agree, ought always to be characterized by a willingness to show respect; to be careful not to damage another person's good name; to affirm what is good in another; never to be rude and insulting."
-- George Haliburton Hume

• If you wouldn’t (or shouldn’t) say something to another member face-to-face then don’t post it. This rule of thumb can avoid flames, hard feelings and a host of misunderstandings.  No personal attacks.  Personal attacks are defined as personal, racial, religious, ethnic and/or gender-based insults, slurs, or derisive comments. 
• We have members from different countries, religions, backgrounds. It's very easy to forget that on the internet. Even if you express a point of view that is very popular in your culture, it may generate a negative reaction from members in another part of the world so please exercise tact.  
• Some military history topics can be controversial - be civil.  The Treefrog Treasures Toy Soldier Forum is an excellent place to be educated on the military history behind the military miniatures you collect, but some historical discussions can be controversial. By all means participate, but don't undermine your cause with personal attacks.
• Historical discussion is fine, current politics are not.  This is a toy soldier forum so keep to the topic and related topics.  If you want to post your political opinions do so elsewhere on the political forum of your choice.
• If you take issue with someone else’s post please stop and make sure you are understanding their intent correctly and attempt to see their point of view before becoming offended and saying something you may later regret.
• Please try to keep it fun and friendly!

5.  Forum Monitoring:  . 

• Mods are not online at all times. We do not have nor should we need a moderator swat team for immediate interventions.
• Mods do not read every thread and post and will not see all issues. Member reports are an important part of rules enforcement.
• Mods will act on rules violations when they see them.
• Members should report any post they think is a problem and refrain from any further action of their own.
• Moderators will act in time, and will respond to the reporter with general info on the action. Reported posts are reviewed and the more serious the issue the more likely action is to be delayed to get the wisdom of multiple moderators as they are available.

Hundreds of messages are posted each day and so we cannot monitor all posts in real-time, do not verify the accuracy or validity of posts, or in any way endorse the opinions expressed by individual posters.  If you discover an inappropriate post report it to a moderator using the “Report this post” icon (white & red triangle) located in the upper right-hand corner of each post.

If deemed necessary the offending post will be edited or removed, and the offending party shall receive a warning or infraction with a possible loss of privileges.
If the behavior continues, the member may be temporarily banned or in the case of repeated incidents, banned permanently.

6.  No Disclosure of Other Members’ Personal Information:  Do not disclose any other member's email, real name, address, phone number, IP address, or other personal information without their permission.

7.  Poster’s Remorse:  When you post a message to the forum it becomes an intrinsic and permanent part of the content of the board.  Moderators are happy to assist with small edits on specific posts but please do not ask moderators to go back and delete posts or portions of your posts because you have changed your mind about sharing a particular image or story.  Not only does this create a lot of work for the moderators but it also often disrupts the flow of the thread. If you choose to leave the forum and request to have your username unregistered your posts will remain and your user status will be changed to 'guest.'  Don’t post something you might later regret.  Remember, a post is forever.

8. No Trolling, Nonsense, or Frivolous Posts:  These sorts of posts eat up space and waste everyone's time. 

Posting of inflammatory messages with the sole purpose of generating a response ("trolling") is not allowed.  Please do NOT reply to such messages; they only encourage the offender to post more.  Rather, click on the white and red triangle "Report this post" icon and they will be dealt with.  Substance is the key to not being labeled a troll.

If you would like to chat off-topic with another forum member please do so using the private message feature or via instant messaging.  Don’t turn a thread into your own personal conversation—that’s what private messaging is for. 

9. No Multiple Accounts/Screen Names:  Only one account per member. No posting under more than one account to create the deception that you are two or more different people. 

10. Violations:  If you have been given an infraction you will be placed on moderated status. You will have all the regular member privileges with the exception that your posts will go into moderation queue and will not be visible until approved by a moderator. Infraction points generally correspond with the expiration time so if you are given a 3-point infraction it will expire after three days. If you receive the same infraction again while the first is in effect, the first one will be extended to the most current infraction's expiration.

With these basic ground rules established, let’s talk toy soldiers and have fun!