AAPC Forum Rules

Warning. Your postings on this public forum will become public.

It is a privilege to post in the AAPC member forums, not a right. This privilege can be revoked at any time, and at the sole discretion of AAPC, with or without warning or notice. The basic ground rules for discussions on AAPC are simple: be polite, use common sense, don't break the law, realize that information posted here are mostly opinions, and don't post any message that even hints at advertising. We don't intend to censor messages based on the opinions expressed within posts, but we will enforce the policies outlined both here and on the Forum. We reserve the right to remove, modify or move posts at our discretion and without explanation. Please contact the AAPC directly if you do not understand any of the rules, guidelines or policies outlined below.

Deletion or moderation of your posts, suspension or removal of your forum account and potentially your membership are definite consequence of not adhering to these guidelines.

In addition to the rules posted here, you are required to read any individual forum rules which may be posted at the top of specific forums as Important threads or Announcements. AAPC staff assume members have read them and will not take ignorance of any rules as an excuse for not following the rules, policies, and guidelines outlined here and in the forum specific rules.

General Forum Rules:
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These rules apply to all Forum categories.
• We take the "Be Polite" rule very seriously! We do not tolerate any rudeness. Any member who is intentionally unpleasant or disruptive may be banned without warning. This rule applies to forums postings and private messages.
• If you SPAM our members in any manner, your account will be disabled. Do not contact anyone to suggest your product or service who is not explicitly expecting you to contact them. If you gleaned information from anywhere on our site and use that to contact someone and present an offer, it's SPAM.
• Your account is yours alone. You are responsible for any activity created with it. When you post something, it is public, it will be visible to thousands of members, and potentially the world. Information posted in our forums should not be considered private.
• All publicly displayed messages are limited to the English language. This includes posts, titles, signatures, and any attachments or other forms of public display.
• Signature Spam (a post that was made in hopes of showing a signature, as determined by moderators) is forbidden in all forum categories.
• You may not post commission, referral or affiliate links anywhere on the forum. You may not link to sites whose main income is derived from affiliate or referral links.
• You may not post copyrighted material or communicate the distribution of copyrighted material.
• Cross-Posting is not allowed here. Cross-posting refers to posting new duplicate threads or posts, or the linking to threads or posts already started by the poster with the intention of gaining exposure.
• You may not repost information that has been removed by a moderator.
• You may not solicit any external source to post on this forum regarding your company, services, or products; or any company, services, or products you are or may be associated with.
• You may not post on behalf of any banned member in any public manner. This includes all forums, private messages, signatures, and e-mail features.
• You may not post words or URLs that are censored by adding spaces, dots, or substituting characters; or by any other means in an attempt to defeat any censors put in place by AAPC. Please contact the AAPC if you feel a word or URL is unjustly censored. Bottom line: please use clean language.
• You may not link, in any manner, to sites or images containing pornography, sexually explicit, gross violence, or are determined by moderators to be detrimental to the community.
• You may not bump threads. Bumping can refer to posting useless information, posting one-liners or any other action to deliberately keep a thread hot or to bring it to the top of its forum. Moderators will use their discretion, depending on the nature of the post, as to whether to take action or not.
• You may not use discussions to recommend, praise, or belittle other products or services, or any company; without first hand experience of those products or services. This includes companies recommending other companies. Any post not meeting a moderator's criteria will be removed without notice.
• Any posts that encourage illegal intent will be removed and the account disabled.
• Public posts debating these rules and/or moderators' enforcement of such, will be removed without comment. We encourage feedback however and invite you to contact the AAPC directly if you have any questions or concerns.
• You may not publish or discuss any information regarding your product or services, or future (possible) products or services, or any product or services you are, or have been, associated with. This includes, but not limited to suggesting your own services, or services of partners, clients, employers or friends.
• You may not post any messages that is commercial by nature.
• You may not post any message that directs others to any pages at your own commercial domain, including informational pages. A commercial domain is defined as a site that receives any type of income or links to any income producing properties.
• You may not direct others to contact you regarding your product or services or future (possible) products or services, or any product or service you are, or have been, associated with.
• You may not private message individuals that have asked you not to.
• You may not solicit the membership for feedback or suggestions on your product or services.
• You may not solicit users for any project or purpose external to the forum; public, private, or commercial. Most importantly our member base is not a resource to be "mined" by individuals, groups, or businesses, for profit or not for profit.
• You may only discuss details about your company and/or product offerings when the thread starter or poster has made direct reference to your company and stated something untrue or misleading, or something which clearly needs clarifying. The response must be in direct reference to the point discussed only and contain no added promotional information and/or fluff. It is advisable when in the above scenario to contact us first.

Profiles, and Signatures:
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The profile and signature options are edited via your Profile. Signatures, once created in your profile, are attached to the end of your posts (if you choose the option to include your signature).
• Profile pictures cannot include sexually explicit or graphically intense images.
•Signatures:
Must be setup in your profile, and not manually added to your messages.
May not contain crude, rude or inappropriate messaging. If you question whether or not it may be, don't create it.
May not contain any pricing, plan, sales, etc. details. "Free" is considered a price in the context of this rule.
May contain a maximum of two smilies. Or one animated smiley.
May include one clickable links.
May include one color, plus black.
Maximum font size cannot be larger than normal.
Must be kept to a maximum of four lines when viewed at 1024x768 resolution using the horizontal postbit.
May not contain links to other threads or posts.
Please keep special characters to a minimum.
Your signature is your signature. It is not for sale or rent.
Any signature that is offensive or insulting to AAPC, its members, or its staff, is prohibited.
We reserve the right to ask you to change and/or remove your signature at any time, for any reason.

Any posts not meeting these guidelines may be removed. We do not remove posts by requests.

In light of our policy of encouraging candid, open exchanges of views and the rapid distribution of information originating from many sources, AAPC cannot determine the accuracy of information that may be uploaded to the forum.

Opinions, advice and all other information expressed by participants in discussions are those of the author. You rely on such information at your own risk. You are urged to seek professional advice for specific, individual situations and not rely solely on advice or opinions given in the discussions.

Finally; any abuse towards our staff and/or management in any form, may result in immediate suspension of your forum privileges, and potentially membership.

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