Rule and Guidelines for Participation

When participating in our community, there are a few simple rules we ask each member to follow:

1. Communicate in a friendly and respectful manner.
It's OK to share your opinions and to disagree, we simply ask that you do so without attacking another member in the process.

If you feel you have been personally attacked in our community, don't respond with an attack of your own. Instead, e-mail the Moderator to alert us of the problem.

2. Keep it clean.
Profanity and obscenities will not be tolerated. This includes masked profanity where letters are substituted with special characters.

3. Don't instigate arguments.
Content intended to inflame or disrupt the community is not allowed. This includes harassment of fellow members, links to inappropriate content, racial, ethnic, religious, or other slurs as well as any name-calling.

4. No solicitations.
No unsolicited or unauthorized advertising. This includes promotion of items for personal financial gain, as well as promotion of an item or issue for the purpose of mass communication. Further, mass posting or "spamming" the message boards is not allowed. Soliciting through the private messaging system is also not allowed. If you receive a solicitation in a private message, please forward the message to the moderator. We must have proof to stop future abuse. Soliciting means that you are persuading other members to buy something, try a new service, or visit another website, etc., where the members may or may not have any interest in doing so.

5. Don't share personally identifiable information.
To protect your privacy and to ensure your online safety, we ask that you do not post personally identifiable information. This includes phone numbers, address, instant messaging screen names (AOL, ICQ, Yahoo, MSN, etc,) or web address leading to such information. Further, we ask that you do not share someone else's personally identifiable information.

6. Don't post copyrighted material.
We ask that you do not post any copyrighted or trademarked material unless you have the express written consent of the owner to do so. The Animal Network is not responsible for any posts that infringe on copyright laws. If a copyright has been broken, you may be held legally responsible.

7. Respect our Community Team
The Animal Network community team includes employees and volunteers who do their best to maintain the integrity and standards of our community areas. Should a problem arise on a message board, we ask that you assist the community team by paying attention to their posts and following any directions they may provide. Please do not post attacks or insults against the moderators. It is your choice to continue to visit the forums. You will be banned from the forum if you post attacks or insults aimed at the moderators.

8. Keep on topic
Please keep all postings and subject matter relevant to the thread topics. This is a forum where members share and give advice and information, not a place to gossip, rant, or rave about subject matters not pertaining to the discussion.

9. Abusing private messaging and message board
The message and private messaging system are for you to exchange advice, learn and have fun. Using the private messaging system and message board as a means of mass communication for solicitation is strictly prohibited. Report abuse to the Moderator by forwarding the private communication. We must have proof to stop future abuse.

This entails using the message board and private messaging system to recruit people for a community or cause. Deliberately using the board for this purpose calls for a warning. If this offense is repeated after being warned, the member will be banned.

These rules are here for your protection. They ensure we maintain a fun, safe and supportive environment where members can talk about the animals they adore. Members who continually break these rules are subject to account suspension and are no longer eligible for participation in our community.

Now that you know the rules, we invite you to join in our community and look forward to your participation. Welcome!

Thank you - AnimalNetwork.com Forum Administrator