Gun-Politics.ORG Site Rules

Dear visitors,

Below, you will find the rules, which each member should respect in this site.

Please keep these rules in mind, when entering this site. These are the rules that the moderators will have to check for, in your posts.

Site Rules

1. It is obvious that this site should be used to discuss arms-related legal and political issues. No non-arms-related legal and politicial issues can be discussed in here. General political discussion is NOT allowed in here. Any non-arms related discussion will be deleted and the initiating member will be permanently banned.

2. Please try to avoid flames. I know that it is human to over-react some times, but please try to avoid it. Spamming, trolling, flaming, and personal attacks are prohibited. You can disagree with other members, even vehemently, but it must be done in a well-mannered form. Attack the argument, not the arguer.

3. Please bear in mind the international nature of the network, and the fact that your postings are read by people all over the world, with different cultures, religion, interests and attitudes. Let's try to avoid making a local problem, an international issue. The site has specific areas for US issues and for issues related to other countries. Please use the appropriate areas for your messages.

4. Foul language will not be tolerated. I repeat, let's keep this Forum a gentlemen's playground. An automated filter will trap most foul language, do not try to bypass it. Disguising a vulgar or obscene word with symbols or random characters ($, *, etc), deliberate misspelling to by-pass the naughty word filter, or using common synonyms when the intended word can be easily inferred from the substitute is considered the same as using that foul word, so please don't try it. Foul remarks about a person's religion or nationality should be avoided at all cost. They will again not be tolerated. In addition, the use of slang adjectives deriving from words associated with excrement or bodily functions are considered extremely insulting in some cultures and for that reason such words may not be used on these forums. It should be needless to say that slang words referring to sexual acts are also not acceptable.

5. Pictures, links or written descriptions of pornographic content will not be tolerated. Any porno related material (pictures, links etc.) will be immediately deleted and the member will be immediately banned.

6. This forum is intended as a place to discuss the firearms-related legal and political issues in an adult and respectful manner. Sexually-suggestive statements, sexual harassment, sexual innuendo, bawdy or “locker room” humour and the like have no place on this forum and will not be allowed. Bawdy stories and “locker room” humour are not appropriate, and will be treated the same as obscene or profane language.

7. When replying to a message in the Forums and quote a previous message, please cut and remove whatever is not relevant to your answer. It is stupid to post one line as a reply and include an 100-lines quote in your message. Cut whatever is not absolutely essential to convey the meaning you want. Also, you must not edit or alter a quote in a way the changes the meaning or intent of the original quote.

8. Keep signatures to a minimum. I know that bandwidth is not as expensive as it used to be and that most of you are on cable or DSL connections, but let's save as much bandwidth as possible. Consider people who visit the site through very expensive wireless links (either through mobile phones or others), or those unfortunate ones who are still using a dial-up connection. Photos or other images in signatures may be no larger than 200 x 100 (horizontal 200 x vertical 100). Anything larger than that takes too much space and is making the posts look ridiculous. One picture per signature only. Text in signatures that include photos or images shall be limited to three lines. Text in signatures without photos or images may be up to five lines. And, in order to forestall any "Philadelphia lawyers," blank lines count.

9. No member of the site can use it to promote his/her commercial activities/products/services. If this occurs, the member doing that, risks to be banned from the site and invoiced for the usage of advertising space.

10. Treat other members the same way you want to be treated yourself. We cannot provide a comprehensive list of "Things Not To Say." Posts that are contrary to the above policies, or to the mission of Gun-Politics.ORG, may be edited or deleted at our sole discretion. Membership may be revoked if such a step is deemed necessary by us. This site is a private venture enabled by an all-volunteer staff. Please treat this venue as a polite discussion in a friend's home and respect the wishes of the host.

11. Your threads should go to the appropriate forum. Do not post threads in the wrong forum, just because you think that they will get better exposure there, they will certainly be moved to where they belong. Also, do not post multiple threads on the same subject, in different forums. This is prohibited and extra threads will be deleted, only the thread which appears in the single, appropriate forum, will be left behind.

12. A valid email address is a prerequisite for your membership. Gun-Politics.ORG does not make your email address public, only the site management team has access to your email address, and Gun-Politics.ORG management does NOT spam our members. Your email address will only be used in case we need to contact you and we can not do it in any other way (Private Message). Please remember to change your email address in this site, if you change your email address. Any mailing in bulk to the forum Members by another forum member will result in immediate suspension of your membership.

13. It is illegal to reproduce any significant portion of any book, magazine, newspaper, or other printed or on-line publication without the express permission of the owner of the copyright. Without going into detail, BRIEF quotations of a limited portion of an article or other publication is generally allowed under the "Fair Use Doctrine." However, the quotation must be identified as a quotation, and the author and source must be identified and attributed. You may not reproduce copyrighted material without the owner's permission and without giving credit to the author and copyright holder. We are aware that members of some forums ask (or demand) that news articles be copied and reproduced in their entirety in forum posts. Unless you have the express permission of the copyright owner to do so, THIS IS ILLEGAL and IT IS NOT ALLOWED ON THIS SITE. Any member who quotes or reproduces an entire article, or a substantial portion of an article, will be warned, and the post will be deleted. This applies whether or not you also include a link to the original article. In addition, any member who suggests to another participant on this site that he should or must quote an entire article rather than a small portion and a link will similarly be warned.

14. I reserve the right to revoke membership from this Forum or disable a member's posting ability for any or no reason whatsoever. I also reserve the right to reveal member's identity (or whatever information I know about a member) in the event of a complaint or legal action arising from any message posted by a member.

15. The owner of this forum and the moderators are volunteers who serve without pay. Abuse toward these individuals will not be tolerated. Any abuse directed toward the Owner, Moderators or forum provider will result in the immediate suspension of forum privileges.

16. We don't intend to censor messages based on the opinions expressed within posts, but we will enforce the policies outlined above.

Your comments are always welcome, we have set up a special Forum just for that. Use it to convey your message to us.

A note on FREEDOM of SPEECH:

As has been stated above, this is an international forum. We are aware of the Constitution of the United States and its First Amendment:

"Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances."

The First Amendment is greatly respected here. However, Gun-Rights.ORG is private property, not the United States Congress. Quite simply, the First Amendment does not apply to this site. We respectfully request (and require) that members adhere to all forum policies. This is a contract agreed to by all who become members of this site. Those who break site rules cannot invoke U.S. constitutional protections against censorship or for freedom of speech - they do not apply here. A contract broken is a contract broken. If you do not like the rules of conduct or the acceptable topics, please seek out a new venue to frequent or start your own board.

It is my hope that establishing the above rules for conduct on the site will not prove unduly burdensome on the membership, but will serve to make the site experience more universally enjoyable as well as avoiding conflicts and misunderstandings. My intent in establishing this site is to provide a venue for mature and intelligent political and legal discussion.

Welcome on board

For Gun-Politics.ORG

John Caradimas