Everyone, nobody is excused from them, and it is the users responsibilty to keep up to date with any changes to the rules which may occur.

Yes, the Site Administrator reserves the right to change the forum rules at any time without notice.

Aggressive behaviour towards members, or staff will not be tolerated. Where a member is found to be bullying or threatening another member they will be banned.

Moderators will be responsible for the policing of the forum and any decision that could lead to a member being banned will be referred to and only be made by an Administrator. If a Moderator feels that a member has contravened the rules to a point that a banning is required then that Moderator is to notify a member of Admin of the circumstances involved.

Excessive or vulgar profanities, or profanity directed at others in an insulting manner will not be tolerated. Making remarks that could be construed as Racist or Homophobic are to be avoided. Attempting to bypass the swear filter by creative use of other characters is not permitted and may result in the thread or post being removed and a warning given to the offender. Too many warnings will result in an account ban.

Posts are to be made in the relevant forum. Users are asked to read the forum descriptions before posting. Users consistently posting to the wrong forum may be given a warning. Members should post in a way that is respectful of other users. Flaming or abusing users in any way will not be tolerated and will lead to a warning. Members should post in a way which is consistent with normal writing. That is users should not post excessive numbers of emoticons, large, small or coloured text,or use "text talk" etc. Similarly users should not SHOUT or use excessive punctuation (e.g. ! and ?) in topic titles or posts. DO NOT post off topic nonsense simply to raise your post count, which is a good way to become disliked. Always respect members at all times, do not go into a persons topic purely for the purposes of causing trouble. Do not post excessively large images for no reason or without warning. Sending other users private messages (PMs) to advertise something unrelated to the website will receive a warning. Repeat offenders will be banned from the website/forums. Users consistently abusing this will be warned. If members note an issue which contravenes something in the forum rules, they are welcome to bring it to the attention of a member of staff via the "Report" button on every post.

When posting a new topic, please make sure the topic has not already been posted and discussed before hand. Topics should be started in the most suitable forum, if a topic has been started in the wrong forum it will be moved to the appropriate forum by a Moderator. Frequently starting topics in the wrong forum will lead to a warning being issued to the member. Please do not post topic titles all in capital letters. If you are unsure where a post should go, please ask a Moderator.

Inappropriate polls will be removed.

Private Messaging is provided to the members of ThePortsmouthForum as a service intended to enhance the Community experience. The purpose of private messaging is to allow for discreet conversations to take place between members. This privilege is not to be abused! Solicitation, spamming, or harassment of any kind is strictly forbidden. Any member receiving an inappropriate private message should forward that message to an Administrator or Moderator immediately. Although private messages are normally only accessible by those who send and receive them, they are part of the database and as such, property of ThePortsmouthForum. An Administrator, if so inclined, could locate the Private Messages in the database and read them. They are private, but not necessarily secret. In addition, Private Messages are not intended to deprive the Community of valuable information or experiences which could benefit the entire group (this includes spoilers). You have the right to report a PM to a Moderator / Administrator if you feel you are being harassed by another member via the Private Messaging system.

Multiple links to external sites in order to attract traffic there for personal gain or to promote forums of a similar nature to ThePortsmouthForum with the intention of aquiring members for that site will not be tolerated. I will accept links to external sites, but this must not be abused. Please do not spam our forums. Warnings will be given and users banned if necessarry.

When posting photographs / images please remember that your images will be visable to all members / public. The posting of adult material will be not be tolerated. Any violation to this rule will result in the offending photograph / image being removed and a warning sent to the offender. Three warnings and the right to use Avatars or Signatures will be removed for the offender. Continuation will result in a ban.

Avatars are viewable by everyone, so any user Avatar must be free from any lewd or profanic material. The maximum size permitted for Avatars is a 100x100 pixel frame with a file size of no more than 60kb. Lightly animated GIF files are allowed, but static JPG or GIF files are preferred. Avatars breaking these rules will be replaced by a warning image. If this rule is broken 3 times, your ability for avatars will be removed. Under no occurances must any material displayed contain profane, lewd or adult content. Any avatars found or reported breaking these rules will be replaced with a warning image.

A signature may contain one or more images but they must fit within a box with maximum dimensions of 500 x 100 pixels (width x height) and with a maximum (combined) file size of 50k. One line of text may be used with an image meeting this rule. If no images are used then up to 4 consecutive lines of normal (size3) or smaller text is permitted. Do not pad out your text lines with blanks lines. A line of text is defined as having a maximum length of 400 pixels. Text signatures must be no more than 255 characters. Signatures breaking these rules will be replaced by a warning image by an automated checker. If this rule is broken 3 times, your ability for signatures will be removed. Under no circumstances must any material displayed contain profane, lewd or adult content. Any signatures found or reported breaking these rules will be replaced with a warning image.

Posting or linking to sexually explicit remarks or any type of pornographic images is STRICTLY PROHIBITED. This is a banning offence and will not be tolerated for a second. Offenders will be dealt in an appropriate manner. As signatures, avatars, profile pics etc are viewable in all parts of the forum, any adult content found or reported in these sections will be removed and the offending member reprimanded accordingly.

Usernames may only be changed by applying to an Administrator to do so.

Attempts to hack the forums or access features you normally are not allowed to, will result in an IP ban. If you discover any problems with the board that may be abused please report them immediately to a member of staff.

NO "For the Attention Of:" posts whatsoever in any forum. The use of email or private messaging is to be used instead.

Moderators will be responsible for the policing of the forum and any decision that could lead to a member being banned will be referred to and only be made an Administrator. If a Moderator feels that a member has contravened the rules to a point that a banning is required then that Moderator is to notify a member of Admin of the circumstances involved.

If you discover a problem with the forum, please (if possible!) notify the Site Administrator or a Moderator ASAP.

All members are kindly asked to respect the Moderators and Administrators of ThePortsmouthForum and their decisions at all times. Failure to do so will result in an immediate ban.

All members are kindly asked to respect each other.