Forum Rules

To minimse misunderstandings and to maintain a polite and professional atmosphere we have a set of Forum Rules to govern and control the manner in which the Forum is used by all. There are also legal ramifications that can arise from Forum posts so these rules serve to protect you. Your use of the Forum assumes you have read and agree to these rules. You also accept to have your post(s) moderated for any breach of these rules as outlined in the Moderation Policy.

By having an Off Topic rule, we are simply saying that the Forum is not an open medium for anyone to create posts that stray away from the core theme of this website. This means unrelated jokes, political comment, religion, football, work, personal computer problems, home life issues etc are all "off topic". It is also considered "off topic" if you provide a link to another website without giving clarification as to the relevance of the information to be found there, however linking is fine if you discuss the issue within your post.

For people that have something to share that appears to be "off topic" then we provide another avenue for you - via the Blogs. Blogs are available only to Members, so this means if you are not a Member then you cannot post anything on the site that is "off topic". However, if you are a Member, the content and topic of your Blogs is unrestricted (other than that covered by the site Terms of Use).

This site offers a specific facility for users to post For Sale, Wanted to Buy, and Free/Giveaway notices. See Classifieds. If you are a Member and have ads running there, your Forum postings will automatically contain links to each ad. If you are not a Member you are not permitted to promote your ads in the Forum.

Blatant and subtle self-promotion and advertising within the Forum is not allowed. This means, no person, Member or not, can create a post in the Forum to directly promote their own business, nor can they post a link to their website directly from the Forum.

However, the site provides mechanisms via Membership (a fee applies) with specific promotional features that will allow you to promote your Business, or if you are a Personal Member you will have facilities to allow you to share a link to your personal website if you have one.

In addition to other features of Membership, two features offer specific advantages in the Forum:

• Business Screen Name - only for Business Members.


• Signature/Footer - a provision to create an automatically included sign-off at the bottom of all your Forum Posts is given to all Members, both Personal & Business. This signature is handled differently by the system depending on the Member status (ie. Personal or Business).

Personal Members' signatures are setup in their Member Profile tab, which allows text only, maximum 150 characters. The system will also automatically place 1 photo along with your signature - being the one you have selected as the "main profile pic". The system will also automatically place a Send Message link (to enable other Members to instantly message you), and will state if you are a Lifetime Member, or Member plus provide a link to your Profile Page, and a link to your Blog, plus links to each of your active adverts running in the ExplorOz Classifieds to promote these on your behalf. Any attempt by non-members to replicate these features or any misuse of these features is a breach of Forum Rules.

For Business Members, the signature is automatically created from their Business Profile and will contain the business logo, the business name, a statement to show status as Business Member and links to your Business Profile page, links to your Business blog, and a link to Send Message (for Member-Member messages), and links to your ExplorOz Classifieds (if any).

Members may NOT place a link to their website into their Forum Signature (as this defeats the purpose of the auto-link to your profile page). Any attempt by non-members to create a "footer" style sign-off containing a link to their website or name of their business is also in breach of this rule.

Special Conditions of Forum Use for Business Owners

There are some conditions under which we will allow a certain level of business-consumer interaction in the Forum. These are:

• If an existing "active" post on the Forum specifically mentions your business or product you sell/manufacture/distribute then a representative of that business may respond to the post. Business Membership is not required to post a response provided it is an isolated occurrance and provided that you openly disclose that you are responding as a representative of the business. However, if your business wishes to regularly contribute to the Forum you must become a Business Member. Please note that after 30 days of inactivity, posts are automatically "archived" and no new responses can be added.


• Business Members are welcome to use the Forum and other Site Facilities (Blogs etc) in the same manner as Personal Members, but must use a Screen Name that matches their Business Name AND they must NOT create new Forum Threads which are in any way related to their products or services. Business Members who wish to explore options for initiating audience discussion need to contact I.T. Beyond staff directly by phone or email - see Contact Us.


• Business Members may NOT send unsolicited messages to other Members via the Member-Message system. This will be dealt with as spamming.


• Any business found to be misusing the Forum in any way, including attempts to masquerade as a consumer in order to promote discussion of their brand/product/service/outlet will have their posts removed.

For more information about Business Membership, please see Advertise with Us, or join now here.

Forum Users are asked to respectfully refrain from having covert conversations in the Forum that only mean something to a few in the know. Users should also refrain from having prolonged “to and fro” reply exchanges in forum threads. These types of conversations often detract from the intent of the post and result in a barrage of unwanted noise in threads. Alternatively, we provide our Members with a private messaging service called Member Messaging (MM). This is only a short text-message service so for longer, private conversations you should probably swap email addresses or phone numbers!

All swear words (heavy & common) are prohibited - including words with letter substitutions such as astericks, dashes or any other symbol. Posts containing any words of this nature are subject to moderation, furthermore a selection of heavy-weight swear words has been programmed to be automatically replaced with the word "bleep".

As an end of week treat, every Friday (system time) we allow ONE post to be titled "Friday Funnies", to which people may add as many jokes as they like as Replies. However, if you post a thread of this nature before Friday (system time) it will be considered a breach of this rule, as will any attempt to create multiple joke threads on the same Friday.

Please note - Friday Funnies are meant to be "funny" however any post that is defamatory to any race, religion, or gender, or is obscene, vulgar, pornographic, profane, abusive, or indecent are totally inappropriate and must not be posted. We also highlight that any heavy-weight swearing that is normally obscured by our bleepometer is not tolerated in Friday Funnies, including attempts to obscure the swear word by using symbols to replace letters.

However - be mindful that Friday Funnies are not censored before publication and that the onus lies on the site users in their observance of this rule regarding content. You are advised to avoid opening Friday Funny posts if you feel you might be offended. If you did find a post that you feel breaches the content guidelines listed here, please alert the moderators using the Alert Moderator button within the post.

Abuse, insults and personal attacks directed at other people, particularly other site users, or Forum moderators, are unacceptable. There is no grey area in what is a personal attack - it is when a negative statement is directed towards another person.

This rule applies to accusations, for example that someone is trolling or that they are involved in viral marketing. Use the moderator alert button and send your comment/complaint to a moderator to investigate and SAY NOTHING in public. If you disagree with someone on a point, do not resort to name calling or personal attacks, rather argue the merits of their points.

The rule also applies to any person, company, club, or organisation/group outside of this website that implicates our company in any way that could put us in legal trouble. See the Defamation Rule.

Trolling is the activity of a person who posts in a manner such as to incite controversy, conflict, cause annoyance or offence. Trolling is unacceptable on this Forum.

Posts that are unnecessarily repeated, new posts created on the same topic as an existing active post, new posts created to say thank you, suggestions to openly debate issues that should be dealt with directly with by site staff such as Forum operations, or any such instance where the moderators decide that the post interrupts the normal flow of the Forum shall be deemed "inappropriate".

The determination of what constitutes an "inappropriate" post lies with the moderators. External and subjective factors may alter individual views and the moderators' decision is final.

Furthermore, as stated in the Site Terms of Use, within the Communications Facilities section, it is a condition of your use of the site that you will not post or transmit any unlawful, obscene, vulgar, pornographic, profane or indecent information or material of any kind, including without limitation any transmissions constituting or encouraging conduct that would constitute a criminal offence, give rise to civil liability or otherwise violate any applicable law. This means you are also restricted from posting or transmitting any material of any kind which violates or infringes upon the rights of any other person, including material which is an invasion of any privacy or publicity rights or which is protected by copyright, trademark or any other proprietary right, or derivative works with respect thereto, without first obtaining permission from the owner or relevant right holder.

Spam abuses electronic messaging systems to indiscriminately send/transmit unsolicited messages. Spamming on this Forum is unacceptable.

On this Forum, we aim to protect individuals and businesses alike from the threat of defamation and our moderators will use their discretion to remove posts that could potentially be viewed as such. Note that our Moderators are volunteers and whilst all care is taken we do not guarantee to review every post. Anyone who feels they have been defamed, or they believe a post contains defamatory information about another person, should send a Moderator Alert to ensure the post is reviewed.

Quite simply, if your post has been moderated, or you disagree with the fact that someone else's post was moderated, don't retaliate. Check the email you were sent, which explains why the post was removed. If you are upset over the handling of a moderated post, respond to the moderator using email (not online) and state your case politely. If you retaliate with threats, you will simply be ignored or banned for a period of time. See our Legal Threats Policy.

The Forum Moderators (Modsquad) also remove posts for administration reasons that are not related to breaches of the above Forum Rules. These are as follows:

Modsquad have removed a post upon request from the original poster.

Modsquad have removed a post due to an identified duplicate. This often occurs unwittingly by the original poster, and is usually due to the poster clicking Submit post more than once when loading the post to the Forum.