Welcome to West End Gub Club (WEGC) forum. Hereafter referred to as WEGC.The WEGC forum is designed to provide a series of boards where folks gather and share ideas of similar interests as it relates to the Shooting Sports and WEGC activities and facilities. Its about fun and family and guests are welcome. We respect everyones Constitutional Rights, however, we do not allow those rights to be an excuse for rude behavior or abuse of the forum. The WEGC forum is an added bonus to WEGC membership. It is not a stated benefit, and as such its use by any individual is a privilege. WEGC is not obligated to provide this service to anyone and we reserve the right to refuse such service to anyone at anytime. Please help to keep the forum enjoyable, informational, and pleasant for all to enjoy.
SUMMARY - for those that want a quick overview
Rules:
1. No name calling or fighting.
2. No swearing or unpleasant language
3. No Spamming (via posting, private messaging, or signatures, etc...)
4. No Soliciting members to visit your site (via posting, private messaging, or signatures, etc...) except as allowed in the "Forum Directory" - subject to advertising and posting policies set forth by the WEGC Board of Directors and the Admin of this Forum.
5. Each user is allowed to start a discussion thread in the accessible Boards, any new information regarding that subject can be discussed in a "reply" to the initial "post".
6. No commercial ads allowed unless approval by the Admin, Forum Staff, and Board of Directors. All advertising, classifieds, and items for sale are subject to the policies of this Forum and the ByLaws and Policies and Procedures of WEGC.
7. No Hijacking other members threads. Unless your issue is EXACTLY the same as theirs, you should start your own thread or find one that matches yours.
8. No posting the same question in multiple areas.
9. No multiple Usernames/Accounts
10. No adult, inappropriate, or illegal material
11. No "Bumping" of your own posts unless you are adding new information.
12. Threads that are "beating an issue to death" will be closed.
13. Topics that are closed, are closed. Members who open a new topic to continue a closed discussion may be subject to the recourse mentioned above.
14. No Spamming of any kind including signatures.
You must register to be able to post! Inappropriate posts will be removed, deleted, or moved to a more appropriate area.Posting Guidelines*All users must register with this forum and must disclose their full name and WEGC membership number in the signature of their profile before they will be allowed to post. Their names and membership numbers will be verified with the membership director before any posting to this forum will be approved. Names and membership numbers will be transferred to the profile by the Administrator. Each user can then remove this information from their signature if they desire to do so. Full WEGC members will be allowed access to the Members-Only areas of the forum.
* The forum is also available Limited Members and the General Public. All posters are expected to identify themselves and give their membership numbers(Limited Members) to the Administrator for inclusion in the user's profile. All posts must include the poster's real full name. Those posts that do not contain the poster's real name may get pulled and deleted. Any forum user ignoring this request more than once may loose their right to access the forum. It is within the right of the board's Administration to remove and ban a user after one infraction if the Administration feels it is warranted. The General public (guests) may view the General boards (not the Member's only areas) and post to those boards. The poster's real name must be included somewhere in the post. Anonymous posts have little to NO value to the forum/West End Gun Club.
*Attitude - contain yourself to have a good attitude when participating. Please be polite. Or if not polite, at least respectful. No bickering. Regardless of the subject matter. Antagonistic, offensive, or quarrelsome tones are not acceptable.
*Posting Emails or PMs to the Forums - It is not permitted to post emails or PMs to the public forums. If the message was intended to have a private audience, it should not be posted publicly without the consent of the writer.
*Threatening to Leave the Community - We do not permit public "I am leaving [or threatening to leave] the community because I am fed up" posts because they are contrary to the spirit of friendship and community we all want to instill.
*Posting in Multiple Forums -Please choose the single most appropriate forum for your post.
*Topics of Discussion - While these discussion forums encourage a wide range of opinions, please keep your posts focused on the topic of the forum in which you are submitting your message. Each forum has a different topic, so what is appropriate in one forum or thread may not be appropriate in another. Generally speaking, however, profanity, vulgar language, and personal attacks are not acceptable in any forum.
*Inappropriate Language - The use of inappropriate or offensive language is not permitted in these forums. Inappropriate or offensive language includes, but is not limited to, any language or content that is sexually oriented, sexually suggestive or abusive, harassing, defamatory, vulgar, obscene, profane, hateful, or that contains racially, ethnically or otherwise objectionable material of any kind. We ask that you please be considerate to other members in the forums when posting your messages. Please do not post offensive material. If you wouldn't want your 10 year-old to read it, please don't post it. If in doubt about your post's content, please PM a Moderator before posting.
*Harassment - WEGC members are not permitted to harass other members. Please do not post or transmit any unlawful, harmful, threatening, abusive, harassing, defamatory, vulgar, obscene, profane, hateful, racially, ethnically or otherwise objectionable material of any kind, including, but not limited to, any material which encourages conduct that would constitute a criminal offense, violate the rights of others, or otherwise violate any applicable local, state, national or international law. Please note that this also includes the posting of taunts on a forum solely for the purpose of deriding that forum's topic and/or members.
*Arguments Never assume the other side is not sincere in their beliefs or engage in mind reading catchphrases like these ...
o You know perfectly well ...
o You are deliberately ...
o You are intentionally trying to deceive ...
o You know I'm right, but ...
* Never SHOUT (type in all caps, which suggests) in anger or in argument. Use CAPS to emphasize or make a point.
Unacceptable Links in your Posts or TopicsAn unacceptable link in a Users Post is one that directs users of the WEGC forum to other sites that
Are pornographic or profane in content;
Promote anti-WEGC dissention and defamation;
Is considered offensive or illegal.
Private MessagesThe Private Messaging system or (PMs) may not be used to harass any member. The rules set forth in this document and the User Agreement also apply to Private Messages.
IntentThis Forum is for the promotion of the Shooting Sports and for the well being of WEGC.. (And various unrelated topics.) While the occasional defensive shooting post is not prohibited, in general, defensive shooting discussions or debates are discouraged.
PoliticsPolicy and political discussions or debates of any kind - even if you consider your opinions to be "facts" - are not welcome anywhere in the forum. New articles and factual "informational only" posts are welcome and informative. You may express your opinion about facts stated, but keep it civil.
The emotional nature of political discussions weakens the informative impact of the Forum.
This is not a free speech issue. Minimize commentary. Most of the users on this forum are like-minded.
And note that your post, avatar, and anything in your signature represent you, and your relationship with the Forum's Guidelines.
AdvertisingThe Members Only area can be used for advertising your own personal items for sale. If it is suitable for
publication in the club newsletter, then it is suitable here. Commercial advertising is forbidden unless
approved by the Board of Directors. References to businesses in signatures or posted in Favorite Links are appropriate as long as they are not obvious commercial advertising. All posts, links, signatures, and other material brought onto this board/forum is subject to approval by the Admin and the Board of Directors as to its suitability and appropriateness for the West End Gun Club.
Classifieds ForumBased on critique from contributing members and supporters of forum, the Classifieds Members Forum is limited for use by WEGC registered members. In addition, if posting in the Classifieds, your Profle or post must contain a valid name, membership number, current email address, and the "Location" field must have a "real name," city, and state. If you're a regular contributor to the forums, feel free to advertise your personally owned wares or post what you are in need of - in the Classifieds area only. Items for sale or wanted must be legal requests and/or offerings and loosely related to the shooting sports. It is for example: Not appropriate to advertise businesses, land, services, or other items that would not appeal to the general shooting membership.
RafflesPlease contact a Moderator before posting a raffle. In general, raffles to benefit non-charitable organizations are not acceptable. Charity case raffles will be reviewed on a case by case basis
by the Board.
Thread TitlesWhen starting a new thread, please use descriptive words in the threads Title and Description that will help readers determine whether or not they are interested in reading the thread. For example: Use
"My 1911 pistol" (Title)
"A day at the range" (Description)
Instead of
"Has anyone seen this?" (Title)
or
"You won't believe what happened" (Description)
ModerationIf in doubt about your posts content, please "PM" a moderator before posting.
Remember that moderators on this forum are voluntary. Be respectful and supportive
of the efforts it takes to manage a forum like this.
The WEGC forum shall never be used as a forum for individuals to use for financial gain, the promotion of any membership organization (including other internet bulletin boards), the defamation, libel or slander of WEGC or any of its owners, directors, employees or volunteers, a fundraising, petition, or charity venue or the promotion of religion, politics, sexism, profanity, pornography or any illegal endeavor.
The WEGC forum is not to be used for individuals to challenge vendors or argue their cases or conflicts. It is never to be used as a leveraging tool for any reason. Those are personal issues and not acceptable on the forum.
The posting of load data (favorite load recipes) are prohibited on the WEGC forum. It is acceptable to direct members to loading data/books but the posting of the data is prohibited.
The WEGC forum is a solely controlled entity of the West End Gun Club. And as an entity of WEGC, it is controlled and directed by the WEGC Board of Directors. Members may weigh in and voice opinions, but the Directors shall govern the content, use, and purpose of the website, forum, and its participants.
Authority and Responsibilities of the WEGC forum Moderators and Admin staff.
WEGC forum Forum Moderators are like Range Officers at a WEGC. They keep the range safe and enforce the rules so that all are treated equally for the enjoyment of the game.
WEGC forum Moderators serve as a reliable contact of information, direction and encouragement. They are here to help you. We prefer to let the conversation flow unfettered, however, there are cases in which the WEGC forum Moderators will intervene.
WEGC forum Moderators have the ability and authority to close, re-open, move, and delete topics; and edit posts within the forum they moderate.
Moderators have the authority to represent the WEGC forum Policies by communicating directly with members and posting in their assigned forums. WEGC forum Moderator authority is limited to the policies as described in this document and in no way should be construed to represent WEGC corporate policies or operation.
Generally, Moderators have a threefold responsibility: to ensure that members are following the community rules, to assist new members, and to help with information when they can.
Editing Messages: Procedural
WEGC forum Moderators have the authority to Edit Messages and are directed to do so when the message:
Contains profanity, racism, anti-Semitism, sexism or offensive statements;
Innocently violates the board rules in some other way;
Contains links to unacceptable or offending web sites.
Editing is visible to the community; whenever a message is edited, the date/time/edit and author are shown within the message.
Closing a TopicWEGC forum Moderators have the authority to Close Topics and are directed to do so when the message:
Is rehashing an over discussed subject;
Is instigating in nature;
Contains good and valuable information but is heading in a non-productive direction;
Point is clearly made, both sides had their say or a truce or mutual understanding is made.
Delete a Topic or MessageWEGC forum Moderators have the authority to Delete Topics and are directed to do so when the message:
Contains defamatory, libelous or slanderous statements against WEGC, its owners, employees or moderators, or volunteers;
Contains defamatory, libelous or slanderous statements against any business, individual or public entity;
Contains offensive behavior or plain rudeness;
Is instigating in nature;
Contains racism, sexism, anti-Semitism, pornographic or profane content;
Contains links to unacceptable, offensive or illegal sites;
Is clearly a commercial post;
Has become an infomercial;
Is completely off-topic in an individual forum;
No part of the topic/message is salvageable by editing.
Basically, whenever there is no value to the community that demands leaving the topic/message in place. In most cases the WEGC forum Moderators will e-mail the topic initiator to explain why it was deleted, unless the reason is totally obvious.
Suspension of Posting PrivilegesWEGC forum Moderators have the authority to Suspend the Posting Privileges and are directed to do so when a User commits to or is responsible for:
Repeated violations of the stated board rules or forum rules;
Offensive behavior (e.g., posting offensive material, harassing other members, spamming, trolling);
Instigation of controversial issues sometime referred to as "stirring the pot;" or "making the fire hotter".
Driving away other members;
Repeated attempts to circumvent moderation;
Direct public challenges to any Moderator, WEGC forum Administrator, WEGC board of directors, employee or volunteer;
Leading a lynch mob or a public hanging.
BannedThe Administrator has the authority to Ban Users from the WEGC forum. This measure will be taken as a last resort. Some reasons a user might be banned:
Attempts at hacking or destroying the forum;
Repeated violation of the stated board rules or forum rules;
Repeated offensive and rude behavior (trolling);
Driving away other members;
Repeatedly instigating controversial issues;
Repeated attempts to circumvent moderation;
Direct public challenges to any Moderator, WEGC forum Administrator, WEGC board of directors, employee or volunteer;
Verified verbal or written attacks or threats against WEGC, its board of directors, Administrators, Moderators, employees and volunteers in any public internet forum;
Verified verbal or written libel, slander or defamation against WEGC, its board of directors, Administrators, Moderators, employees and volunteers in any public internet forum;
Leading a lynch mob or a public hanging.
Banning a member means that he/she can no longer post messages on the WEGC forum. Normally, unruly members are given a warning prior to actually being banned, since that is a fairly serious step. Only the WEGC Board of Directors can reverse a banned user.
Banning is accomplished by permanently blocking the individuals e-mail address and in some cases his IP Address. It also involves deleting the users registration and all current posts.
Banning of individuals may also be done by Moderators or the WEGC Board.
Banning of individuals require a majority consensus of the Moderators or by issue from the WEGC Board of Directors. The next step is legal action as determined by the WEGC Board of Directors.
Notice: These guidelines cover the basic rules and practices of the WEGC forum. It goes without saying unique circumstance can and will arise that are not outlined in this guideline that require action by WEGC Moderators. WEGC Users are asked to use common sense, decorum and respect for others when participating on the WEGC forum. This set of guidelines is created for the purpose of assisting the Staff and users with respect to the best use of this forum. These guidelines, while comprehensive are not intended to be completely exhaustive or definitive, without change or modification. Changes will be made as needed and will be posted here with an amendment date.
updated March 24, 2009
