These Board Rules, together with the other documents listed on our FAQ page, constitute the Terms of Service (TOS) for our site. By registering as a member and participating on HoustonFishBox.com, you certify that you have read, understood, and agree to abide by the Terms of Service.

This is a privately owned site. Your membership in the community and use of this site are at the sole discretion of the site owner. We reserve the right to change the Terms of Service, any or all message board features, and the permissions to view and/or use this site and the message boards, for any individual member or member group, at any time when site administration deems it in the best interest of the site and community.

* We reserve the right to modify these rules without warning.*

The rules for discussions on HoustonFishBox are very simple: show respect at all times, and use common sense. Please respect this site and all its community members.

Trolling/Flaming/Personal Attacks
While we encourage lively debates and discussions, we will not tolerate rudeness, defamation, harassment, abuse, purposeless inflammatory posts, or threats of violence. This includes passive-aggressive behavior and diminishing another member's suggestions and comments. These behaviors damage the community and will result in disciplinary action. ATTACK THE IDEA, NOT THE PERSON.

If you feel someone has offended you with their comments please let us know immediately by reporting the violation to the staff.  Do not drag personal issues with individuals into the forum.  If you do have an issue, please take it up with one of the moderators or admin before posting in the forum.

It is worth noting that many of HFB's members are local to Houston and the surrounding areas, and are friends outside this forum. At times, what appears as reportable behavior, may actually be playful banter between friends.

Reporting violations
Each post has an icon that looks like this .  Clicking that icon will notify the staff and allow us to review the post and take action if necessary.  Please use this feature as needed.  That's what it's there for. 

Stay on-topic
There will be some leniency on this, and we don't mind if you bring in another comment or two, but try to stay focused. If you think it's a good enough topic, start a new thread about it. This also prevents losing a good idea amongst a thread about another topic. Threads that wander off-topic will be closed and/or trimmed or moved to its appropriate forum.

Use descriptive thread titles
When posting, please avoid giving your thread a generic title.  Please try to be as specific as possible in choosing a title for your post. This not only helps us to get an idea of the content, it also helps to find a topic faster which should result in quicker replies.  Staff may modify your thread title if you use something like:

HELP ME PLEASE!
I NEED HELP!
I have a question.
BIG problem!
NOOB needs help!
Problems
URGENT!
HELP ME PLEASE.
NEED HELP FAST.

or ANYTHING like the above!

Help us, help you. When you post, post as much information as you can.
When you post something and ask for information or help, please try to give as much information as possible in order to make it easier for us to try to give you an answer.

Post your topic in the respective forum
Please post your topic in the most appropriate forum. This not only will help us to find and answer your problems faster, it also helps to have an organized forum on our website and thus will help everyone to find what they are looking for.

Reporting Problems / Bugs and other comments
If you come across a problem or bug while browsing our website, please report it in the Website Feedback, Suggestions, or Questions forum.  Try to include the error message shown and try to describe what may have caused the error. Feel free to request further features or just give us feedback if you like. Thanks.

Warez
Discussion of illegal activities such as software and music piracy and other intellectual property violations are not allowed.

Watch your language
Foul, offensive, racist or crude language as well as swearing is not welcome. You have been warned!

This is a family friendly site
Do not post pornographic materials, or links to pornographic materials.

Misunderstandings
Allow for the possibility of misunderstandings, and be patient if someone asks for an explanation of what seems to be obvious.

Spamming Via Private Message System
Sending advertisement throughout the Private Message System, is not allowed. If we catch anybody sending advertisements to our members, or if it gets reported, your IP gets banned without further notice, and forever. NO WARNING WILL BE GIVEN.

User Accounts
Each member is allowed one login account. Registering with multiple accounts is not allowed.  Attempting to bypass a temporary ban by creating multiple accounts will result in your IP Address being perminantly banned.

Image Posting
The inclusion of pictures within messages is allowed on this site. Referring to images that are copyrighted and protected by that site are not to be included on our site without the express written permission of the owner of the copyrighted image(s).

Signatures
Please, no obnoxious signatures, graphical or otherwise. If I can't get through a thread because your signature is too distracting, it will probably be removed. Please be respectful to your fellow 'Boxers.
All signatures should not exceed the following limits

* Maximum of 8 lines regular size. 1 line up to font size 4. No text over font size 4.
* Do not use images with large text to bypass the previous item
* For images in signatures: 1 image up to 300 pixels wide, 125 pixels tall and 20k in size
* Animated images in a signature are allowed, but you may be asked to remove it if it disrupts page loads for other members.
* No links to commercial sites allowed in signatures. This is reserved for sponsors only. If a link is questionable, it may be removed at the discretion of the site admins and moderators.

Moderators
HoustonFishBox Moderators are a group of volunteers here to help facilitate discussion. They should not to be argued with in the public forum when enforcing forum rules and guidelines. All members are welcome to speak with the moderators about their concerns in a polite and calm manner in private. If you have a complaint, you can contact the administrator (imagirlgeek).

* If you have any questions, comments, or issues with a moderator, please contact the administrator at admin@houstonfishbox.com

* Failure to follow these rules will result in either a warning, temporary ban or a permanent ban, based of the severity of the offense. More serious violations of these rules may result in further steps taken with your Internet Service Provider or higher authorities.

* We also reserve the right to ban anyone who willfully violates the forum rules, as access to our community is a privilege and not a right.

REMEMBER! The Site Owner, Admins, and Moderators run this site in their own time and for no profit, so unprovoked or sustained personal attacks may result in a ban - show some respect for their hard work!

Thanks!
imagirlgeek