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Forum Rules

These rules are the bottom line on how users are expected to conduct themselves on our forums. Each rule is in place to ensure that the forums are a friendly and useful place for all, and must be adhered to at all times by all users. These rules have been agreed by all team members.

  1. Main Forum Rules
    1. All users must register to post. Users attempting to post as a guest will have their IP address banned.
    2. Users must only register with the intent of posting or downloading RouterTech firmware or software. Users who have not activated their accounts 1 month after registration will be deleted.
    3. Users registering with the obvious intention of spamming the members list with links to off-site locations in the website field will be deleted immediately (see off-site links section).
    4. It should be noted that the forums are aimed at a general audience. The posting of pornographic or generally offensive text, images, links, etc. will not be tolerated and users doing so will be warned. Usernames that contain potentially offensive text are also forbidden.
    5. Posts should be made in the correct forum. Posts in the wrong forum will be moved. Users consistently posting in the wrong forum will be warned.
    6. Users wishing to post technical questions in any technical forum should perform a forum search, check the FAQ and check networking guides before starting a new thread questions. All repeat threads will be locked and a link posted to thread(s) where the question has been answered before.
    7. Rule 1.6 also applies for non-technical questions in non-technical forums.
    8. Threads that are not questions may not cover “old ground”, and multiple threads on the same subject will be locked by a moderator who will post a link to where the topic was first discussed.
    9. Users who consistently fail to use the forum search and other resources before posting questions will be warned.
    10. Thread subjects should be relevant to the question or topic being discussed. Eg. “Router settings save problem” is preferable to “Help me” Irrelevant or innappropriate thread subjects will be changed. Users who consistently fail to use appropriate subjects will be warned.
    11. Users should not post multiple instances of the same thread if a reply is not recieved. Patience is essential. The bumping of threads is only permitted after 24 hours of no reply. More frequent bumping or multiple threads for the same issue/question/post will result in a warning.
    12. All users should respect each other at all times and treat other forum members as they would wish to be treated. Flame wars etc. are not permitted and such topics will be locked. Users who are responsible for starting or perpetuating flame wars and the like will be warned.
    13. Copyrights should be respected at all times. The posting of material from other sites or locations without the express consent of the author will be removed and the poster warned. Users who post Warez, Crackz or other such material with the clear intention of infringing copyrights will be given a temporary ban immediately in the majority of cases.
    14. Links to images on remote sites are permitted so long as they are relevant to the post/thread and are reliable. Links seen as non functional or with bandwidth exceeded notices will be removed, and a note added to the post by a moderator indicating what was removed and why.
    15. Posts should be presented in good written style. SHOUTING and txt spk is not permitted and posts that exhibit these styles will be edited or deleted and a warning given to the poster.
    16. Users should ensure that all text posted to RouterTech is in english only, this includes but is not limited to posts/threads, PMs to team members, FAQ/Knowledge base entries, profile entries including signatures and avatars containing text. Where code is being posted in which case a description of the code should be provided in clear and relevant english.
    17. All “test posts” with the intention of testing signatures, avatars, forum functions etc. should be posted to the “Test Me” forum only. Rules on copyrights, decency and politeness still apply in this area.
    18. “Back-seat moderating” is not permitted at any time, and users who do so will be warned. If a moderator has not acted on a post that breaks the forum rules after 24 hours you may report the post using the [!] icon at the top right hand corner of the post citing the rule that has been broken. Multiple reports on the same post by the same user, or reports that have no basis will be deleted without action and a warning given to the user reporting the post.
    19. The decisions of the moderator team and administrators are final at all times, and how these rules are interpreted and enforced is down to the individual moderator.
    20. These rules also apply to private messaging. In the case of private messages users who break these rules will be warned and for repeat offences have their ability to use private messages removed.
    21. Multiple accounts from the same individual are not permitted (as they can be abused or used to try to circumvent account lockouts etc).
      Any user found to have more than one forum membership account will be warned and or banned depending on the severity of the case.
  2. Support Policies
    1. All support provided at RouterTech is free at all times. Users attempting to charge other users for help or support using posts or private messages will be warned
    2. Team members and users are under no obligation to answer your questions and do so in their own time. Users treating team members or other users with contempt because a support question has not been answered or resolved will be warned.
    3. Provide as much information about your problem as you can, include logs, screen dumps and statistics where appropriate.
    4. Patience with team members and forum members trying to help is important. Please try all things requested by users trying to help before indicating that you still have an issue. Users who do not follow advice systemactically and report back but continue to ask the same question will be warned if the practice is repeated.
    5. If helping other users, do not overload the user asking questions with things to try. If a user has things covered for someone in terms of help, do not jump in unless it looks like they are going down the wrong track or their help is exhausted (no additional helpful posts in the last 24 hours). Users who break this rule repeatedly will be warned.
    6. Refer users to guides, other posts,  FAQ articles and results of forum searches where appropriate, do not post material already posted elsewhere if it can be helped.
  3. Avatars
    1. Must not contain pornographic or otherwise offensive images.
    2. Users should not use the avatars used by other users without their prior permission
    3. Avatars should not be used to impersonate or otherwise pertain to be a member of any RouterTech team
    4. Animation should be small or non-existant
    5. Sizes must not exceed 100 x 100 px
    6. File sizes must not exceed 10kb
    7. Users breaking any of these rules will be warned. Users consistently breaking these rules will have the ability to have an avatar removed.
  4. Signatures
    1. Signatures should contain text only. Images may not be used without the express permission of a member of the moderator team, and only then for a support reason. Requests to the moderator team for permission to use an image in a signature for reasons other than support/helping users will result in a warning.
    2. Text in signatures should be no larger than the normal text size of the forum (no size tags).
    3. Links in signitures should not be any more than 5 in number.
    4. Off-Site links are permitted in signatures, but only if their content is comparable to what would be allowed to be posted on RouterTech. Off-site links that break this rule will be removed.
    5. Personal or commercial off-site links are allowed in signatures so long as they do not break rule 4.4
    6. Users breaking any of the above rules will be given a warning.
  5. Off-Site Links
    1. Off-site links are only permitted where they are relevant to the discussion.
    2. Links for advertising purposes, disguised as support requests or otherwise, will be removed.
    3. Links showing off your own website are only permitted to be posted in free chat areas. Such websites must not be commercially orientated.
    4. Links in signatures must obey rules 4.x
    5. Users breaking any of the above rules will be warned.
  6. Knowledge Base Submissions
    1. Users of the forums may submit articles to the knowledge base or FAQ.
    2. These articles are subject to the same rules as normal forum posts, and the following rules also.
    3. Knowledge base articles may not contain external links, except where the purpose of the article is to provide a useful link or list of such links. All content must be posted directly on RouterTech. This is so users can find all the information in the one place and in a straight foward layout.
    4. External images linked to in articles must be realiable, and hosted somewhere where they are always available. You must have permission to link to, use and reproduce such images, and consent to them being saved on RouterTech servers should the web team so decide.
    5. All article content that is not your own work should contain appropriate citations. Where content from other websites has been used, each item of content that is not your own should be given a number in square brackets Eg. [1] and then have the link and author included at the bottom of the article in smaller text. The same applies for information taken from other sources. Where the author has a personal website or membership on this or another forum, their name should be made into a link to either their website or their forum profile. Articles with incorrect or non-existant citations (where they are required) will be rejected and deleted.
    6. Articles should be neatly formatted and layed out in a logical and easy to read fashion.
    7. All article content should be technically accurate and contain disclaimers in small text at the bottom where appropriate.
    8. Users submitting articles that break any of the above rules will not have them accepted to appear on the site, will have the submitted content deleted and will be issued with a warning.
  7. Enforcement
    1. A “three strikes and you’re banned” policy is operated by RouterTech team members. A user given 3 warnings will be given a temporary ban on their fourth warning. A temporary ban lasts for 7 days.
    2. Warnings expire after 3 months has passed, or a temporary ban has been given and expired.
    3. Arguing with team members after being given a warning will result in another warning being immediately issued.
    4. Users who feel they have been unfairly warned may contact the team leader of the group of the team member who gave the warning. If they deem the warning was unfair it will be revoked. If this proves unsatisfactory, or indeed the original warning was given by a team leader a user may message another team leader for an independent decision. Their decision is final and will involve consultation with the team leader who gave/upheld the warning.
    5. Attempting to bypass a temporary ban will result in a permanent ban. Bypass attempts include, but are not limted to; registering other accounts, posting as a guest, using proxy servers and using alternative e-mail addresses.
    6. The 3 strikes rule does not apply for posting insulting, indecent  or otherwise problematic messages directly to team members (by personal message or otherwise). In this case a permanent ban is implemented immediately.
    7. Permanent bans are not given lightly, and as such their removal is rarely granted.

These rules have been written in such a way that clarification should not be necesary. These rules are enforced by the moderator team. Where there really is doubt as to the interpretation of the rules, your first, last and only point of contact should be a member of the moderator team.


Last updated by Kieran on Sunday, August 23rd, 2009
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