Forum Rules & Guidelines

The following are the rules and guidelines for topic in this forum:

- Keep topics relevant
- Reply with important information
- Contact the ARTP directly if needed

By joining the ARTP Discussion Forum you agree to abide by the rules set out below:

Forum User's Disclaimer
Please remember that we are not responsible for any messages posted. We do not vouch for or warrant the accuracy, completeness or usefulness of any message, and are not responsible for the contents of any message.

The messages express the views of the author of the message, not necessarily the views of ARTP or any other forum members. Any user who feels that a posted message is objectionable is encouraged to contact us immediately by email. We have the ability to remove objectionable messages and we will make every effort to do so, within a reasonable time frame, if we determine that removal is necessary.

You agree, through your use of this service, that you will not use ARTP forums to post any material which is knowingly false and/or defamatory, inaccurate, abusive, vulgar, hateful, harassing, obscene, profane, sexually oriented, threatening, invasive of a person's privacy, or otherwise violative of any law.

You agree not to post any copyrighted material unless the copyright is owned by you or by this bulletin board

General Conduct
Whilst humour is a welcomed part of the discourse on the Forum it has to be balanced with a professional attitude. Flippant, derogatory and unnecessarily provocative comments must be avoided. All participants must be mindful of causing offence and be tolerant of alternative opinions.

Confidentiality
Comments that are intended for the Forum audience may not be intended for wider circulation. Postings to the Forum should not be forwarded to another party without the consent of the originator (or other participants in the case of a conversational ‘thread’).

Abuse
Messages should not have any content that is libellous, pornographic, sexually or racially offensive, or otherwise illegal.

Courtesy will be extended to fellow users at all times. Personal jibes & derogatory remarks will be actively discouraged. ‘Coded’ expletives in messages are not permitted (ie non-alphabetic characters disguising bad language).

Comments about any specific points in communications issued centrally from the ARTP (e.g. adverts) should be referred to the Executive Committee via the Administrator at admin@artp.org.uk

Manufacturers & Products
Defamatory statements regarding manufacturers or their products should not be placed in the Forum.

Enquiries soliciting opinions on a product should request ‘off Forum’ replies

Complaints about equipment/manufacturers and any product-related problems should be routed through the Manufacturers Liaison Committee using MLC@artp.org.uk who will investigate on your behalf and respond with findings to the Forum when necessary.

Responsibility
All communications (postings) sent via the forum are the responsibility of the originator. The ARTP, as a 'body', cannot be held responsible for the personal opinions of individual posters.

Identity
All contributors should ensure that their signature line clearly indicates their name, position and institution so that other Forum users are able to identify the sender of a message.

Financial Interests
Users must disclose any financial interest or relevant affiliations within the body of any message that they post. (For example: representatives of equipment companies contributing to the Forum should declare their status and the company that they represent)

Advertising
Adverts must not be posted on the forum.

Job Adverts
Job adverts must not be posted on the forum – to place a job advert on the ARTP website you must purchase advertising space. Please visit www.artp.org.uk/advertising_job_vacancies.aspx for more information.

Courses/Meetings
Notification of meetings & courses must be submitted to the ARTP for approval via admin@artp.org.uk and once approved will be circulated by either email or via the members monthly newsletter.

Manufacturers
Members representing manufacturers should not use the Forum to promote their products. If you are in doubt about the suitability of a particular communication, contact the Forum Moderator for advice at admin@artp.org.uk.  Manufacturers wishing to issue a mailshot to the ARTP membership should contact the ARTP for information and fees.

Equipment Sales – non-commercial use of the Forum by members wishing to sell/exchange items of professional interest (eg books/equipment/etc) is permitted without charge.

Manufacturer advertising – Adverts must not be posted on the forum – to place an advert on the ARTP website you must purchase advertising space. Please visit www.artp.org.uk/advertising_in_journals.aspx for more information.

Message Format
Try to put a concise description of the topic. This is the part that most people will see first and if you want someone to take an interest in your post you need to get straight to the point.

File Attachments
If you attach binary files to Forum messages please keep the file sizes within reason (preferably no more than 1MB). You may want to use a file compression tools such as Winzip to reduce the file size before you post larger files.

If you have a large file that you think other members might want describe it's contents in the Forum and invite interested members to contact you directly to receive a copy.

If the file may be useful to a number of members notify the Forum Moderator who may place the file in the Resource Gallery on the ARTP site where it will be available for all members to download.

Privacy
The ARTP has a strict policy on disclosure of information to third parties. It is expressly forbidden to use email addresses gathered from the forum to contact individual members unless they have included their email address in their signature line and have invited direct contact on a particular subject. It is possible to set up email programs to hide your name and email address but all contributors to the Forum must be identifiable and traceable. If you intend to contribute to the Forum using an anonymous email address or pen-name you must first register your true identity with the Forum Moderator.

Copyright
Unless a document is available elsewhere on the net for open distribution (or you own, or have the owners, permission) please bear in mind that it is probably under copyright and distributing it via email on the Forum infringes the copyright.

Sanctions
Possible sanctions for transgression of the Forum rules (which will be ‘policed’ by the Executive) are:

- temporary suspension from forum (for a stated period)
- moderation (messages sent are not immediately posted but have to be approved by a moderator)
permanent ban from forum
- Any abuse of the Forum may also result in disciplinary action under the ARTP Code of Conduct and Disciplinary Code