Forum Rules
Registration to this forum is free! We do insist that you abide by the rules and policies detailed
below. If you agree to the terms, please check the 'I agree' checkbox and press the 'Proceed...' button below.
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Please take the time to educate yourself with the forums guidelines. This is what everyone who joined the board has agreed to when registering.
Considering the real-time nature of this bulletin board, it is impossible for us to review messages or confirm the validity of information posted. Please remember that we at NECO do not actively monitor the contents of and 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 this message board or any entity associated with this message board. 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. This is a manual process, however, so please realize that we may not be able to remove or edit particular messages immediately.
You agree, through your use of this service, that you will not use this BB 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 NECO.
Although NECO does not and cannot review the messages posted and is not responsible for the content of any of these messages, we at NECO reserve the right to delete any message for any or no reason whatsoever. You remain solely responsible for the content of your messages, and you agree to indemnify and hold harmless NECO, and Jelsoft Enterprises Ltd. (the makers of the board software), and their agents with respect to any claim based upon transmission of your message(s).
We at NECO also reserve the right to reveal your identity (or whatever information we know about you) in the event of a complaint or legal action arising from any message posted by you. Please note that advertisements, chain letters, pyramid schemes, and solicitations are inappropriate on the NECO Forums.
- All posts must be civil, friendly, and not contain any profanity or references to profanity
- All posts must have some point to them and some value
- This is not a soapbox. You can't say whatever you like
- Stupid, pointless topics will be deleted
- Moderators have a free reign here. If they don't like it, it's toast
- Repeat offenders will be banned
- This is a family forum, like it or not
We believe in freedom of expression, the first amendment, and all that. However, we are not providing the forum for that freedom. We have rules ... they must be honored. If you can not accept it, please do not register. Note:Inactive registrations may be removed after 6 months of inactivity. If your registration has been removed, you must re-register to once again post to the forum.
Posting Guidelines
Many of us learn in grammar school about "free speech" and "freedom of expression", a concept stemming from the first amendment to the United States Constitution. Unfortunately, most people have never read the first amendment and fewer still understand how it applies to our rights. In a nutshell, the first amendment prohibits the US government from passing laws restricting our right to free speech. It does not restrict an organization or business from enacting and enforcing standards.
NECO Forums is a community of Cougar owners and enthusiasts. We have always had standards in the forum and we have a strong belief in the ability of forum members to "self-regulate" to stay within the bounds of those standards. Due to a limited number of volunteer staffing, we are sometimes lax in enforcing them. Still, we have a strong commitment to providing an environment that we consider professional and "family friendly" and we insist on adherence to our principles.
It is not an easy task to define where "the line" that shouldn't be crossed lies. However we'll do our best to provide an example. Consider the following types of discussions and topics:
- Cougar repair questions and answers
- ips on upgrading a Cougar for better handling
- Relative value of turbocharging vs. supercharging
- Garage talk
- Tools
- Posts about pets, music, beverages, software, and quite a few other topics where cars aren't the primary subject
- Topic which, when opened, contain nothing after the sentence "Ha ha, made you look"
- Posts criticizing moderators
- Highly divisive, controversial issues such as religion, gun control, politics, etc. There are more appropriate forums for this
- Discussions about human or other mammalian anatomy and bodily functions
- Posts with the sole goal of inciting flame wars, such as "Don't you think owners of xyz cars are jerks?"
- Posts declaring that the mothers of all Cougar owners are paid to engage in sexual activity
- Posts containing explicit (even if thinly veiled) profanity and/or pornography
- Topics about activities which would result in incarceration
From the list above, it would probably be agreed by anyone that items 1-5 are totally acceptable. It would also probably be agreed by most reasonable people that items 12-14 are not. What about items 6-11? This is the "gray zone" - the area where different people have different levels of tolerance.
NECO Forums considers items 1-5 to be acceptable, items 6-11 as "Off Topic", and items 12-14 to be completely off limits.
Unfortunately, determining which side of "the line" a given post falls is not always so simple. Forum moderators have the difficult task of making that judgement call. Hopefully they'll make the decision that is considered "correct" by 950f the community, but they're human and they will occasionally make mistakes. If you feel that the moderators of a particular forum are making too many mistakes, please contact a an Administrator with specific details.
Thanks,
NECO Administration Staff
