BBQ Forum Rules and Guidelines

The BBQ Forum is a moderated forum.  That means that its contents are constantly monitored by the moderator or moderators.  If you post messages to the BBQ Forum that violate any of the BBQ Forum Guidelines your messages will be deleted at the discretion of the moderator or moderators. Messages posted to the BBQ Forum that are about subjects other than BBQ (exp: virus information) may be deleted by the moderator.

By posting a new message or a reply to an already posted message you are acknowledging that you have read the BBQ Forum rules and agree to follow and abide by them.

The BBQ Forum is open to the public in the sense anyone can read the contents of the BBQ Forum.    However, posting messages is a privilege that is granted to everyone as long as you follow the rules.  If you break the rules your messages will be deleted and your posting privileges may be revoked, that privilege will be revoked by the moderator or moderators. English is the official language of the BBQ Forum.  If you post messages to the forum in any language other than English they will probably be deleted.

Slanderous, derogatory, posts will not be tolerated, and will be deleted as soon as they are brought to the moderators attention.  No religious or ethnic slurs/remarks are allowed.  The BBQ Forum is a friendly place and any posting to the Forum  that disrupts this atmosphere will be deleted.  The moderators attempt to read every message posted.  However if you discover a post that you feel is not proper the please email the moderator using the links near the top of the BBQ Forum and proper action will be taken.  The main rule of the forum is "if you don't have something good to say then don't say it."

I hope everyone has educated political and religious views.  However, The BBQ Forum is not the place to express or discuss your religious or political views. 

The BBQ Forum is not a chat room.  It is a place where people can ask questions and they should not feel that they will be criticized or made fun of.  If you want to chat please go somewhere else.  Nobody here wants to read about private chatting between people. Demeaning posts to the forum containing ethnic or regional slurs will be deleted.  If these rules are violated by any individual all their posts will be deleted and their ISP will be blocked from posting further messages.

The BBQ Forum is a place where you can share information and ideas about BBQ.  If you read the BBQ Forum for a long period of time you will see that a wide variety of topics have been brought up.  Please feel free to bring up a subject as long as it has to do with a fairly broad definition of BBQ.  

Any message posted on the BBQ Forum becomes the property of the BBQ Forum.  Nobody can reprint, copy, or place on any web page, any message posted to the BBQ Forum without the written permission of Ray Basso, which is seldom given.  

If you break the rules of the BBQ Forum you messages will be deleted.  In some cases you will receive an email from Ray Basso, if you break the rules, asking you to call him.  It is imperative that you contact Ray as soon as possible.

The following is a list of the rules and guidelines of the BBQ Forum.  If you find anyone has posted an improper message to the BBQ Forum please contact the moderator.

1.     No profanity or lewd suggestive language.  An occasional "damn" or "hell" is OK.  However, lets keep the BBQ Forum a place that any of our friends, relatives, or employers would find proper.  Several 'bad words" are automatically blocked by the functions of the forum.  We can add other words please try to keep it clean.

2.     There should be no messages posted advertising your business, promoting web pages, unless someone asks for that information.  Please do not try to post "phony" requests for information in an attempt to circumvent these rules.  
      
Attempts to get around these rules will be regarded as "Spam" and those messages will be removed.  SPAM is defined on the BBQ Forum to include but are not restricted to the following:

All requests for people to donate or send money to someone needs to be cleared by me first before posting to the The BBQ Forum, Grill Forum or the Ceramic Forum. You just cannot post message to any of these forums requesting money be sent to you, or anyone else.  Anyone not following these guidelines will find their messages deleted.  The BBQ Forum does not support of sponsor any charities.  However,  you should not, and I repeat, not assume, that because anyone has posted (to any of my forums) any request for you to send money to them or donated money, that I have approved such fund raisers or endorsed these request. 

It's OK for someone who is providing good information on the BBQ Forum to use the links at the bottom of  messages to point them to your business or web page or event.  Please do not abuse this.  You cannot add  "signatures" containing links to web sites or an email address on your posts to the Forum.  You cannot add images promoting your web page in messages.  Repetitive posting of URL to promote any site will be removed.

A notable addition to rule #2 is using the BBQ Forum to promote other forums about BBQ.  This is a prohibited practice and such messages will be deleted and if there is additional violations of this rule the URL of the offending site will be blocked

Your are not allowed to post messages advertising anything you are trying to buy, sell or trade.  

3.     Let's keep the "flaming posts" to a minimum.  The BBQ Forum has had a long history of good natured joking and that should continue.  If you don't like something someone said please respond by email.  Do not try to name people and make derogatory statements about them.  Such messages will be deleted and could lead to you being denied access to posting messages in the future.

4.     Please do not use all CAPS when posting messages.  Many internet people consider all caps to be like shouting at someone.  The automated functions it the BBQ Forum should block you from using all CAPS.  So don't waste your time.

5.     If you don't want to use your real name on the BBQ Forum then try to pick an original nickname or handle.  Anyone caught trying to impersonate someone else will be dealt with as best we can. 

7.     The BBQ Forum is automatically archived about every two to four days.  During the course of posting messages to the Forum some threads are allowed to progress that would not be suitable to appear on the archives.  These threads will be deleted from the BBQ Forum just before the archive process takes place.  Threads that would be deleted include, but are not restricted to the following examples: off-subject, controversial, inflammatory threads and threads that may have an appropriate short life on the forum but nobody would care to read in the future. 

7.     Do not use "Special Characters" in the subject line to attract attention, or for what ever reason, when posting messages.  Such messages will be deleted.  Exp:  Smoking chicken>>>!!!?????%%%%

8.     You cannot use the URL of a website, in the subject line or as your user name when you post messages to the BBQ Forum.  This will be interpreted as an attempt to SPAM the forum and your posts will be deleted.

These rules and guidelines are subject to change at anytime.  It is the responsibility of the people using the BBQ Forum to occasionally review these rules.  You not knowing there has been a change is no excuse.

Composite Photos posted to the BBQ Forum.
While it may be considered "fun" to post pictures to the forum that show composite photos of people some restrictions do apply.  If you want to post a picture to the bbq forum of one of these "made-up" or "photoshopped pictures" photos you will first have to get permission from the person that the picture depicts and then have the person/persons in the picture send and email to Ray Basso giving permission for the picture to be posted.  This written permission must be sent and received by Ray Basso before the picture is posted to the forum.  No "photoshopped" pictures are allowed with out the above mentioned permissions given before posting.

Deleted messages posted to the BBQ Forum

I hate deleting messages.  However, it becomes necessary to delete messages when several things happen.  The following are some of the reasons for me deleting messages but this is not a complete list.

When I delete messages it is not my policy to explain why I deleted the message. No matter how hard you try, I am not going to engage in public debate as to why I deleted/block anyone.  I also am not going to engage in any public statement as to why I deleted your message or anyone else's message.  It is not my policy to reply to email messages from people who have had their messages deleted or to explain why I deleted anyone's message.  I have been quoted out of content more than once.

I will talk to you on the phone if you send me your phone number or you call me. If you don’t have the backbone to discuss these matters with me on the phone then I consider the situation resolved.

However, if you have a post deleted, and you then post a message to the forum demanding to engage in public debate about me deleting the messages, then I can assure you that message will also be deleted. Try that again and I will delete that one and keep it up and I will do everything I can to stop you from wasting my time posting such messages.  It takes me a lot less time to delete messages then it does to write messages. I do get weary of this process quickly.

What happens if deleting your messages does not solve the problem

I always hope the person who has had their message deleted will "get the message," when the message deletion happens.  In many cases this is not enough and I have to resort to more drastic measures to protect the forum.  I have the ability to block you from posting using three three different methods.  They range from just stopping you from posting to stopping you from even reading the BBQ Forum.  All of these can be reversed if you will just call me and logically discuss the situation and we can reach an agreement.   Posting messages that disrupt the harmonious unity of the BBQ Forum can result in the deletion of all future posts by any individual, at the discretion of the moderator or moderators of the BBQ Forum.   I keep complete records and all copies of all deleted messages.  So if I block someone from posting then you may not know all the details that caused anyone to be blocked from posting and I am just not going to allow public discussion in these matters.   In the event I cannot block a poster who posts messages, that disrupt the harmonious unity of any of the forums, then all future messages posted to any of the forums in the future, by that individual, will be deleted.. 

Thanks

Ray Basso