Rules and guidelines

As with any site, a set of rules and guidelines apply to keep things running smoothly. Please read the following and help keep this a pleasant community for all members and guests.

Although some of the rules may seem a bit draconian and restricting, the intention is to make the site safe to be viewed from any environment or location.

Note that the list below is not exhaustive, so use common sense for anything which is not specifically mentioned here.

1. Please be courteous and respect other members; insults and rude or aggressive behaviour will not be tolerated.
   Messages with the sole intention to inflame and cause discord, otherwise known as trolling, may be subject to moderation and/or removal. Action may be taken against those who continuously troll threads.
   For the avoidance of doubt, the word "fanboy" or any derivative when referring to another member is not permitted, as it is generally seen as having negative connotations.
2. Criticism and dislike of drivers and teams is perfectly acceptable, but please try and avoid the usual invective that pervades so many forums, especially with regards to certain drivers and teams.
   Do not use insulting nicknames or derogatory terms for drivers, other team members, teams, or anyone in the public eye; either use their given names or inoffensive nicknames such as "Hammy", "Seb", "Nando", etc. Historical, well-known nicknames are also permitted, for example "Hunt The Shunt" when referring to James Hunt. However, referring to Hamilton as "Shamilton", Vettel as "Wet Towel" or Alonso as "Alonslow" are terms which are not permitted.
   Of course context, intent and implied meaning will have a bearing on how a term may be interpreted. If you have to question whether the term you want to use is acceptable, then the chances are it probably isn't.
3. The site is open to minors so please refrain from using inappropriate or crude language whenever possible; a general rule of thumb is to imagine a young child reading what you have written.
   If you do wish to swear just type the word normally and the word censor will do the rest, or alternatively you can use the smiley. Please do not bypass the word censor by substituting letters with asterisks (*), numbers or other letters, by spacing letters out, swapping them around, or by replacing part of the word with a smiley, e.g. "d n".
   Even if a word is currently permitted, do not post in such a way as to disguise it as it may be added to the word censor in the future.
4. Please try to stay on topic. Although a bit of banter and chat is natural in any discussion, if your post is going to result in the thread veering off into a separate discussion, or is completely off topic, consider starting a new thread.
5. When quoting comments, please only quote the relevant part and not the entire message, including any embedded content. Wherever possible, avoid quoting large posts in full or posts immediately preceding your own
6. When responding to multiple posts in a thread, do so in a single post, rather than posting two or more times in succession.
7. When posting images, please consider adding them as attachments or using a free hosting service such as Flickr or ImageShack, with the relevant credit given in each case. Linking directly to images hosted on other sites can be considered as bandwidth theft and is not good practice, as any linked images can be changed or removed from the host site at any time, resulting in broken links (or worse!).
8. Do not embed images or upload avatars which include swearing or similarly offensive content. If linking to such images then please make others aware. When embedding or linking to videos, again, if there is any swearing or similarly offensive content, please make others aware.
   Images, avatars or videos which contain obscene content are strictly prohibited.
9. Do not copy and paste large sections of text from other sources, claiming it as your own work, otherwise known as plagiarism.
10. Do not copy and paste content from other sites without prior permission from the orginal author or owner, unless it is a quote or short section of text from a larger article. Wherever possible, ensure you provide attribution and a link.
11. Messages containing illegal content or practices and discussion of, and links to, inappropriate and illegal sites, including torrent sites, are not permitted and will be removed.
12. Deliberate spamming will result in offending messages being deleted.
13. Signatures are limited to a maximum of 3 lines, including blank lines. Images, video, and other media are not permitted.
14. Please do not discuss rule breaches or moderating decisions in public; either use the report system or contact a moderator directly via conversation.
15. Only one account is permitted per member. Duplicate accounts will be banned.
16. Permanently banned members are not permitted to re-register.

Any member breaking these rules may find their messages being edited or removed. Additionally they may be issued with warnings and have restrictions placed on their account. Persistent or extreme offenders may also be subject to bans, either temporary or permanent, although this would be a last resort and one which we would hope to avoid whenever possible.

If you suspect a comment of breaking the rules, do not respond publicly, just report it.
To report a message for any reason, click on the "Report" link which can be found at the bottom of all forum, conversation, and profile messages. All reports are investigated by the moderating team, who are the only ones with access to the information. There is no need to be concerned about repercussions from other forum members as they will be unaware that the message has been reported, or by whom.

The current staff members, including the moderating team, can be seen on the Staff page.
You can contact any of them directly by clicking on Start conversation and adding them to the Recipients field.

Finally, each member is personally responsible for their own messages so please be careful not to post any illegal, libellous, or otherwise defamatory content.