User:Jourdy288/mysandbox

 Charter of the Aquarium Wiki Forum - V1.2 2008-05-08

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This forum is for the discussing of raising, caring for, breeding, enjoying, etc. aquatic creatures in an aquarium environment. We mainly but not exclusively discuss fish and aquatic invertebrates.

We welcome people of all levels of experience, of all ages, from all walks of life and from any country in looking after these aquatic animals.

The forum's main language of discussion is English however.

GUIDELINES Like most forums we have a set of guidelines which we will hope you will agree to and follow. These are more about keeping the topics of conversations within reason and not offending anyone.

So here they are:

Bad Language We like to think the forum and its members are lively and open minded. But we do recognise that children may be present so we will not tolerate swearing or subjects that are of an obvious adult nature.

Off topic This is when a thread stops talking about Aquariums. We recognise that this happens occasionally. But these threads should really move across to private emails between the parties discussing the subject. To avoid annoying people it's recommended you place the words 'OFF TOPIC' or 'OT' in the subject line of your posting.

Netiquette As with writing letters, there are certain social niceties to be entertained when writing a public posting.

We recognise that different countries have different manners in the way they compose an posting and that English may not be their first language. We hope that members show tolerance in these cases.

We also recognise that posting may be sometimes open to misinterpretation especially between two people of different nationalities. It is hard to read the correct intent of an posting and English is not an exact language at the best of times. So if in doubt, ask the person to explain further before jumping to a possible wrong conclusion.

We encourage the use of a spell checker before submitting a posting. No one likes reading badly spelt postings.

Use the preview button before saving your posting.

Postings with long quotes are pointless and tiresome to others to scroll through so please cut back unnecessary quotes.

Asking for Advice We all have problems with our aquariums and pets from time to time and we hope you'll find our forum an invaluable source of help in solving them. But please, before you post it would greatly help if you considered doing the following:

When asking for a identity or illness check, place a photo in your user page in the Wiki and then link to it in the forum. The old saying 'a picture is worth a thousand words' is very true!

Quite often when you ask people on the forum for help with a problem, they'll reply back about what your water or tank parameters are.

For example: What size your tank is? When you last did a water change? What kind of filter do you use? What is the ph, Ammonia, Nitrate, Nitrite, GH and KH levels of the water, etc.?

So it is in your best interest for you to include this information in your question if you can, as it will save valuable time. Especially if the need for help is urgent.

The Photo albums We love to see other members fish and other aquatic animals. If you want any tips on how to take photos of your Aquariums, just ask!

Units of measurement Across the world people use different units of measurement when it comes to running an Aquarium. The USA for example use the US Imperial units of Gallons or Inches. Whilst Europe and other countries use the Metric system of Litres and Centimetres.

When quoting temperature readings some people use Fahrenheit and some use Centigrade.

So if you quote any of the above units or even basic water chemistry readings then please state what units you've used as they can be different too!

In an ideal World a person would quote both types of units. But we doubt this will happen! So we recommend that it would be nice if people quote which country they are from. Don't assume people know.

There is a handy and quick units of water and temperature conversion at: http://www.quantumsoft.co.uk/search/

Other tips: When telling people of a local event, please say what country it is in. Again don't assume the reader will know.

But above all enjoy using the forum. We hope you'll meet new friends and gain a greater understanding of the hobby and your pet.

Breaching the guidelines

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If you have a problem with a posting on the group then firstly contact one of the administrators.

Tell us why about the problem and we'll discuss it between you and us. We'll try to come to a mutual agreement about what to do.

If you breach the guidelines, for example by spamming the forum with an email announcing something unrelated to Aquariums or using offensive language. Then you will be informed (via your private email address and by a posting in the forum) by a Moderator that you've breached the guidelines and you will be asked not to do so again.

If you continue to breach the guidelines then the Moderator will post a reply to your posting and also to the forum to inform everyone that you may be banned within 48 hours. Members can reply to that public notice with their opinion and the Moderator will read, debate and decide with other members whether or not to ban that person. At least two other members should agree before the ban goes ahead.

