To help you gain the most from our Forums, please familiarize yourself with the rules and guidelines below for participating in the message forums and chat rooms.

These rules and guidelines are designed to help give a better understanding of what behavior is expected and make your experience more enjoyable and safe.


RULES:

1. No discussion of any unlawful activity or threats of violence

2. No use of explicit, racist, obscene or vulgar language, images or messages.

3. No posts that attack, insult, flame, defame, or abuse others. Respect other members' opinions regarding treatment decisions. Decisions about health, farming and volunteering are sometimes highly personal choices. We should respect all points of view. Flaming will not be tolerated.

4. No advertising or links to advertising or "Spam" is permitted.

• Advertising or spam is defined as posting a link for the purpose of selling, soliciting or promoting something.
  
• Links promoting fundraising, advocacy, etc. are not permitted.
  
• Links to personal blogs/homepages are allowed in member profiles and signatures
  
• Sharing of links to helpful and relevant web sites and resources is allowed if they are not used for a promotional purpose.
  

5. No posts of copyrighted material, lengthy articles, or posts of an overtly political or religious nature (ie. proselyting).

6. Do not post offline personal contact information (ie. your home address, phone numbers etc.) and do not ask for personal information from others. This is to protect your security and identity.


GUIDELINES:

1. Check for open topics. Before posting a new topic, please check to see if there is already a topic open on the subject.

2. Ignore bothersome members. If there is someone on the forum that bothers you, is better to simply ignore their comments

3. Report posts that violate the rules. Contact us to inform of any violation.

4. Use good judgement. NEVER rely on information or opinions exchanged to replace necessary, personal consultation(s) with qualified professionals to meet your interest. Remember that what's right or has worked for one person may not be what's right for you.

5. Lend a helping hand. A bit of compassion can go a long way toward helping people :-)

6. Don't be afraid to share. If you're feeling alone or hurting, don't be afraid to share your fears and tears. If you're rejoicing about the results of a recent experience, share that too.

7. Welcome new members. Help new folks "learn the ropes" about how to find information and resources, save time, and how to get involved.

8. Use descriptive titles for new posts. Avoid "generic" post subjects like "Help" or "Question". You will receive a better response to your posts by making your title more descriptive about the content of your post.

9. Be respectful of moderators in both the forums and any private communications.

10. Stay on topic. Posts which are not relevant to the forum topic may be deleted.


Know Your Moderators:

Our forums and chat rooms are moderated by volunteers that have some understanding of farming and volunteering. While they may not have answers to all your questions, moderators are here to help in any way they can.

Moderators have the right to edit or remove posts without prior notice at their discretion. If you have a question for a moderator on a decision, you can email them and discuss it privately. They may not see things the same way you do, but they are open and approachable.

Please Remember:

Members that do not abide by the rules may be subject to having their posts edited or deleted, their member account permanently banned from further access and/or deleted without notice.

Rules and guidelines may change at any time, please re-read them regularly.