Posting Guidelines

If you would like to report a message or thread that contravenes the guidelines below, then please use the Report Abuse page. If you have a more general enquiry then you can use our Contact Us Form.

If you have arrived here after receiving an email from the moderators, then please read this page carefully. After that, if you still feel that your post has been removed unreasonably then please contact us using this Form.

Forum Moderating

We will attempt to refrain from overt censorship but if people stray outside the reasonable requests listed below, then their postings will be removed by the Forum Moderators and those who persistently offend will be banned for using the forums. It takes a lot of work to moderate the forums and all the moderators always have other important work for UKClimbing.com as well - writing news reports, editing articles, improving the databases, adding new features and funding the site. Any time spent dealing with petty disputes, or moderating trivial posts in The Pub, takes away time that could be better spent on these other tasks. If we feel that a certain individual, or group of individuals, is wasting our time then we will not hesitate to ban them even if their action doesn't contravene one of the guidelines below. This will enable us to spend more time on jobs that are appreciated by the vast majority of UKClimbing.com's readers.
Read more about UKClimbing.com's censorship policy here.

Banned from Posting

Occasionally we have to restrict users from posting. This is done at our discretion and once banned you will not be able to post, view your profile, upload photos or use the UKClimbing.com contact forms to email other users. Posting restrictions are almost always lifted after a short time and a quick email to the moderators will usually do the trick. It is worth keeping in mind the fact that we are more likely to lift restrictions on those people who have made some attempt to understand why they might have been banned in the first place and approach us positively. Angry emails from people who are under the impression that their human rights have been violated will usually be ignored.

Post Content

Which Forum? - We provide different forums for different types of discussion - please try to use the right one for your new topic, and don't post duplicates of your topic in more than one forum. Topics in the 'wrong' forum will be moved to a different forum by the moderators. People who persistently post in the wrong forum will have their posts removed.
Rude, abusive or politically offensive language - Messages which contain excessive and pointless swearing, or insults aimed at other people, or politically offensive language will be removed.
Mild bad language - Messages with bad language in the title or starter post will also be removed no matter how serious and relevant the topic is. This is done because thread titles are picked up more readily by search engines. This rule includes The Pub.
Private information - Please don't post private/personal information about people you know without asking their permission first. This includes posting the contents of emails without getting permission of the sender.
FAO Threads - Please don't start threads with the title 'FAO xxxx'. If your post really is only "For the Attention of xxxx" then send them an email. If it isn't then title it something that fits in with the concept 'forum'.
Personal relationship issues - This is a public forum and not the place for discussing specific personal relationship issues. We will not tolerate the practice of starting a thread under the pretext that it is a general relationship discussion, yet in reality it refers to a specific personal issue. We will remove all 'relationship' threads started anonymously.
'Lads' Style Postings - The forum is read by both men and women. Please refrain from crude and sexist comments about other posters, profile photographs or people in the wider media.
Unqualified links - Posts of just a link can cause problems since the content isn't obvious and people can end up going places they don't expect to. Please state what the link is about and warn people if it contains something which might be undesirable eg. loud sound files, unpleasant images or offensive language. Do not attach the words 'not work safe' to a post. If it isn't work safe, then don't post it.
Web addresses in thread titles - This technique has been used by companies to get free publicity by registering and making fake posts asking about the retailer in question. All posts with web addresses in titles will be viewed suspiciously because of this and are very likely to get removed.
Commercial web sites - Because of abuse of the forums by people in the past, we don't allow starter posts and thread titles linking to third party commercial sites. If you wish to alert UKClimbing.com users of a potentially good deal then why not recommend to the site you are linking to that they consider advertising on UKClimbing.com.
Looking for a fight - Threads which set out to look for trouble invariably create trouble. Don't start them, we don't want them on the forums.
Chatting with your mates - The UKClimbing.com forum has thousands of readers every day. Please don't waste up valuable space by posting your personal messages to your mates - use email for this type of communication.
Dodgy links - Anyone posting links to pornographic, racist or other offensive web sites will be banned permanently from the forums without us issuing a warning. It is not acceptable to attach the words 'not work safe' to a post. If it isn't work safe, then don't post it.

Posting Style

UPPERCASE - Please don't write in UPPERCASE. Topic titles and whole messages that are all in UPPERCASE are considered to be the written version of SHOUTING, and are harder to read than normally-written text.
Quote carefully - Please don't over-use the quoting feature - most replies won't need to quote anything. Lots of unnecessary quoting results in long pages that take ages to download and read. However, do use this function if you are replying to a post several pages higher in the thread.
Topic hijack - Try to stay on a topic, and don't turn (for example) a light-hearted thread into a serious discussion, or spoil a good climbing discussion with lots of light-hearted nonsense. If you want to discuss something different, then start a new topic yourself.
The Starting Out Forum - The Starting Out forum is often where people make their first posts, and sometimes the questions can get repetitive. Try and answer questions positively, if you can't do that then leave it to someone who can. We were all beginners once.

User Profiles

Anonymous or unregistered - People like to know who they are talking to and it is polite to at least attach the same name to all your posts, even if you don't wish to register. Posts started anonymously will be removed unless it was done accidentally by a first time visitor. Anonymous replies will also be frequently removed and always on request of other users.
Rude and offensive User Names - Please choose acceptable user names. Rude or provocative names lower the tone of the forum and put off first time visitors from posting. They are also remarkably unfunny.
Commercial User Names - (eg. including the name of your company in your User Name) are only allowed if you take out a Commercial Profile.
Impersonating other users - Anyone found trying to impersonate another user will be banned. If someone is impersonating you then please contact us.
What gets posted under your name - We regard everything that gets posted under a personal profile as having been posted by that person. If others have access to your machine then log out each time you stop using the forums to avoid someone posting something unpleasant under your profile.
Second profiles - It is not necessary to create a second profile to log in from a different computer or location, you can easily do it on the same profile. Check the Help Pages to find out how. Do not create second profiles in order to self-promote, or as an attempt to be anonymous in order to cause trouble.

Moderating Questions

Threads about the moderating - If you feel your message has been unreasonably deleted, or if you wish to complain about a post that you find offensive, then please get in touch with the moderators. Do not start another thread saying 'Why has my thread been deleted?' or complaining about censorship - try talking to us first! Threads discussing other disappearing threads or posts will always be removed. Read more about UKClimbing.com's censorship policy here.
Moderator provocation - Threads posted just to provoke the moderators into action are extremely tiresome and time-wasting and will be removed.

Special Cases and Commercial Posts

Your own web site - We don't allow any advertising within normal posts. If you wish to promote your web site then please use a Premier Post. If your web site is not commercial then we may allow a free post but consider that every post costs us money and we would appreciate that you at least contact us first before posting.
Looking for a job - Requests for employment are considered as commercial posts so please use a Premier Post.
Surveys and research - We allow some non-commercial surveys, or study projects, but please contact us first before posting. Surveys must not be carried out on the forums directly and should be linked back to external survey sites. General discussion surveys may be allowed on the forums but only if strictly non-commercial. You must be a proper registered user before we will allow a survey. Any survey posted without permission will be removed.
SPA and MIA partners - We allow climbers to use the UKClimbing.com. Partners Forum to offer free guiding to help them gain the experience to get their MIA or SPA qualifications, but please contact us first before posting. If you wish to charge for guiding then please use a Premier Post. We will only allow offers for free guiding from registered users so make sure you register properly first.
For Sale Forum (read here) - We don't allow single sales, or groups of items, totaling more than £100 on the For Sale forum. Put a value in when posting and ask for a price you are willing to accept. If the price you ask is fake, or not realistic, and you ask for offers in the post text, or include extra items for sale, then your post will be removed. We don't allow posts to link or refer to sales taking place on eBay or other auction sites unless they are Premier Posts. Please use a For Sale Premier Post in these cases and also when your item(s) is priced at more than £100.