Rules/Terms & Conditions

Introduction

The on-line forum on the Herne Hill Forum community website is a facility provided by local residents and traders primarily to enable residents, workers and visitors to the Herne Hill area to share views and information about campaigns, issues, shops, restaurants, services, local transport, planning issues etc.

We recognise that any successful online community will wish to discuss more general issues - some serious, some frivolous. This is why the Lounge section has been provided, in response to user feedback.

Registration

The email address you supply when you sign up to the forum must be valid. If your email address bounces or requires anti-spam validation you will not be able to receive the password automatically generated by the system. It is also important that we are able to contact you directly if your posts are the subject of a complaint from another member or cause concern to the curators.

We encourage you to use your real name when registering but can use a psuedonym when posting.

Posting

You agree, through your use of this service, that you will not use this forum to post any material which is knowingly false and/or defamatory, inaccurate, abusive, vulgar, hateful, harassing, obscene, profane, threatening, invasive of a person's privacy, or otherwise illegal.

Personal attacks on other members are not permitted. The moderators can and will lock threads/delete posts as necessary.

Posts should be appropriate to an audience of all ages. There is a filter for obscenities and you shouldn't attempt to override that.

You may not post messages using more than one username (or persona) in the same thread. Those found to be doing this are liable to be 'named and shamed'.

(NB: Some users have separate forum accounts for use at home and work. So long as it is obvious that it is the same person then both accounts may be used to post to the same thread. You may not lend weight to your own arguments by posting under multiple names/personas.)

Spelling and grammar

We encourage forum users to maintain a high standard of English. Text-speak should be avoided.

Spelling errors in thread titles will be corrected, both to maintain the standards of the site and to facilitate use of the search facility.

Please do not post thread titles in all lower case (eg 'where can i find a plumber?'). If a thread title doesn't have an initial capital letter we will edit the message.

Advertising and commercial messages

Advertising and self-promotional messages are not permitted. However, we welcome the active participation of local entrepreneurs and those who manage/represent businesses operating in the area to seek and respond to feedback about their services or to lend their professional expertise to a matter under discussion.

If in doubt about whether your message is suitable for the forum, please check with us first.

Please be honest about your affiliation to a business or organisation that you write about on this forum. If we have reason to believe that you are using a psuedonym to promote your own business on the forum we reserve the right to remove your posts, and/or "name and shame" you on the forum. You have been warned!

You may not use the signature facility to link to multi-level marketing or other get-rich-quick sites. Signatures may be edited or deleted at the discretion of the moderators.

Monitoring and Moderation

Please note - this site is an unmoderated site. We do not vouch for or warrant the accuracy, completeness or usefulness of any message, and are not responsible for the contents of any message. The messages express the views of the author of the message, not necessarily the views of this forum or any entity associated with this forum. Any user who feels that a message on the forum is objectionable is encouraged to contact us immediately using the contact us e-mail  We will review the relevant message as soon as practicable and take action if necessary.

Considering the 24-hour availability of this forum, it is impossible for us to review every message or confirm the validity of information posted. The website editor and his colleagues (the moderators) do not actively  monitor the forum and cannot be online at all times.

There is some curation done on messages  and they curators have the right to move, delete or edit posts as they see fit. Posts will be moved if they haven't been made in the relevant forum. They may be deleted/edited if their content is inappropriate.

Herne Hill Forum may edit, restrict access to or remove any message, posting or any other material for any reason whatsoever without giving notice at any time.

The editor and curators' decisions is final and all members should respect this.

Privacy

We log your IP address every time you post on the forum.

We guarantee that details you supply to us will never be released without your permission to a third party unless requested by a law enforcement agency.

Complaints and suggestions

If you have a suggestion about how the forum or other parts of the website can be improved, please visit the Contact us page or email the website editor.

If you have a complaint about message content, please email the website editor.

Changes to this document

This document is subject to change without notice.