Shopping Cart Software Service

Rutabaga

Welcome to the Modular Merchant discussion forums! These forums are here to provide you with a friendly environment where you can ask questions, discuss ideas, give advice, and converse about any other aspects of ecommerce with other users. Community forums are at their best when participants treat their fellow posters with respect and courtesy. Therefore, we ask that you conduct yourself in a civilized manner when participating in these forums.

The Modular Merchant forum Golden Rule: Don't be a jerk.

The guidelines and rules listed below explain what behavior is expected of you and what behavior you can expect from other community members. Note that the following guidelines are not exhaustive, and may not address all manner of offensive behavior. (Jerks always seem to be inventing new ways of being a jerk.) As such, the forum moderators shall have full discretion to address any behavior that they feel is inappropriate. Also, suspension or banishment from the website will always result in the same in regard to forum access. Your access to these forums is a "privilege," and not a "right." Modular Merchant reserves the right to suspend your access to these forums at any time for reasons that include, but are not necessarily limited to, your failure to abide by these guidelines.

We reserve the right to evaluate each incident on a case by case basis. The action we take may be more lenient or more severe than those listed under each category.

PART ONE: HOW TO AVOID BEING A JERK -- THE MODULAR MERCHANT CODE OF CONDUCT

Avoiding trouble is easy. To avoid getting on the Modular Merchant staff's nerves, don't partake in or encourage the following:
* Racial/Ethnic Derogatory Language
* Extremely Sexual/Violent Language
* Real-Life Threats
* Distribution of Real-Life Personal Information
* Inquiries/Discussion of Members' Sexual Preference
* Posting of Cheats, Hacks, Trojan Horses, or Malicious Programs
* Impersonating an Employee of Modular Merchant or Other Company
* Posting Unreleased Content / Hacking Data Files
* Obscene/Vulgar language (Including, but not limited to: Inappropriate language, Harassment or Defamation, Insulting Major Religions or Religious Figures, Insulting Nationalities, Encouraging Illegal Drugs or Activities, Spamming and Trolling, Creating Duplicate Threads, Cross Linking Threads, Advertising, Discussing Disciplinary Actions, Circumventing a Suspension/Ban).

And now for the part of the show where we get to discuss each of the horrible things listed above in more detail, just to make sure that its clear. Fun!

Racial/Ethnic Derogatory Language
This category includes both clear and masked language and/or links to websites containing such language or images which:
* Promote racial/ethnic hatred
* Are recognized as a racial/ethnic slur
* Allude to a symbol of racial/ethnic hatred

Extremely Sexual/Violent Language
This category includes both clear and masked language and/or links to websites containing such language or images which:
* Refer to extreme and/or violent sexual acts
* Refer to extremely violent real life actions
* Pornography

Real-Life Threats
* Refer to violence in any capacity

Distribution of Real-Life Personal Information
* Releasing any real-life information about other users or Modular Merchant employees

Inquiries/Discussion of Members' Sexual Preference
* Insultingly refer to any aspect of sexual preference pertaining to themselves or other users

Posting Cheats, Hacks, Trojan Horses, or Malicious Programs
* Posting links to cheats, hacks, or malicious viruses / programs
* If you would like to report information regarding cheats or hacks to Modular Merchant, send it to abuse@modularmerchant.com. Do NOT post it to the forums.

Impersonating an Employee of Modular Merchant or Other Company
* Passing yourself off as a Modular Merchant or other company employee to post false information

Posting Unreleased Content / Hacking Data Files
* Show encrypted software content, scripts, or content that has not been released by hacking into client data files
* Show the results of hacking or any tampering of a computer's files
* Discuss, or display any data not available through normal software use

Obscene/Vulgar Language (Including text, links and images)
* Are an inappropriate reference to human anatomy or bodily functions
* Are pornographic in nature
* Are a mildly inappropriate reference to human anatomy or bodily functions
* Are otherwise considered objectionable
* Bypass the Mature Language filter
* Insultingly refer to other users, clients, Modular Merchant employees, or groups of people
* Result in ongoing harassment to other users, clients, Modular Merchant employees, or groups of people
* Harassment takes many forms, and is not necessarily limited to the type of language used, but the intent. Repeatedly targeting a specific user with harassment can lead to more severe action. The idea behind this is to prevent any one user from consistently being uncomfortable in the Modular Merchant forums.
* Negatively portray major religions or religious figures
* Promote national hatred
* Language recognized as national slurs
* Allude to symbols of national hatred
* Reference to abusing illegal drugs
* Reference to performing illegal activities
* Excessively communicating the same phrase, similar phrases, or pure gibberish
* Creating threads for the sole purpose of causing unrest on the forums
* Causing disturbances in forum threads, such as picking fights, making off topic posts that ruin the thread, insulting other posters
* Making non-constructive posts
* Abusing the forums by sending false alarms or nonsensical messages
* Numbering a thread or any other fad statements
* Creating threads about existing topics
* Creating a separate thread about an existing topic for further discussion in more than one forum
* Linking to threads from other forums
* Creating threads with the sole purpose of linking another post
* Advertising any non-beneficial, non-Modular Merchant related businesses, organizations, or websites
* Creating posts or threads to discuss disciplinary actions taken against a user, including chat logs and email correspondence between a user and Modular Merchant
* Creating posts or threads to discuss disciplinary actions taken against a user, site member or account on the forums
* Posting on another account
* Having someone post on your behalf

For those brainiacs who insist on breaking the rules outlined above:

Repeatedly violating any area of the Modular Merchant Terms of Use or Forum Code of Conduct, including the areas detailed above, will often result in permanent banishment from the website and forums. This policy is not language-restrictive. Language that falls under this policy will always be subject to the repercussions listed, whether it is inappropriate in English or any other language.

The bottom line is that we want Modular Merchant to be an educational, fun and safe environment for all users. Modular Merchant is a publicly accessible website, and the key word here is "public". In using this website and posting on its forums, you will encounter thousands of other users who share different experiences and come from vastly different backgrounds. (ie: Everyone is not you!) While certain language and images may not be offensive to you, consider the fact that that same language and images may have a completely different effect on someone else. We’ve done everything we can to make this a great website but now it’s up to you, the members, to breathe life into it.

If a user is found to have participated in disapproved actions, he/she will:
Step 1: Be temporarily banned from the Modular Merchant website and forums.
Step 2: Be given a final warning, and any further Code of Conduct violations may result in permanent ban from the website and forums.
Step 3: Be permanently banned from the Modular Merchant website and forums.

Depending on the severity of the offense, the Modular Merchant staff may skip one or more of the steps above when dispensing disciplinary action to the offending party. While these repercussions may seem harsh, we feel very strongly that this behavior has no place on the Modular Merchant website or forums due to its extremely offensive and inappropriate nature. We all have real lives to deal with, and we have no patience for babysitting forum users.

PART TWO: NETIQUETTE

In addition to the Forum Code of Conduct, here are some common courtesy guidelines to follow. While these do technically fall within the bounds of the Code of Conduct, there has been some confusion regarding what is and is not allowed. These guidelines should help clear up any misconceptions.

* The Modular Merchant General Discussion Forum is for discussion of topics directly related to Modular Merchant, related services and the topics discussed on the site. If you wish to discuss other topics, whether its polling for real-life statistics or asking who everyone's favorite musician is (Rutabaga's is Weird Al Yankovic), then please post in our off-topic forum. Please note that the Code of Conduct still applies to the off-topic forum.

* Do not post IN ALL CAPITAL LETTERS, or use excessive punctuation!!!!???!?!... It's really annoying. This practice is often used to draw attention to ones post. While everyone wants their posts read, we ask that you refrain from using sensational tactics in order to bring more people to your thread. Tip: Your post will be more popular if it is well written.

* Using the words Modular Merchant or any community member's name in a thread topic is frowned on. Please keep your thread titles relevant to the post subject.

* Do not bump posts. The act of bumping ones post is considered spamming and contributes nothing constructive to the discussion. Your thread will be seen; there is no need to continually bump it to the top of the list.

* Petition posts are frowned on. (Petitions are not the same thing as Feature Requests, which we like.) This is a discussion forum. Petition threads do not contain much discussion instead, a petition is usually page after page of "/signed". This is not constructive. If you have an issue with the website, please discuss it in a civil fashion. Use your words! There are other places on the Internet to form online petitions.

* Do not post about locked or deleted threads. Posts that are moderated have a reason behind the moderation. We lock before we post on a locked thread to stop the violation in question as soon as possible, so if you have yet to see a comment by a member of the community team on a locked thread, please wait for it and do not post on the subject.

There. We should all now be able to live in harmony for ever and ever. Now let's get back to talking about ecommerce, web design, marketing and other fun stuff!
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Rutabaga
Keeper of the Development Schedule
Modular Merchant Shopping Cart Software.