Rules of Conduct
The Forum is managed on behalf of the Society by the Webmaster who will be responsible for the day-to-day management of the Forum. The Webmaster will be assisted by two members of the Society appointed as Moderators.
Membership of the Forum is open to all members of the Signalling Record Society who agree to participate in the Forum consistent with these rules. Those requesting to join will be validated against the current membership list.
The purpose of the Forum is to allow the discussion and exchange of views among members, of topics that are appropriate to the aims and objectives of the Society which are:-
• To encourage and further the study of railway signalling and operation worldwide but with particular reference to British and Irish practice,
• To share that knowledge with others by promoting the exchange of information between members, and
• To collect and record signalling and operating matters and history in documentary form.
To this end Forum members accept that the Society may publish, in whole or in part, messages posted in the Forum for the benefit of members who do not have computers or internet access. Publication will be in either The Signalling Record or the Newsletter circulated with it. The Forum will also be used occasionally as an additional means to promulgate Society messages and announcements.
The following is a non-exhaustive list of unacceptable messages in topics:-
• Messages likely to cause offence, nuisance or anxiety or breach the laws of the UK,
• Personal replies unlikely to be of interest to the generality of Forum members (please reply by personal message),
• Material copied from elsewhere without proper acknowledgement, or in breach of UK or international law in respect of Copyright,
• Messages, or part-messages, sent to you privately or through another private list, unless with the permission of the original sender,
• Discussion about viruses, ‘spam’, ‘flames’, chain letters, religious beliefs and politics, and
• Electioneering for the Society Committee
Any member who does not behave in a way consistent with these rules may be subject to moderation (posts checked by the Moderators) or removal from the Forum. The Moderators may call for a given topic of discussion to cease if it has become too heated or unproductive. All members agree to abide by directions issued by the Moderators.
If you are unhappy about the behaviour of another Forum member, please discuss your concerns with the Moderators or Administrator by raising a ‘Report to moderator‘ against the relevant posted message. Do not express your concerns openly on the Forum itself.
The Society reserves the right to change these conditions at any time without prior warning but will normally post a notice of such change on the Forum.
Security
Your password for this Forum should be complex and unique to your access to the Forum. In particular do NOT use the same password that you use to access your bank account(s)!
Cookies
The Forum uses cookies in order to handle logging in and logging off. By registering as a Forum member you agree that you will accept that cookies generated by the Forum can be placed on your computer for this purpose.
Additional Notes
When replying to messages, avoid including quotes of previous messages unless absolutely necessary and relevant.
Remember that your message can be seen world wide by people from all walks of life and backgrounds - so please be courteous and respect the diversity of views that are inevitably expressed.
Be especially careful how you express yourself, especially if you feel heated about a subject - it is all too easy to convey the wrong impression. Be wary of humour - other readers may not share your interpretation of what is humorous. Use of a smiley attached to an inappropriate message does not of itself make the message acceptable. If you do feel very strongly on a subject, it may be best to leave it for a while and not send an instant response.
Be tolerant of others’ mistakes. Some people are not as experienced in the Forum medium as others and may not be good typists. Don’t draw attention to, or correct, others’ typographical, grammatical or punctuation errors.
Messages advertising items of interest to Society members are acceptable in moderation, but please note that the Forum is primarily for discussion and not a means of promoting your own activities. If in doubt, consult the Moderators before posting.
Remember that the various civil and criminal laws relating to written communication apply equally to Forum messages, including the laws relating to defamation, copyright, obscenity, fraudulent misrepresentation, and wrongful discrimination.
Do not write to the Forum expecting to get an ‘official’ response from the Committee. The Committee are not necessarily members of the Forum and do not discuss Society policy on the Forum. If you wish to address the Committee, use the link to the Chairman, Deputy Chairman or Secretary available on the contacts page of the Society Web Site.
Technical Notes
The Forum system uses a number of methods to minimise the risk of spam and registration by automated and malicious software. If you receive an error message during the registering process and you consider you are eligible to register, please provide detail of the error message to the Webmaster using the link available on the contacts page of the Society Web Site.
In the event of an attempt to upload an attachment not working, please provide detail of the error message to the Webmaster using the link available on the contacts page of the Society Web Site.
Some email service providers, such as Google (gmail) and Yahoo, have excessively heavy anti-spam filters in place and can lead to their rejecting legitimate mail solely because it is generated from a web site. It is preferable to use personal email address, the one given you by your Internet Service Provider, if at all possible.
Data Privacy Notice
The Society respects your right to privacy. The personal information you provide is held on computer in the Forum Database and is used to verify your membership of the Society both when joining and subsequently to verify your continued membership.
Your personal data will not be used for any other purpose, nor will it be shared with third parties.
It is your responsibility to update your personal information in the Forum Database which you can do at any time by logging in to the Forum and changing the entries in your personal profile. Please note that your posts will not be deleted if you decide to be 'forgotten'.