**FORUM CHARTER - PLEASE READ BEFORE POSTING** (Updated 06/09/10)

star-pants

We all love pets, and we love to talk about them. But remember, there are some simple rules:

This board is intended for the discussion of pet ownership (ie feeding,care etc.), help with locating pets of all kinds, and general discussion about pets and animals.

General Site Rules

No spamming, no advertising, no 'pimping' your wares/services etc, no illegal material, and no posting of NSFW items.
No linking to site advertisements.
No fundraising/soliciting.


Forum-Specific Rules

• No discussing illegal activities, animal cruelty, petshops/breeders (unless you have personal first hand experience with the latter).
• No discussion or linking of sites like PETA/ALF/animal demos etc.
• Do not libel individuals or companies.
• No animal sales, no selling items, no animal studs.

Special Notes

If you are posting about an injured/sick animal or pet do not assume any advice or links to "possible causes" given on this forum are the answer to your problem.
Any injured or sick animal should be taken to a vet asap, neither Boards.ie or any of its members can be held responsible for any advice given on this forum causing harm to any person or animal.

Treat people how you wish to be treated, rudeness/swearing/abuse will not be tolerated.

Please use the report post function to report suspect threads/posts/abuse - do not respond to them.
No backseat modding.

Also if for some reason you get a post edited by a Moderator,please do not re-edit the moderators changes.We`d prefer if they were left in place in order to stop others from breaking the same rule should it arise.

If you have an animal you wish to rehome we have two threads located in the Animal Welfare forum, once off and agency ones. PM a mod for the agency thread.
Any other rehoming threads started will be deleted.

Please be wary of rehoming scams, there have been issues in the past where people are rehoming for their own benefit and providing false details/false papers etc.
Anyone who is involved in this type of scam will be permanently banned from Boards. And anyone has been a victim of this scam could they please any of the mods with the details.

Penalties & Dispute Resolution

Thread closure, warnings/infractions/banning is at the discretion of the mods - any issues regarding that or other things, PM any of us or please pm that mod and if you are unsatisfied contact the CMod, and failing them being able to help - take it to helpdesk.
Current CMods - AlmightyCushion, Trout, kbannon
Please do not argue on thread with a mod decision - if you are unhappy with an action taken, there is a sitewide process here

Please help to make this forum a place you want to be part of.
Finally all posters should be familiar with the
General FAQ/Site rules

Other useful threads:

Departed Pets Thread
Care Sheets

Darragh

Hi there

This isn't strictly relevant to everyone, and in fact applies to all forums on Boards.ie, but I do want to put this point across very plainly, and in conjunction with the charter above.

We at Boards.ie, while happy to let discussions happen, will not accept any posts from a member that are libellous, defamatory or in any way sets out to damage the reputation of a company or individual without proof being provided.

If a post is made that appears to do that, our moderators are completely within their rights to remove that post, and, if necessary, follow the rules posted here and ban that poster.

Any libelous statements against an individual or company will result in a permanent ban for all those involved.

If you believe a business or an individual to be in any way not-compliant with standards or the law, you must provide proof in your post before saying so. Saying "I heard it from the man down the road" is not proof. Linking to a newspaper article, a court order or similar is.

Our moderators in this forum are great, and seriously hard working volunteers, but they can't see everything either. We'd really appreciate you helping us out where you can.

In a situation where you feel a post may not be 100% based on fact or you think we should look at it, please press the REPORT POST button (it's this symbol - - beside each post when you're logged in) and let us know.

If you need any clarification on this, please let us know.

Thank you

Darragh
Boards.ie Communications Manager

seamus

A Special Note on Libel/Defamation

Further to Darragh's post above in January, we believe that the below information on defamation requires special attention.

there is no free speech on this forum
Any defamatory statements against an individual or company will result in a permanent ban for all those involved. We don't care what other sites allow or not.

- What is libel/defamation?
A defamation is basically any statement about a person or an organisation (private, public, NGO, non-profit, whatever), which would damage the reputation of that person/organisation in the eyes of others.

- Is it OK if the statement is true?
Yes and no. A statement is only legally "true" if you can back it up with evidence.

- What kind of evidence is acceptable?

• Official reports filed by other organisations (with links, etc)
• Statements by the company themselves
• Any other evidence which can be shown in print and which is not subject to interpretation

- What is not "evidence"?

• Hearsay - "I know someone who", "I heard that", "My mate was told that..."
• Your personal opinion
• Anything else which you cannot supply via upload or web link

- Why is this such a big deal?
Someone who has a damaging comment made about them is entitled to to seek redress for any damage caused by that comment. Boards.ie as the publisher may be legally liable, and you as the author are also legally liable

- What will happen on boards if I say something defamatory?
If you cannot back it up with hard evidence, it will be deleted. If you develop a pattern or a habit of it, you will be banned from the forum permanently.

- Is there anything specific I should look out for?
Yes, this list is definitely not exhaustive:
1. Accusing any person or organisation of puppy-farming
2. Accusing any person or organisation of being associated with puppy-farming
3. Discrediting the legitimacy/authority of any person or organisation
4. Accusing a person or organisation of immoral practices or practices which they claim not to engage in.
5. Accusing any person or organisation of engaging in cruelty towards animals.


We would also ask all posters to be vigilant and report defamation (or even possible defamation) when you see it. If you're unsure, report it; better safe than sorry. Ultimately the availability of this forum is dependent on civil and legal discourse. If we fail in either regard, we're gone.