# Sticky  The Rules



## Dwight Ennis (Jan 2, 2008)

First off, welcome to the *NEW* *myLargescale.com*, _*the*_ place on the Internet for Large Scale Trains!!

We have few rules here, since we don't like them any better than anyone else does.  However, there are a few that are necessary, so to avoid any confusion, I felt them worth posting here.

*General:*

These are already in the Terms of Use Agreement you accepted when you signed up, but a few bear repeating. You can review the Terms of Use Agreement at any time here...

*[url]http://www.mylargescale.com/Home/tabid/36/ctl/Terms/Default.aspx*[/url]http://www.mylargescale.com/forum/policy.asp

The main points are...

1 - Courtesy to other members at all times is the Cardinal Rule here on MLS. Personal attacks, insults, and/or flames will not be tolerated, nor will heated arguments. Impersonal debate on products, methods, etc. is fine.

2 - this is a family web site with many junior members.  Post only appropriate things that you wouldn't mind your own children seeing or reading.

3 - any post which is deemed inappropriate for any reason may be edited or deleted at the sole discretion of the Moderators.

4 - any post advertising items for sale is forbidden in the forums.  The one exception is 1st class members may post links to their ads in the classified section of this site, but must keep it simple.

*Ownership of Posts:*

Once an individual has posted, the post is in the *myLargescale.com* collective work.  While *myLargescale.com* does not claim ownership of posted material, by posting it you are granting *myLargescale.com* permission to retain that material.  Members will not be allowed to delete that material.  Here's the _"legaleze"_ version...


myLargescale.com does not claim ownership of the materials you provide to myLargescale.com (including feedback and suggestions) or post, upload, input or submit to any myLargescale.com Web Site or its associated services (collectively "Submissions"). However, by posting, uploading, inputting, providing or submitting your Submission you are granting myLargescale.com, its affiliated companies and necessary sublicensees permission to use your Submission in connection with the operation of their Internet businesses including, without limitation, the rights to: copy, distribute, transmit, publicly display, publicly perform, reproduce, edit, translate and reformat your Submission; and to publish your name in connection with your Submission.

No compensation will be paid with respect to the use of your Submission, as provided herein. myLargescale.com is under no obligation to post or use any Submission you may provide and may remove any Submission at any time in myLargescale.com's sole discretion.

By posting, uploading, inputting, providing or submitting your Submission you warrant and represent that you own or otherwise control all of the rights to your Submission as described in this section including, without limitation, all the rights necessary for you to provide, post, upload, input or submit the Submissions.


Members may edit their own posts if it is done within 48 hours of the original post.  After 48 hours, the system will not allow you to edit your posts. If changes are needed, you must contact a moderator or administrator who will make the changes for you.

This granting of right of amendment is at the discretion of *myLargescale.com* and is intended to make postings as relevant as possible to forum users.  It does not include the wholesale withdrawal of posting from the site which would have the effect of making threads irrelevant or useless to those reading the record of the synchronous conversation which has taken place.  Damage to the continuity and integrity of the forums will not be permitted.

*Photos:*

Full information on how to post photos can be found in this FAQ...

*[url]http://archive.mylargescale.com/faq/showquestion.asp?faq=1&fldAuto=1*[/url]

If you are a new 1st Class Member, information on how to manage your 1st Class web space to store photos for posting can be found in this FAQ...

*[url]http://archive.mylargescale.com/faq/showquestion.asp?faq=1&fldAuto=4*[/url]

Surveys taken here have shown many members still using dialup connections. For this reason (among others)...

1 - all photos or images posted to these forums are limited to 640 pixels in width.

2 - try to save your images in JPEG format with close to maximum compression. You will lose little in the way of image quality and will reduce filesize (and therefore download time) dramatically. Don't post bitmaps (BMP). They are unnecessarily huge.

3 - Photos and/or images not meeting these guidelines will be converted to a simple link by the Moderators.

*Signatures:*

1 - signature images are limited in physical size to a maximum of 500 pixels wide by 120 pixels high. 

2 - signature images are further limited in file size to a maximum of 25 kilobytes.

3 - signatures with an image 120 pixels high are limited to one line of text above or below the image.

4 - members are asked to voluntarily refrain from using animated gifs in their signatures (this one also applies to Avatars).

5 - blank lines above and below the sig should be eliminated.

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These "Rules" are subject to amendment by the Site Owner at any time without notice as current conditions may warrant.


That's about it.  Participate in the forums, fire away with any questions you may have, make friends and enjoy the fraternity which MLS is famous for, and most of all, *have fun!!!*


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## Dwight Ennis (Jan 2, 2008)

Shad - here are "The Rules" from the old Beginners Forum and slightly ammended for the new site...
[*]Note the addition of requested refrainment from using animated gifs in avatars.  [*]Ownership of Posts has been modified to conform to the new Terms of Use agreement. [*]The "legaleze" is directly copied from the new Terms of Use agreement. [*]Hyperlinks to the old original FAQ on forum formatting and smily usage has been deleted. [*]Hyperlinks to the "Use of 1st Class web space and on posting photos (which still works) have been changed to point to the archived FAQs. [*]The "these may change at any time" was added at the bottom. [/list] 

With your approval, I will post these as a "pinned" topic (or you can) in both the Beginners Forum and the Public Forum (past experience shows that having them in the Beginners Forum only results in many not seeing them, or claiming to not know where to find them).


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## ShadsTrains (Dec 27, 2007)

Dwight,


Thanks for revising those for me.  I think that I should probably be the one to post them, so I will do it.  I may make a couple additional revisions.


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## Dwight Ennis (Jan 2, 2008)

No problem.


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## Dwight Ennis (Jan 2, 2008)

I thought I'd better bump this back to the top as well.  It's usually a lot easier to defend our decisions if they can be supported by publicly posted rules which anyone can read.


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## Dwight Ennis (Jan 2, 2008)

Bump


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## ShadsTrains (Dec 27, 2007)

I was just reading over these.. There are still a few changes that need to be made. In addition, I think we need to have some wording in there about MLS not being a venue to resolve disputes with vendors, and we need to add in a section governing advertisers and their conduct. There are a lot of unstated rules.. I think we need to state them and be more definite in that regard like Doug has advocated in the past. Those with a vested interest should state so in their signature with a line like "Owner: Bob's Railroad Widgets" and a link to their website.. No more info than that.


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## Dwight Ennis (Jan 2, 2008)

Can we get this posted please? I had to delete a post by TacFoley this morning (an ad). While I sent him a PM and quoted main Rule #4, nowhere are these posted that I can refer to. For obvious reasons, it's more difficult to enforce unposted rules.


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## Dougald (Jan 2, 2008)

Dwight 
I would put Rule #3 into the preamble and then the specific points would be to show items which are inappropriate 
I would add 2 new rules 
while reviews of products and services are welcomed, the forums are not designed to be a place to resolve conflicts between manufacturers/vendors and individual hobbyists 
MLS if fortunate to have the participation of many people who are active in the business part of the hobby. In their participation, those with a financial interest should refrain from blatantly advertising their product and from criticizing their competitors' products. An identification of their business involvement is encouraged perhaps with a link to their business website on their signature block. 
My wording is a bit too formal and long - perhaps there is a shorter less bureaucratic way to state these points. A way of doing that would be to lift the section on those with a business involvement and deal with it just like the ownership of posts. Then the rules continue to look short and sweet while we still get in a lengthy shot about conduct and conflict of interest.


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## Dwight Ennis (Jan 2, 2008)

Revised draft... 
--------------------------------------- 
First off, welcome to the _*NEW*_*myLargescale.com*, _*the*_ place on the Internet for Large Scale Trains!! 

We have few rules here, since we don't like them any better than anyone else does.  However, there are a few that are necessary, so to avoid any confusion, they are posted here. 

*1.0 - General:* 

These are already in the "Terms of Use Agreement" you accepted when you signed up, but a few bear repeating. You can review the Terms of Use Agreement at any time here... 

http://www.mylargescale.com/Home/tabid/36/ctl/Terms/Default.aspx[/b] 

The main points are... 

1.1 - Courtesy to other members at all times is the Cardinal Rule here on MLS. Personal attacks, insults, and/or flames will not be tolerated, nor will heated arguments. Impersonal debate on products, methods, etc. is fine. 

1.2 - this is a family web site with many junior members.  Post only appropriate things that you wouldn't mind your own children seeing or reading. 

1.3 - any post advertising items for sale is forbidden in the forums.  The one exception is 1st class members may post links to their ads in the classified section of this site, but must keep it simple. 

1.4 - MLS if fortunate to have the participation of many people who are active in the business part of the hobby. In their participation, those with a financial interest should refrain from blatantly advertising their product and from criticizing their competitors' products. An identification of their business involvement is encouraged perhaps with a link to their business website on their signature block. 

1.5 - while honest reviews of products and services are welcomed, the forums are not designed to be a place to resolve conflicts between manufacturers/vendors and individual hobbyists. 

1.6 - any post which is deemed inappropriate for any reason may be edited or deleted at the sole discretion of the Moderators. Inappropriate includes, but is not limited to, posts which violate any of the above. 

*2.0 - Ownership of Posts:* 

2.1 - Once an individual has posted, the post is in the *myLargescale.com* collective work.  While *myLargescale.com* does not claim ownership of posted material, by posting it you are granting *myLargescale.com* permission to retain that material.  Members will not be allowed to delete that material. Here's the _"legaleze"_ version... 




myLargescale.com does not claim ownership of the materials you provide to myLargescale.com (including feedback and suggestions) or post, upload, input or submit to any myLargescale.com Web Site or its associated services (collectively "Submissions"). However, by posting, uploading, inputting, providing or submitting your Submission you are granting myLargescale.com, its affiliated companies and necessary sublicensees permission to use your Submission in connection with the operation of their Internet businesses including, without limitation, the rights to: copy, distribute, transmit, publicly display, publicly perform, reproduce, edit, translate and reformat your Submission; and to publish your name in connection with your Submission. 
No compensation will be paid with respect to the use of your Submission, as provided herein. myLargescale.com is under no obligation to post or use any Submission you may provide and may remove any Submission at any time in myLargescale.com's sole discretion. 
By posting, uploading, inputting, providing or submitting your Submission you warrant and represent that you own or otherwise control all of the rights to your Submission as described in this section including, without limitation, all the rights necessary for you to provide, post, upload, input or submit the Submissions.





2.2 - Members may edit their own posts if it is done within 48 hours of the original post.  After 48 hours, the system will not allow you to edit your posts. If changes are needed, you must contact a moderator or administrator who will make the changes for you. 

2.3 - This granting of right of amendment is at the discretion of *myLargescale.com* and is intended to make postings as 
relevant as possible to forum users.  It does not include the wholesale withdrawal of posting from the site which would have the effect of making threads irrelevant or useless to those reading the record of the synchronous conversation which has 
taken place.  Damage to the continuity and integrity of the forums will not be permitted. 

*3.0 - Photos:* 

Full information on how to post photos can be found in this FAQ... 
*http://archive.mylargescale.com/faq/showquestion.asp?faq=1&fldAuto=1* 

If you are a new 1st Class Member, information on how to manage your 1st Class web space to store 
photos for posting can be found in this FAQ... 

*http://archive.mylargescale.com/faq/showquestion.asp?faq=1&fldAuto=4* 

Surveys taken here have shown many members still using dialup connections. For this reason (among 
others)... 

3.1 - all photos or images posted to these forums are limited to 640 pixels in width. 

3.2 - try to save your images in JPEG format with close to maximum compression. You will lose little in the way of image quality and will reduce filesize (and therefore download time) dramatically. Don't post bitmaps (BMP). They are unnecessarily 
huge. 

3.3 - Photos and/or images not meeting these guidelines will be converted to a simple link by the Moderators. 

*4.0 - Signatures:* 

4.1 - signature images are limited in physical size to a maximum of 500 pixels wide by 120 pixels high. 

4.2 - signature images are further limited in file size to a maximum of 25 kilobytes. 

4.3 - signatures with an image 120 pixels high are limited to one line of text above or below the image. 

4.4 - members are asked to voluntarily refrain from using animated gifs in their signatures (this one also applies to Avatars). 

4.5 - blank lines above and below the sig should be eliminated. 

---------------------------------------------------------------------- 

These "Rules" are subject to amendment by the Site Owner at any time without notice as current conditions may warrant. 

That's about it.  Participate in the forums, fire away with any questions you may have, make friends and enjoy the fraternity which MLS is famous for, and most of all, _*have fun!!!*_&nbsp


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## Jim Francis (Dec 29, 2007)

1.4 change "MLS if..." to "MLS is...." 

Jim


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## Dwight Ennis (Jan 2, 2008)

Trying to format or edit anything like this is a huge PITA now without the Editor. Every time I edit, it deletes all my line spacing and I have to go back through the whole damn thing again. /DesktopModules/NTForums/themes/mls/emoticons/angry.gif


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## SteveC (Jan 2, 2008)

Dwight

May I make a couple of suggestions to save yourself some time and heartaches with the current configuration of the MLS editor, when composing a complex reply.[*]First - Make a bookmark favorite pointing to one of the topics in the Forum Bugs and Testing forum. Where you've posted a reply. 
[*]Second - Open one of your previously posted replies in the edit mode. The reason for doing this is that it will not cause an indication of current activity and cause the topic to pop-up being listed in the Active Topics screen. 
[*]Third - Open and compose your reply in an ASCII text editor (e.g. MS/Notepad), then copy and paste the rough draft into the MLS editor's text area. 
[*]Fourth - Since currently the Preview function of the editor doesn't accurately display the way the reply will look after being posted, simply use the Submit button to post the reply. After seeing what the result will be, you then can go back to the original in the ASCII text editor and make required changes. This way when you reopen the reply in the edit mode, whatever the system does to it won't matter because you've got the original in the ASCII text editor so you can copy and paste from it and totally over-write what's in the MLS editor text area and click the Submit button.[/list]This way you can easily repeat the above process until you get things just the way you want and then post the reply to the respective topic. If it's something that you feel that you may modify again in the future then save a copy locally.


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## Dwight Ennis (Jan 2, 2008)

Thanks Steve. I'll give it a try. On the revised rules I posted today, I copied the text from the original, then pasted it into FrontPage 97, did my edits, then copied the html window and pasted it into the new reply. 

I was commenting about subsequent edits. It would seem some of the CR/LF combinations are removed, 'cause when I resubmit, every place I had an extra space between the lines, that extra space is gone.


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## ShadsTrains (Dec 27, 2007)

I posted the rules last night as an announcement in the public forum.. I made a few small edits as well.


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## Dwight Ennis (Jan 2, 2008)

Thanks Shad. That will make life easier.


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