1 - Abusive behaviour will not be tolerated. We can all disagree from time to time but let's keep it civil and keep the language moderated, also keep in mind that this is a site visited by all age groups, nationalities, people of varying religious beliefs...or no belief at all and lifestyle choices so let's respect everyone's opinion even if you disagree. Probably best though to avoid politics and religion if you can
2 - NO FREE ADVERTISING! I have said this so many times over the years but honestly if your first post is going to be an advert, either commercial or personal you are looking at an instant ban. This includes posting links to your own website. We do allow links but only after you have reached the 50 post limit or you have cleared it with me or a moderator first. We do also allow paid advertising so contact me if that is something you are interested in. We have managed to keep the site pretty much spam-free over the years and this policy is in place to ensure it remains so. Please do not register if your ONLY intention is to sell something. There are other sites out there for such purposes. Yamahamusicians.com is primarily a community of musicians who are here to share knowledge and help each other out. You can sell your gear of course but only if you are also an active member of the forum. The best course of action is to always ask if in doubt.
3 - If you have reached the 50 post limit and/or cleared it with me or a moderator so that you can post links to your own website we ALWAYS require a link back. No exceptions to this and that link back should not be placed on a "links page" that no one will see. If you post a link on our forum it is always prominently displayed and we require any link back to be equally as visible to your own site visitors.
4 - If you link to your own site and that site includes a forum and/or affiliate links you MUST contact me or a moderator first. We are not here to help drive traffic to your own forum/site and help you make money through your affiliate links.
5 - This kind of ties in with number 1 above but, there is to be no flaming on this forum. For those who do not know what this is, it is when someone posts a question or information that results in a tirade of demeaning and sometimes abusive comments from other members. Most commonly this occurs when someone asks a question to which the answer is already available had they used the forums search function. Let me be very clear. This forum is not like most others out there. Sure you could use the search facility but there is no harm in asking ANY question on our forum. I don't care if it has been answered a thousand times before. We are here to help, not ridicule or judge. So no jumping on people just because they asked what you consider to be a simple question.
6 - No forum police on this site! Unlike many forums we don't generally adhere to strict "On Topic" posting. Often conversations will go off on a tangent from the original topic. That's OK. This forum is all about communication so please feel free to converse in the same way you would if you were talking to someone face to face. In any case topics tend to migrate to specific threads of their own accord and I am more than happy with that situation. So please, do not stifle conversation by telling people to create a new thread just because the conversation has gone off topic.
So there you have it. Not many rules, nothing too complicated. We may update these from time to time so always check if your not sure or just drop me a pm or email.
