Upon signing up to this site you hereby agree to the following terms, conditions and site / posting rules. These rules are subject to change without notice. If you do not agree with the rules or any future amendments to these rules, this is not the place for you.

The below rules apply to the full site which includes, but is not limited to forums, adverts, news comments, profiles and gig listings.

Moderators / administrators (herein known as volunteers) will use their discretion to inform you via PM / E-Mail of their actions regarding your posts.

1. Bad language . Blackpool Bands is a very liberal site - we make use of a "swear filter" only for overly obscene words - we ask our members to bear in mind that this site is open to minors and an excessive use of foul language will be taken seriously. Action will be taken against any members found to be bypassing the swear filter for any reason.

a. Personal Attacks. Keep it civil girls and boys. Any textual abuse / threats to board members will be taken very seriously. It's all fun and games until someone gets hurt.
b. Complaining about locked, moved & deleted threads / site services / moderators / administrators. If a member has a complaint about the site or a volunteer's conduct, they should raise it in PM to the person in question or to a site administrator. Matters of this nature are not for public discussion and should be dealt with via the PM system. Suggestions may be posted in the suggestions forums as long as they are for constructive discussion only.
c. Provoking agitated responses. Action will be taken against anyone found to be intentionally provoking an agitated response from other site members.
d. Bigotry. Though it is acceptable to have strong opinions, posts containing extreme close-minded and bigoted opinions are not welcome. Please be acceptable of other people's views and opinions - they have just as much right as you do to be interested in their subject matter.
e. Discrimination. Racism, sexism and any other unwarranted prejudice is not an acceptable form of expression on this site.
f. Personal Messages. Personal Messages are for personal communication between two members of the site - PMs that are posted on the site will be deleted and appropriate action will be taken against the poster. We urge members to ignore any attacks or abuse via PM. If the problem persists, please forward the PM to a volunteer who will deal with the message appropriately.

3. Rule 3, you do not talk about wrestling in "Feedback & Suggestions" ;)

4. Post in the correct forum. Pretty self-explanatory - think before you post! Not everything belongs in "General Chat". The volunteers will do their best to move topics to the relevant forum, but we're only human and we miss things at times! Action will be taken if volunteers continually have to move a single member's posts - please don't be lazy!

5. Duplicate threads / cross posting / spamming.

a. Members are permitted to post one copy of any single thread within the site. This is limited to subject, not user - i.e. if User1 and User2 both post a thread with similar content, the threads will be merged or one of them will be deleted.
b. Every thread has its place! Please do not post your thread in more than one forum as duplicate threads in incorrect forums will be removed.
c. Though Blackpool Bands does not incorporate a strict "anti-spam" filter, we do not allow "spam" on the site. This includes advertising of un-related services, posting threads continually (whether they contain the same or different content) or disrupting the flow of topics in an attempt to generate attention or increase your post count.
d. "F.A.O." threads. Whilst Blackpool Bands is a community site, it is also an open public forum. Threads intended for the sole reading / response by a particular group of individuals are frowned upon. This does NOT apply to threads intended for a certain interest catchment - i.e. "FAO Metal Heads" etc... Please use the PM system to communicate with your friends directly, rather than create a public topic intended for a few people only.

6. Illegal / inappropriate content. This includes but is not limited to links to illegal MP3s, movies, warez sites and pornography sites. There are many forums and sites on the Internet that provide such content and are easy to find - we are not one of them, nor do we endorse such material.

7. Signatures. Members are permitted to use a signature that will be posted at the bottom of all of their posts if they wish to do so. Signatures are limited to a maximum of 6 lines of standard size text or images up to 600 pixels wide by 200 pixels high. If your signature is too large or contains inappropriate content it will be removed by a volunteer. No-one likes scrolling through pages of signatures, or having to scroll across the screen to view thread content. This will also decrease page load time and browser performance.

8. Avatars & images. Many of our members access this website from work - please keep all viewable image content "work safe" and clean. If you need to post images of a non work safe nature, please LINK to them and mark them as "not work safe". Inappropriate avatars / images will be removed.

9. Accounts & User Names.

a. Individuals are permitted to register ONE account only.
b. If you require your user name changing, please contact a site administrator.
c. Accounts are restricted to ONE user only. If an account is found to be accessed by more than one user, the account will be locked.
d. User names should not contain any abusive language (even if the word/s used are not in the swear filter) and must be made up from the characters A-Z, 0-9, - (hyphen), _ (underscore) and spaces.
e. Members are not permitted to register accounts with the sole purpose of posing as someone/thing they are not. This includes but it not limited to celebrities, dictators, members of parliament, sovereignty, notaries, people of infamous reputations and other board members. Offensive user names will be changed / deleted.
f. A valid e-mail address and name is required to register an account. Your details will be used for administration purposes only. Members have the option to hide any of their details from their profile.

10. Type in English. We appreciate that it is not always possible to have perfect grammar, spelling and punctuation, but please try to type your posts in readable English - txt / l33t 5p34k is not only annoying, but use of correct English will stop other members from pointing out your inability to structure a sentence, and your posts will also receive a better response. Common internet acronyms are acceptable.

11. Supporting Membership.

a. A Supporting Membership does not entitle users to any preferencial treatment from the volunteers, or exemption from any forum rules
b. Blackpool Bands reserves the right to terminate or ban any membership, supporting or otherwise, at any time.
c. No refunds will be issued.
d. Blackpool Bands reserves the right to modify any of the described benefits of membership at any time.
e. Supporting Membership does not entitle the member to "ownership" of the site or any of it's services.
f. Supporting Membership is donation based - members are free to donate any amount of money and in turn will have non-essential additional features enabled for their account.

Please be aware that not all advertised services are currently available and will be added as and when they are developed.

"Automatic Upgrades" of accounts will only take place if you are browsing using a logged in Blackpool Bands account. If your account does not get automatically upgraded when you donate, please contact an Administrator.

12. Banning. Various volunteers have the facility to ban other members from the site via account / IP address.

a. All "ban periods" will be stated to the banned member via PM by a volunteer.
b. All members have "read-only" access to the site and are able to PM volunteers only during their "banned period".
c. Members are expected to carry out their "banned period" before they use the site to post again.
d. Repeat offenders and members who use another account to post during their "banned period" will be banned via IP.
e. If you feel that a decision to ban was made unfairly, or would like to appeal your ban for any reason, PM a site administrator.

13. Uploaded content. We provide various upload facilities throughout the site. If a member is found to upload content of an illegal or inappropriate nature, the content will be deleted without warning or notice.

14. Privacy. Blackpool Bands stores personal, demographic information on all of its members in a secure database located off-site. Your information will not be passed on to any 3rd parties and will only be used to inform you of Blackpool Band related information. Every member has the option to unbubscribe from receiving this at any time.

15. Deleted Content. Blackpool Bands reserves the right to maintain a log of all content added to the website including threads, profiles and messages, even after it has been deleted by the user. This detail will be used for demographic purposes and in the event of a complaint being raised in regards to content added to the website.

If a member fails to abide by the rules, one or more of the following actions will be taken:

• The thread's inappropriate content will be deleted
• The thread will be locked
• The member will be warned
• The member will be banned for a period of time consequent to the severity of their actions or previous actions
• The member's account will be deleted

This action is at the discretion of the volunteers - if a member has an issue with a volunteer's action, it should be raised via PM to a site administrator.

Please do not abuse the volunteers - they are here to help you and they will not respond to threats of any kind.