Interaction Guidelines

Roles, Responsibilities and Rights

In order to clarify the responsibilities of Users and Members and the relationship between them, each entity is considered to take on a Role. These Roles are defined below for use in the rest of the document. Privileges and access to the various parts of the site will be determined by the Role of a User.

• Guest
  Guests are those who use the site without maintaining an identity with BFE, or without using it when accessing the site.
• New Members
  A User of the site that has yet to be registered for 90 days, or make 10 Approved Posts.

• Members
  Members are those that maintain an identity with BFE, and use it in their transactions with BFE.
• Banned Members
  This role is reserved for those who are deemed to be a disturbance to the enjoyment of other users of BFE. Banned Members have the same access rights as Guests.
• Moderated Members
  Moderated Members are identical to Members, except that their posted content arrives into a moderation queue, where Referees or Staff may approve or deny the publication of the post.
• Referees
  Referees are members who are further trusted to moderate User content. In addition, and only when required, they can direct the flow of a topic and provide non-technical support and guidance to other Members.Referees shall be responsible for maintaining a good quality of dialogue through modification or deletion of inappropriate posts, reviewing and accepting moderated posts and guiding the flow of conversation in the forums.
• Staff
  A Member and administrative volunteer. Staff oversee the content of services, the organisational issues, technical operations and running of the financial organisation. They are ultimately responsible for the operation of bfenthusiasts.com.
  The Staff ultimately operate the sites and services of bfenthusiasts.com. The Staff are responsible for determining the wishes of BFE through democratic methods.

Role Access to Site Content

Different Roles are able to access different aspects of the site with varying levels of control.

Before Adding Content

In order to add content, you must first register to become a Member. Registration will require that you identify yourself to us, through use of a unique account name (username), a private password and a unique e-mail address. All other details can be optionally submitted. Users may only register once, and be known as a single Member (maintain a single account). We will automatically delete any duplicate Memberships when found, and may suspend the first. While you identify yourself to us through your e-mail address, you will remain anonymous to other Users unless you choose to do otherwise.

Adding Content

All Users are responsible for their own posts. Users shall post content that is appropriate for all other parties to read, including children and other sensitive demographics. Users shall not use BFE to advertise any other product or service, unless written permission is obtained from a Staff member beforehand. New Members who advertise other products or services will be immediately banned. Adverts include linking to other shipping websites. All quoted content shall be stated with its source and date, if possible. Content shall be posted in English. If content is sourced in another language, it shall be quoted with its source, date and an English translation or summary.

Fairness and Equality

Users shall not post content that is discriminatory, slanderous, insulting or that can be deemed embarrassing for the reader or BFE.

Referees shall keep a reasonable watch for events that contravene the fairness and equality rules, moderating content where appropriate and reporting major incidences to the Staff. Referees are not expected to deal with major events or problems, but to report them to the Staff for a consistent approach to problem handling.

Staff can be relied upon to remove content deemed unsuitable for the site, and record the incidence for use as evidence if required.

In the case of decisions over content, the decision of Staff shall be final, although Members are entitled to express their view over the situation and receive an explanation as to why content has been removed. If an explanation is not provided, it may be requested.

Persistent offenders are likely to have their account changed to a Moderated Member, for a duration of time decided by the Staff.

Remember that everyone has a different point of view, that things are rarely clear-cut and that there can be more to a matter than what you have come to learn. It would be simple to offend someone with "your posts don't make sense" when "I don't understand what you are saying" might be a better approach, even if you feel differently about it. Take time to consider the impact of what you are saying on other people before posting. The audience at BFE is not just that of close friends who know you well, but also of the business owners, press and public at large. Please communicate clearly, fairly and without prejudice.

Relevance of Content

Users shall post content that is in accordance with the existing thread conversation, if one exists. New threads may be created by Users. When creating a new thread, it shall be created in the relevant forum for its topic. General topics may be started in Open House Chatter, but these must be of a suitable topic for public discussion. Topics regarded as suitable are those that can be read by all age groups and that do not instill tension, hate or depression to any level. However, Staff may make judgements on what they feel is suitable content on behalf of BFE, and may provide reasons for removing or changing posted content. If a reason is not provided, it may be requested.

Staff will maintain content and operations such that majority of it falls within the aims of BFE. Referees shall moderate content and steer topics to ensure subjects are clean and relevant.