04-20-2009, 12:00 AM

Mac-Forums Community Guidelines

Our Mission Statement
To foster a welcoming place for Apple users to learn, share, and grow.

The following Community Guidelines are here to help you understand what it means to be a member of Mac-Forums.

Play nice.
Our community is made up of many kinds of different people, and all of them have the right to feel comfortable. Others may not think the way that you think, believe what you believe, know what you know, or see what you see. Always be polite and respectful in your interactions with others.

Post appropriately.
Don’t use profanity, including masked words, or post anything that’s lewd or inappropriate for a large community of varying ages and backgrounds. If you wouldn’t see it in a Disney movie, don’t post it here.

Search first, post things in the right place, use descriptive thread titles, and don't crosspost. Those things will help get you more timely responses and help keep our community nice and tidy.

Use the reputation system.
The reputation system helps members rate the effectiveness of fellow members. Don’t abuse the system including things like asking for votes or leaving comments that don’t adhere to our guidelines

Respect copyrights and the law.
Don’t discuss or conduct content theft or any other illegal activity. Period. We follow U.S. law on the forums, so just because something might be legal in your country doesn’t mean it will be allowed here. If you’re ever in doubt, contact one of the moderators before you post.

We want you to share, but don’t link images or files from 3rd-party servers unless you have their permission.

Don’t spam or advertise.
Soliciting, advertising, or anything else deemed “spammy” will not be permitted. If you want to advertise on Mac-Forums, click the link at the top of the page. Use the Buy/Sell/Trade forum for all private sales transactions.

Your account and privacy.
One account is enough, don’t create more than one. If you need to make changes to your account, contact a staff member. We will never disclose any personal information about a member for any reason unless required by law or to maintain the integrity of the site.

Signatures and Avatars.
You can have up to four lines of text in your signature as well as an image. Be tasteful, remember people are here to read posts, not be distracted by your signature. Specifically:

• You can have up to four lines of text and one image up to 480 X 80 and 15k in size.
• Links to other communities or forums are limited to one no larger than font size 1 or an image no larger than 80 X 15.
• No animated images.
• No overtly negative, political, or insulting avatars or signatures will be permitted. The staff has sole discretion at determining what is appropriate.

Contacting us.
You can use our Contact Form or send a PM to any staff member if you need assistance or have questions about these guidelines.

The Small Print™.
All messages posted become the property of Mac-Forums.com. By posting on these forums you are agreeing to all the Community Guidelines. Opinions, advice and all other information expressed by participants in discussions are those of the author, not Mac-Forums.com. All rules can, and probably will be edited/changed in the future.

We understand that some of the rules have shades of grey. Moderators always have final authority in upholding our community standards including enforcement of the guidelines and any behavior that may not be strictly spelled out above.

If you break one of the guidelines, we'll probably send you a note to remind you of this. Multiple rule violations could result in a "time-out" by way of a brief suspension of your membership. And unfortunately, if your violation is severe or your behavior too disruptive, you may be asked to leave permanently.

03-09-2009, 12:00 AM

The forum rules at Mac-Forums (linked at the top of every forum) are very clear, we respect US law and court precedence when it comes to legality of activity.

Therefore to clarify:

* You may not discuss breaking DVD encryption, copying, or "ripping" commercial, copy-protected DVDs.
* This includes DVDs you own. Even if you own the DVD, it is still technically illegal under the DMCA to break the encryption. While some may argue otherwise, until the law is rewritten or the US Supreme Court strikes it down, we will adhere to the current intent of the law.
* You may discuss ripping or copying unprotected movies or homemade DVDs.
* You may discuss ripping or copying tools in the context that they are used for legal purposes as outlined in this post.