Purpose
Before using EAA Forums, all members agree to abide by the User Rules. These Rules are provided for two reasons:
1. To encourage a positive, friendly atmosphere in the EAA Forums community.
2. To make it clear what behavior is inappropriate and will not be allowed.
Three Guiding Principles
To make this a strong, active community that’s fun, useful and safe, please follow the three central principles for EAA Forums.
Aeronautical - - - stay focused on our shared passion: aviation.
The EAA Forums Forums are strictly for aviation related posts. Through much discussion and observation of other online forums, the decision was made to focus solely on aviation. Non-aviation discussions can be exceedingly challenging to moderate in an appropriate, open and positive way. Although non-aviation discussions can sometimes be fun, important or entertaining, they are discouraged from EAA Forums and may be removed. In particular, steer clear of politics and religion.
Social - - - keep the community fun, family-friendly and positive.
Participate, have fun, invent, innovate, chat, plan, day-dream and help make this community an enjoyable, welcoming, informative place to be. This forum will only be valuable if there are continually new posts and if people find it fun, interesting and worthwhile to spend time on the forums. Focus on the things you like, not on the things you don’t. Respect others -- personal attacks are strictly prohibited. It’s OK to have debates and challenge one another’s ideas, but when it turns personal, it’s no longer acceptable. When commenting on problems, please be constructive, suggest positive ways to address or solve them. Remember too that people as young as 13 years of age are permitted to access EAA Forums, so please stick to appropriate themes and language.
Educational - - use the community to share information, and to learn from others
Members of the aviation community have invaluable information to share with others as a result of their experiences, knowledge and networks. EAA Forums makes it possible for you to benefit from and share information with thus world-wide community of aviation enthusiasts. We encourage you to get involved!
Guidelines for aviation-based information
With respect to the sharing of aviation information, please keep the following points in mind:
1. EAA has no responsibility for what is posted on EAA Forums. You read and use whatever information you find on this site at your own risk. Any information provided in this site, in any form or media, is provided AS IS, without any warranties.
2. EAA is not providing aviation advice, nor do we guarantee the accuracy or efficacy of the suggestions or advice people make, or of any other information posted within EAA Forums. EAA is not responsible or liable if information on the forum turns out to be incorrect, incomplete or misleading. You should assume that all information posted on this forum comes from a person who is not certified to give safety, legal or other aviation advice or information. If in doubt always seek the advice of a properly certified, trained and authorized person or organization.
3. Guidelines for information related to aviation accidents, injuries and deaths:
· The safety of aviation has always been improved by learning from accidents that have occurred. For this reason, constructive conversations related to aviation accidents have a place within EAA Forums.
· Posts involving causes or potential causes of accidents must be respectful and constructive in terms of learning from the accident. Opinions and speculation should be clearly stated as such and worded in a way so readers are unlikely to understand the post as presenting facts.
· Remember at all times that the families and friends of those affected by the accident may read what you have written. Members of the media may also read your post and your comments may be quoted in their publications. Do not speculate about names of people killed or injured in accidents; respect privacy and let public media announce names of those involved. It is acceptable to express condolences after names have been made public in media
· Posting of photos, videos or media article excerpts related to aviation accidents, injuries and deaths should only be done when accompanied by a respectful and constructive comment.
· For legal reasons, EAA may need to restrict public discussion on EAA Forums about accidents or incidents that involve EAA. A condolences thread will be allowed if appropriate. Discussion other than condolences posts may be removed. In such cases, moderators will put a sticky post at or near top of the appropriate forum(s) with an official EAA statement and contact information for those who have information or questions about the situation.
General Rules
The following guidelines are used to keep the community friendly and manageable and to help us deal with certain sensitive issues:
1. Each member is permitted only one account.
2. EAA Forums is a family-friendly site. Do not link or put on the site language, pictures, videos, graphics or other material that is foul, vulgar, hateful, pornographic or sexual.
3. All posts must be legally-acceptable to the best of your knowledge. The Moderators do not have formal legal training and will not try to make judgments concerning points of law, but reserve the right to remove posts at their discretion
4. Do not post or link anything knowingly false and/or defamatory, libelous, inaccurate, rude, racist, disrespectful, abusive, harassing, threatening, obscene, profane, racially or ethnically offensive, invasive of a person's privacy, or that otherwise violates pertinent laws.
5. Don't antagonize, harass or attack others. Personal attacks are not tolerate. Challenge points of view and opinions, but do so thoughtfully and respectfully... without insults. People who continually or repeatedly provoke or encourage arguments and hostile feelings will be banned from the forums.
6. Respect is the name of the game. Please refrain from inflammatory and defamatory comments as well as flaming, taunting, and general disrespect. Allow people to have their opinion. Don't just tell them they're wrong. Do not make uninvited remarks about typos, duplicate posts, posting styles, etc.
7. Criticism must be respectful, constructive and positive. Opinions must be clearly stated as opinions and worded in a way so readers are unlikely to understand the post as presenting facts. Facts must be accurate and relevant to the topic or thread. Full disclosure of relationships to organizations / products / services mentioned or their competitors and affiliated organizations is required.
8. Please do not use EAA Forums to advertise or promote businesses, organizations, products or services through means such as posting notices on forums. Informational posts are allowed in response to questions or comments, but full disclosure of your relationships to organizations / products / services mentioned or their competitors and affiliated organizations is required. You are permitted to use your signature block to promote a business / organization / product or service. This permission is limited to a maximum of two lines of text and may include a website link. Use of your business name as your username is not permitted - you may participate in EAA forums as an individual, not as a business or other entity.
9. Spam is prohibited. The definition of "spam" is up to the forum Moderator. If you are unsure whether a post is considered spam, ask via email or private message.
10. Start new threads in the proper forum and don’t post the same question in more than one forum at a time.
11. Duplicate discussions, or cross-postings in more than one topic or thread, are a waste of time for other members and will be deleted.
12. Before posting the contents of a Private Message get the permission of the individual who wrote the Private Message.
13. If your post includes information from an article or post you read on an external website, please provide a link to the article and include, at most, about 20 percent of the article’s content; less if it is a long article.
14. If requested to do so by a Moderator, you will cease posting any links or content judged offensive or inappropriate by the Moderator.
15. Do not attach or upload files that contain corrupted files, viruses, or other similar software or programs that might damage the operation of someone’s computer.
16. Stay on topic within a thread. If you move on to a new topic, start a new thread.
17. Abuse directed at the Community Manager or Moderators is not allowed and will result in the abuser being suspended or banned. If you have a problem, you may make a complaint to them directly and not publicly on the website. Creating threads or posts that question or reference administrative decisions or potential administrative decisions, such as post removals, infractions, negative feedback or thread closures, is not permitted.
18. A frequent comment from online forum participants whose posts are deleted or otherwise limited is that the US Constitution guarantees freedom of speech, so they can post anything they want. What the first amendment to the Constitution actually says is that Congress can’t make laws abridging free speech. A private website has the right to determine what is or is not allowable on that website. Therefore, EAA and the EAA Forums moderators have the legal ability to delete or moderate posts in accordance with the guidelines and requirements published on the site.
19. All content and contributions are granted to EAA with perpetual publishing rights, even if the user no longer in the community.
20. The EAA Forums community may be used by EAA staff members, Board members, volunteers, their families, and various other persons that might be associated with EAA. Unless clearly identified as such, statements made or opinions expressed in the community by these individuals do not represent formal EAA policy.
21. Please do not use the EAA Forums community to make or pursue complaints and concerns about EAA, its employees and agents, programs and services, organizational policies, customer service failings, etc. Please submit feedback to the appropriate location in the organization, and we will endeavor to be as responsive as possible: mailto: feedback@eaa.org
