Always respect the views of other participants even if they don’t agree with you. It’s okay to disagree with other members, in fact we encourage debate, just keep the dialogue positive. Always focus on the logic of the argument rather than the individuals involved in the argument. Simply put, treat others as you would be treated; respect them and their views, even if you disagree with them.

Don’t be a “troll”. Trolls intentionally incite annoyance or offense. They do not participate constructively in the discussion and do not add any value to the debate. Don’t bully, harass or threaten other participants.

Please use forum 'report' functions if you feel something said or done within the forums needs a moderator's attention. Please do not lodge complaints within the forums or individual threads.

Please do not give out personal information about yourself or others, including email addresses. And do not use the forums to promote a business or other entity, to offer or solicit goods or services, or to provide download links to materials which aren't legally available. These will be removed by a moderator.

Please stick to one registration account/identity. Multiple accounts will be deleted, and attempts to circumvent this rule will result in a total ban from participation.

Members are required to make a minimum of 3 posts within 14 days of registration. This is to encourage healthy engagement with the community and help us tell genuine members from potential spammers. Accounts with fewer than 3 posts will be considered inactive and may be deleted by the moderation team.

Don’t defame anyone or any organisation. A comment is defamatory if it lowers or harms the reputation of a person or organisation. If you wish to accuse someone of committing a crime or being an idiot, this is not the place to do it.

Turn off the “CAPS LOCK”. Writing in ALL CAPS is the equivalent of SHOUTING and can cause offence. In order to be understood by most people, use correct spelling, grammar and avoid slang unless you know the word or phrase will be understood by other members.

We understand that this is an international forum, so perfect English will never be a requirement, but as our members and moderators speak in English we ask that you use English wherever possible to help the flow of conversation. Be advised that you will be more easily understood by others if you limit Twitter-esque abbreviations, so-called "text-speak", and slang terms that may not be known to large parts of the world.

We encourage members to take advantage of the "ignore" feature when/if a member writes things that consistently irritate or bother you. All members have the right to ignore any other member(s) they wish. No member can 'demand' another answer their questions, cite sources, etc. to further a topic that the original poster no longer wishes to participate in. All members participate on their own terms--that is, as much or as little as they want.

Please be respectful of the moderation team, and do not register complaints about the site, its moderators or members within threads on the site. Please take such issues to a moderator via PM