Terms of Service And Forum Rules

The providers ("we", "us", "our") of the service provided by this web site ("Service") are not responsible for any user-generated content and accounts ("Content"). Content submitted express the views of their author only.

You agree to not use the Service to submit or link to any Content which is defamatory, abusive, hateful, threatening, spam or spam-like, likely to offend, contains adult or objectionable content, contains personal information of others, risks copyright infringement, encourages unlawful activity, or otherwise violates any laws.

All Content you submit or upload may be reviewed by staff members. All Content you submit or upload may be sent to third-party verification services (including, but not limited to, spam prevention services). Do not submit any Content that you consider to be private or confidential.

We reserve the rights to remove or modify any Content submitted for any reason without explanation. Requests for Content to be removed or modified will be undertaken only at our discretion. We reserve the right to take action against any account with the Service at any time.

You are granting us with a non-exclusive, permanent, irrevocable, unlimited license to use, publish, or re-publish your Content in connection with the Service. You retain copyright over the Content.

You also agree that any data, including personal data you provide may be stored perpetually.

You agree to comply with the forum rules and the site privacy policy.

These terms may be changed at any time without notice. It is your duty to ensure you are aware of any changes, continued use of this site will be considered an acceptance of these terms.

If you do not agree with these terms, please do not register or use this Service.

Forum Rules

Our members and staff take pride in our friendly community here at The Guinea Pig Forum. We try our best to maintain a safe, respectful and enjoyable environment for all our members to share experiences about their guinea pigs, seek advice, discuss problems, and post lots of piggy photos. Please make sure you are familiar with the following guidelines before posting.

Things you need to know.

The following rules are in place to make sure you have an enjoyable experience here with us and apply to The Forum and our associated sites.

Whenever we refer to ‘The Forum Facilities’ in these guidelines we mean any of places you can make a contribution, such as this Forum, our Facebook, Twitter, Youtube and Google+ social media pages.

1. General Forum Conduct.

a)It is the duty of every member to ensure that discussion takes place in a polite and courteous manner.

b) No member may engage in what a reasonable person would assume to be abusive and/or aggressive and/or grossly offensive and/or extremist and/or disrespectful conduct on this site either on public forum or through the 'Conversation' system.

c) No member may engage in what a reasonable person would assume to be harassment.

d) All members must be at least 18 years of age upon registering with the forum. If at any time it becomes apparent that a member is under 18 years of age, and has provided misleading information in the registration process, their account will be summarily terminated.

e) Members are urged to take their personal security seriously. Please do not use your full name as a username. Members must not ask for, nor provide, personal information on the public forum. This includes names, street addresses, e-mail addresses, and phone numbers, with the exception of businesses and rescues.

f) Members will register one account only. If you forget your password, or have a problem with your account, contact a member of the admin team and we will sort it out for you.

g) Members will not attempt successfully or unsuccessfully to circumvent security restrictions.

h) No user may use the facilities provided in a manner that the Operators consider to be in any way vexatious) No user may use the facilities provided in a manner that the Operators consider to be in any way vexatioush.
i) Members shall not abuse the account deletion policy by repeatedly signing up then requesting account deletion. This will result in a IP Address Ban

2. Posting Rules.

DO:

a) Be welcoming. We know you will! It’s great when people stay on the forum because of how friendly we all are here.

b) Ensure that discussion takes place in a polite and courteous manner.

c) Avoid the use of ‘internet slang’ and ‘TXT SPK’ e.g. ‘u’ instead of you; or ‘lk’ instead of like. Please also avoid typing in BLOCK CAPITALS and ensure you use correct English when posting.

d) When creating a thread, please provide a meaningful and relevant title. This will get you a lot more replies. Please also ensure you haven’t posted a thread on exactly the same subject within a reasonable period of time

e) Post using a legible typeface - we want to read what you have to say! You can change the font colour as long as it doesn’t interfere with the legibility of the text.

f) Make sure that in posts relating to animals that may be ill or suffering it is made clear that it is the responsibility of the owner to seek veterinary advice. At no point should any member discourage a visit to the vet if the animal may be suffering.

DON’T:

g) Post a link, either valid or disguised, relating to animals posted on free advertising websites.

h) Please don’t discuss intentional breeding or club/breeder showing (this will be discussed in section 3 of these guidelines).

i) Deceive other members.

j) Don’t make accusations about any entity without providing suitable supporting evidence.

k) Do not post photos or links (to) of Guinea Pigs in clothes or harness

l) Send Unsolicited Conversation messages to members of the forum. Please be aware of online safety at all times

m) Do not advocate medical 'self treatment'of any animal, any persons found doing this may have their account banned or deleted. By UK law only a qualified vet can diagnose, prescribe and treat an animal and only after a physical examination of the animal.

3. Breeding and Showing.

a) We are a ‘Pro Rescue’ forum. The discussion of intentional breeding must not take place on this forum or any associated services or websites. I) Intentional breeding is defined as the act of placing two animals of different sexes together with the specific intention that they produce additional animals. We reserve the right to remove posts we deem that go into great detail on the that act of 'breeding' as this may be used by those reading to aid them in 'intentional breeding'

b) No hyper-links to resources that promote or assist intentional breeding may be shared.

c) No member may use any forum facilities provided to acquire animals for breeding.

d) No member may use any forum facilities provided to sell or otherwise dispose of animals resulting from intentional breeding.

h) No member may use any forum facilities provided to purchase or otherwise obtain animals offered by any person engaged in intentional breeding. No member may use the forum to link to websites that promote breeding

i) No member should discuss 'showing' in regards to club/breeder shows as this is against the forum ethos.

4. Advertising, Vet Bill Donations & Media.

a) We do not allow advertising of other websites outside of the 'Members Websites' category.

b) We do not allow product or service promotion without prior consent of the staff.

c) Please don't ask for donations to assist with veterinary fees.

d) Media researchers must make their presence and intentions known to forum staff upon registration.

e) The promotion of and/or soliciting of members for competing sites in any context is prohibited.

5. Duty to report.

a) It is each member's duty to report any content or user that is in breach of these rules, using the report link provided at the bottom of each post.

b) Members not belonging to the forum staff team must not attempt to chastise any member who they believe to be in breach of the rules, either publicly or privately.

c) Please report any concerns via the report system, and not by email or any other channel of communication you may have with staff.

d) Reporting a member under false pretenses, and/or providing intentionally misleading information to staff, is considered a grave matter.

6. Private messages/conversations.

a) The above rules also apply to non-public forms of communication provided on the forum.

7. Account Deletions & User name Changes.

a) The forum staff will not usually change a username without an overwhelming reason as this creates confusion within discussions .

b) The forum does not delete user accounts as such. You have the right to request the erasure of your personal data in any of the specific circumstances set out in Article 17 of the GDPR. Should you wish your account to be deleted, any Personal Identifying Infomation associated with your account is deleted and your forum account is anonymised, your post content remains visible. It is your responsibilty if you request account deletion; to identify any posts you may have made that may contain any personal identifying information so we can remove any PII from these if needed.

c) Account deletions when users have broken forum rules are at the discretion of the operators. If your account has been banned for rules violations, we reserve the right to keep the minimum amount of data to enforce this ban; namely your IP address and email.

8. Copyright & Intellectual Property.

a) Please respect the copyright of third parties when posting.

b) The Guinea Pig Forum logo and website(s) content are copyrighted material and must not be used without explicit consent.

9. Keeping informed of Policies and Procedures.

a) We may periodically make changes to these rules, terms and conditions of service, and any site-wide policies (such as the privacy policy). It is your responsibility to check for these changes.

b) These rules may change at any time for any reason.

10. Forum Staff & Enforcement of These Rules.

a) The forum staff will enforce these rules through whichever means they see fit and appropriate on a 'case-by-case' basis.

b) For privacy reasons, forum staff will not discuss the specific circumstances of any disciplinary action taken against any member.

c) Like all other members, staff must be treated with respect and courtesy, particularly when carrying out their duties.

11. The Law.

a) Members will neither encourgae, engage in, nor promote, conduct that is illegal under either the criminal or civil law of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland.

b) As stated in the terms of service, each post is the legal responsibility of its author.