These rules are disclosed to clarify the various responsibilities of all community members here on Hydrostreamforums.com - The only dedicated Hydrostream forum. They shall be adhered to by everyone to ensure that our board runs smoothly and provides a fun and productive experience for all of our community members and visitors.

1. General Rules

   1. This site has very specific content geared forums, members are asked to read the forum descriptions before posting to ensure they are posting in the correct forum. This rule is very forgiving, but users who repeatedly post in the wrong forum despite corrections from a staff member may be given a warning. #
   2. These forums are geared toward a general audience and therefore posts that are sexual in nature, pornographic content, or generally offensive in nature such as text, images, links etc. will not be tolerated and will lead to an immediate warning. If a username is found to be offensive, it will be immediately changed and the user PMed a request to choose another, more appropriate username. #
   3. Members are not to post obscene, vulgar, racist, graven, offensive, illegal, posts, links or images on this site, posting of such content will be removed and could lead to a warning if necessary. #
   4. Members are not allowed to use any artifice or method to bypass or avoid the profanity filter. #
   5. Members are not allowed to flame other members or groups of members. Flaming includes, but is not limited to: Ridiculing, insulting, or demeaning another member or group of members, such behavior will not be tolerated and may lead to a warning and the offending posts removed or the topic locked. #
   6. Members are not to harass or abuse other members in topics, private messages, signatures, avatars or profiles. This includes stalking other members, both online and in real life. Such behavior will lead to a warning or a ban. #
   7. Members are not allowed to bait other members. Baiting is an attempt to anger and provoke another member. Such behavior may lead to a warning and offending posts removed or topic locked. #
   8. Members are not to violate the privacy of other members by publicly posting identifiable personal information about them; e.g. full names, addresses, e-mail addresses or telephone numbers. This includes reposting the contents of private messages or e-mails without the prior permission of the sender. Exceptions may include notifying a staff member of a violation through private channels such as the board private message system. #
   9. All rules apply to the private messaging system as well, abuse of the Private Messaging system will result in a Warning. #

2. Posting

   1. Members are asked only to post in English, as this is an English speaking community. #
   2. Members are asked not to post using l33t speak, txt speak, abbreviated expletives, posting in ALL CAPS in posts and/or topics. Repeatedly posting in these methods will result in a warning. #
   3. Members are asked to not post duplicate topics and or posts, or cross-post topics and or posts. Excessively posting duplicate topics or posts will result in a warning. #
   4. Members should use an appropriate, descriptive title when posting a new topic. Examples of bad titles include; "Help me!", "I’m stuck!" etc. Examples of good titles include; "Merc has rough idle when warm", "Viper transom removal question", etc. are okay. #
   5. Members are asked to refrain from excessively bumping their topics or questions until a reasonable amount of time (at least 24 hours) has elapsed, a reasonable amount of time must be allowed to give other members time to answer the question and or topic. Repeated excessive bumping could result in a warning. #

3. Spam

   1. Spam is not tolerated here under any circumstance. This includes offering products or services (charged and free), installation services, solicitation, etc. of non boating related items. Users posting spam will be warned and their post removed. #

4. Signatures and Avatars

   1. Members are asked to keep signature images relatively small so that the topics may load quickly. Flashy or animated images are not recommended in signature images. #
   2. To help with keeping the speeds of the page loads up and the overall nature of the size on the pages, no posting of videos in signatures is allowed. #
   3. Links in signatures must be unique pages or sites (i.e. 5 links pointing to the same external page/site are not allowed), Linked sites may also not be overly commercial in nature. Subtle self-promotion is allowed in signatures. #
   4. Signature content must adhere to normal board rules with respect to decency. Signatures may NOT contain any of the following: Obscene, Racist, Sexually Explicit, Graven / Graphic, Offensive, Illegal or anything deemed Not family friendly. Offensive content will be removed and the user PMed or warned as necessary. #
   5. Signature content may be removed and/or signature permissions revoked if a user dismisses requests by staff to change or remove content. #
   6. Avatars may be no larger than 150x150 pixels and 150k in size. #
   7. Avatars must NOT contain an image which attempts to portray the user as having an official status on this site or forums (such a mimicking ranks or copying avatars of staff). #
   8. Avatars are subject to the same conditions as posts with respect to decency, and so forth. Avatars may NOT contain any of the following: Obscene, Racist, Sexually Explicit, Graven / Graphic, Offensive, Illegal or anything deemed Not family friendly. Offensive Avatars will be removed and the user PMed or warned as necessary. #
   9. Avatars may be removed and/or avatar permissions revoked if a user dismisses requests by staff to change or remove content. #

5. Classified Section

   1. ALL ADS MUST BE PLACED IN THE CORRECT SECTION/CATEGORY. IF THEY ARE NOT YOU MAY BE ASKED TO MOVE THEM TO THE CORRECT SECTION/CATEGORY AND THEY MAY BE REMOVED WITH NO WARNING IF NOT DONE IN A TIMELY MANNER. #
   2. The classifieds section is a service for all forum members for personal use. Commercial listings are not permitted here, or on any other section of these forums. #
   3. In order to post a topic/ad in the classifieds section you must have a minimum of 10 posts. All members may reply to topics with no post count restrictions. Staff members, HSF Supporting Members, and HSF Supporting Vendors are exempt from this restriction. You may become a supporting member/vendor by clicking the DONATE button at the top of each page. #
   4. Any persons that posts ads, lists items, offers items for sale in any other section to bypass the 10 post count rule will have the post or posts removed and a warning issued. #
   5. When posting a boat/hull for sale please use the supplied form on the posting page. More info can be found here - How to post your ad in the classifieds section #
   6. Third party ads, such as "selling for a friend", etc., are not permitted. #
   7. If you decide to conduct a transaction with another member, try to cover yourself. Keep track of ALL correspondence! If you have any doubts try using an Escrow service. #
   8. If you sell your item(s) please notify others by posting an update. Anyone selling an item must comply. #
   9. ALL items MUST have a location and an asking price. This is NOT eBay. #
   10. If you are found to be ripping anyone off or scamming anyone you WILL be banned and reported to the proper authorities. #
   11. Hydrostreamforums.com and its staff are not responsible in any way for buyer/seller relations and cannot guarantee the ability of a seller to complete the transaction or the quality of the items. #
   12. All Hydrostream hulls listed for sale MUST state if the core and transom is original or if it has been replaced or if it is unknown if it has been replaced. If this is information is not included in the ad you will be asked to include it otherwise your ad may be temporarily removed until you fix it. #

6. Rules Updates

   1. Rules updated on July 24th 2017. #