Guidelines
This policy is intended to help create an atmosphere in which freedom of speech is balanced by self-discipline and a mature attitude to discussion. All interested parties are encouraged to join discussions on the fireservice.co.uk forum (hereafter, "the forum").
Serving Fire Service Employees Please Note
Serving fire and rescue service employees are reminded that the forum is public, open to overseas members and members of the general public. It should not be treated as a secure medium and it is therefore your responsibility to ensure that nothing is said or inferred on the forum that may interfere with current operations or bring your fire and rescue service into disrepute, and that you do not release any information whatsoever that is not already in the public domain. "In the public domain" means the information has already been widely circulated on TV and/or radio, in the mainstream press, or on public access internet news sites.
Any breaches of the above policy may result in disciplinary action and / or legal proceedings being taken by your fire and rescue service against you.
Disclaimer
Please note that advice given here with the best of intentions by other users of the forum may not always be correct.
Therefore any and all information you receive through the forum or via private messages, email etc. is always given on the condition that you 'use it at your own risk'. The Administrators of the forum will not be held responsible for any consequences of the use of such advice.
Forum Rules
1. Definitions
- "fireservice.co.uk" means the website known as UK Fire Service Resources, its associated sites and its administrator, owner, operator, staff and agents and all domains associated with the site
- "Forum" means the discussion forum maintained on fireservice.co.uk
- "Terms of Service" means this document and any additions or amendments to it
- "Member" means a person who has been granted a login name and password to fireservice.co.uk and its sub domains
- "Administrator" means the website Administrator, his designated Moderators and Management Team
2. Personal Identification
- Before posting on the forum a user is required to register as a member
- No member or person applying to be a Member shall represent themselves as another person.
3. Forum Purpose
- The Forum is intended primarily for topics relating to UK fire and rescue service and for the discussion of items of professional interest. Members should keep on topic.
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If a Member makes a contribution to the forum that is inappropriate to the subject under discussion then the member may be directed by the Administrators:
- Not to raise the matter further
- To raise the matter within a separate discussion group
- The Administrator reserves the right to modify, remove or relocate any post by any member
- The Administrators decision shall be final.
4. Conduct of Discussion
4.1 Messages posted on the Forum must not be:
- Malicious
- Offensive
4.2 The use of swear words or any undue profanity is prohibited.
4.3. Members must not post anything that is, or could reasonably be interpreted as:
- Abusive
- Vulgar
- Defamatory
- Hateful
- Seditious
- Blasphemous
- Sexually-oriented
4.4 Members must not post anything that, if it were posted, would:
- Contravene any law of the United Kingdom
- Expose the Administrator or the website to liability, be it civil or criminal or both
4.5 Members must not
- Make reference to the personality of another person
- Attack another person’s character
4.6 Members must not engage in one-to-one arguments, disagreements or disputes of a personal nature.
4.7 Members must not
- Post in a chat like fashion.
- Bump topics or posts in any way.
- Make needless, incessant usage of emoticons, line breaks, ALL CAPS, nested quotes, large or ugly fonts and colours.
- Use an Avatar which would represent them as someone else or a profession they are not employed in.
- Use an Avatar that larger than that stated or is animated.
- Hotlink to any pictures on other web sites, a link is far more professional and avoids using the bandwidth of the site hosting the image.
5. Legal Obligations
- Members remain legally responsible for any messages they may post.
6. Indemnity
6.1 Members and any other users of the website agree to indemnify them and the Administrator and any sub-contractors against any liability arising from any breach of:
- Confidentiality
- Copyright
- Any other intellectual property right
6.2 Members and any other users of the website agree to indemnify them and the Administrator and any sub-contractors against any liability arising from any breach of Term 4.
6.3 Members and any other users of the website agree to indemnify it and the Host and any sub-contractors in respect of any costs or expenses arising from conducting or defending proceedings arising from a publication by the Member contrary to Term 4 or Term 6.1.
7. Views Expressed to be Those of Members
7.1 The views expressed in any message on the forum are those of the member who published them and not of the forum, the website, the Administrators or any other person.
8. Confidentiality
- Members agree to any personal information they may have submitted to the forum, the website or the Administrator being stored on a database.
- Members agree that if required to do so by any legitimate organisation investigating matters of a criminal or professional standards nature, the Administrator shall if necessary release whatever information he holds on specified Member(s) to assist such an investigation.
- The forum, the website or the Administrator shall not be liable for any hacking attempt that may lead to this data being compromised or any loss that may result.
- Serving fire and rescue employees must have regard to their brigade policies regarding confidential information.
- Except with consent of that person, Members must not post private information about another person.
9. Advertising or Canvassing
- Subject to the following exceptions no advertising of products, services or promotion of any other web site is permitted.
- No links to surveys without prior consultation with the forum administrators.
- The Administrator may permit advertising to appear at his sole discretion within a designated section of the forum.
- Within the context of any response within a discussion, if it is to help someone locate a particular item or subject.
10. Administrators Right to Edit etc. Messages and Members
- The Administrator retains the absolute right to edit, amend, modify, relocate, remove or otherwise change any message posted on the Forum for any reason.
- The Administrator retains the absolute right to ban any Member from the forum, either on a temporary or permanent basis, should he consider it necessary.
- The Administrator need not supply a member with a reason as to why he has exercised his powers under this section.
- The Administrators decision is final
11. Complaints
- Any person who has a complaint in relation to the forum or the website may contact the Administrators.
12. Jurisdiction
- The use of the website shall be governed by the laws of England and Wales.
Notes
The Moderators are here to make everyone’s visit more enjoyable, so if you experience any problems with abusive users or receive Private Messages (PMs) from other members who's clear intention is to try and sell something, please tell a Moderator who will inform the Administrator, or in the absence, will deal with it themselves.
We require all posts to be positive, constructive, and on topic. We may delete individual posts that could ruin a good topic thread, This includes comments that form no part of any debate.
We reserve the right to remove any topics / posts / images we deem inappropriate or disruptive to our community. Please note that, from time to time, topics may be removed for being inappropriate even though your individual post in that topic may have been fine. Please do not feel this reflects badly on you. Occasionally, information in certain topics can become outdated or a procedure become dangerous and therefore is best to be removed. This may result in a slight drop in your post count on the rare occasion we carry this out.
UK Fire Service Resources Team