Message from the Administrators - Welcome to the Acoustic Guitar Forum! There is one rule that you must always follow on the Forum:
BE NICE! The Acoustic Forum is a happy place. Mean people are not welcome here. If you can't say something nice, don't say anything at all. Treat others with respect. If you bumped into each other in the guitar store, you'd probably be cordial. We ask that you be the same way here. The people on the forum are your neighbors, and share similar love for music and guitars. *Please refrain from "brand-wars", or discussions on which brand of guitar is better than the other.* The philosophy at the Acoustic Guitar Forum is that the best guitar for YOU is the guitar that you fall in love with - the guitar that speaks to you. Tone is such a subjective thing... What sounds great to one person might not sound so good to another. That's okay! If you can make music with it, if you love it, it's the right guitar for YOU! At the Acoustic Guitar Forum, we respect each other no matter what brand of guitar we play. This is a family-friendly forum. Vulgar, obscene, or otherwise inappropriate language or content (pictures, etc.) has no place on this forum. Messages considered by the Administrators or Moderators to be inappropriate will be deleted without warning.
GENERAL GUIDELINES
We respect your opinions and you are welcome to express your opinions in a thoughtful and respectful manner. At times we all disagree, but it's the manner in which we disagree that is important. Slander, libel, harassment, belittlement, hatefulness, racism, sexism, threats, degrading comments, insults & flames will not be allowed.
Please keep in mind that we have members of all ages. In addition to what's listed above, please do not post messages or images that are obscene, vulgar, or sexually-oriented, or may be in violation of any local, state, federal or international laws. This includes but is not limited to: links in your signature, profile, posted images, photos and avatars. No swearing will be allowed in posts. This includes masking of text using symbols instead of letters (ie. ****, @#$%, etc ). We, the Staff, will ultimately decide if something is appropriate or not.
Some topics (e.g. religion & politics, etc.) can create very strong feelings & reactions. Highly contentious discussions will not be allowed on the forum. If any discussion becomes too heated or turns political or religious, the thread will be closed or edited at the discretion of the Staff. Examples of topics that create discord and division include (but are not limited to): climate change, global warming, abortion, gay marriage, religion, politics. These topics will be immediately closed. Additionally, signature statements and usernames regarding any of the aforementioned topics are not allowed.
Do not start fundraisers on the forum, advertise raffles for your local church, etc. (Note: Relevant, music-related kickstarter announcements are okay in the appropriate section)
We require that you respect the privacy of others. Using the forum as a way to obtain e-mail addresses to solicit sales, donations, etc., is strictly prohibited. As well, revealing any information that is invasive of another's privacy without their express consent is prohibited.
*** ATTENTION DEALERS *** You must be a sponsor to participate in the Acoustic Guitar Forum. Your support keeps our community alive. Thank you for considering sponsorship
*** ATTENTION Manufacturers *** You Must be a sponsor to represent your company on the Acoustic Guitar Forum. (See above information on sponsorships) Your support keeps our community alive. Thank you for considering sponsorship
*** ATTENTION BUILDERS / LUTHIERS *** If you sell guitars or build them for sale by someone else, you must be a sponsor to participate in the Acoustic Guitar Forum. Your support keeps our community alive. Thank you for considering sponsorship
Commercial Links: The AGF strictly prohibits commercial links in signatures and profiles. The only commercial links we allow are from Sponsors. However, we do make an exception when it comes to individual artists or band links.
Promoting competing forums is prohibited, whether done publicly or privately, including gathering our members email addresses.
If you feel a post is in violation of any of these guidelines, please report it to a moderator immediately.
Guidelines for commercial use of the Acoustic Guitar Forum: You must be a sponsor to link to your commercial site from the AGF. The Acoustic Guitar Forum has provided the Marketplace as an appropriate place for sponsors to post advertisements. Posts elsewhere on the AGF must be informative and designed to add to the conversation or they may be moved or deleted without warning. Please limit use of the Marketplace to TWO THREADS PER DAY (two bumps of existing threads or two new threads). Additionally, sponsors are prohibited from commenting on other sponsors practices anywhere on the AGF.
CLASSIFIEDS POLICY
The Acoustic Guitar Forum is a place for guitar enthusiasts to get together and discuss the instruments they love. All other functions are secondary to this goal. All buying, selling or trading on the AGF should be within our Classifieds, and not included in posts outside Classifieds. The one exception is that links to an ad in our Classified are allowed in a signature. Specific Classifieds Rules are contained at the top of that section of the AGF. The Classifieds section of this forum is provided as a secondary courtesy to allow you to place classifieds for guitar-related items for sale. We do not provide a secure transaction environment. The actual transactions and interactions are, and should be, entirely separate from this forum. This is NOT a trading community. As a result, since it is part of the transaction, transaction feedback, positive and negative, is NOT WELCOME. The AGF Classifieds are intended for individuals selling personally owned musical instruments and music related items only. Selling items for others is not permitted. In the event of excessive use of the classifieds as determined by the staff, a member will be required to upgrade their membership to a Marketplace membership.
SPAMMING & TROLLS
No spamming will be allowed. If you are caught spamming the board or the members, you will be banned.
What is a troll?
A troll is a person who enjoys causing discord in communities like ours. They will *flood* the board with meaningless posts in an attempt to start arguments and generally upset members of the board.
Trolls will not be tolerated. If you are deemed a troll by the moderation team, your membership will be deleted.
A quick reminder regarding trolls. The best way for the membership to deal with trolls is to ignore them. If you ignore them, they don't get the responses that they crave. So, please ignore the trolls. Feel free to Private Message (PM) a Moderator or report the post so that it can be removed and the troll dealt with accordingly.
ACCOUNT CLOSURE POLICY
Please use the correct option on the Contact Us form to have your account closed. Please note that to maintain forum continuity your posts will not be deleted. If you have privacy concerns please review our Privacy Policy below.
THE BOTTOM LINE
The Staff reserve the right to delete or edit any posts. The Staff also reserves the right to suspend and/or ban any member that doesn't follow the Board Guidelines. Staff decisions are final and the Staff has complete discretion over what is and is not acceptable on the site. Public discussions of Staff decisions are not permitted on the site. If you have any concerns or queries relating to a Staff decision, please take it up in private with a member of the Administrative/Moderation team.
Failure to follow these guidelines will result in immediate disciplinary action. This will be in the form of a warning, suspension, or permanent banning from the forums.
Please keep in mind, you are only allowed one account on the forums, if you are banned from the forum, you will not be allowed to re-register using a different user name.
Lastly, in the event of a disciplinary action, Charter Membership fees will not be reimbursed.
THE FINE PRINT
We reserve the right to modify, remove, or add any rule to this site with or without notice to members. It is a member's responsibility to read and abide by all community rules.
Under any and all circumstances any liability is that of the individual author only. The IP address of all posts is recorded to aid in enforcing our conditions. We reserve the right to release any and all information in our possession at the request or assistance of any law enforcement agency.
Thank you for your cooperation and support of the forums.
The AGF Staff
