[Brutal_Dreamer]

Before posting on OrchidTalk, please take a moment to familiarize yourself with the following rules and guidelines.

1) Personal attacks, "flaming", or rudeness towards another member is not allowed, and will not be tolerated. While we encourage debate and discussion, we do insist that you, as a member, treat others here with courtesy and respect, even if their opinions differ from your own. Failure to follow this rule may result in your immediate and permanent removal from this community.

2) Please refrain from making any racist, homophobic, sexist, or otherwise bigoted remarks. These forums are meant to be enjoyed by everyone, from all parts of the world and all walks of life. If this policy is a problem for you, then this is not the forum for you. Failure to follow this rule may result in the immediate and permanent removal of your OrchidTalk membership privileges.

3) No political discussions or discussions about religion are allowed on this board. It's just not worth the administrative bother to prune and edit threads that generate a lot of bad blood, and we don't need that here. Threads that violate this rule will be closed without warning. Posts that violate this rule will be deleted without warning. Repeat offenders will be banned. If you want to debate these or other emotionally "volatile" subjects, please do so on one of the many message boards that encourage those types of discussions.

4) If someone posts something that you feel is inappropriate or in any way violates the rules of this forum, do not respond to the post. Instead, report the post to a moderator by clicking the "Report Bad Post" icon. We will take action on it as quickly as possible.

5) Important: Spamming, advertising & soliciting are absolutely not permitted on this site. Specifically: The posting of messages by anyone other than the Administrators or legal representatives of rv-orchidworks.com, in any forum, sub-forum, signature line, member profile area, or other portion of the Site, which seek to advertise or solicit by verbiage, photograph, sound file, internet link, or any other means, goods and services for sale, trade, barter, or exchange, whether such messages are positively, negatively, or neutrally construed, whether the items or services referenced are privately or publicly available, for free or for profit, posted by commercial ventures, non-profit organizations, or individuals, including but not limited to, advertisements and solicitations made on one's own behalf, or on the behalf of any other individual, organization, group, or enterprise, is strictly forbidden.

An example: You come across a message in which a member has expressed her dissatisfaction with the high prices of plant type O. You reply: "I can get one of those for you cheap. I have sources. PM me. I'll hook you up."

Another example: You are frustrated and angered by the way you've been treated when making your most recent purchase. You start a new thread and announce, "Vendor A/B/C/D - Box Store E/F/G/H royally SUCKS. I will NEVER buy from those dinky-sticked LOSERS again."

Another example: You decide that the OrchidTalk Forum would be the perfect place to promote your new book or handy gardening tool. Using a large, bold, and colored font as well as several clapping emoticons, you paste a link to your company's website along with your company's slogan into your OrchidTalk signature panel.

Another example: You are interested in buying a plant from vendor 'x, y, or z' and you post a new message about being interested in a certain plant. To show members what you are talking about you simply link to the photograph on the vendor's site or you use the image code and post the photo here in OrchidTalk and it displays either the vendor's name or URL address on the image (watermark).

A final example: You are extremely excited by a blooming plant you just bought.You post a photograph of it and announce "Look what I got for a song on e-bay." or you say "This was an e-bay purchase." E-bay, box store, Wal Mart, Vendor X,Y,Z, etc… as well as all other commercial vendors can certainly afford to advertise on their own and they do not need your help. If you feel that you simply *must* post these types of messages, then please post them on a different message board that welcomes this type of spam. OrchidTalk is not the place for you.

Vendor discussion is not permitted on this Site. Any vendor discussion will considered spam / advertising and will be edited/ deleted. Repeat violations of this rule could result in the loss of membership privileges in our community.

OrchidTalk is about the growing and care for orchids –always has been and always will be. The OrchidTalk Orchid Forum is a highly moderated community whose membership appreciates a spam free & ‘flame’ free environment within our threads and communications.

Advertising by members is not permitted on this site. If you want to know where a member who posted a photograph bought her plant, Private Message her and ask her directly. If you are frustrated at the poor treatment or shameful quality of a plant you just purchased, express your frustration, but don't point the blame. You will without doubt receive scores of Private Messages asking for the offending party's identity. If you yourself have something you'd like sell, barter or trade, post your ad in the OrchidBids Feature as described below (#6).

Similarly, links may only be posted to web sites which are personal, educational, governmental, or not-for-profit in nature. The page that you link to may not contain products or services offered for sale or trade, nor may it contain links to other websites or pages which themselves contain products or services offered for sale or trade. Further, the linked-to page must not be off-topic to the forum in which it is being posted. Links or references to websites containing orchid or gardening forums, goods and services, or language promoting specific companies are not permitted in OrchidTalk posts, profiles, signatures--anywhere. We consider such links to be spam, and if you spam, your posts/signature/profile will be deleted, and your account may be terminated.

If you are interested in advertising on OrchidTalk, (in other words, you are interested in paying for web space in which to display an advertisement), please contact us via Private Message or using the contact us form if you are not a member.

We really cannot be any clearer or more specific about these issues, so please adhere to the rules regarding no spamming, no advertising, no linking. By following these simple rules, OrchidTalk can remain a peaceful, fun community where people from all over the world can share information on growing and cultivating their orchids. 'Nuff said.

OrchidBids Orchid Auction - (OrchidTalk Members Auction):
6)We have created a place where active members who wish to sell, trade or auction items related to orchids and orchid growing may do so within our community for FREE. Active members and paid-subscription holders (non-commercial) are welcomed to post their want-ads, sales, trades, etc in the OrchidBids Auction feature of our Trading Post forum. Under no circumstance may any other RVO OrchidTalk forum or location (public or private) be used for this purpose.

Goods and services for sale, trade, or wanted *must* be listed in the OrchidBids Auction feature first before you post about them in the OrchidBids discussion forum. Posts which do not follow this rule will be edited or deleted without notice. Please note that by placing an item up for bid / sale here in the OrchidBids Auction, you are creating a contract between you and any potential buyer. Once you submit an item, you may not retract it, and you must sell it for the highest, qualifying bid offered. In other words, if you don't want to sell it, do not place it up for bid!

OrchidTalk and RVO are not responsible for your transactions through this feature and cannot be held liable for any issues arising between members using this service. By listing, selling, bidding, or purchasing through OrchidBids, you acknowledge that OrchidTalk and RVO will not be held responsible for transactions that go bad or any problems which arise as a result of your transactions. Please, if you have any questions, use the contact us link and ask before posting a listing. The contact us link is on the bottom of every page on this website. Currently there is no ‘feedback’ method associated with the OrchidBids Auctions – forum feature. Consider carefully any sales and purchases before committing yourself to action.

Only members with 20 or more posts and who have been active over the last month can take advantage of this FREE RVO OrchidTalk Feature. Subscribing members can use this feature at any post or activity level. Non-commercial individuals who are not active members of this community can participate by becoming an OrchidTalk ‘Pal’ subscribing member. If you are a Commercial Vendor who wishes to list 6 or more sales/auctions in a two week period using the OrchidBids feature, you must pay a sponsorship listing fee. Please contact an administrator before attempting to list your auctions and for a pricing breakdown. Auctions that do not follow these simple guidelines will be removed and access to the feature revoked.

7) If you have a question about a certain topic, try searching the boards first. You may find that your question has already been answered, or that there is already an ongoing discussion on the topic in which you are interested.

8) Please do not post the same or similar questions in more than one forum ("cross-posting").

9) Debate is encouraged! If you disagree with something you've read, then please post your opinion, keeping the above rules in mind.

10) Treat the moderators like any other member. If you disagree with something we've posted, then by all means say so! The purpose of these forums is to learn, discuss and share knowledge; not to massage egos. We'll always give our best answer, but we are human too and frequently wrong about things.

11) The moderators' decisions and disciplinary posts are not subject to public debate. If you have a question or an issue with something an administrator or moderator has done, take it up with us via PM.

12) Multiple memberships by the same individual are not allowed on this forum. The rule is, one person, one account. The activation of multiple memberships for the purpose of avoiding or sidestepping any disciplinary action or account / feature suspension will result in immediate and permanent termination of service.

13) This website complies with the Children's Online Privacy Protection Act, therefore this forum is intended for persons over thirteen years of age. Children under thirteen may *only* use this site with the supervision of a parent or guardian.

14) The OrchidTalk Forums have no rules in place against cursing. The use of such language, however, should be carefully considered prior to posting. Posts that contain gratuitous or overly-offensive cursing may be deleted or edited at our discretion. Please do not use any foul language in thread titles under any circumstances.

15) Private Messaging and the ability to upload a custom avatar become enabled once you have posted 5 messages in a public forum. This policy usually acts as enough of a deterrent to keep most spammers away. Do not use a QR Code block as a custom avatar. Once you have posted your 5 messages, you'll be able to PM other members who have enabled private messaging in their User Control Panels.

16) Moderated messages and the ability to access certain features and forums: Until you become an active member in the OrchidTalk community, your initial posts will be run through a moderation filter. This filter flags spam words, all links, and other content that should be reviewed before being allowed on the public forums. This keeps our community free of unwanted spam. Please know that, as you become more active in the community, many more features will become available to you. If you ever have a question about access or a feature, please use the contact us link below to send us an email.

Thanks for being here, enjoy the great information and colorful personalities our membership has to offer, and have fun! See you in the forum!

OrchidTalk FAQ

Terms and Conditions of Forum Use

Cheers,
BD