The Forum Posting Guidelines And What They Mean

Over in the Political Forum, there have been numerous rants insisting that every elected official read the US Constitution and certify in writing that they have done so. The Forum Posting Guidelines are the Gun Broker forum's constitution and when you join our forum you click a little box indicating that you have read those guidelines and agree to them. Those guidelines were here when I got here, and I imagine they'll be here long after I'm gone.

Posting Guidelines — GunBroker.com Member Forums

95% of all judgements and rulings in the forum are based on those guidelines. The other 5% are based on just how irritating a specific member is (or was). Some took it to a level I had never thought was possible.

I do digress. Here are our Forum Guidelines:

GunBroker.com provides this forum to allow users to engage in open discussion regarding topics of interest to our community.

In general we expect everyone to act like adults and to show respect for each other, just as you would if the other parties were guests in your home. If you are looking for an unmoderated free-for-all you will not be at home here.

We do not allow the posting of 'For Sale' or 'For Trade' listings anywhere on these message forums. If you have something to sell, please post it on our auction site at http://www.gunbroker.com We do not allow ?For Trade? listings anywhere on our auction site or message forums.

Imagining that members would behave like adults was wishful thinking. The forum staff understands that in addition to being moderators, they're also acting as babysitters. More important is to understand that all of us are guests in this forum and we will follow GB's rules. There is no free speech in this forum. Everything said here is subject to edit, revision, or deletion at the whim of the staff. Finally; no buying, selling or trading is allowed in these forums.

Other stuff we automatically delete:

Auction support, technical support, payment issues or billing questions are not allowed in the forums. If you have a support, billing or payment question click Help Center from the top of any auction site page.

That means exactly what it says and I am at a loss to understand why no one seems to comprehend it. If your PayPal or Zelle accounts were frozen it's not Gun Brokers fault. Cry to PayPal, they locked the account and not GB. Billing and Tech support: if there is a forum member who is a Gun Broker employee and has access to the auction site's billing records and can settle claims between parties, let that member sound off. The same goes for those who have the ability to get into the software and provide tech support. Step forward and take charge.

Complaints or criticism about GunBroker.com, its staff, its policies, or any buyer or seller on that site. If you have a problem with an auction transaction use the auction feedback system and/or contact tech support.

You will not bad mouth Gun Broker in Gun Broker's house. 50% of the new members who were tossed were booted for that exact reason. They came in with a bad attitude towards Gun Broker and they left with a worse attitude towards me. Well, that's why I'm here 😎. The same for the buyer/seller complaints. Since were never hear form both parties in the forum, it is just he said-she said. Take the buyer/seller complaint issues to customer service and let them sort it out.

Complaints or criticism about these message forums or their moderators.

Although a few moderators were dismissed, the vast majority have quit. There are a variety of reasons for this, but moderating is a thankless job which quickly grows tiring- mostly due to members endless crying about trivial matters like thread moved. Cut the GB moderating staff a break. They work hard. As admin, my policy is and has always been to support the moderators. I do not reverse moderator decisions on forum content or their locking threads.

Complaints about businesses, persons, or transactions unrelated to this site (in general all complaints will be deleted).

Had a bad experience with Blasto-Matic Gun Refinishing who texture coated your AR-15 in hot pink but failed to add the little stars and diamonds you had requested? Take it to the Better Business Bureau- but be sure to post a photo of your pink AR.

Questions about why a post was deleted, locked, edited, or moved. This page explains why.

The post was deleted, locked, edited, or moved because someone with the authority to do so felt it was necessary. As for moving a thread: just because it started in one forum doesn't mean that it won't end up in a different one.

Commercial advertisements for any product, service, or web site.

Let's make it crystal clear: shameless plugs for listings in the GB auction site are not only allowed in the forum, they are encouraged. Every now and then some bright boy wants to drag up the issue that shameless plugs are commercial advertisements. They are not.

Posts containing links or references to any competing site.

Essentially these are other firearms auction sites. We all know who they are, so don't drag them into the forums, or specifically their auction listings.

Posts containing links or references to any web site critical of this site.

There are several such sites out there, many started by disgruntled GB forum members. I know most of those sites, as well as many of their staff. So far as I'm concerned they are free to go their own way.

Posts containing links or references to any web site we do not like.

I don't know of any specifically, but the forum software has been programed to catch such sites and automatically block them. This list is set at GBHQ and not here in the forums.

Profanity, nudity, vulgarity, racism, etc.

Self explanatory, and includes written words, photos, memes or anything else posted in these forums. The moderators have a range of personal opinions about what is offensive and they moderate accordingly. The issue we have with posting photos of pretty girls in the forums is because the photos become more and more explicit until someone posts a photo which is over the top. The staff has seen this happen too many time to allow it to even get started.

Posts that violate any federal, state, or local law, or that infringe on another party's intellectual property (copyright, trademark, etc.) are prohibited.

If you don't own it, someone else does. There are complicated rules regarding what is called Fair Use. Generally, Fair Use allows a person to use a portion of someone else work for non commercial purposes. That means that you could post a singe page of a manuscript, but not the entire book. Furthermore, you can't request someone to burn a copy of a DVD and send it to you (someone actually tried that in the forum). Photos: I make a point to use my own photos, but in many cases this isn't possible. If you need to lift a photo or two off the web to further describe something in you thread then do so...but not one hundred photos! Although more generous than in the previous forum, there is an ultimate bandwidth limit in this forum.

If we delete or close your post it means that we did not want it here. If we deleted or closed a post and you re-post it, your forum access privileges will be suspended.

Most members don't get this far down the page, but they should. If you're told by the staff that "We're finished with that subject", it means that discussion is over and to move on. If your thread or post was deleted, don't bring it back. By thread or post, I don't mean just a duplicate post, I mean coming back and saying the same thing(s) that you were instructed to stop taking about. It is well worth noting that this guideline is the only guideline which has a specific penalty listed: you're locked out of the forum.

Those are the forum rules as I read them, and I administer the forum based on those rules.