GainInForum Community Guidelines 

We strive to ensure that the GainInForum is a constructive, non-discriminatory and friendly place to discuss a wide variety of topics. To maintain a positive atmosphere and to promote constructive discussion, you must adhere to the GainInForum Terms and Conditions and these Community Guidelines. As well as this, please consider the points below to ensure that the time you spend at GainInForum is both enjoyable and productive.

The Community Guidelines apply to all aspects of GainInForum including: blog post, forum posts, profile content, and private messages.

Contacting GainInForum
If you have any queries or comments regarding forum operations (including technical issues), please click on 'Ticket' at the back office, or send a private message to Support. Every message is reviewed and we appreciate your feedback.

Please be sure to include as much information as possible, including URLs of the content to which you are referring and details of any error messages which may be showing on screen.

Dealing with Inappropriate Content

Post Reporting
The forum is reactively moderated and we ask that forum members notify us of any inappropriate posts by clicking the Flag button next to the post in question. Please provide any relevant information in the 'reason for reporting' text box.

Please only alert posts which break the community guidelines and not just posts that you disagree with.

Please refrain from being overly emotive and using terms such as "Excuse me?!?! I've been banned for less!" The key to effective alerting is to be clear and concise, while supplying as much contextual information as possible.

Abuse of the alert feature – whether for nonsensical reports, excessive and/or inappropriate use – can result in posting privileges being revoked.

Try to avoid flagging really old posts that are no longer relevant to ongoing discussion. Chances are these posts have already been dealt with, and alerting years-old posts may constitute abuse of the alert system. By all means contact us privately if you feel something is too inappropriate for public view and we will take action accordingly.

Please don't bait other users by saying you've reported them, or make posts claiming to have got a member or members banned. Baiting is a breach of our Community Guidelines (section 4.0), and action will be taken accordingly.

The Rules

1.0 - Posting personal information
For your own safety, please do not reveal your personal information on the forums. This includes but is not limited to your full name, email address, postcodes, home address, phone numbers or personal social media accounts. Any such disclosure is at your own risk.

1.1 - Privacy
Do not post personal email addresses, telephone numbers, or other personal information on the forums. General contact information (that is available on a company's 'Contact Us' page, for example) is fine. name@website.com


Any attempts at doxxing or intentionally revealing personal information without consent could result in an immediate ban. This includes linking to personal or private social media accounts of other members without consent.

2.0 - Copyright
You agree and confirm that any contribution(s) and/or material you provide or upload, including but not limited to text, photographs and sound, is original to you and does not infringe the copyright, trade mark or other intellectual property rights or any other rights of any third party. Your attention is drawn to sections 2.4, 4.12, 6 and 8 of the Website Policies and Procedures of use in the footer of this page. You also agree and confirm that content posted by you does not breach any other applicable laws or regulations.

You acknowledge that GainInForum does not endorse the accuracy, integrity, copyright, compliance, legality, quality or decency of any contribution(s).

GainInForum may, in appropriate circumstances and at its discretion, terminate the access of users who infringe the copyright or other intellectual property rights of GainInForum and of others.

2.1 - Illegal activity
Discussions regarding illegal activities such as illegal downloading, streams of copyrighted content and methods of distributing copyrighted material for free are not permitted. Posts containing such material may be removed and action taken.

2.2 - Advertising, External Links & Surveys
We only permit links to third-party sites when they are relevant to ongoing discussion. Any Users posting URLs of sites excessively or promoting their own websites, products or services in a way which could be construed as advertising are liable to have their right to post removed.

If you wish to discuss advertising solutions, please head here for more information.

Please note that this also applies to advertising via Private Message, and contacting members unsolicited to advertise will result in a ban.

Due to the amount of students registering to post their dissertation questions or surveys, we no longer permit these and they will be removed as they don't promote any discussion.

2.2.1 - Premium phone numbers
Please do not post premium rate phone numbers on the forum.

2.3 - Potential Libel
Do not post libelous or defamatory comments.

2.4 Contempt of court
Please refer to section 4.2 of the GainInForum Terms and Conditions.

3.0 - Discriminatory, Offensive and Harmful Material
GainInForum is an inclusive community for everyone. Our aim is that each and every one of our members feels welcome. Remember that you're talking to other humans on the forums.

Bad faith commentary and discussion surrounding representation, identity, diversity and inclusion will be moderated accordingly.

We have a zero tolerance policy on all content that includes, defends or dismisses any discriminatory content, such as (without limitations), content that is racist, homophobic, biphobic, transphobic, xenophobic, s3xist, ableist, contains hate speech, or any other content that is discriminatory, overly offensive, or harmful.

This type of content, including where content encourages or promotes, has no place on our forums.

You must not post messages about other people or groups that are vulgar, crude or inappropriate by nature. This might include derogatory labels, generalisations, or personal, intrusive or mean-spirited comments about appearance, a person's accent or pattern of speech, or the perceived habits or traits of other people or groups.

We will not tolerate offensive or unconstructive postings.

3.1 - Pornographic images/adult material
Anything containing or linking to adult content is not tolerated and, if flagged, may result in a permanent ban.

3.2. Incitement to violence
Posts inciting, encouraging, glorifying or calling for violence or physical harm against individuals or groups are not tolerated, and will be moderated accordingly.

4.0 - Baiting
Deliberately making provocative comments or engaging in trolling behaviour, including provoking others to post in violation of the Terms and Conditions or Community Guidelines, may result in a ban.

Baiting could also include naming or bringing up other members in discussions they're not involved in.

Discussing thread behaviour or other members in the thread, taking discussion off topic, may result in action being taken.

4.1 - Respect
While you are of course welcome to disagree with other members, we expect you to respect each other, and our team, at all times.

Personal attacks towards other members will not be tolerated. Breaches of this clause will be moderated accordingly.

4.2 - Profanity
We understand that profanity may be used, but must not be used excessively.

Note that some profanity is automatically censored on the forums. However, excessive use of profanity, or evading the profanity filter to bypass our rules, may result in action being taken.

Directing profanity at the Support inbox may result in a ban.

5.0 - Disruption: Unconstructive, off-topic posts
The purpose of our forums is to enable constructive discussion. Unconstructive posts might include deliberately derailing threads with disruptive content, and hostile or confrontational posts that prolong arguments. Other examples might be:

- Off-topic posts: Try to avoid making comments that are not related to the topic of the thread you are currently in. Users attempting to deflect away from the topic of the thread will receive a warning. These types of posts are disruptive and often result in threads being derailed with the posts having to be removed.

- Drive-by posts: Deliberately entering a thread to post something provocative and then leaving is considered baiting. We recommend you make constructive, solid arguments for your posts if you wish to participate. We want to encourage productive discussion and ask that all users remain civil. It's perfectly fine to avoid a thread if you have nothing to contribute or the topic doesn't interest you.

- Thread whining: Do not enter threads to complain about the thread topic. Going into threads to say "Who cares about this?!", "Why is this thread allowed on the forum?!", "Do we really need a thread on this?" is considered disruptive. If you have no interest in a thread it would be better to avoid it. If you feel a thread is against the rules, is a duplicate or is unnecessary you can alert the thread and we will handle it accordingly.

- Meta commentary: Posts or threads such as those discussing why content has been removed or closed, or discussing warnings or bans, will be moderated accordingly.

5.1 - Disruption: Spoilers
Please be mindful of other forum members who may be trying to avoid spoilers. You may encase your post in tags where appropriate. You will find more information on specific spoiler policies pinned in the appropriate sub-forums.

Ignoring 'no spoilers' or ' pace' in thread titles is considered disruptive and will be dealt with as such.

If you wish to discuss something without the use of spoiler tags, a separate thread should be made with (Spoiler Discussion) in the title.

5.2 - Disruption: Multiple Accounts
Only one account is allowed per person.

Registering an account after having been banned (temporarily or permanently) is not permitted and will result in all linked accounts being terminated. Repeatedly attempting to re-register after being banned could result in us blocking your IP or contacting your ISP to report abuse of service.

Accounts should only be used by the account creator, as account sharing is not permitted on GainInForum.

If there is more than one person using your computer or network to access the GainInForum, please contact us so as to avoid any confusion further down the line.

5.3 - Disruption: Bumping
Posting in old threads without good reason is considered disruptive, and can be confusing as the information may not be up to date or may no longer be relevant.

If a thread has long since died a natural death, a fresh thread should be made if you wish to continue discussion.

5.4 - Disruption: Appreciation Threads
Appreciation threads are designed to allow fans of a particular subject to engage in positive and light-hearted discussion. Appreciation threads allow users to connect with each other and are designed to focus discussion. Whilst these threads should be inherently positive, different opinions are allowed and (as with the rest of the forum) should be discussed in a civil and respectful manner. If it's clear a user has not joined in the spirit of an Appreciation Thread, then content will be moderated accordingly. If you wish to discuss the subject of an appreciation thread you are welcome to post constructive comments in a separate thread.

6.0 - Proxy Services
We reserve the right to restrict forum access of users accessing GainInForum via any anonymous proxy services or a VPN to prevent abuse / misuse of the site and protect our community. This could also include accounts that attempt to register on a public connection.

Other

Third-party Websites

Be mindful of the links that you visit from within posts. These may be third party sites unconnected with Hearst and we do not endorse or accept any responsibility for their content. For more information, please refer to the GainInForum Terms and Conditions.

Communicate clearly

While we ask that all users post in English, we understand that every user will have different circumstances and we ask users to avoid correcting others' spelling and grammar. Avoid pointing out how bad another user's spelling is as this will derail threads, instead if you see a user making illegible posts please flag them and we will look into it.

Duplicate threads and cross-posting

Before creating a new thread please check to see if your contribution could be made to an existing thread. Do not purposely duplicate threads or cross-post to multiple forums.

Post in the appropriate forum

Please check that you are posting threads in the right forum. If a thread is made in the wrong forum by accident and we're made aware of it, we'll move it to the right forum and leave a redirect link. If threads are intentionally created in the wrong forum or don't apply to the category they may be removed and moderated for being off-topic.

Games and tournaments threads

As a lot of forum members enjoy playing games and taking part in tournaments, we have created sub-forums across the board where people can do so.

Please use these sub-forums to post games and tournaments (with multiple rounds or heats), so that those who do not wish to participate in games do not have to sift through a list of non-topical discussions to find what they are looking for.

Age restrictions

By using the sites or posting content on any forums or threads, you confirm that you are 18 years old or more or, if you are under 18 years old, that you have received your parent’s or guardian’s consent to enter into these Terms.

Do not reveal any personal information on the forums or via PM including but not limited to surname, telephone number, school name, social media handles, or email address.

Terms and Conditions

Please take the time to review these Terms and Conditions which, along with these Community Guidelines, govern your use of the site including participation in any discussion forums or threads.

These Community Guidelines are not exhaustive, and may be revised from time to time.

Warnings and Banning Users

We have a warning system in place to handle breaches or non-compliance with our Community Guidelines and/or the Terms and Conditions. That includes written warnings, account restrictions, temporary bans and ultimately permanent bans. If a user receives a warning, they will be notified privately with a message outlining the reason for this being issued.

Warnings can vary depending on the severity of the infraction but they will usually follow the process set out below.

Multiple, ongoing or overlapping warnings, or actions which in our opinion justify a stronger approach, may result in account restrictions or a temporary ban being extended.

Note that posts or threads may be removed without notice if they do not meet the standards in our Community Guidelines, even if no further action is taken.

Please note that our moderation team cannot discuss any action taken against other individual users of the forum with you.

Warnings are tiered as follows:

1. Level 1 Warning - No account restrictions are implemented. A simple message to highlight the rule a user has broken. This is usually issued as a first notice for users who haven't been warned previously or if the rule break isn't severe.

2. Level 3 Warning - Account is restricted. Unable to make new threads temporarily and posts are limited to once per 150 seconds. This may be issued if, for example, a previous warning has been given, for repeated infractions, if the post in question is severe in nature, or if the warning is based on an unproductive thread the user has made.

3. Level 5 Warning - Account is temporarily banned. If a user repeatedly breaks the rules we may temporarily revoke their posting privileges. Temporary bans may be 48 hours, 7 days or 14 days. This is usually dependent on the amount of previous warnings and the severity of the infractions. We understand that sometimes our members may just need some time away to reflect on their posts and hopefully with a break they can return with a better understanding of the Community Guidelines.

4. Permanent Ban - Account is permanently banned and the user will no longer be able to use their account. For example, if a user has received numerous warnings but persists to break the rules a permanent ban will be issued. A user may also receive a permanent ban for really severe infractions that are highlighted above as zero tolerance. It's compulsory for every user to adhere to these guidelines.

These tiers are not exhaustive and we retain full discretion to manage threads, the forum and the site as we deem appropriate.

Accumulating all warning levels may lead to the termination of your account the next time you are warned. A temporary ban will only be issued in circumstances where it's deemed appropriate and a user could be permanently banned without ever receiving a temporary ban.