ScubaBoard - Scuba Diving Forum - Diving Social Network FAQ

Mission Statement:

ScubaBoard is a community of scuba divers whose goal is to further the knowledge and enjoyment of scuba for all divers and those interested in diving with a fun and informative approach.

Guiding Principles:

As the staff of ScubaBoard, our goal is to provide our users with a safe and friendly atmosphere that will bring together new friends, attract scuba diving professionals and diving legends in a way that creates "The Optimal Internet Diving Community".

Welcome to ScubaBoard: the world's largest community of scuba diving enthusiasts dedicated to sharing the wonders of our underwater world in a fun, safe and friendly environment. Our focus is to advance safety, knowledge and enjoyment within the diving community by encouraging the mutual exchange of experiences, ideas and opinions. We sincerely hope you enjoy and benefit from your extended surface interval with us.

To participate on ScubaBoard by posting, sending messages or uploading, you agree to abide by the following:

Terms of Service (TOS)

ScubaBoard is a friendly forum (interactive computer service) based on mutual respect. All user generated contents are the opinions of their respective authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of ScubaBoard or Intermedia Publications, Inc. While ScubaBoard or Intermedia Publications, Inc. are not responsible for posts' content, authenticity or accuracy, they retain copyright privileges to all user generated content. ScubaBoard reserves the right to edit, remove, or retain any post.

Moderators are volunteers and are not employees or agents of ScubaBoard or Intermedia Publications, Inc. While the Moderators will do their best to keep the forum civil, it's impossible for them to review every post. If any post seems to violate the spirit of mutual respect, please use the "Report Post" button at the bottom of the post to notify the moderation team. The Moderators have the last word in any dispute and are responsible for interpreting the TOS. When they deem it in the best interest of ScubaBoard, they may edit or delete any content posted on the site. They may suspend users when they deem it is necessary.

• No post should exceed a "PG" rating (link). Profane, racial, insulting or mean spirited language is simply not allowed here and this includes any sort of harassment or cyber bullying. Threats of any sort are grounds for immediate permanent suspension. There is never sufficient reason to resort to personal attacks. If you feel that you have been attacked, please do not retaliate, instead use the "Report Post" at the bottom of each post to notify us. Trolling posts or off-topic posts (hijacking) may be moderated or removed.


• Spamming or attempting to recruit our membership (by PM, Visitor Message or otherwise) other than through authorized use of our commercial (market place) forums is expressly forbidden.
  
  
• The creation of multiple accounts ("sock puppets") for one person is prohibited and grounds for suspension.
  
  
• We are dedicated to keeping our users' information private and will never sell it to a third party. Click here for our privacy policy.
  
  
• ScubaBoard Moderators may at their discretion, remove any post which advocates unsafe diving practices as defined by the major certification agencies of the scuba diving world. While ScubaBoard does not take an official position on these matters, ScubaBoard does encourage users to maintain safe diving practices. You and you alone are responsible for your diving safety.
  
  
• There are certain forums where special rules are applicable. These rules are part of the ToS for those forums; acknowledgement and compliance apply as with other ToS conditions.


• Membership is a privilege and reserve the right to deny service to any person with or without cause or notification. If a member feels they have been unfairly denied service or has received unfair moderation, an appeal may be sent by e-mail to appeals@scubaboard.com. Each appeal will be reviewed by senior moderators who were not previously involved in the issue that led to the appealed suspension or moderation.
  
  ScubaBoard reserves the right to add to or amend the ToS without any prior warning or consent from its users. By completing your registration, you agree that your ScubaBoard participation will conform to any such additions or amendments to the ToS.

The term SPAM implies many different definitions based on many different sources. The Washington State Supreme Court has stated that SPAM can be understood as:

“The term 'spam' refers broadly to unsolicited bulk e-mail (or ''junk e-mail"), which can be either commercial (such as an advertisement) or noncommercial (such as a joke or chain letter).”

Another popular definition focused towards the Internet describes SPAM as:

“Internet spam is one or more unsolicited messages, sent or posted as part of a larger collection of messages, all having substantially identical content."

On ScubaBoard we combine the commonly held definitions of SPAM into one concrete statement. SPAM is, as a general rule, a message sent in any amount of a commercial or non-commercial nature which is unsolicited. More specifically, SPAM generally consists of an advertisement of some nature which is sent directly to a user or users or is posted in a forum or forums. While the majority of our SPAM problems do come from traditional bulk postings, a message does not have to be commercial in nature nor does it need to be sent in bulk to be considered SPAM under our rules.

The punishment for spamming a user or the board varies based on the severity of the SPAM. Users with no prior posts who blatantly post SPAM messages to multiple forums or PM multiple users may be banned without further warning. Users in good standing who send out a limited number of messages may simply be given a warning or a short suspension. There is no such thing as “good” SPAM on our board and all members, regardless of their status, may be banned immediately for spamming the board in any manner even if it is with just one message or post. As a general rule we try to take into account the nature of all messages, commercial versus private and the degree of the abuse. But to this issue, simply do not send users messages containing advertising of services, goods, links or personal ads they aren’t asking for!

References: Spam Defined
Washington court: Don't spam our residents

ScubaBoard has long been known as one of the most friendly forums on the internet. Here you can find Scuba Divers from novice to expert sharing experiences and helpful hints. We like it like that, and you have our word that we want to keep it that way. Unfortunately, we have recently encountered a growing phenomenon amongst our membership that has marred our happy place. We call it cyber bullying and it comes in many forms. Here are a few ways that have come to light recently:

• Thread Hijacking: Derailing a thread with a lot of off topic banter. We have the Pub for that kind of activity.
• Stalking: Following a member from thread to thread to humiliate, embarrass or otherwise cajole a member in order to make them feel unwelcome.
• Dog Piling: Joining others in such a manner as to make a member feel threatened and unwelcome.

You can be sure that we are working hard in order to resolve this matter. Some of the people involved are long time and valued members and we are perplexed by their behavior. It could be that they don't see how it affects others and are simply doing it to have fun. It could be that they truly resent these few who are targeted and want to see them leave. Really, it doesn't matter why they are doing it, it just needs to stop and stop immediately. So, how are we going to do this? We need your help! If you see any of these patterns don't try to intervene! First, be sure to stay out of the fray. Second, show some compassion and hit the "Report Post" button. Then we can step in and resolve the matter hopefully in a peaceful manner. Finally, please show us some patience. We don't want to lose anyone over this. As I said earlier, most involved just don't realize what they are doing as they are normally friendly people! Hey, thanks for taking the time to read this. Let's commit ourselves to making and keeping this the friendliest forum on the internet. Friendly, and yet oh so relevant.

Some material may not be suitable for pre-teenagers. Nudity and coarse language are prohibited.

Exploiting the weaknesses of human nature or of an on-line community to upset people. ScubaBoard includes POV warriors, cranks, impolite users and disruptive behaviour in this definition.

Our "Trips and Local Marketplace" sub forums of our various clubs exist as a public service to the Scuba Community. It is designed to promote diving and commerce on a local level. ScubaBoard makes no attempt to verify these offers and will not enter into any dispute arising from these offers. Please honor the following stipulations:

1. One thread only per trip, class or event!
2. Any commercial offerings should be identified in the title. IE: "ScubaUs Fun Dive at Yimminee Springs"
3. No "bumping" allowed. Legitimate questions are fine, but please do not post just to get a better position in the forum.
4. Club dives may be sponsored by commercial ops, please send a private message to NetDoc for details.
5. Dives, classes and events may only be discussed in the general club forum after the fact. Please reserve all preliminary discussions to the thread in the "Trips and Local Marketplace" forums.

ScubaBoard’s Marketplace Forum exists as a public service for the Scuba Community. We make no attempts to verify any offers or claims. ScubaBoard will not enter into any attempt to resolve disputes involving our Market Place Forums. Both the buyer and seller are on their own to complete any transaction.

1. Messages should be clean and professional and no more than two per week. Avoid using large font sizes or more than three colors. Limit any embedded images to 300x300 pixels or smaller, files larger than this should be attached to your post.
2. Offers must be clearly explained with all conditions and restrictions outlined upfront. Any attempt to commit fraud, deceive or otherwise harm the members of ScubaBoard will result in suspension and further reporting action if deemed necessary by ScubaBoard.
3. There is absolutely no “bumping” of threads. This includes making any reply to a thread whose purpose is deemed to be solely to force the thread to rise to the top of the thread list page in order to gain additional exposure to a thread.
4. The Market Place forum is not a place to criticize, comment on or in other way speak to the reliability or history of another user’s advertisement. Messages commenting on the quality or value of a deal negatively are expressly forbidden as are messages that “flame”, “troll” or otherwise negatively attack a company for their business practices.
5. Competing or counter offers to an advertisement in this forum must be done in a new thread.
6. Links to auction sites(eBay, Craig's List, etc.) are ONLY allowed in the Miscellaneous Items Forum.
7. You are expected to read any and all sticky or announcement threads related to additional rules or restrictions that may exist in a particular Marketplace sub-forum.
8. Please observe our limit of 1 thread per topic or offer.

These terms apply to any individual who uploads or views photos from the ScubaBoard photo gallery and is in addition to the main ScubaBoard terms of service agreement.

1. Limited Warranty

The ScubaBoard photo gallery is a free service provided to users of the ScubaBoard website. ScubaBoard's photo gallery is intended to be used for displaying photos to other visitors of the ScubaBoard website; at no time should the gallery be used as an archive, backup drive or other method of file storage. ScubaBoard makes no warranty as to the integrity or reliability of any images posted to its servers. Images may be removed without warning.

2. Copyright Responsibility

All images posted the ScubaBoard photo gallery are the sole responsibility of the person who uploaded such content. By uploading an image you are stating that (1) you agree to these terms and (2) you have the legal right (copyright) to post said images. ScubaBoard reserves the right to edit, remove or otherwise modify photos uploaded but does not actively monitor or moderate photo submissions. At no point is ScubaBoard liable for harm, loss or damages resulting in uploading images to the photo gallery. ScubaBoard recommends that all photos be clearly watermarked or otherwise visually copyrighted to limit the possibility of theft. In addition, we recommend that you upload a limited resolution version of any image (i.e. 640x480) to further reduce the chances of illegal photo copying. ScubaBoard makes reasonable efforts to minimize any copyright infringement but given the public nature of the photo gallery, ScubaBoard is unable to guarantee that images will not be re-used by third parties without authorization.

3. Photo Content

The ScubaBoard photo gallery is intended for uploading underwater and dive related photos only by members of the ScubaBoard website. Offensive content including content that contains nudity, violent images, discloses personal information of individuals, slanders any individual or company or is grossly offensive is strictly forbidden. In addition, copyrighted content or materials may not be posted without authorization from the copyright holder.

4. Limited Photo License

By uploading images to the ScubaBoard photo gallery you grant ScubaBoard a non-exclusive, royalty-free, limited license to display and reproduce posted images in the ScubaBoard gallery and on other parts of the ScubaBoard website for use in promoting the photo gallery. ScubaBoard may from time to time display its photo gallery at offline events for the purposes of promoting the photo gallery. This license shall extend until such time as you remove photos at which point it will automatically expire; you have the right to remove any images at any time.

5. Use of other member's photos

As a visitor of the ScubaBoard photo gallery you are permitted to view, bookmark and use photos as virtual "eCards". At no point may you download, save, copy or in any way distribute the photos contained in the ScubaBoard photo gallery. All photos contained in the gallery are copyrighted by their legal owner, should you wish to use a photo for any purpose not explicitly listed above you must seek direct written permission from its owner.

6. Content

The photos posted to the ScubaBoard photo gallery are not screened or moderated and as such you may view content that you find offensive. In such an event you are encouraged to report the photo to an Advisor or Moderator for review and possible deletion if appropriate.

If you believe your copyrighted photo is being used without your consent please contact ScubaBoard immediately at:

ScubaBoard.com
717 Executive Drive
Winter Park, FL 32789
United States of America

Please note: it is often difficult for ScubaBoard to determine the rightful owner of an individual photo. We may, in the process of investigating a copyright claim, require additional information to help determine the status of the photo in question.