These rules are disclosed to clarify the various responsibilities of all community members here on Politics Forum.org | PoFo. They shall be adhered to by everyone to ensure that our board runs smoothly and provides a fun and productive experience for all of our community members and visitors.

1. Terms of Use

   1. Important Notice
      
      You may not use the PoliticsForum.org discussion forum unless you read, understand and agree to the forum rules and terms and conditions of use.
      
      Throughout this document "PoliticsForum" refers to the website politicsforum.org and the discussion forum located on that website.
      
      By using PoliticsForum you acknowledge that you agree to the following rules:
      
      1. You are prohibited from transmitting through PoliticsForum any unlawful or harassing or abusive materials and you will refrain from distribution or use of any threatening, obscene or vulgar material of any kind. This includes (but is not limited to) posting - or posting links to - pornography or 'warez'.
      2. Remain courteous and respectful to other users of the forums at all times. Do not make personally directed attacks on any other user (for example, it is acceptable to accuse someone of making a "moronic proposition" but it is not acceptable to accuse someone of being a "moron").
      3. You are prohibited from transmitting through PoliticsForum any hateful or racially, sexually or ethnically objectionable material. As a guide: You should not attack groups or individuals on the basis of prejudices or stereotypes but only on the basis of their demonstrated actions or beliefs.
      4. You are prohibited from transmitting material that may infringe on any intellectual property rights, copyright or trademark or any other rights of any third party.
      5. Type properly and coherently. Do not tYpE lIkE tHiS or L1K3 7h15. Do not type whole messages or topic titles in ALL CAPS. Do not use improper abbreviations such as "ur" (you're) or "y" (why). Do not type entire posts without the use of grammar. Do not type entire posts in bold, colour or similarly formatted text.
      6. Do not post the same thing repeatedly (Spamming). Even (in fact especially) if it has been deleted by a moderator for whatever reason. This includes posting the same thing in multiple forums (cross-posting).
      7. Never re-post something a moderator has deleted (in any forum).
      8. Do not register user-names that are deliberately offensive - this includes (but is not restricted to) swear words and anything that breaks the PoliticsForum rules or terms and conditions of use.
      9. You are prohibited from using PoliticsForum to distribute junk mail or 'spam'. Or to collect information on users, including their email addresses without their agreement.
      10. You are prohibited from using PoliticsForum to advertise commercial products, websites or other discussion forums.
      11. You are prohibited from using PoliticsForum for the conduct of business and from making any potential revenue dependent on any part of PoliticsForum.
      12. Personal signature images may only be 100 pixels in height and 400 pixels in width. Only a single image may be included in your personal signature and images may not be animated. Personal signatures may not contain URLs or hyperlinks to websites outside PoliticsForum.
      13. Personal avatar images may only be 100 × 100 pixels exactly and black & white portraits (i.e. they may only depict a person). Images may not be animated, may not contain text and may not be cartoons..
      14. Double logins (multiple accounts) are prohibited. To ensure enforceability of this rule, using anonymous proxies to access PoliticsForum and post on the forum is prohibited.
      15. Do not deliberately take conversations off-topic. Avoid bringing irrelevant issues into a conversation that will take conversation away from the topic addressed by the opening post.
      Failure to comply with any of the forum rules may result in your posts being deleted and/or your account being temporarily or permanently suspended.
      16.You are prohibited from publicly arguing and/or questioning the Forum Rules, T.o.S and General Policies. #

2. Privacy Policy

   1. This website ("PoliticsForum.org") is owned by Raseborg Web Development Ltd.
      
      If you have any queries about our privacy policy, please use the forum to send a private message to "noemon" or e-mail: webmaster (at) politics forum (dot) org.
      
      Except in the limited circumstances mentioned below, we do not collect your personal information when you enter or use our site.
      
      Cookies
      
      During the course of any visit to PoliticsForum.org, the pages you see, along with a short text file called a 'cookie', are downloaded to your computer. Cookies are frequently used by websites to store information on your computer like previous session and login data, so that it can be accessed on subsequent visits. PoliticsForum.org automatically checks for a cookies left on your last visit and can use this cookie data to facilitate use of the discussion board, such as keeping your account logged in.
      
      You may refuse the use of cookies by selecting the appropriate settings on your browser. However, refusing the use of PoliticsForum.org's cookies may reduce the functionality of the discussion forum. For information on controlling cookies, see: AboutCookies.org.
      
      IP Addresses
      
      We log the IP addresses of users' computers when visiting PoliticsForum.org to facilitate administration and trouble shooting. When posting messages on the discussion forum, the IP addresses are visible to the owners and operators of the discussion forum for moderation purposes (such as trying to keep the forums free from 'spam').
      
      Use of Cookies & IP Addresses by Third-Party Services
      
      Cookies may be set and IP addresses logged by some advertising services and other third-party services that we use. Some services might use cookies to help better target advertising, which might help our website display more relevant advertisements, but if you choose to block cookies from these services it should not affect the functionality of the PoliticsForum.org discussion forum. The third-party services we use are listed below, with an explanation of what we use them for:
      
      Google Analytics - for gathering statistics on our website's traffic flows and information such as which web browsers they use and what screen size they have. This helps us develop and improve the website. The information is aggregated so it cannot be linked to any individual user. You can read Google's Privacy Policy on their website.
      Cloudflare - for protecting the Site from SPAM, Hacking attempts and DDoS attacks, Cloudflare also acts as a CDN(Content Delivery Network) ensuring faster access from more locations around the world. You can read their Privacy Policy on their website.
      E-mail addresses
      Google AdSense - to display advertisements on our site. These advertisements help pay to run this site. Allowing AdSense cookies might mean you get shown more relevant advertisements. You can read about GoogleAdSense's Cookie Privacy Policy on their website.
      Infolinks - to display forum-wide advertising. On Infolinks' website you can read their "Learn more about Infolinks" page as well their Privacy Policy.
      VigLink - for creating affiliate links for us. What this means is that if for example, a user links to a product on a commercial site like Amazon.com, we will earn a small commission if a user clicks the link and then buys that product. VigLink's service does not change the user experience on our site, but it does help us pay to run the site.
      AddThis - for displaying sharing buttons on one page to help promote the website. You can learn about what data AddThis collects, how it is used and opt out of Online Behavioral Advertising on their Privacy & Data Practices page.
      
      
      In order to register on the discussion forum you will need to enter a valid e-mail address. The e-mail address is used for confirming your registration details and password (and for sending new passwords should you forget your current one). You can also opt in or out of receiving forum announcements (such as notification of new replies to topics). These e-mails can be controlled or prevented in your forum account settings.
      
      For security and forum moderation purposes (such as trying to keep the forums free from 'spam') account e-mail addresses are visible to the forum owners and operators.
      
      "PoliticsForum.org" does not sell e-mail addresses.
      
      Your e-mail address is only visible to other visitors to the website if you have selected in your profile that you wish it to show it. We would recommend that you do not make it visible.
      
      Other Data You Send to the Website if You Use the Discussion Forum
      
      If you use the discussion forum, any information about you, or other text or data that you choose to submit to the discussion forum is viewable by other visitors to this website. We would recommend that you do not post personal information about yourself on the site, since we do not have control over how other visitors will use information that you make public.
      
      Your account password is ciphered (a one-way hash) so that it is not readable even to the website owners and operators. To enhance your security it is recommended that you do not reuse the same password across multiple websites. Your password is the means of accessing your account at PoliticsForum.org, so please guard it carefully and under no circumstance will anyone affiliated with PoliticsForum.org legitimately ask you for your password. Should you forget your account password you can use the "I forgot my password" feature provided by the forum software to generate a new password and reclaim your account.
      
      Payment Details
      
      We do not process payments on this website. For fee-based services we use PayPal. PayPal has its own privacy policy located on its website.
      
      Security Policy
      
      We use reasonable precautions to keep the information disclosed to us secure. However, we cannot guarantee the security of the information that you disclose to us. You accept the inherent risks of providing information and dealing on-line and will not hold us responsible for unauthorised 'hacking' or any other breach of security.
      
      Other Websites
      
      Our website contains links to other websites. This privacy policy does not apply on those sites and you should check the privacy policies located on those websites.
      
      Update 25/05/2018
      
      New EU General Data Protection Regulation(GDPR)
      
      In line with GDPR, users now have the right to be forgotten. If you wish to be forgotten please send a private message to "noemon" or e-mail: webmaster (at) politics forum (dot) org and your account will be reverted to "Unperson". This will maintain your posts but remove your identifying username. #