Message Board Rules

MrExcel Message Board Rules

Notes:

1. If you break any of the following rules it may lead to a warning, possible editing or removal of the post, removal of Conversation Messages privilege, or you may be banned from the forum.
2. The decision of what is indecent, vulgar, spam, etc. as noted in these rules is made by the moderators and administrators, not the users. The moderating/admin teams reserve the right to edit or remove any post at any time.
3. These rules also apply to Conversation Messages and should be read in conjunction with the forum Guidelines.

Along with the Terms of Use you agreed to follow when registering, please follow these rules.

• Rule #1:

  Members should post in a way that is respectful towards others, and consider carefully before making posts if any of their content might cause offence. Members must not abuse or harass others or use vulgar language, racial, religious or ethnic slurs, sexism or slander.

• Rule #2:

  Spam will not be tolerated. Referrals to other 3rd party websites may be deemed acceptable if they directly address the question asked and do not breach any of the other rules here. See Rule #15 for rules on Signatures. Remember, it is up to the moderators to determine whether a link in a post is spam.

• Rule #3:

  Do not post URLs to inappropriate sites, such as pornography sites, warez sites, racist/hate sites, etc. Images that are not appropriate for the workplace are not to be posted or used as avatars. Do not use inappropriate images on our forums - ones endorsing pornography, software or intellectual property piracy; or those that "slam" any individual or company.

• Rule #4:

  Members should not use the Conversation system or tag other members in thread titles to request specific assistance. All members are volunteers, contributing their time and expertise where and when they can, and such requests may be deemed harassment (see Rule #1). It is acceptable to tag other members within your post where they have previously contributed to that same thread, or where you are referring to a relevant post that they have made previously. Repeated tagging of the same member(s) may also be deemed harassment.

  Do not invite another member to take the question off the forum. That is, do not suggest that they post to a different forum, do not suggest that they email or send the problem as a Conversation Message, do not simply post a link to another forum, unless it is to a specific, relevant, thread. This applies equally to members asking or answering questions.

  Likewise, please do not answer questions by creating solutions elsewhere and then referencing those solutions via file links. We ask that you answer the question within the thread itself (note: providing links to existing articles on the internet may be acceptable if not breaching other rules).

  To that effect, do not simply create a file with a solution, and provide a link to that. Some of the issues with providing links to files uploaded to the internet are: those links often expire, many users cannot download files from file-sharing sites due to network security restrictions, many users are reluctant to download files for personal security reasons and the ability to search the forum effectively is reduced.

• Rule #5:

  Soliciting business for yourself is not permitted. This is an all volunteer board, so offering solutions in exchange for compensation is not permitted. Likewise, members seeking solutions must not offer compensation for them. If you have an urgent need, check the Consulting Services page.

• Rule #6:

  The policy of this board is NOT to assist with the breaking of any forms of security under any circumstances. Such posts will be deleted or locked.

• Rule #7:

  Members may use only one username on our forums.

• Rule #8:

  Do not attempt to impersonate other forum members or forum officials.

• Rule #9:

  Members must not act as "back seat moderators". If a member notes an issue that does not comply with any forum rule they may bring it to the attention of the moderators by using the Report button belonging to the offending post.

• Rule #10:

  Do not publicly re-post private emails, or private discussions without the express written permission of the e-mail's original sender (e-mail is protected by copyright).

• Rule #11:

  Do not post email addresses, standard addresses, ICQ and other messaging client numbers, or phone numbers, including your own.

• Rule #12:

  Do not post duplicate questions. Posts of a duplicate nature will be deleted or locked. All related follow-ups, be they further related questions or clarifications, should be posted back to the original thread.

  We advise you not to 'bump' (reply to) your own posts too quickly after posting, unless you are posting some sort of clarification. Since bumped threads have replies, they will no longer appear in the "Unanswered threads" listing, which many members use to look for unanswered questions. If you do bump, limit it to no more than once every day. Remember that your best helper may be asleep on the other side of the world.

• Rule #13:

  We prefer that members do not cross-post questions to other forums, but when this does occur members should do the following:

  • Post the details of your question on our forum. Do NOT simply post a link/re-direct to the question in another forum with no details posted here.
  • Make it clear that you have cross-posted and provide links to the cross-posts.

  Cross-posted questions that do not comply may be deleted or locked. For a discussion on the issues with cross-posting, see this link: Excelguru Help Site - A message to forum cross posters.

• Rule #14:

  Members should post in a way that is consistent with ‘normal writing’. Users should not use excessive amounts of emoticons, must not SHOUT (use all upper case) or use excessive amounts of punctuation (e.g. ! and ?) in posts or thread titles.

• Rule #15:

  New members will not be able to establish a signature until they have made 50 posts. Forum regulars may be allowed to include links to 3rd party websites in their signatures, but the links should not be overly intrusive - i.e. they should use the default forum font size and colour, without additional effects.

  Signature links may be to personal blogs or blogs about Microsoft Office topics. Links to other consulting sites may be permitted at the moderators' discretion based on proven commitment to the forum, but all other links to commercial services will be considered spam and removed.

  Members may be required to remove or amend a signature deemed inappropriate, for any reason, by the moderators.

• Rule #16:

  Any user that has been banned from the board may not re-subscribe under a new username, unless express permission has been given by the moderators.

• Rule #17:

  The use of AI tools (e.g. chatGPT, BARD, GPT4) to create forum answers is not permitted. If a user is believed to have used such tools to provide a forum answer, sanctions may be imposed.