Truck Driver Forum - Rules, Regulations, Terms Of Service

[WiseOne]

Important: NO SOLICITATION, FREE ADS, or FREE PERSONAL SITE LINKS, EVER!

The Truckers Report Forums, Terms of Use Policies

Membership User Name Creation And Profile Creation Guidelines:

When a new user enters The Trucker's Report site and creates a member name and profile, we ask that the following policies be followed;

1.) Please do not create user names with any sexual connotation, or those that may be controversial in any manner, such as one that would tend to be inflammitory in nature, contain racial overtones, or appear in any way to refer to any website. Remember that first impressions are the longest lasting. We try to keep the atmosphere professional and appealing to a wide variety of people, and to put forth a positive image of the trucking industry.

2.) Members are allowed ONE active user name. We do track users to verify that this policy is followed to the letter. Any member found to be posting under aliases or different user names will be asked to choose one, and all others will be deactivated. If any member is found to be in violation of this policy twice, they will be banned from further activity within the forums permanently.

3.) Members are afforded the option of filling in information when creating their user name in the user profile section. When filling in this profile information, do not offer links to websites that offer pornography, pharmaceutical products of a legal or illegal nature, internet gambling or gaming, or to sites that offer any products for sale. We do monitor this closely, and upon the first discovery of any violations to this policy, the user profile will be stripped of links and a warning message will be sent to the user. Upon any second violation of this policy, the user will be permanently banned from the forums.

4.) Members are not allowed to offer clickable links to any site whatsoever in the signature section of their user profiles. Moderators of The Trucker's Report are exempted from this policy and will be allowed to offer links in the signature section of their profiles.

5.) We have a strict NO ADVERTISING policy in the forums, without prior permission and set-up as a PAID sponsor in the appropriate sections by the Administrator of the site. We extend this policy to include ANY references to sites or contacts to any commercial site, or person associated with such sites in v-card and profile, which a user will set up upon registration. Any reference found will be deleted from the profile and v-card of the user and notification will be sent to the member, and if found to have been restored by the user at any point, an immediate and permanent ban will be instituted.

For information on becoming a forum sponsor, please review the information here:

Sponsor Information

6.) New members to the site and forums will now be subject to the following policy upon registration:

Until a member has participated in the discussion forums by submitting at least 50 messages into the forum of the proper nature;

The private message, e-mail, signature creation, and animated avatar functions will be disabled. Members in this category will also not be allowed to submit negative reputation votes on other members.

Participating members who have submitted 50 messages into the forum of the proper nature will receive the following privileges;

Private messaging will be allowed with a 25 message storage limit. The e-mail, signature creation, and animated avatar functions will be still be disabled.

POST A PRIVATE MESSAGE IN THE OPEN FORUMS AND YOU WILL BE GIVEN AN INFRACTION OR BANNED !!!

Participating members who have submitted 30-40 messages into the forum of the proper nature will receive the following privileges;


Private messaging will be allowed with a 35 message storage limit. The e-mail, signature creation, and animated avatar functions will be still be disabled.

Once a member has reached the participation level of having submitted 50 messages;

Private messaging will be allowed with a 50 message storage limit. E-mailing will be allowed, Signatures will be allowed (Note: No links of any kind will be allowed in signatures, even in images), and animated images will be allowed for avatars, etc.

After you cross the thresholds above for your amount of posts, your status will change within an hour or less. If by chance this does not occur, please send a message to the site Administrator for the change in your status.

NEW ADDITION:

1) NO Dead Links Allowed Anymore (spammer.com or spammer dot com)
2) Links MUST be "live" links (must start with http:// OR www. )
3) Normal link rules STILL apply (this is an addition to our rules)
4) IF you do NOT have 2 posts, you may NOT link ANYTHING (dead or alive)
5) Also read: NO Trucking Company Links/Recruiting Site Links by non-sponsors

Avatars:

1.) Members are allowed to upload any avatar, if one in our database does not suit you, as long as they meet the size and byte limits which are set automatically. If your image exceeds the set limits for size, it will be rejected. There are many free image programs out there that can be used to reduce images to meet our criteria. One of the best is Irfanview.

IrfanView - one of the most popular viewers worldwide

2.) Please use taste and discrimination when choosing an avatar. Other members of the site will see your avatar, and first impressions will often be the longest lasting. PLEASE, do not post images that are depictions of pornography, or those that contain racial overtones, sexist comments, or of any person, real or otherwise, that is not fully dressed in clothing.

Discussion Forums Policies:

The Discussion Forum consists of postings from members of The Trucker's Report community, as well as those offered by the general public. We take very seriously, the image we are portraying to the general public, and while it is never our intention to stifle opinion and discussion, from time to time it becomes necessary to do so. The forums are available for open discussion and the free exchange of ideas and information. The Trucker's Report Forum is monitored and moderated for some content, by chosen individuals appointed by the Administrator of The Trucker's Report web site. Individual postings may be edited for content, or deleted if in violation of this policy by the appointed moderators, but will not be edited or deleted for style, or spelling, syntax, or sentence structuring errors. The Discussion Forum best serves the public when everyone follows basic standards of conduct.

Please keep in mind that when you post a subject or topic, other members may chime in with posts that will follow yours. While we try to maintain a sense of respect at all times between users, from time to time people will differ in opinion. Some may even be rude in their responses. When this occurs, we ask that you notify a moderator when this is discovered, rather than to respond in kind. Inappropriate responses and posts will be edited or removed by moderators when they are discovered or reported.

As a participant of The Trucker's Report forum, you are entirely responsible and liable for all activities conducted through your account. Listed below are examples of some, but not all, violations that may result in The Trucker's Report or it's appointed moderators, temporarily suspending your account, or terminating your account, if cease and desist requests or warnings are ignored.

By registering with The Trucker's Report, you agree to not engage in any of the following acts;

1.) Harassment of another member, threats of any kind towards another member, intentional embarrassment of another member, revealing personal information of another member not previously disclosed in the forum by that member, or the causing of intentional distress of any other discussion forum participant.

(a) No member at any time, will include in any part of any post, the first or last name and/or contact information of any person is not considered to be a "publicly known person". This rule will include any reference purportedly to be of and to themselves. A "publicly known person" would be anyone that has a presence of a public nature, either by choice or by circumstance, where their status has been made known to the public by traditional methods of release of such information, and where that information is accessible to the public. Examples include but are not limited to, having a known presence of a voluntary and public nature on a publicly accessible website and appearing to be published of their own volition, employed in a managerial capacity with a business or corporation and where they are a widely-known person to the public in that capacity, or where the name of a person has been published in written media, or aired in public broadcasts.

(b) No member will offer into any post, any contact information of any person of a private nature, including postal addresses, physical addresses, telephone numbers, and/or private e-mail addresses, even if the member offers that it is their own contact information.

Moderators have the authority to ban any user who violates this policy for one week upon the first instance of such a violation. Any subsequent violation will be met with a permanent ban of the user's priviliges.

2.) Impersonate any person or user, particularly any employee, officer, host, or moderator of The Trucker's Report. Any user who violates this policy will be permanently banned upon discovery.

3.) Transmit via The Trucker's Report Discussion Forum, any information, data, text, files, links, software, or any other material that is unlawful, harmful, threatening, abusive, defamatory, libelous, obscene, pornographic, anything that is racially, religiously or ethnically hateful, or any other 'speech' not protected by the First Amendment of the Constitution of the United States, or transmit any other content that would give rise to liability or that may violate the law. Any user who violates this policy will be permanently banned upon discovery.

4.) Post or transmit any information, software, or other materials that violates or infringes in the rights of others, including material that is an invasion of privacy or publicity rights or that is protected by copyright, trademark or other proprietary right, or derivative works with respect thereto, without first obtaining permission from the owner or right holder. If The Trucker's Report is notified of any violation of this policy, the applicable post or item will be permanently removed from the site, and the user will be notifed of the violation and the removal of the post and/or item, but will not suffer any further action. Most of these violations are considered to be unintentional in nature.

5.) Post or transmit any information, software or other materials that contains viruses, spyware, or other harmful components. Any user who violates this policy will be permanently banned upon discovery.

6.) Post or transmit any unsolicited advertising, promotional materials, junk mail, spam, chain letters, pyramid schemes, pornography, or any form of solicitation for contributions by members or guests on The Trucker's Report Discussion Forum. Posts that include links via the web to any of the above will be deleted upon discovery. Any user who violates this policy will be permanently banned upon discovery.

6a.) EXEMPTIONS TO THE ABOVE: Moderator approved postings, prior to an initial posting, requests for assistance or information in regard to missing people, criminal cases, or attempts to contact individuals that are involved with the trucking industry will be permitted as long as they are posted in applicable sections of the Forum. However, there will be limit of ONLY ONE message posting every 30 days pertaining to the same item, case, or subject, or person, and all previous postings will be removed upon the instance of a repeat posting. Updates of information to previously offered posts are exempted from this policy. Upon the first instance of violation of this policy, the post will be deleted and a warning message will be sent to the user. Upon the second instance of violation of this policy, the user will be banned from forum use for one week. Upon the third instance of violation of this policy, the user will be permanently banned from the forums.

7.) Post or transmit any advertisement for any product in any forum section, other that the "Supporter's Aisle", which does require a monthly or yearly fee for posts that are kept on display in that section. For information on advertising within the forums in the "Supporter's Aisle, please view the following page; Sponsor Information
Upon the first instance of violation of this policy, the post will be deleted and a warning message will be sent to the user. Upon the second instance of violation of this policy, the user will be banned from forum use for one week. Upon the third instance of violation of this policy, the user will be permanently banned from the forums.

8.) Intentionally or unintentionally violate any applicable local, state, national or international law, including but not limited to any regulations having the force of law while using or accessing The Trucker's Report Discussion Forum, or in connection with your use of The Trucker's Report Discussion Forum in any manner. Any user who violates this policy will be permanently banned upon discovery.

9.) Post or transmit defamatory, abusive, or insulting language towards another member. Profanity will be allowed with only one exception. The "F" word will not be allowed in any post in the public forums. It is REQUESTED of all members to refrain from using the combination "GD" out of respect for those that consider it a violation of religious principle. Upon the first instance of violation of this policy, the post will be deleted and a warning message will be sent to the user. Upon the second instance of violation of this policy, the user will be banned from forum use for one week. Upon the third instance of violation of this policy, the user will be permanently banned from the forums.

10.) Post any information or assessment of any person or entity known at the time it is offered to be false, misleading, defamitory, or damaging in nature as a result of the posting. The Trucker's Report offers the forums in a free manner, and under the guise of free speech, and while we do not screen information for accuracy, we request that all users be diligent in sticking to the facts as much as possible when posting reports or information about companies or individuals, and while it is not required, it is a good idea to be prepared to stand behind your assertions if asked to do so. We cannot host an environment where people use the forums to intentionally cause harm in any manner to another in an unjustified manner. Any person or entity that finds themselves cited within these forums absolutely has the right to respond and counter any post offered at any time. There are no second chances on this violation. Any user found to be likely offering blatently false information that could in any way bring harm to another party will be immediately banned from the forums permanently.

11.) Post any clickable or disabled reference to any other website in any post, if that link does not direct a viewer to a site or subject addressed in the post itself. Any off-topic posting of a link will be removed upon discovery one time, and a warning message will be sent to the user. If the user posts an off-topic link a second time, any moderator will have the authority to ban the user from the forums for one week. Upon the third or any subsequent violation, the user will be banned permanently. Links that direct a viewer to any pornographic, internet gambling or gaming site, or to any pharmaceutical site will result in immediate and permanent revocation of user privileges. Posts offered in the "Games" section of the site will be exempted from this policy, as long as they actually pertain to online gaming, but do not link to any pay-to-play site. Upon the first instance of violation of this policy, the post will be deleted and a warning message will be sent to the user. Upon the second instance of violation of this policy, the user will be banned from forum use for one week. Upon the third instance of violation of this policy, the user will be permanently banned from the forums.

12.) Post or transit any references, other than for the purposes of general discussion, in regard to the race, nationality, religious preference, creed, or sexual orientation of any member, including oneself, if that reference may be found offensive, as determined by any moderator or administrator of The Trucker's Report Discussion Forum. It is not a requirement to be “politically correct” as it pertains to this subject, but widely recognized negative descriptions and epithets will not be tolerated in any form. Upon the first instance of violation of this policy, the post will be deleted and a warning message will be sent to the user. Upon the second instance of violation of this policy, the user will be banned from forum use for one week. Upon the third instance of violation of this policy, the user will be permanently banned from the forums.

13.) Post more than one message in an intentional manner containing the same question, opinion, response, or information in more than one section of the forums at any given time. Please post all messages in the appropriate section that best fits the subject of your message, and in the "title" section of the message, please post wording that will draw attention of those whom you are seeking to converse with. Repeat messages will be deleted upon discovery, and messages posted in an inappropriate section will be moved at the sole discretion of the moderators to the appropriate section of the forums. No disciplinary action will occur for this violation, but your cooperation and understanding is requested.

14.) Post any telephone number in any text post or into profile sections of the forums under any circumstance.

15.) Post any domain name references in the titles of threads, in the bodies of threads, or in signature sections of a post, even if the description cannot be clicked (or in the image itself) on by anyone that mouses over the phrase. This rule pertains to offered website domains that appear to be offered with no relevance to any subject contained within a forum section, thread contained within that section, or a post within a thread. Any phrase followed by .com, .net, .org, etc. OR written out as dot com, dot net, dot org, etc., will be a violation of this rule.

Hyperlinking in posts is still allowed, subject to the policies outlined below in the "Hyperlinking Policy" Section of the rules, where allowed links will be topical, informative, requested by a member, etc. This separate rule pertains to unsolicited offering of domain names to side-step hyperlinking rules by offering the name of a site without actually linking to it, and is considered totally off-topic, and offered in an unsolicited manner.Disiplinary action for established members will consist of the "three strikes rule" noted in several rules above. Any violation determined by any administrator or moderator of the site, to be an intentional and willful violation, may result in an immediate ban from the site of the offending member.

Specific Guidelines For Select Forum Sections:

1.) The "Report A Bad Company", "Report A Good Company", and the "Trucking Company DAC Reports" sections of the forums are not sections in which to post questions about companies as the initial topic. These sections are specifically designed to host posts by those who have experience with companies, and where to dispense that information. It is common and permissable to post questions throughout the thread, seeking specific information about the company in question. Questions about companies from an insider's point of view should be posted in the "Motor Carrier Questions - The Inside Scoop" section of the forum. Please, when offering the first post in a thread, put the name of the company in the "title" section of the post. This makes it easy for people to find information on companies that they are interested in.

2.) When posting in the "Trucking Jobs" section of the forum, user members who are drivers are allowed to post listings for jobs open for companies that they actively work for, and to offer details on the company. Trucking Company recruiters for companies with more than 20 trucks are not allowed to post job openings in this section. Trucking Companies that have fewer that 20 trucks are allowed to post job openings in this section. Drivers who are seeking a driving position, who desire to list their qualifications and the type of job they are seeking are welcome at any time to post in this section. Recruiters are invited to seek advertising space in the "Supporter's Aisle" section of the forum, where they can post an ad of their choice, and for a monthly or yearly fee. Those that pay the fees and offer posts will be assured that users will not be allowed to post comments to posts in that section of the forums, but will not be prevented from discussing the company in other sections of the forum.

3.) We have a political discussion forum, and over time, we have noticed that people can get very animated when discussing the subject. We ask that all users and participants of the "Politics" section remember that there are differing opinions where it concerns politics and issues that we hold near and dear. Please respect the opinions of others, and don't let tempers flare.

4.) When posting images in the photo galleries, do not post images that include any references of personal information. Documents have been offered from time to time is the course of debating issues or subjects, and there have been some offered that included proprietal information, and personal information of parties. This cannot be allowed. Please take care at all time to protect personal information of both yourself, and other parties at all times.

Hyperlinking Policies:

The following is now the current policy regarding the offering hyperlinks in posts that are offered into The Trucker's Report Discussion Forums:

This is the list of hyperlinks that are allowed into posts by members;

1.) Links to information about trucking specific products and services are allowed under the following conditions:

A.) If another member specifically requests assistance in locating online sources of information on a service or products.

B.) If the link to the above is topical to the area of discussion within the thread and post it is contained.

Note: Members who have recently joined the site will be scrutinized for IP Address duplication and the creation of multiple member names, to thwart any ambition to create a dialog as a backdoor attempt to advertise or plug a website. Upon the first instance that this is evident, the member(s) in question will be permanently and immediately banned.

2.) Links that direct members to sources of free information ARE allowed, again as long as they are topical to the discussion in the post and thread in which it is contained.

3.) Links to news articles are allowed. The polite and traditional way to do this is to copy and paste the few first lines of the article, and then post a link to the rest of the article below those lines of text. It allows the person to receive credit for their work.

4.) Links to Government websites are allowed.

5.) NOTE: UPDATE OF THIS RULE 9/30/06 - Links to any other part of this site will be allowed unrestricted at any time in posts, including signature sections of all members posts. As long as it links to a page or section of THIS SITE, it is acceptable. Links to any other site in signatures or in an unlosicited manner are still prohibited.

6.) NOTE: UPDATE 10/15/06 - Members of The Trucker's Report forum community will be allowed to link to pages contained within our sister sites, www.ChickenTrucker.com, under the following conditions;

B.) To direct people to specific pages that you have created on www.ChickenTrucker.com. Examples include your personal web page, blogs that you may have offered on the site, and any other personal user created section of the site.

This is the list of hyperlinks that are NOT ALLOWED into posts by members under any circumstances unless excepted below;

1.) Links to any off-topic site or to any site that may be considered SPAM. Any unsolicited link posted under any circumstance will be deleted and the member will be banned permantly and immediately upon discovery of the link.

2.) Links to offensive material, as viewed by any moderator of this site, such as those related to to pornography, racially insensitive sites, those that are not respectful to religious choice, etc., as may be deemed so by any Adminstrator or Moderator of this site, will be deleted upon discovery, and depending on the content of the site, may result in either a temporary or permanent ban from the discussion forums.

3.) Links to any site that is a solicitation to sell a product or service, UNLESS such information on a providing retailer or service provider is requested by another member, as outlined in the allowed links section above. Any unsolicited attempt to advertise on this site will result in an immediate and permanent ban from the discussion forums.

4.) No repetitive links, or a pattern of linking to one specific site will be allowed, without good reason. If a request is repeated and you can easily point them to the post where the applicable link was offered, please offer a link to that post in the forums.

5.) No hidden links contained within text will be tolerated under any circumstance, and any violation of this rule, will result in an immediate and permanent ban from the forums.

6.) No links will be allowed in any signature sections of a member's post, with the ONLY exceptions being for clickable links to pages found within the boundaries of The Trucker's Report and the www.ChickenTrucker.com websites, which are both affiliated with this site. Please only link to user pages that you have created. No linking to anyone else's pages will not be allowed without express permission, and clearance by either an Administrator or a Moderator of this site before the link is posted.

7.) No e-mail addresses will be allowed in any signature or within any text in a post will be allowed.

Note: All administrators, moderators, or representatives of The Trucker's Report are exempted from rules 4 and 6 of this section.

Please, out of courtesy and to easily identify links, underline them as you insert them into a post. There is no auto-underline feature that can be activated. To do this, simply highlight the link by running your mouse across it with your left mouse button held down, release it when it is completely highlighted, and then click on the "U" at the top left of the text box tool bar. There will be no penalty if someone forgets to do this or refuses to do this. This is merely a request.

All decisions by moderators are final in regard to the above amendment on this subject, and no discussion will be entertained in disagreement with their decisions. Please accept any decision with the understanding that we are only attempting to protect the integrity of this site, and the discussion forums.

************************************************** *****************************************
The Trucker's Report reserves the right to monitor The Trucker's Report Discussion Forums for adherence to the rules and regulations above and /or any other rules or guidelines that may be published in the future. Please visit this section for updates routinely. You acknowledge that by providing you with the ability to distribute your content, The Trucker's Report is acting as a passive conduit and is not undertaking any obligation or liability relating to any content or activities in a topic area. Anyone at any time has the right and invitation to rebut any posting that appears within the forums. Any information contained within the forums is considered at all times to be the opinion, stance, and/or the offering of fact of the individual poster at all times, and The Trucker's Report will not be held responsible for any post found in the forums offered by a member user. Any and all objections and/or complaints to content will be handled on an individual basis, in order to attempt to bring about a satisfactory conclusion to any objection or complaint offered.

Disclaimer:

By posting to The Trucker's Report Discussion Forum, you agree that The Trucker's Report can display, modify, transmit, distribute or delete your posting without permission from or contact to you. The Trucker's Report may edit postings for content violations, but is not responsible for the content of posted material of any kind. The Trucker's Report, and any or all appointed representatives, may remove postings at any time at their sole discretion.

IN NO EVENT WILL THE TRUCKER'S REPORT BE LIABLE TO YOU FOR ANY DAMAGES OF ANY KIND, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO COMPENSATORY DAMAGES, LOST PROFITS, LOST DATA OR ANY FORM OF SPECIAL, INCIDENTAL, INDIRECT, CONSEQUENTIAL OR PUNITIVE DAMAGES OF ANY KIND, WHETHER BASED ON BREACH OF CONTRACT OR WARRANTY, TORT (INCLUDING NEGLIGENCE), PRODUCT LIABILITY OR OTHERWISE, EVEN IF THE TRUCKER'S REPORT IS INFORMED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH DAMAGES.

Private Messaging
Our Private Message system stores the contents of your Private Message in our database in plain text format. The idea that the information is actually “private” is false as anyone with access to the database may read the private messages. Please keep this in mind when sending personal information through our private message system. In the event that our database is stolen we cannot be held responsible for any information you have entered through the use of private messages. Also keep in mind that spamming members via private messages is against the rules. This includes companies not paying for sponsorship on this forum and using the private message system to contact members. We do monitor for this kind of abuse and will take appropriate action to maintain that our actual site sponsors benefit from our member base.

The Trucker's Report reserves the right to amend the above policies at any time, as the need arises.

Privacy Policy

Last Update: 16 May 08