GUIDELINES FOR POSTING

There aren't a whole lot of rules for what you can and cannot post. All we really ask is that you're respectful of your fellow board members. We are more than happy to allow people to voice their opinion, as long as it's done in a civil and constructive manner. Please do not flame or call other users names.

Absolutely no profanity will be accepted in these forums. That includes words that you #### out. If you can't figure out a way to say it without cursing, don't say it at all.

While you're welcome to discuss any artists you want in the country music room, we ask that you don't bash other artists. Again, keep your comments civil and respectful and you'll be ok.


POSTING TO THE RIGHT ROOM

We have set up a variety of rooms in Martinaville so that things can be a bit more organized. Please post items to the correct rooms.

MAIN ROOM - Anything Martina related goes in the main room. Discussions of her concerts, music, videos, etc.

COUNTRY MUSIC ROOM - Anything related to country music can go in this room.

BACK ROOM - This is a wide open room for items that don't really fit into the other categories. It's a great place to talk about current events and learn more about your fellow Martinaville members. This board is by no means an "anything goes" board, all the rules for the board apply here as well.

POLLING PLACE - All polls must be posted in this room.

PHOTO ROOM - Posts that are just photos of Martina (or other artists) belong in this room.

GAME ROOM - All on-line games belong here.

SONGWRITER'S WORKSHOP - This room is for those who are interested in the craft of songwriting.


DON'T REPLY TO THREADS MORE THAN 45 DAYS OLD

Please do not post a reply to a thread that hasn't had a post to it in the past 45 days. Bringing up really old posts can often just cause confusion so if you really need to make a comment on the particular topic please start a new thread.


POSTING PHOTOS TO THE BOARD

If you are going to post photos to the board, please remember that the photos have to be on servers you own or control. Please do not link to someone else's website without their permission.

Photos posted should be 500 pixels or less wide, and less than 100k in overall size. If you don't know how to resize photos find a friend to help you out. There are plenty of free software programs that will allow you to shrink pictures down.

If you'd like to post larger pictures, such as wallpaper images and such that are larger than 500 pixels wide, please post a link to those pictures so those who don't want to load them don't have to wait. Feel free to post a thumbnail image with a link to a larger one.

There are a lot of free photo sites out there that allow you to post your photos for the world to see, as well as that you can use for avatars. I don't like to recommend just one of them, but if you ask those users that post a lot of pictures on the board I'm sure they can point you in the right direction.


SELLING TICKETS ON THE BOARD

We know that this is the perfect place to come if you have extra tickets for a Martina show you want to get rid of. We also know that scalping tickets is illegal in a great many states, and we also know that we don't provide this forum for people to make a buck on ticket sales... With that said, you are more than welcome to post tickets for sale on the board as long as you sell them for FACE VALUE. I know there are Ticketmaster fees, venue fees, fees for how many times the ticket agent took a breath when you ordered the tickets, but we ask that you stick to the value on the ticket itself when selling them. Your fellow fans should understand this as well, and if you buy tickets and the transaction goes as planned there's nothing wrong with a thank you gift certificate to Amazon or something, or if you end up sitting next to them at the show buy them a drink (soda for those of you under 21!).


POSTS CONCERNING COPYRIGHTED MATERIAL

I think this should be obvious, but I am starting to see more and more of it on the board. Asking people to send you, or offering to send someone, any copyrighted material is against the board rules as well as AGAINST THE LAW!! Any posts offering / requesting copyrighted audio / video materials will be removed, and multiple offenses will result in moderator approval or suspension from the board.

Please note that this includes posting links to audio / video clips on various web sites. Be aware that pretty much 100% of user posted content of concert clips (audio and video) will violate copyright laws.


BUMPS

For those of you that don't know, a "bump" is when someone posts something to a thread on the message boards that usually says nothing more than "*bump*" in order to bring the topic back to the top of the list in order for it to gain more attention. Bumps are NOT allowed on Martinaville. Topics will stay to the top if they're the most active topics, so if someone is seen bumping a topic back to the top their "bump" will be deleted or the topic closed entirely.


AVATARS

Custom avatars should be kept under 12k and no larger than 100 x 100 in size. The board will NOT resize them for you, make sure your avatar fits both of these guidelines before posting it here.

They should be on servers that you control (don't leach bandwidth) and that allow other sites to direct link to them.

Keep the content clean, any pictures not in good taste will be removed.

Avatars that are larger than 100 x 100 and/or 12k may be removed by a moderator. If your avatar was removed, please check your size before reposting it. Reposting an oversized avatar after it is removed will get your account placed on Moderator Approval or suspended.


SCREEN NAMES / ACCOUNTS

We ask that everyone only sign up for one screen name here at Martinaville. Those who are discovered signing up for multiple names will be suspended from the boards.


POSTS BEING REMOVED AND DELETED

If a moderator finds a post or thread that they find inappropriate the individual post or the entire thread may be removed from the board. If the moderator feels that you've done something wrong and you need to be contacted, they will contact you. Either way, if a post you made has been removed it's probably a good idea NOT to keep posting the same thing to the board.

Please DO NOT contact a moderator after a post of yours was removed to ask why. A lot of times it won't even be your post that got the thread removed, so all you're doing is wasting someone's time by trying to ask why it was removed. The moderators who help out here do a great job and they do it because they want to help support Martina, so please show them some respect.

Complaining or posting in any of the rooms about your posts being deleted is one of the quickest ways to be placed on moderator approval or suspended from the board. None of the moderators remove items for fun, and nobody is targeting any single user for no reason. If a post or thread was removed there was a good reason for it. Again, if a moderator feels it's something you need to know about THEY will contact YOU when they remove the post(s).


MODERATOR APPROVAL / SUSPENSION

If one of the moderators feel that you've broken any of the rules listed here or posted something that is unacceptable they may feel you need to be placed on Moderator Approval or suspended from the board. These are two very different things...

Moderator Approval means that your posts are submitted to the board, but before anyone can see them they have to be approved by one of the moderators. This can take anywhere from minutes to a day or two to be done.

Once the moderators feel that a user is understanding and following the board rules, they will remove you from moderator approval. This also can take various lengths of times depending on how much you post, the content of your posts, and the reason you were put on Mod Approval in the first place.

A suspension is more serious and means that all of your posting abilities have been taken away for the time being. Usually this is only reserved for repeat offenders who refuse to follow the few rules that we have, or for those who have posted majorly inappropriate content.

(Last Updated 9/2/06)