FOLLOWING ARE THE INSTRUCTIONS AND RULES FOR USING THIS FORUM, THE BUY/SELL PAGE, AND THE PHOTO PAGE. PLEASE TAKE A MOMENT TO READ THESE RULES. THANK YOU.

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1. THE FORUM...

REGISTRATION - When registering, you must use your actual first and last name and a valid email address. *(Internet "handles" and nicknames are NOT allowed and will result in your registration being denied.) *Anyone caught posting under an alias will be permanently banned and their name and address will be published on their posts.


Remember to put a space between your first and last names so the computer will recognize it as being two words rather than seeing it as one.

Shortly after you have submitted your registration, a moderator will check your information and validate your registration. Generally, this will take from a few minutes to about one hour, but can vary depending on the time of day. When your registration has been validated, you will receive an email stating that you are now registered on this forum. *If you have a spam or junk mail filter, or have an AOL address, this validation message may be intercepted.

Please remember your user name and password (your user name should be easy - it's your actual first and last name). I recommend using your first and last name exactly as they appear on your drivers license. This way, should you ever forget how you registered, all you need do is consult your license. Don't laugh - many people will use Al instead of Albert, or Ed instead of Edward, or use all caps or no caps. Then they forget how they register and I end up having to spend time straightening out their registration or log in problems. Save us both the time and trouble and use your first and last name as they appear on your driver's license.

Once you have registered, you can access the viewing options in "My Control Center" to change the board view from flat to threaded (tree view) and to add "new" flags to any unread messages. Please also take a moment to validate your email address if you wish others to be able to send you private messages via direct email.

Please leave religioius, political, etc., references out of any signature you wish to use. I'm not going to referee fights between people with different belief systems. This board is about rod building, not anything else.


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POSTING MESSAGES - Please do not use this forum as a personal chat room - it is intended for the exchange of rod building information. If you wish to banter with friends, please use direct emails for that purpose.

Please stick to topics associated with rod building. Political, religious and/or historical, etc., discussions/statements are not appropriate topics for this forum.

Bad language will not be tolerated. Using symbols such as %$&*# to allude to bad language will result in the same thing - a deleted message.

Thank you.


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ADVERTISING - Any company or invididual that wishes to benefit from sales of products, services, memberships, events, etc., from the audience on this site, must be willing to share in the owner's cost of operating and maintaining this site and its many related features.

Only those who are sponsors of Rodbuilding.org may post messages relating to their products and services. Mention of prices, however, is not allowed. Sponsors of Rodbuilding.org are allowed and even encouraged to attach their company affiliation to their signatures.

Non-sponsors who are owners, employees or agents of firms involved in the manufacture and/or sale of products and/or services are NOT allowed to use this board to advertise or promote their products, services or events nor are they allowed to attach their company affiliation to their signatures. Such will be considered advertising and is not allowed.

Please do not post unsolicited advertisements for companies, products or services who are not sponsors.

Please do not mention nor list e Bay sales or @#$%& on the forum or the buy/sell/trade page.

Please do not post links to other forums, websites or blogs which contain advertising, nor post forum messages asking users to email you for that information. Do not advertise your personal blog, website, Youtube channel, etc., if any of those contain advertising or promotional material for commercial products or services.

You may post the name of non-sponsoring firms in direct answer to requests for particular products and services. However, we ask that you use private email for this whenever possible. Remember, the sponsors are the ones who pay for the right to advertise on this forum. They deserve first shot at any possible business created by this forum.

You may send a private email to anyone you wish. However, if their email address is hidden, please do not use the forum to post "Email me for more information." While most such posts are innocent in nature, some non-sponsors use this tactic in order to backdoor our sponsorship requirements.

Unless you are a sponsor, please do not list your personal website unless you do not sell anything other than custom rods. If you sell blanks and/or components, bait & tackle, guide services, etc., etc., or your site contains advertising or links to other commercial ventures, please do not list your website in your post nor as part of your signature.

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EVENTS - Rod building event notices may be posted on this site provided they meet the following criteria:

Allowed
1. Any event that is free and open to the public and that is affiliated with or hosted by persons or companies that are NOT involved in the manufacture, sale or distribution of rod building related products or services.

2. Any event that is affiliated with or hosted by a sponsor of this site.

3. Any event that is hosted by any club or group that does not access membership or other type fees.


Not Allowed
1. Any event where an admission fee is charged if the host is not a sponsor of this site.

2. Any event affilliated with or hosted by any company that is not a sponsor of this site.

3. Any event where the hosting body charges a membership or other type fee. This applies even if the event itself is free and open to the public.


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CHARITIES AND REQUESTS FOR DONATIONS - Due to the inordinate number of solicitations and requests for charity donations that have been posted on this forum (some for legitimate causes, others not) many sponsors have informed me that they feel unfairly put upon to comply with each one lest they be branded as uncooperative or worse. Therefore unauthorized solicitations for money, blanks and/or components or other support are no longer allowed on this forum.

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IDENTITY THEFT: This site only asks for your actual first and last name. We do not record nor ask for your address, phone number, or anything else. Just your actual first and last name. You are in no jeopardy of having your identity stolen from giving out your name. In fact, you local phone book, your mail, your checks, etc., have much more information about you than this site does. The idea that giving out your actual first and last name on this site puts you in any danger of identity theft is simply not credible.

Anyone caught using names that are not their own either to register or post with will will have further access to this forum denied.

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REDIRECTING TO OTHER SITES: Please do not use this site to direct viewers to other sites. If you need to pass along information you have posted elsewhere, please copy and paste it here.

DO NOT use post links to e Bay @#$%& on this forum.

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POSTING PHOTOS: Please post all photos on the photo page of this forum, not on the message forum itself. Thanks.

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2. INSTRUCTIONS FOR BUY/SELL/TRADE PAGE...

The BUY/SELL/TRADE page is provided by Rodbuilding.Org on behalf of the rod building community. Rodbuilding.Org does not, however, endorse or vouch for anyone listing items here. Nor does Rodbuilding.org accept responsibility or liability for any transactions between buyers and sellers here. "Let the buyer beware" is always good advice when dealing with individuals that you do not personally know.

WHO MAY LIST - Any rod builder who is not engaged in the regular trade of selling or reselling rod building related products to the public.

WHO MAY NOT LIST - Any rod builder, company or individual who is engaged, in any manner, any volume or any frequency, in the selling or reselling of rod building related products to the public.

Sponsors are asked to continue using the regular Rodbuilding.Org message board to announce products, sales or special offers.

Rod Builders wishing to list items for sale, swap or otherwise may do so at no charge. You must include your actual first and last name along with a valid email address. You are limited to one listing per month but may list more then one item within the listing (*See note below on quantities). Listings will be removed after they have reached the age of 30 days.

Please do not use the buy/sell page for @#$%& type sales. If you do not offer a set buying price, please do not list your item/s.


*THE BUY/SELL/TRADE PAGE IS NOT INTENDED FOR THE USE OF SELLING LARGE QUANTITIES OF ROD BUILDING ITEMS OR BY COMPANIES OR INDIVIDUALS WHO ARE OR WHO HAVE BEEN INVOLVED IN THE COMMERCIAL SALE OF ROD BUILDING ITEMS. IF YOU ARE NOT SURE IF YOU FALL INTO THIS CATEGORY OR NOT, EMAIL AND ASK BEFORE LISTING - rodmaker@earthlink.net


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3. INSTRUCTIONS FOR PHOTO PAGE...

The new Rodbuilding.org photo page is now operational. Because it operates on different software than the forum, if you wish to post or view photos you will need to register for the photo page separately.

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REGISTERING

You are required to use your actual first and last name and a valid email address just as you are for this forum. For the purpose of simplicity, I strongly advise that you use exactly the same name and email address that you did when registering for this forum. This should reduce confusion and keep you from having to remember two different registrations. And again, internet handles and nicknames are NOT allowed and registrations made with such will be promptly deleted.

I also advise that you use your name as it appears on your driver's license. This eliminates confusion should you ever forget your name (don't laugh, many do and being able to take your driver's license and retrieve the information yourself saves me from having to use my time looking up your records).

Immediately after you register, a validation email will be sent to the email address you have provided. You must click on the enclosed link in order to activate your account. If you do not receive this validation email, it is because your junk or spam mail filter has intercepted it (AOL destroys them, so if you are an AOL user you may not be able to register with an AOL email address).

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PROBLEMS WITH LOG IN

If you register, respond to the validation email and are still not able to log in, it is because your computer browser's cache is calling up an older already cached page. In this case, clear your cache and refresh the page and all will be well.

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POSTING PHOTOS

There are several categories listed for your convenience. Anything you would like to post that does not perfectly fit into one of the listed categories may be uploaded to the "miscellaneous" folder. Do not attempt to upload photos into the "Gallery" category - instead select one of the sub-categories. This will place your photo into the selected category as well as into a "Personal Member Gallery" at the same time.

Photos should be in jpeg file form and not larger than about 1000 pixels square. Larger photos may not successfully upload and will not display at any greater clarity or quality than the perferred and optimum size of about 800 to 1000 pixels square.

Make sure to select a category for your photo to be placed into or you will get an error message and the photo will not upload.

Please limit your photo uploads to those directly associated with custom rod building. Occasional photos of fish caught on your custom rods are acceptable and should be placed in the "miscellaneous" category.


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ADVERTISING

Do NOT use the photo site to advertise your products or services. Sponsors may occasionally post a photo of a new product, but are asked to exercise restraint so that the photo site does not become an advertising medium. If you are not a sponsor - don't even think about posting photos of commercially available products which you offer. If you would like to advertise your product, please contact me about becoming a sponsor. Thanks.

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SPONSORS

Excluding Manufacturer's Suggested Retail Pricing, please do not list prices in your advertisements or sales notices. Please do not hijack threads or topics which started with a question about another specific company's product/s.


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Edited 12 time(s). Last edit at 07/14/2012 10:00PM by Tom Kirkman.