SA Reptiles forum guidelines

[Bushbaby]

Welcome to www.sareptiles.co.za


Yes, yet another reptile site in South Africa. Why? Because we feel that there is not enough emphasis placed on our local reptiles. This site's objective is to fill that gap. Our main goal is to encourage discussions on all aspects of Southern African and African reptiles, and to bring people from all over the world with associated interests together in a commonplace to share their experiences and findings and hopefully become the one stop shop for all information on local reptiles. There is little known about local reptiles of Southern Africa as well as the rest of Africa. The long road of discovery has only recently been embarked on and most of the journey is yet to be traveled.

Reptile keeping has become a rapidly growing hobby in South Africa and folks form all walks of life collectively keep a wider range of species from all over the world. We have identified a need to share information about exotic species and also cover discussions involving exotic reptiles and strive to share accurate information for all who is interested.

By registering on this forum you become a member of a community consisting of people from all over the world with different views and beliefs with a common interest, reptiles. You can pride yourself with the fact that you now have the means to enquire from some of the biggest and most experienced names in the field. Everyone in the community must be respected for their eagerness to learn as well as their eagerness to share and in this light we should conduct ourselves with respect, humbleness and definition.

We would just like to lay out a few posting guidelines here for you to read and understand before you commence your valued membership with us.

1) Please make sure you are fully up to date with the rules of the forum.

2) Please search before you post. Make sure that the topic you are intending to write/inquire about has not been discussed before. If you have not found the information you are searching before, do not repost an existing topic, submit your post in an existing topic. If you feel that reposting an existing topic is necessary, then motivate your reasoning. It is easy to see when a person posts an inquiry without searching first. Re-posting existing topics will be locked immediately. The idea is that there is no repetitive material on the board and a piece of information can be found in one place.

3) If you want more favourable replies to your posts then it would be advantageous for you to exercise the use of correct spelling and grammar in your posts. Many members here do not speak English and use translation programs to read posts. If they cannot translate what you posted then you are basically denying them access to your posts as well as you are denying yourself the potential for useful information from them. Lazy posting reflects a person’s respect towards the community. Negligence in this regard will be moderated. We do however consider non-english speaking members who attempt to post in English.

4) Don’t repost questions or bump topics, members will reply in good time.

5) When starting new threads, post your topics in the appropriate sections. Moderators will move topics in inappropriate sections without notifying the author. If your post is no longer where you left it, don’t repost it, look for where it has been moved. Give your topic an appropriate heading that distinguishes itself from other topics and that helps people understand what is being discussed in your topic.

6) Make sure your post has substance to it. Replies with non-contributional one phrase comments and smilies may be deleted without notification if we feel they clutter a good topic. Members in this community are not revered for their post count, but for their contribution.

7) Do not hijack topics. Keep your replies to the topic you are replying in.

8) Do not abuse the text parameters when posting. Keep the text size, colour, boldness and font standard and only use these parameters sparingly where appropriate.

9) Enjoy yourself!

Forum maintenance and control.

Moderation on these forums will be tight and intolerant of distasteful, negligent, lazy, inappropriate material. We will not keep members around to the point where the quality on the board is compromised. Our preference is quality material, not quantity. In society there will always be troublemakers and it is our responsibility to protect this community from trolling and troublemakers. If there is anything that concerns you, please do not hesitate to contact a moderator or admin. The moderators and admin are also here to assist and advise you in your reptile interests.

We have a ‘General discussion’s and a ‘Fun and games' forum, where members can discuss anything under the sun, or over it. Here moderation will be loosened up and people can speak freely. We will apply general social etiquette here though, so it is not a 'free for all'.

We as moderators respect and serve all members who share our passion for reptiles regardless of their post count or what they know. The way we see it is that a member who shares the same passion could one day become a major contributor to reptiles, here and abroad.

We sincerely hope you will find your membership here with us a truly rewarding and fulfilling experience.

We welcome constructive suggestions, views and opinions.

Regards,
The sareptiles.co.za team.