TheCatSite.com Forums Rules & Guidelines
Registration to this forum is free! We do insist that you abide by the rules and policies detailed below.
TheCatSite.com Forums is dedicated to cat care & welfare. We are a worldwide forum and therefore a mix of different cultures, races and religions; there is always room for different opinions, however, intolerance, bigotry, and religious ridicule will not be tolerated. Additionally, there is no room for flames, slams, and personal vendettas that carry on to the public view. Posting of graphic and or objectionable photos is strictly forbidden. Anyone caught doing this will be automatically banned.
We have drafted some basic principles we'd like you to be aware of before you post: Remember, we are a family oriented website.
1. No online advice can replace direct veterinary intervention. If you suspect that your cat may be ill, please contact your vet immediately. You are welcome to look for advice in the health forum while waiting for that appointment, but never delay proper veterinary care waiting for Internet advice. Remember that cats, and especially kittens, are very adept in keeping pain to themselves and delaying treatment may cause irreversible damage.
2. Please make sure to spay and neuter your cats. Unless you are a professional breeder and your cat is part of a professional breeding program, please educate yourself to the importance of spaying and neutering by the time your cat is 4-6 months old. If you take care of a feral colony, please make sure to do so responsibly by practicing TNR (Trap, Neuter, Release) protocols within the colony. By spaying and neutering, you enhance a cat's quality of life and improve their longterm health. You are also proving your love for cats because in acting as a responsible pet owner/caregiver you are minimizing the problem of cat overpopulation.
3. This website considers declawing a drastic way to curb cat behavior. A painful ordeal for your kitty we would suggest that declawing never be considered for any behavioral issue. Health issues are entirely different. It is up to you as a responsible pet owner to explore all the different options available instead of declawing. Your cat is dependant on you to make wise choices for her, and not put her into any more stress or discomfort. Please be a responsible pet owner and research this subject thoroughly. Understand that if you are pro-declaw in your posts, you will encounter opposition. Please learn more about alternatives for declawing here in our forums as well as on our website itself. Declaw - More than Just a Manicure. Hopefully those of you with claw-related problems will find solutions by spending time in our Behavior Forum.
4. Because we are a worldwide community and a family site, we ask that you keep your language under control. Although we do not have a list of “offensive words,” please keep in mind that obscene language will be deleted out of your post as soon as it is noticed. If you continue to post using such language, you will be notified and warned. This website is used often for teaching purposes in classrooms across the country, so please remember this when you post in an emotional vein.
5. Solicitations – TheCatSite.com does not encourage or promote solicitation of money from our members. We will help in every way possible with our knowledge and support, but as many of us have multi-cat households and work with local rescue groups, monetary support is not always possible to causes or people we do not personally know. Members are allowed one posting in the SOS forum for each organization. Repeated postings for the same cause or organization will be deleted.
The needs of rescue workers are great and we recognize this fact. To care for multiple cats, find suitable homes, good vet care, food, etc. is costly. From time to time you will see some posts come up to ask for donations for a cause. It is YOUR responsibility to check out these solicitors to the best of your ability. More often, you will see pleas from individuals asking for money to be sent directly to them to assist with veterinary bills. Some come up with slick websites, others just have heartwrenching stories. In each of these cases, the poster is allowed ONE thread, to be placed in Cats SOS.
In either case, if you feel compelled to donate money ask for references, phone numbers, call around the area and find out if this is a legitimate cause or a scam. For personal pleas, get the veterinarian’s contact information and send money directly to the veterinarian to help with bills for that particular cat. If that information is not available, you have the answer if the plea is legitimate or a scam.
Be very careful before you send any money: no matter how effective the plea is, check it out first before opening your wallet.
6. If you see a potential problem with a posting, please alert a moderator. Each forum has a moderator; some forums have more than one. State as clearly as you can the reason the post should be removed or edited and allow the moderator to work from there. At times some posts will vanish from the board, as they will need to be cleaned up and put back. Sometimes they just don’t return.
7. Please note that this site is privately owned and operated. Moderators are not paid for their services and try to make TCS a pleasant experience for everyone. With that in mind, we ask that you refrain from posting complaints and negative feedback on the public forums as we have found this to be the least constructive form of criticism. Public discussion of any Mod actions, such as thread editing, thread removal and revocation of memberships is strictly prohibited. These decisions are made privately, communicated privately to the member in question, and will not be discussed with other members. If you are not pleased with the way this site is run or have an issue with one of the team, you are welcome to contact [email protected] or [email protected]. Posting about it in the forums and threatening to leave the site will not be tolerated. Any post in violation of this rule will be edited or removed without prior notice and membership privilages may be revoked.
Members unable or unwilling to follow the guidelines may have their membership privileges revoked without warning under the sole discretion of TCS Staff. These decisions are made privately, communicated privately to the member in question, and will not be discussed with other members. Public discussion of any Mod actions, such as thread editing, thread removal and revocation of memberships is strictly prohibited. Any questions on this subject must be directed to [email protected] or [email protected].
8. Regarding promotions of your websites or businesses in general. No commercial solicitation of products is allowed in main threads, with the exception of the forum Members' Market Place. This includes solicitations of personal works. Please check this article for more details and contact an admin if in doubt.
You may include your website in your profile, at the appropriate field. If your business or website is acceptable (family-friendly), you may also use your signature to add a link and description of up to 2 lines of text for the benefit of our members. However, signature size regulations indicated in point 9 still apply when including links and text. Any posts that contain promotions in the body of the thread will be removed promptly. Anyone wanting a larger field for advertising, please contact [email protected] for advertising packages available. There will be a fee for this service depending on location and size of ad required. Nothing under a three month campaign will be considered.
8. a) Posting of contests not sanctioned by TheCatsite.com is prohibited. TheCatsite runs its own contests periodically. If you are interested in being the sponsor for one of these contests, please contact [email protected].
Further more, links to other cat related boards and online communities are not allowed - this includes links to cat related contests on other cat related sites.
9. Signatures, Photos and Images: Every member enjoys personalizing their posts with a unique signature. In order to speed forum loading time and avoid excessive scrolling for all members, we have instituted these guidelines for signatures.
9. a) It is illegal to embed copyrighted photos, images or text in a thread or post. Any photos or images of this nature will be deleted from posts without warning and disciplinary action may be taken. The absence of a copyright notice on an image or the ignorance of who owns the copyrights does not mean it isn't protected by law. In general, if you didn't make the image or take the photo, don't post it.
10. The owners and administrators of TheCatSite.com Forums have the right to remove, edit, move or close any thread for any reason. The owners and administrators also reserve the right to remove membership privileges at any time at their discretion. Any and all duplicate posts will be removed, except for the one posted or moved to the appropriate forum.
Warnings and Infractions:
Warning: If you receive a pm that is a warning, it will serve merely as a rule reminder and will not affect your membership privileges. This would be for something minor, such as a signature violation.
Infraction: This is a new term for TCS and was formerly known as a "Warning." Receiving an infraction by pm means that a serious rule violation has taken place. Action may or may not be taken regarding your membership privileges. This is at the sole discretion of the TCS team since not all cases are the same. As always, decisions and actions will be kept private and can only be discussed with mods and admins through pm's.
The purpose of these forums is to educate, but as you can see, we do have fun here also. We do not limit the conversations only to cats, although for most of us cats are our lives. We want you to enjoy your time with us, and tell your friends about us.
10. a) We will not allow spamming. Threads about nothing or for the sole purpose of bumping up post counts are not allowed and will be removed without notice. This includes duplicate posts.
10. b) Flaming and trolling is not allowed.
10. c) Posts or jokes that are deemed contrary to our stated mission of animal welfare or otherwise troublesome posts to occur. Any post deemed to pose a possible legal issue to the website, owner, administrators, moderators, or members will be edited or removed. We are proud of what we have achieved and we welcome you as a member. Don't be shy about posting; there is a lot to learn here!
10. d) In order to maintain general privacy, we will not allow identifying information in profiles, signatures, or posts, including, but not limited to: email addresses, telephone contact, physical addresses.
11. Members are only allowed to register one account for themselves.
We wish to keep discussions among members coherent hence we do not make changes to usernames unless a substantial security/privacy issue arises.
12. By contributing to these message boards you are automatically giving TCS the right to publish and distribute the threads which contain your postings for educational purposes. Legally speaking, by participating in the Forums, you are granting to TCS a non-exclusive, royalty-free, perpetual irrevocable, worldwide license and right to use, reproduce, modify, adapt, translate, distribute, display Message Board threads in whole or in part, including your postings and/or to incorporate them in other works now known or later developed. Such future use may include, but is not limited to Bulletin articles, books, CDs, websites etc, which TCS may create in the future. You cannot withdraw or retract the posting or seek payments from us in relation to this license at any time in the future.
Although the administrators and moderators of TheCatSite.com Forums will attempt to keep all objectionable messages off this forum, it is impossible for us to review all messages. All messages express the views of the author, and neither the owners of TheCatSite.com Forums or Jelsoft Enterprises Limited (developers of vBulletin) will be held responsible for the content of any message.
If you have any questions or comments please don't hesitate to email one of our admins [email protected] or [email protected]
Happy posting everyone and welcome on board!
Registration to this forum is free! We do insist that you abide by the rules and policies detailed below.
TheCatSite.com Forums is dedicated to cat care & welfare. We are a worldwide forum and therefore a mix of different cultures, races and religions; there is always room for different opinions, however, intolerance, bigotry, and religious ridicule will not be tolerated. Additionally, there is no room for flames, slams, and personal vendettas that carry on to the public view. Posting of graphic and or objectionable photos is strictly forbidden. Anyone caught doing this will be automatically banned.
We have drafted some basic principles we'd like you to be aware of before you post: Remember, we are a family oriented website.
1. No online advice can replace direct veterinary intervention. If you suspect that your cat may be ill, please contact your vet immediately. You are welcome to look for advice in the health forum while waiting for that appointment, but never delay proper veterinary care waiting for Internet advice. Remember that cats, and especially kittens, are very adept in keeping pain to themselves and delaying treatment may cause irreversible damage.
2. Please make sure to spay and neuter your cats. Unless you are a professional breeder and your cat is part of a professional breeding program, please educate yourself to the importance of spaying and neutering by the time your cat is 4-6 months old. If you take care of a feral colony, please make sure to do so responsibly by practicing TNR (Trap, Neuter, Release) protocols within the colony. By spaying and neutering, you enhance a cat's quality of life and improve their longterm health. You are also proving your love for cats because in acting as a responsible pet owner/caregiver you are minimizing the problem of cat overpopulation.
3. This website considers declawing a drastic way to curb cat behavior. A painful ordeal for your kitty we would suggest that declawing never be considered for any behavioral issue. Health issues are entirely different. It is up to you as a responsible pet owner to explore all the different options available instead of declawing. Your cat is dependant on you to make wise choices for her, and not put her into any more stress or discomfort. Please be a responsible pet owner and research this subject thoroughly. Understand that if you are pro-declaw in your posts, you will encounter opposition. Please learn more about alternatives for declawing here in our forums as well as on our website itself. Declaw - More than Just a Manicure. Hopefully those of you with claw-related problems will find solutions by spending time in our Behavior Forum.
4. Because we are a worldwide community and a family site, we ask that you keep your language under control. Although we do not have a list of “offensive words,” please keep in mind that obscene language will be deleted out of your post as soon as it is noticed. If you continue to post using such language, you will be notified and warned. This website is used often for teaching purposes in classrooms across the country, so please remember this when you post in an emotional vein.
5. Solicitations – TheCatSite.com does not encourage or promote solicitation of money from our members. We will help in every way possible with our knowledge and support, but as many of us have multi-cat households and work with local rescue groups, monetary support is not always possible to causes or people we do not personally know. Members are allowed one posting in the SOS forum for each organization. Repeated postings for the same cause or organization will be deleted.
The needs of rescue workers are great and we recognize this fact. To care for multiple cats, find suitable homes, good vet care, food, etc. is costly. From time to time you will see some posts come up to ask for donations for a cause. It is YOUR responsibility to check out these solicitors to the best of your ability. More often, you will see pleas from individuals asking for money to be sent directly to them to assist with veterinary bills. Some come up with slick websites, others just have heartwrenching stories. In each of these cases, the poster is allowed ONE thread, to be placed in Cats SOS.
In either case, if you feel compelled to donate money ask for references, phone numbers, call around the area and find out if this is a legitimate cause or a scam. For personal pleas, get the veterinarian’s contact information and send money directly to the veterinarian to help with bills for that particular cat. If that information is not available, you have the answer if the plea is legitimate or a scam.
Be very careful before you send any money: no matter how effective the plea is, check it out first before opening your wallet.
6. If you see a potential problem with a posting, please alert a moderator. Each forum has a moderator; some forums have more than one. State as clearly as you can the reason the post should be removed or edited and allow the moderator to work from there. At times some posts will vanish from the board, as they will need to be cleaned up and put back. Sometimes they just don’t return.
7. Please note that this site is privately owned and operated. Moderators are not paid for their services and try to make TCS a pleasant experience for everyone. With that in mind, we ask that you refrain from posting complaints and negative feedback on the public forums as we have found this to be the least constructive form of criticism. Public discussion of any Mod actions, such as thread editing, thread removal and revocation of memberships is strictly prohibited. These decisions are made privately, communicated privately to the member in question, and will not be discussed with other members. If you are not pleased with the way this site is run or have an issue with one of the team, you are welcome to contact [email protected] or [email protected]. Posting about it in the forums and threatening to leave the site will not be tolerated. Any post in violation of this rule will be edited or removed without prior notice and membership privilages may be revoked.
Members unable or unwilling to follow the guidelines may have their membership privileges revoked without warning under the sole discretion of TCS Staff. These decisions are made privately, communicated privately to the member in question, and will not be discussed with other members. Public discussion of any Mod actions, such as thread editing, thread removal and revocation of memberships is strictly prohibited. Any questions on this subject must be directed to [email protected] or [email protected].
8. Regarding promotions of your websites or businesses in general. No commercial solicitation of products is allowed in main threads, with the exception of the forum Members' Market Place. This includes solicitations of personal works. Please check this article for more details and contact an admin if in doubt.
You may include your website in your profile, at the appropriate field. If your business or website is acceptable (family-friendly), you may also use your signature to add a link and description of up to 2 lines of text for the benefit of our members. However, signature size regulations indicated in point 9 still apply when including links and text. Any posts that contain promotions in the body of the thread will be removed promptly. Anyone wanting a larger field for advertising, please contact [email protected] for advertising packages available. There will be a fee for this service depending on location and size of ad required. Nothing under a three month campaign will be considered.
8. a) Posting of contests not sanctioned by TheCatsite.com is prohibited. TheCatsite runs its own contests periodically. If you are interested in being the sponsor for one of these contests, please contact [email protected].
Further more, links to other cat related boards and online communities are not allowed - this includes links to cat related contests on other cat related sites.
9. Signatures, Photos and Images: Every member enjoys personalizing their posts with a unique signature. In order to speed forum loading time and avoid excessive scrolling for all members, we have instituted these guidelines for signatures.
- Total signature size can't be larger than 30 Kb (30,000 bytes). This also includes any smilies added to a signature.
- The max total height of a signature with NO TEXT is 150 pixels high.
- The max total height of a signature with one line of standard sized text (size 2) is 134 pixels high.
- The max total width of a signature is 640 pixels wide.
- If you decide not to use an image, you may have up to 4 lines of standard size text, single-spaced.
- In general, if you have an image banner, no other text, ticker, smilie, etc. will be allowed. Exceptions may occur if your image is small enough for the signature not to exceed 150 pixels in height with the text included.
- You may include a discreet link to another site in your signature. You may not advertise your site in the main body of your post.
- Member signatures are subject to review and deletion by the moderating team without advance warning.
- All signatures are subject to the same rules and regulations as any post, and are subject to the same disciplinary actions and editing by moderators if it is deemed necessary, up to and including banning.
9. a) It is illegal to embed copyrighted photos, images or text in a thread or post. Any photos or images of this nature will be deleted from posts without warning and disciplinary action may be taken. The absence of a copyright notice on an image or the ignorance of who owns the copyrights does not mean it isn't protected by law. In general, if you didn't make the image or take the photo, don't post it.
10. The owners and administrators of TheCatSite.com Forums have the right to remove, edit, move or close any thread for any reason. The owners and administrators also reserve the right to remove membership privileges at any time at their discretion. Any and all duplicate posts will be removed, except for the one posted or moved to the appropriate forum.
Warnings and Infractions:
Warning: If you receive a pm that is a warning, it will serve merely as a rule reminder and will not affect your membership privileges. This would be for something minor, such as a signature violation.
Infraction: This is a new term for TCS and was formerly known as a "Warning." Receiving an infraction by pm means that a serious rule violation has taken place. Action may or may not be taken regarding your membership privileges. This is at the sole discretion of the TCS team since not all cases are the same. As always, decisions and actions will be kept private and can only be discussed with mods and admins through pm's.
The purpose of these forums is to educate, but as you can see, we do have fun here also. We do not limit the conversations only to cats, although for most of us cats are our lives. We want you to enjoy your time with us, and tell your friends about us.
10. a) We will not allow spamming. Threads about nothing or for the sole purpose of bumping up post counts are not allowed and will be removed without notice. This includes duplicate posts.
10. b) Flaming and trolling is not allowed.
10. c) Posts or jokes that are deemed contrary to our stated mission of animal welfare or otherwise troublesome posts to occur. Any post deemed to pose a possible legal issue to the website, owner, administrators, moderators, or members will be edited or removed. We are proud of what we have achieved and we welcome you as a member. Don't be shy about posting; there is a lot to learn here!
10. d) In order to maintain general privacy, we will not allow identifying information in profiles, signatures, or posts, including, but not limited to: email addresses, telephone contact, physical addresses.
11. Members are only allowed to register one account for themselves.
We wish to keep discussions among members coherent hence we do not make changes to usernames unless a substantial security/privacy issue arises.
12. By contributing to these message boards you are automatically giving TCS the right to publish and distribute the threads which contain your postings for educational purposes. Legally speaking, by participating in the Forums, you are granting to TCS a non-exclusive, royalty-free, perpetual irrevocable, worldwide license and right to use, reproduce, modify, adapt, translate, distribute, display Message Board threads in whole or in part, including your postings and/or to incorporate them in other works now known or later developed. Such future use may include, but is not limited to Bulletin articles, books, CDs, websites etc, which TCS may create in the future. You cannot withdraw or retract the posting or seek payments from us in relation to this license at any time in the future.
Although the administrators and moderators of TheCatSite.com Forums will attempt to keep all objectionable messages off this forum, it is impossible for us to review all messages. All messages express the views of the author, and neither the owners of TheCatSite.com Forums or Jelsoft Enterprises Limited (developers of vBulletin) will be held responsible for the content of any message.
If you have any questions or comments please don't hesitate to email one of our admins [email protected] or [email protected]
Happy posting everyone and welcome on board!
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