Posting guidelines:

Also see: http://www.gamefishin.com/wa/sitepolicy.htm

  1. Do not post links to other fishing message boards.  Doing so is extremely rude and discourteous.  All links posted to competitive fishing boards will be deleted.

  2. Please do not post false or misleading information here.   Doing so will only discredit yourself and this forum.  We have provided a Zipperlip forum for anyone who may be concerned about their super secret spot, location, etc..  Making posts of a zipperlip nature is discouraged on the main fishing forum.  Please make posts of such nature in the zipper lip forum.  Discouraging other members from posting about their fishing adventures, whether in PM's or on the forum is also highly discouraged and could result in the termination of your account.  Given the efforts that we have made to provide you with one forum or another to meet your needs, there should be no reason to post misleading or false information. Any posts known to contain false or misleading information will be deleted and can also result in the suspension of your account.

    Glory Shots and Zipper Lip Forum:
    http://www.gamefishin.com/community/viewforum.php?f=9

  3. We reserve the right to terminate any account at any time for any reason and without notice.   Once an account has been terminated, the owner of that account is considered banned from the site and will not be allowed to create another account or continue to use the site without prior permission from the owner of this site.


  4. If you have been banned from using this forum and continue attempts to login or use the forum under different usernames,   l egal actions may be pursued against you.  This is a privately owned website; membership here is a privilege, not a right.

  5. The Moderator staff has the final word on all interpretation and implementation of forum rules and guidelines. Questions about specific actions may be sent by Private Message, but no public forum posts arguing these decisions should be made.

  6. Keep it legal. No posts in aid of pirating intellectual property, pyramid scams, phone freaking or other illegal activities will be tolerated. Since this site has an international following and since what is considered illegal can vary from country to country, the moderators will decide if a post is acceptable or not.

  7. No pornography or adult content (defined, but not limited to, nudity, sexually explicit material, or innuendo)

  8. Keep it civil. Do not insult or disparage any member. If you have a problem with another member or moderator, send a private message to him/her.

  9. No Spam. This is such a basic rule of netiquette I shouldn't have to say it, but here it is. No advertising, no promoting of websites or products, EXCEPT as a reply to a particular post where the website or product is relevant. No recruitment, either amateur or professional. Also, if linking or referring to another site that has specific information, please link directly to the relevant page/thread and do not just send someone to the main page.

  10. Contributing members are allowed some limited advertising in their signatures and posts.  Contributing members are indentified by their Avatar title i.e. " 2004 Contributing Member! ".  To become a contributing member please see the site donations page at:
    http://www.gamefishin.com/wa/donations.htm

  11. Posts should be posted in the proper forum. While the General forum gets the most traffic, the specific forums are read by users best able to help you. If you feel that a post really belongs in the general forum, you can post it there, but if we disagree, we will move it.

  12. Keep it clear. It's very easy to misinterpret what people are saying via e-mail/post because you can't see the body language or hear the inflections. Therefore, we should all ensure that our posts are as clear as possible.

  13. Keep it on topic.

  14. No duplicate threads. Make your post once, in one thread, in one board only. You will get a reply if you have observed guideline 10 and if someone knows the answer, but it may not happen straight away. Duplicating often dilutes the volume and quality of any responses you receive, and potential respondents may not reply to a duplicate knowing that a moderator will delete all but one of them. If you wish to clarify your question, do so in a reply to the original thread. This action will 'bump' your thread to the top of the thread stack. Empty 'bumps' are discouraged.

  15. Avatars and signatures are a privilege here and not a right. Use these guidelines in deciding if you should use a particular avatar/signature or not. Appropriate avatars/signatures should avoid pornographic, graphically violent, or disturbing subjects; insults to an ethnic, religious, or national group of people; an attempt to impersonate someone else or one of the official forum recognitions; and anything that overly distracts attention from posts (including flashy animation or long/large/colorful signatures). No block level vB code tags (e.g. [code], [quote], [vb], [php]) are allowed in signatures, and signatures should be no larger than 3 or 4 lines.

  16. Multiple registrations are not permitted for any reason. If you have trouble accessing your account, you can email an administrator for assistance.

  17. The Admins/Moderators have final judgment over any post/avatar/signature. Posts/avatars/signatures that violate the above guidelines may be moved, edited or deleted without notice. Most of the time, you will be notified by Private Message with an explanation of judgments or actions. You may privately request further explanation, but arguing with the decision will not be tolerated. Posters who violate the guidelines may be banned, depending upon the infraction and prior history. This can also be without notice, but in most cases, a warning will be issued.

  18. Communicate effectively; Use punctuation and capitalization properly. Don't write in ALL CAPS. If you are unsure about spelling rules, use a spell checker before posting.

    Make an effort to write real words in real sentences and you will be rewarded with real people trying to give you real help. This is not an instant messenger or a chat room. Take the time to effectively communicate and we will take the time to help you if we can.

  19. We have plenty of Moderators here and they do quite a good job with it. Don't start trying to tell people that they are behaving inappropriately or that they posted in the wrong forum or anything else that may be considered an attempt by you to moderate the boards.

    If you see something that you feel is a direct violation of the posting guidelines then feel free to bring it to the attention of a moderator by PM. Don't post in the thread or try to handle it on your own, that isn't your job.

  20. You should always post your question in a forum. Sending a private message to one or more perceived experts is counterproductive because it means fewer people will be able to view your question and respond. It also suggests that you feel you are entitled to the recipients undivided attention, which is exceedingly rude. The recipient may choose not to respond, and so your time is wasted, or they may simply request you to post the question publicly, and so both their and your time is wasted.

    Secondly, once you've posted your question publicly, encourage public responses. Do not ask possible contributors to reply by email, IM, or any other medium. This is for your benefit as well as ours. It keeps the discussion entirely in one place so it is much easier to see how far you have come towards a solution, and it means the information shared will be accessible to any member with similar problems in future.

  21. Shared Accounts are not allowed.  It doesn't matter if it your wife, girl friend or grandma.  We do not allow shared accounts.  If you are found using a shared account then it will be inactivated.

  22. Do not use large images in your signature.  It is very annoying to other members or readers when they have to see the same large image in every post you make.

PM Guidelines:

Note: Private Messages on the forum CANNOT be viewed by other members of the forum, however admins of the forum have full access to the entire database which includes private messages (this is common on all message boards or email systems) .  If abuse of the private message system is suspected, Admins can and will periodically review messages.

Posting guidelines apply to private PMs as well. Here are some general guidelines about sending PMs:

Please send a PM:


Please do not send a PM:


If you receive a PM which you consider to be inappropriate from another member, please feel free to forward it to one of our mods/admins, and we will review the situation and take appropriate action if necessary.

Forum Moderators and Administrators:

Admins:

Moderators:

Forum Emails:

Helpful Links:

Avatars:

What is an Avatar?  An avatar is the small picture that you see when a member makes a post in the forum.  The picture is in the member info area on the left side on all posts.  Avatars can be added, changed or removed in your profile.  If you are going to make a custom avatar it needs to be 124 x 94 pixels in size. The Gamefishin.com image resizer makes it easy to build custom avatars: http://www.gamefishin.com/GFImage.zip
Here are a compilation of avatars that can be used: http://www.gamefishin.com/avatars.zip

Tech Tips:

Is your browser running slow?  If so you may be infected with a virus or some spyware.  Check out the following links:

http://www.lavasoft.de/

http://www.safer-networking.org/index.php?page=download

http://www.symantec.com/downloads/

Kill the Messenger Service Ads

If you're running Windows 2000 or XP, disable your messenger service.  I'm not talking about MSN Messenger, rather a service that Windows has turned on by default that is supposed to be used by network administrators to send pop up messages to client computers.  Spammers have capitalized on this feature by showering a range of IP addresses with spam that will pop up on broadband internet users' computer screens even when they aren't surfing the net.  This is VERY annoying and everyone who does it should be shot.  Luckily the fix is easy enough.  The program Message Subtract works great ( http://www.messagesubtract.com/help.html ) as does Steve Gibson's "Shoot the Messenger" ( http://grc.com/freepopular.htm ).  Both are 100% free.

Windows Update

This is a mandatory step for all versions of Windows.  Stay updated!  Every version of Windows has issues that need to be patched.  It's annoying, that a product they expect you to pay good money for is severely defective, but that's another topic altogther...
http://windowsupdate.microsoft.com/

Firewall

Firewalls are annoying, but as hackers and trojans become more aggressive they are increasingly necessary.  A firewall is a program that regulates all access in and out of your computer.  If a program wants to access the internet, the firewall will ask you if wish to allow it.  It will also block outside attacks on your computer and perform other security tasks based on your settings.  For a free firewall, I recommend Zone Alarm.  It's a huge step in securing your PC. 
http://www.zonelabs.com/store/content/catalog/products/sku_l ist_za.jsp?lid=nav_za

Kerio Personal Firewall is also supposed to be quite good, though I have not used it.

Alternate internet browser

http://www.mozilla.org/products/firefox/

Great broswer and much more stable than IE,  Give it a try!

Windows XP powertoys (lots of free handy little apps)

http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/downloads/powertoys/xppow ertoys.mspx

 

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