Forum Rules

  1. Respect
  2. Don’t Be Afraid to Post
  3. Feel Free to “Lurk” and Listen
  4. Tap into an Incredible Fountain of Information
  5. Welcome Newcomers
  6. Agree to Disagree, Respectfully
  7. Don’t Attack Each Other
  8. Discussing Topics with Supporting Vendors
  9. Non-Supporting Vendors
  10. Keep Your Posts, Avatars and Signatures Clean
  11. Off-Topic Forum
  12. Quality, Not Quantity
  13. Avatars and Signatures
  14. Images and Linking
  15. Carfax
  16. Finally We Reserve the Right

E38 7 series photo E31 8 series photo E34 5 Series Photo

By becoming a member of Bimmerforums.com and participating on the message board, you are agreeing to abide by our rules. As with any rules, they are made for the purpose and benefit of our members as well as to protect the best interest of the message board. Please read them and understand them. If you should have any questions about them, feel free to ask for clarification by posting a thread in the Forum Software Questions & Suggestions or contacting one of the forum’s leaders. (Vendors, please read the rules information below: “Non-supporting Vendors”.)

RESPECT

Bimmerforums.com is a place where it’s okay to be yourself – be that harried, jovial, silly or sad – as long as you always act with respect for your fellow members and the rules. We promise that at Bimmerforums.com you won’t have to leave your personality at the door. We promise to bring passion to our work and appreciation for our members. We will listen to your suggestions and complaints, and try to incorporate your ideas in everything we do.

DON’T BE AFRAID TO POST

If you’re new to our community, taking the step for the first time to post publicly to a message board can sometimes seem intimidating. Don’t be afraid to jump into a discussion. We have a very supportive community that serves up heavy doses of support, encouragement, and enthusiasm. We love meeting new people and making new friends. If you have questions about your account’s restrictions please see our Questions & Suggestions Forum.

FEEL FREE TO “LURK” AND LISTEN

While we hope that you’ll become an active participant and join in our discussions, you’re welcome, of course, to simply hang out silently until you feel more comfortable posting a message.

TAP INTO AN INCREDIBLE FOUNTAIN OF INFORMATION

Whether you’re looking for answers to an engine concern, buying a new set of tires or ready to install a turbocharger, our members are here to help. Tell others about your experiences and they will tell you about theirs! Bimmerforums.com is your place to get the answers you need and talk about the things that interest you most. Take care to ensure that your threads go in the correct section before starting threads. If your thread is no longer on the forum you created it in, search for it as it was likely towed to another location we felt suit the topic better.

WELCOME NEWCOMERS

When newcomers arrive, say “hi” and welcome them to our growing community. Many of our community’s “old timers” (regardless of age) are a wealth of knowledge and have much to share. Help new folks “learn the ropes” about how to find information and resources, save time, and how to get involved with our growing membership. Remember to give patience to new members as they explore the forums. Being rude to new members is highly discouraged.

AGREE TO DISAGREE, RESPECTFULLY

We invite and encourage a healthy exchange of opinions; disagreements are okay. If you disagree with a member’s post or opinion, by all means, challenge the opinion. However, any challenge must be given with a sense of respect and caring for the other person. The real objective of community is to understand each other, not to attack others and convince them that you’re right. Name-calling, insults, “flaming” and attacks are not appropriate and will not be tolerated. Agree to disagree respectfully.

DON’T ATTACK EACH OTHER

Because this is so important, we’ll say it again: Don’t attack others. Personal attacks on others will not be tolerated. Challenge others’ points of view and opinions, but do so respectfully and thoughtfully … without insult and personal attack. Harassing, offensive, vulgar, abusive, hateful or bashing communications — especially those aimed at sexual orientation, gender, race, color, religious views, national origin, or disability — will not be permitted. BEFORE you post a message that is intended to embarrass, humiliate or harass another person or group of people, stop and THINK first! Harassing communications are considered to be those that may cause distress, embarrassment, unwanted attention or other discomfort. This includes posting of others private/personal information with the intent of harassing them. It will not be tolerated!

DISCUSSING TOPICS WITH “SUPPORTING” VENDORS

Oftentimes “supporting” vendors or their staff will post messages and replies on our message board. We encourage our “supporting” vendors to be a part of our community like any other member. (See “Non-supporting Vendors”) However, from time-to-time members have problems or issues with “supporting” vendors pertaining to product performance claims, shipping schedules, pricing, returning phone calls, etc. It is important for all members (and “supporting” vendors) to understand that discussing opposing views, beyond a point of logical and sound business principles, offers nothing beneficial for either side. Angry arguments, harmful accusations or damaging comments will not be permitted. Neither party benefits when this happens! If you must discuss personal matters (that is of no interest to members) with a “supporting” vendor, please communicate in private by phone or email. In all due respect, we remind members to accept that “supporting” vendors may be biased toward their own products when discussing comparison products. In turn, we remind “supporting” vendors that members may have different viewpoints or opinions about their products. Both “supporting” vendors and members have the rights and freedom to express these viewpoints and opinions in the open forum of our message board as long as discussions are constructive, beneficial to other members and carried out in a thoughtful and professional business-like manner.

NON-SUPPORTING VENDORS

Non-supporting vendors are welcome to participate on the bimmerforums.com message board and use its many features with full privileges. However, we must ask that all non-supporting vendors (including agents, dealers, staff, etc.) not advertise or promote any companies, products or services in any way. The use of text, logos, images, links or any other means to advertise, promote or obtain potential business while participating on the message board will not be allowed. This includes, but is not limited to, all messages, profile signatures or any other communicative features available on bimmerforums.com. A list of our “supporting” vendors is available for viewing through the “Supporting Vendors” link at the top of the page. (For contact information and advertising rates, please follow the “Advertise” link located at the top of the page.)

Leaders and members of other boards are also welcome to participate on the bimmerforums.com message board and use its many features with full privileges. However, as with non-supporting vendors, we also request that you not advertise or promote your board in any way.

KEEP YOUR POSTS, AVATARS, AND SIGNATURES TASTEFUL

The Main Forums of Bimmerforums.com are a place for PG material only where explicit, obscene or vulgar gestures, language, GIFs, JPEGs or other graphic files are NOT appropriate. Message board titles, posts, avatars, and signatures in all forums that contain anything that is not considered PG material will not be tolerated and will be moved or deleted without notice! The enforcement and definition of PG is solely the responsibility of the Administrators and Moderators. (see the “Off-Topic” forum section below for exceptions).

Although the avatar image resolution limit is still 116 X 116 pixels, the file size limit is now 8k max, and if you could optimize your avatars even further, it would be extremely helpful for overall site speed. With proper optimization, a 30k avatar can easily become an 8k avatar without any noticeable loss of quality to the human eye.

The enforced signature size limit is a maximum of approximately 600 pixels wide by 240 pixels high in total area. Generally, this limitation is the TOTAL size for ALL text and images in a multi-image signature. In addition to the maximum image, you are allowed two lines of text. Anything over 2 lines of text requires that you subtract 15 pixels per each line of text. Also please consider using the smaller font for any text within your signatures. If your signature or avatar is disabled, fix the problem first, then make a post in the signature/avatar request thread that can be found in the Forum Software Questions & Suggestions forum.

OFF-TOPIC FORUM

The “Off-Topic” forum is a “members only” forum which cannot be viewed by anyone except for a member who has been a member of the forums for more than ten days and has logged-in with his or her User Name and Password. Off-Topic was created for members to lay back and relax, within the guidelines of proper respect to fellow members, to enjoy themselves in a semi-private environment. The rules for Off-Topic in reference to language “within” threads are lifted. The rules for Off-Topic in reference to PG-13type pictures (images) are that only tasteful modeling or posing type pictures are to be displayed. No “action” pictures or raunchy/disgusting pictures are allowed.

The topics, language, and pictures in Off-Topic may be considered offensive to some people. We , therefore, ave a “Warning” displayed in the OT Forum’s description text advising of this possibility. It is important for all members to understand the possibility that opening any posted message or reply in the Off-Topic forum may display potentially offensive and/or embarrassing images. Therefore, Bimmerforums.com highly suggests that the Off-Topic forum not be viewed in public!
The Off-Topic disclaimer does not give you free reign to be offensive in Off-Topic. The rules of respect still apply and will be enforced. Off-Topic has its own set of additional rules that can be seen at the top of the off-topic forum.

QUALITY, NOT QUANTITY

Posts should have some sort of redeeming quality such as information, entertainment or advice. Useless posts that waste server resources or do nothing for the community will be moved and/or pruned at the discretion of the administrative staff. IBTL, repost, first etc, “post whoring” to increase post count and off-topic posts within threads are all considered useless. Repeated posting of useless material or material that promotes the degradation of the community will lead to the removal of you posting privileges and/or total removal from the forum.

IMAGES AND LINKING

Before you make a link to a picture on another website, make sure you have received that websites permission to use their bandwidth or make sure you have allocated enough bandwidth on your own site to absorb the cost of high hosting fees from excessive usage. The last thing we want is to have the owner of the image or link change it to something other than the intended purpose. Users will be held liable for any images or link that points to material that is unsuitable for our community. If you would like to post photos we highly recommend you host them yourself first through a hosting service.

LANGUAGE

We are not striving for graduate-level writing, but the ability to string a few words together to form a complete thought is definitely required. If you have a hard time typing out a full word without finding the need to abbreviate it with some cryptic form of internet variation our other users will have a hard time understanding you and our search engine will have a hard time indexing your posts for posterity which hurts our community. We encourage participation in the forum and as such, we encourage the use of proper spelling, grammar and cohesive thought. The forum offers a spell checker. If you are not confident in your spelling and grammar please check your post prior to making it public. Legible thoughts have a better chance of receiving the type of response you want and will garner you more respect from forum members. It is in your best interest to ensure accuracy.

DISCUSSING CONCERNS WITH FORUM LEADERS

If you have a concern about an action that a forum leader (administrator or moderator) took on the forum send the leader a private message expressing your concerns. Re-creating locked threads, public questioning of moderator actions and attacks against moderators will result in your posting privileges being suspended or permanently removed.

FAILURE TO FOLLOW FORUM RULES

If you break one or more of the forum’s rules you may find yourself unable to post for a period of time. This time depends on the type of offense, past behavior and if you have been previously warned. Moderators are not required to warn a member before revoking posting privileges. You agreed to the rules when you became a member and should already be aware of what is and is not allowed.

Bimmerforums operates on a point based infraction system that works like so:

1 point/warning = no suspension
10 points = one week suspension
100 points = one month suspension
200 points = three months suspension
999 points = permanent removal from the forums

Infractions are not a tiered system where you first receive a week suspension and then month suspension if you break a rule again. Depending on the rule that is broken you may receive a harsher punishment without any prior infractions. At all levels of suspension posting privileges and Off-Topic viewing are removed.

CARFAX

At the request of CARFAX, Bimmerforums.com does not allow the sharing of CARFAX accounts. This includes request for reports and the sharing of your account with other members.. CARFAX provides a very good service for users to look up automobile information with VINs. If you’re seriously in the used car market, go buy an account yourself. YOU NEED YOUR OWN ACCOUNT. GO BUY ONE. IT’S ONLY $20. Twenty bucks is a small price to pay when you’re looking at dumping thousands of dollars on a car anyway. See Announcement regarding providing & requesting CARFAX information for further details.

FINALLY, WE RESERVE THE RIGHT

Bimmerforums.com reserves the right to remove any post that does not relate to the topic being discussed or is considered inappropriate on the board. In addition, Bimmerforums.com reserves the right to organize message boards (or folders) in order to best serve the majority of our members. For example, narrow-interest or minimal activity topics may, at Bimmerforums.com’s discretion, be relocated to a more appropriate forum, or deleted entirely. Bimmerforums.com also reserves the right to prohibit or delete messages that are thought to violate applicable law or that may be harmful to other members, or the rights of Bimmerforums.com or others.

With that said, Bimmerforums.com does not have the practical ability to restrict conduct or communications that might violate Bimmerforums.com’s rules. Nor can we ensure prompt removal of offending message board posts. We encourage members to report offending posts and threads to bring them to our attention so they may be dealt with as quickly as possible.

We also reserve the right to remove your Bimmerforums.com membership should you violate its rules or should we deem necessary. Any decision to ban a member for abuse of any of these rules, or for whatever reason, will be made by the administrator team.

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