Notice:
You must use your real name and at least the first initial of your last name, as well as your local region in your profile before you will be able to post.
Your location is very useful to other users, especially when it comes to trading/selling/buying fish and/or equipment.
Your name also lends some credibility to your posts.

What can't you post?
You agree, through your use of this service, that you will not use this forum to post any material which is knowingly false and/or defamatory, inaccurate, abusive, vulgar, hateful, harassing, obscene, profane, sexually oriented, threatening, invasive of a person's privacy, or which discuss or illustrate illegal activity or activity that contradicts the forums purpose. You agree not to post any copyrighted material unless the copyright is owned by you or by this forum.

Trolling is prohibited.
Trolling is a post that is deliberately designed for the purpose of upsetting, angering and/or insulting the members of the forum community. Posts of this nature are disruptive and do not convey a friendly attitude.

What is not permitted?
We adhere to the Golden Rule philosophy here. "Treat others as you want them to treat you"

There will be NO cursing, swearing, name calling, racism, or use of obscenities on the forum. Store, company or product bashing will not be tolerated. Also links to undesirable sites (i.e. pornographic, hate literature, indecent material or any site that the executive deems inappropriate) are not permitted. If any of these offenses occur, resulting in Moderator actions, the following will be the consequences for your actions:

First offense: you will receive a warning
Second offense: you will be temporarily banned form the forum for a period determined by the Head Moderator, Administrator and BOD
Third offense: you will be permanently banned.

The word censor is in place to change words that are not permitted due to this forum being family rated - any attempt to defeat the censor will result in an immediate warning. Using symbols to represent words are also not permitted and will suffer the same penalty.

The moderators and administration have the final word on the interpretation of this and all rules.

Respect the authority of moderators.
Public discussions of moderator actions are not allowed on the forum. It is also prohibited to protest moderator actions in forum posts, subjects, and signatures.
If you don't like something that a moderator did, PM or email the moderator and try your best to resolve the problem or difference in private. Your next course of action is to talk to the Head Moderator about the problem. The final link in the chain is to discuss the problem with the ECAS president or any member of the BOD.

Your rights to Freedom of Speech don't apply here.
You are welcome to have opinions. You are welcome to question certain subject matter posted on these forums.
You are welcome to dislike a certain post or disagree with it.
Though we typically condone people to express their opinions and ideas, we have the right to delete yours if necessary, should we consider it abusive, offensive or in violation of the rules.

Use descriptive subject lines & research your post.
This reduces the chances of double-posting and it also makes it easier for people to see what they do/don't want to read. Also, scan the subjects of the last several days' posts to make sure you aren't duplicating posts.

Keep the focus.
Each forum has a focus on a certain topic. Questions outside the scope of a certain forum will either be moved to the appropriate forum, closed, or simply be deleted. Please post your topic in the most appropriate forum.

Zero tolerance on piracy.
Posting links to warez sites and program cracks are not allowed on the forum. Anyone found guilty of participating in piracy activity on the forum will be terminated with prejudice.

Spam is not tolerated.
Spam is considered posting topics or messages on our forums that contain no point, relevance, or contain subject matter that doesn't directly allow other member participation.
Topics directed to a particular user, posting several times consecutively as an appendage to ONE post, and posts in threads that have NOTHING to do with the subject matter are all considered spam and will be deleted on sight. Contributing to/or intentionally posting spam will not be tolerated. Bumping posts without significantly adding to the thread is not necessary or acceptable. Bumps will be deleted and warnings may be issued.
The PM message system is designed to directly contact another member - use it instead of making a public post to a specific individual.

There is to be no Store or Product bashing
We welcome factual accounts of both positive and negative dealings with stores, products, companies, service providers & other businesses including websites etc. Positive comments are always welcome. However, negative comments that implicitly/explicitly identifies or names other members, fish breeders, wholesalers, suppliers, employees or any business of any type may be edited for content or deleted at the discretion of the forum moderators/administration. In no way is the ECAS to be involved in buyer/seller disputes.

Bashing consists of making unsubstantiated claims or bad mouthing an entire store or chain of stores, company, service providers & other businesses including websites. for an incident you may have had with one particular person. Remember that if you have an unhappy experience, talk with a supervisor, manager or owner to try and resolve the problem. Stores, manufacturers, companies, service providers & other businesses including websites etc. can only improve if they're made aware of problems. There are instances where the ECAS can step in and take a proactive role in making a company aware of bad design or poor staffing, etc.

The onus is on you, the consumer, to try to resolve any issues you have with the person who can make the change needed to fix the problem.

If you feel that you have done everything possible to find resolution, and still feel other hobbyists and society members should be aware of your experience, there is a feedback forum where you can submit your input on aquatic products and local or online vendors. Please review the forum guidelines before submitting your feedback and see the Product, Vendor and Book Reviews for terms of use.

Keep your files small.
Currently we have the vB [img] tag feature enabled. Please keep your file sizes small (under 100k) - not everyone has a fast connection. If you don't know how to resize your pictures smaller, ask.

Keep your signature brief.
This forum has a signature feature that allows you to "sign" your posts with a customized block of text. However, large signatures that take up more than 3 lines are not permitted. Everyone would agree that people are much more interested in reading your ideas than looking at your signature. It's annoying to see posts that have signatures that are much bigger than the messages in the post. Please keep your signature brief.

Avatars
All forum users are permitted to select and upload aquaria-themed avatars only.
Avatars are to be no larger than 90 pixels square, contain no animation, and may not exceed 10KB in size.
Business logos are permitted by approved vendors only. In selecting an avatar, you agree not to post any copyrighted material unless the copyright is owned by you or by this forum.
Avatars must conform with posted guidelines and forum rules with respect to posts, images and signatures.
We ask that you please be considerate to other forum users when selecting your avatar image.
Inappropriate or offensive avatars will be removed at our discretion. Users abusing these rules will be warned and /or may lose their avatar privileges or forum privileges. The moderators and administration have the final word on the interpretation of this and all rules. These rules are subject to change with notice.

Multiple or Shared accounts are not permitted.
When you join, create one account, be certain you're satisfied with your forum name, and keep it. Be sure to choose your user name carefully. If you wish to change your user name for whatever reason, please contact an administrator.
If you require multiple accounts, please ask an administrator for help. Only one account per person is preferred as a way to accurately gauge how our society is growing. Shared or dual accounts are not permitted.

Advertising and solicitations are NOT permitted.
Posting of advertisements (other than in the appropriate "for sale" forums), chain letters, pyramid schemes, and solicitations are inappropriate on this forum. You are ONLY permitted to advertise your site in your signature.