Forum Rules

Registration to this forum is free! We do insist that you abide by the rules and policies detailed below. If you agree to the terms, please check the 'I agree' checkbox and press the 'Register' button below. If you would like to cancel the registration, click here to return to the forums index.

Although the administrators and moderators of Project DIBS 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 Project DIBS, nor Jelsoft Enterprises Ltd. (developers of vBulletin) will be held responsible for the content of any message.

By agreeing to these rules, you warrant that you will not post, transmit or link to any unlawful, harmful, threatening, abusive, harassing, defamatory, vulgar, obscene, profane, hateful, racially, ethnically or otherwise objectionable material of any kind, including, but not limited to, any material which encourages conduct that would constitute a criminal offense, violate the rights of others, or otherwise violate any applicable local, state, national or international law. This includes posting matter of a political or religious nature. You will be responsible for, and indemnify and hold harmless Project DIBS and its representatives against any claim arising from any material that you post or transmit. We reserve the right to reveal your identity (or whatever information we know about you) in the event of a complaint or legal action arising from any message posted by you. POSTING IS A PRIVILEGE. Please note that you are a guest on a privately-owned site. Posting here is a privilege that we hope you will enjoy and respect. All members are to have only one user name and are to post under that name exclusively. The owners and moderators of Project DIBS reserve the right to remove, edit, move or close any thread for any reason and to ban any user for any reason detrimental to the functioning or reputation of Project DIBS. This includes posting any information, positive, negative or otherwise, on any other website, forum, list-serv or similar electronic or print medium without written permission from the Project DIBS staff.

Furthermore, since this forum is part of the owner's University of Houston research, it is subject to the University of Houston's Committee For the Protection of Human Subjects Rules and Regulations. The website receives visits by K-12 students that are less than 18 years of age and this requires additional rules that need to be followed:

1. No attempts should be made to contact the students privately or request information to contact them or figure out their identity. Anyone attempting these or similar actions will be immediately suspended, reported to the University of Houston and possibly permanently banned and may be subjected to legal action.

2. Anyone that is recognized by the University of Houston as a potential threat, or is harassing students or participants of the forums will be immediately suspended and possibly permanently banned. Anyone that is suspended or banned that continues to attempt to access the forums or make inflammatory posts may be subjected to legal action.

3. Since this project is part of the dissertation project of Brian Plankis, some of the data contained in the forums may be used for publications or presentations in educational journals or books. This data will be descriptive statistics on number of users, number of posts, average number of posts/user, etc. No screen names, other forms of identification or content of messages or threads will be used in these publications. Every effort will be made to keep all identities confidential and anonymous.

4. Brian Plankis may contact you asking you to be interviewed or to fill out a survey related to his dissertation work. Participation in such requests is voluntary and you have the right to refuse to answer any request or any question asked. If you do accept the request, every effort will be made to keep your identity confidential and anonymous. Before any material is used from such requests, you will be asked to sign a consent form to allow your material to be released in conferences or educational publications.

If you have any questions about these rules, please contact Brian Plankis by PM or email.