Main Rules & Policies

Welcome to Chins-n-Hedgies. Below you will find the rules by which this forum is run. If at any point in time you have a question about them, please contact one of the moderators. To find who is a moderator, go back to the main page http://www.chins-n-hedgies.com/forums/ and at the bottom right side of the page is a link titled "Forum Leaders". Clicking this link will show you who is who here. Keep in mind this is only available to registered logged in members!

1. We consider this place to be a forum for animal owners to gather and share ideas, ask questions and otherwise brag about their critters. Chins-n-Hedgies is a pelt-neutral forum. This means that we welcome all: fur ranchers, hobby breeders and pet owners alike. We expect that all members treat each other as friends, or at the very least to be respectful of each other.

2. Any post which is considered inflammatory, derogatory, inappropriate, prejudiced, or mean may be removed and a warning sent to the offender. Continued acts of this type may result in removal of your account. (Please see the 3 strikes rule below).

3. While individual situations may be discussed, we ask that you keep individual, store, business, vet clinic, etc. names off of these forums when discussed in a negative manner (i.e. "Suzy sold me a sick chinchilla", "I bought a cage from John and he never sent it out." These will not be allowed and should be dealt with privately, not publicly.

4. If a thread is getting off track or out of hand, a moderator may post a warning to get it back on track. Continuation of whatever merited the warning will result in a warning sent to the offender.

5. 3 Strikes Rule: All users will be given up to 3 warnings. On your third warning your account may be disabled for a temporary amount of time or permanently. The length of your disabled account is done at the discretion of the moderators/administrators. This rule may be ignored if the situation warrants.

6. Members whose accounts have been disabled or banned will not be allowed to rejoin without discussion with the owners and administrators of the forum. If a banned member is allowed to return, it will be understood that they have a zero tolerance policy. This means 1 strike you're out. Continued creation of accounts without discussion with the owner and administrators, will result in immediate banning.

7. Signatures: While signatures are a wonderful way to advertise your website and your pets, we allow only two (2) links per signature. Any link should point to a "family-friendly" site. Additionally, links to information that may be libelous to forum members are not allowed. Links from CnH, directly or indirectly, cannot contain PETA related or anti-pelting related information. All quotes should be of a positive and friendly nature, not ones that can be construed as attacking or defaming.

We appreciate that people enjoy advertising other sites on CnH, because of the large volume of traffic, but we need to ask that this be reciprocated. If you post your forum here, you must post CnH on your forum in a like manner. We want to help you, but we're growing too!

Please do not use any extra large fonts or images other than a .gif, .jpg or .png. Please do not use any more than FIVE (5) smilies in your signature. Please keep in mind that some colors are harder to read than others. Should you have any questions about what is acceptable or if you need help in converting an image, please contact a moderator.

Because of other members' bandwidth constraints when surfing the Internet, we ask that you keep signatures under 10 lines (spaces/blank lines count - type out 10 lines that contain nothing but X and measure - then measure your signature) and without images larger than 60x120 (or 30x240) and a total size of less than 8196 bytes. To find out the size of your image, place your cursor (usually an arrow) over the image, then right click (control click on a Mac). From that menu list, choose "Properties". You will see in a new pop-up window the details about the image. Near the middle will be Size and Dimension. These are the numbers we are referring to in the limits listed.

Due to abuses of the "latest and greatest in signature toys", CnH has decided that the following will not be allowed: Tickers (images that count down to a target date); Eggs/Mares (images that modify on a certain date); 6 or more smilies (5 or less is still okay); using over-sized smilies will limit the number of "lines" so watch for the 2-story tall smilies and adjust your line count; Multiple images (greater than 6); Multiple images that when added together are greater than 60x120 (or 30x240) OR over 8196 bytes (example: PicA is 24x120 and PicB is 54x120 = 76x120 and is too big.).

Signatures that are found that do not comply with the rules are subject to deletion without notice by a moderator.

8. You are only allowed to have one account on CnH at a time. If it is discovered that you have more than one, you will be asked to choose one. If you don't choose one, the last one created will be removed. Please contact a forum administrator if you want to change your account name or would like your account deleted. This is done at the administrator’s discretion. We would prefer if you did not share an account with a spouse or other family member, but at the very least, when you post under that account, please be sure to sign your name at the bottom so people know who is posting.

9. Posting of posts just for the sake of posting, posting of multiple threads of the same nature to multiple sections of the forums, or posting to up your posting counter will not be allowed. This just generates extra messages for users to wade through to find messages that are on topic. CnH reserves the right to remove these posts and/or remove posts from your counter or put you on a moderated posting status.

10. Chins-n-Hedgies will not tolerate soliciting of our members for other forums or the spamming of our members via email/pm/visitor messages. This will result in the immediate banning of the offending party.

11. The messages posted on Chins-n-Hedgies express the views of the author of the message, not necessarily the views of this forum. Any user who feels that a posted message is objectionable is encouraged to contact us immediately by pm, email, or through the use of the report (!) button found at the top of each post. We reserve the right and ability to remove and edit all objectionable messages and we will make every effort to do so, within a reasonable time frame, if we determine that such actions are necessary.

While posted subject matter and pictures remain the sole property of the poster, when joining CnH and checking the box that you have read all FAQ's (which you must do in order to join the forum and actively participate) you agree that CnH retains the right to use those photos and that information within the confines of the forum. We will not delete said posts, drawings, or pictures should the originator ask to have them removed, ask to have their membership deleted, or are banned due to actions that are in conflict with forum rules and the safety of our members.

Additional rules:

New Members
Because of issues with spam, we find it necessary to moderate all posts from new members for an undetermined period of time, in order to protect our members. Moderated status means your posts or threads have to be approved by a moderator before it will become visible to others on CnH. Once a moderator clears your status, you will have full access to the forums. We are sorry for any inconveniences. Questions can be directed towards the moderators or administrator. Should you have an emergency situation that needs immediate responses, please PM a moderator or administrator for help.

CnH Forum Titles
Please keep in mind that forum titles are just that. They do not always correlate with experience. Each forum member should take it upon himself or herself to do additional research on various topics. The forum FAQs or search button is a great resource to utilize. View a member’s profile and read past posts.

Posting in the Classifieds
Classifieds posted must be within the limit of the law. This means if you're posting a hedgehog classified you must be a USDA licensed breeder, or have under 3 breeding females and you MUST reside in a legal state. You may be asked to send your license number or a copy of your license to a moderator or administrator for verification. Classifieds posted that do not comply with this rule will be deleted.

Self-Policing
If you feel a thread is getting off topic, etc. please click the warn button (!) on the post or thread to bring it to the attention of a moderator. Only click the warn button once. Do not try to remedy the situation yourself. A moderator will review the thread and get it back on topic.

PETA and PETA related information
This forum has opted to not allow any type of anti-pelting information/links posted on it. The reason for this, as you may suspect, is that we want all of our members to be equally comfortable here; fur ranchers, pet owners, and anyone who cares about animals in general. For this reason, it would be inflammatory to have this type of information posted on this forum and our staff will work diligently to keep it off of this forum. Direct violations of this rule will result in a warning and possible banning from this forum.

THESE RULES ARE SUBJECT TO CHANGE WITHOUT NOTICE.