Please keep in mind that this is an all ages board, and is read and used by young posters. Also, this is the message board for Ian Rankin and that as a community, these boards should reflect many of it's values.

The following rules are your guide to behaviour on these boards. They address the general case, while moderators and administrators address the specific case. When a rule and a moderator appear to be saying different things, the moderator is always right. Avoid arguing with them - if you feel you've been wronged or misrepresented, you're welcome to contact the administrator. Voicing your grievances on the message board itself is ill advised.

The Message Boards are a public forum and, while we encourage a free flow of information and ideas on the boards, we also ask that you follow a few basic rules. By using or participating on the Message Boards, you agree to the Rules of Conduct as stated below.

Here are some things you'll want to keep in mind while posting on the message boards:

Copyrighted Material
Ian Rankin board users agree not to post any material that is protected by copyright, trademark or other proprietary right without the express permission of the owner(s) of said copyright, trademark or other proprietary right. Flaming, Bashing, and Trolling Hate posts and personal attacks will not be tolerated on the message boards. Treat others on these message boards as you would expect them to treat you. Talking trash about another user is a quick way to earn a banning, as is posting topics specifically to provoke a negative response from someone (aka trolling).

Profanity
Keep offensive language to a minimum. While we might let you get away with anything you might hear on network television (no, NOT cable) or radio, don't go overboard. Simply editing a few letters with an asterisk or other symbols isn't allowed, either. A simple rule to follow is: 'when in doubt, leave it out.' You don't have to use excessive profanity to get your point across, and it's usually better to avoid it altogether.

Spam
Purposely spamming a message board with senseless, vacuous, or empty messages to gain more stars is highly frowned upon! This includes such things as party posts, chain letters, two-word 'I agree' or 'me too' responses, continually posting the same topic on a particular board, and posting the same question across several boards. Impersonating Other Users / Accessing Another User's Account You may not impersonate another board member or create an account specifically for the purpose of provoking other users. Also, accessing or using someone else's account or attempting to access another poster's account is strictly prohibited.

Altering Message Board Code
Altering or changing the original code and/or exploiting code bugs for purposes other than what the message boards were intended to do is strictly prohibited. On a similar note, using automatic scripts on any part of the message board is also not permitted. Hacking, altering board code, exploiting code bugs and using scripts are all grounds for an immediate and permanent ban.

Questionable Content
Since we can't have a rule to cover everything, this is the rule to, well, cover everything. These are public boards, so act like you would if you were in a public place. These issues are left to the discretion of the individual moderators, but may include any material that is knowingly false and/or defamatory, misleading, inaccurate, abusive, vulgar, hateful, harassing, obscene, racist, profane, sexually oriented, threatening, invasive of a person's privacy, that otherwise violates any law, or that encourages conduct constituting a criminal offense.

There are many posts each day on the message boards, so we can't always promise you'll receive a warning every time action has to be taken. By registering at the Message Boards, users agree that any post deemed inappropriate may be removed at the sole discretion of the administrator. The administrator also has the right, at its sole discretion, to revoke board privileges at any time without notice or reason. Think of these rules as a forewarning and, if you break them, you're taking your account status into your own hands. Ian Rankin is not responsible for messages posted on the Ian Rankin Message Boards or the content therein. Unless expressly stated otherwise, this includes messages posted by Ian Rankin personnel, agents, representatives et al. Ian Rankin reserves the right to reveal the identity of or whatever information we know about any user in the event of a complaint or legal action arising from any message posted by said user.

Ian Rankin has the right but not the obligation to monitor and/or moderate the Message Boards. Ian Rankin reserves the right to change any or all other parts of this User Agreement at its sole discretion and without notice, including but not limited to implementing Rules of Conduct, Terms of Service and/or other measures.