Updated and Effective as on 2nd October 2007.

Please read the following rules and guidelines very carefully. If you want to register or continue as a member you must agree to these guidelines and must obey them at all times. Refusal to obey these guidelines will result in the appropriate responsive actions including deletion of the membership.

We require all posts to be positive, constructive, and on topic. We may delete individual posts that could ruin a good topic thread.

We reserve the right to remove any topics we deem inappropriate or disruptive to our community. Please note that, from time to time, topics may be removed for being inappropriate even though your individual post in that topic may have been perfectly fine. Please do not feel this reflects badly on you.

MEMBERS WHO VIOLATE THE GUIDELINES WILL BE BANNED FROM THE BOARD IMMEDIATELY.

1.0 Guildelines for administrators:

• 1.0.1 An administrator should advocate impartiality and fairness.
• 1.0.2 An administrator should always be logged in visible mode. He/she should not be logged in invisible mode.
• 1.0.3 An administrator should be technically skilled for addressing issues that fall within his/her reach. He/she should be prompt to address technical, disciplinary and behavioural issues of members and moderators.
• 1.0.4 An administrator should take on the role of the moderator of a forum if the moderator of that forum is on a vacation or if there are no moderators for any forum.
• 1.0.5 An administrator should have favourable personal infrastructure to take on responsibility as the admin.
• 1.0.6 An administrator should inform the member, moderator on any action taken on him/her or their post, topic.
• 1.0.7 An administrator should have thorough knowledge of IPB system and in and out knowledge of code modifications.
• 1.0.8 An administrator should take daily backups of all the file system data and hourly backup of the database without fail.
• 1.0.9 An administrator should optimize database every day.
• 1.0.10 An administrator should delete zip,rar attachments older than 30 days.
• 1.0.11 An administrator should train moderators and members on any new functionality implemented on HF.
• 1.0.12 An administrator should always look for advancements and making HF community more lively.

2.0 Guidelines for moderators:

• 2.0.1 A moderator should advocate impartiality and fairness.
• 2.0.2 A moderator should be technically skilled. He/she should be able to solve or support any HF technical issues and problems faced by members. If a technical issue is beyond his/her scope, he/she need to inform the admins about the same.
• 2.0.3 A moderator should have favourable personal infrastructure to take on the responsibility as the moderator.
• 2.0.4 A moderator should at least be logged in for 3 hours every day continuously or in different time spans in a day unless, he/she is on a vacation, for which the admins should be notified in advance.
• 2.0.5 A moderator should be visible to all members. He/she should not be logged in invisible mode.
• 2.0.6 A moderator should be tactful to handle all disciplinary and behavioual issues under their respective forum(s).
• 2.0.7 Any action taken on a member or in his/her post/topic should be informed to the member with a cc marked to the admins.

3.0 Guidelines for members:

• 3.0.1 There will be no personal attacks in private messages, in posts or posts by direct or indirect mock or derogatory remarks meant to offend or hurt any other member, or admin, or the board in a manner which is offensive or inflammatory.
• 3.0.2 Spamming (junk, unnecessary links to other sites) is not permitted; please keep all your posts as constructive as possible. Advertising your business or other websites in the posts and in signatures is strictly prohibited.
• 3.0.3 You may not use profanity. It is unprofessional and offensive and will not be tolerated. We have word filters in place for the most vulgar terms. Circumventing those word filters will result in punitive action.
• 3.0.4 There will be no racial, ethnic, gender based insults or any other personal discriminations.
• 3.0.5 Pornography, warez, or any other illegal transactions may NOT be linked in any shape or form.

• 3.0.6 All posts and attachments are property of the poster. This forum and all web sites owned in conjunction with this forum have the right to request alteration or deletion of any offensive post. Posts may be deleted for any reasons the forum administrators deem reasonable.
• 3.0.7 Members who challenge the admin's decision will be banned. Members who canvass for those who challenge admin's decision, will be considered party to the offence. They will fall under the purview of punitive actions.
• 3.0.8 Pictures may be posted as long as they are not explicive or offensive. If you plan to post more than one image, or the topic is based on graphics, please link the images rather than screening.
• 3.0.9 Post in the correct forum. Take your time to look at other topics and see where your topic should go.
• 3.0.10 Any impersonation of a user from these forums, in any mode of communication, is strictly prohibited.

• 3.0.11 New users need to validate their email address within 7 days, failing validation, their membership will be terminated. After which, they have to re-register.
• 3.0.12 We require all members to be active on the forum. If any member has not posted any message on board for more than 30 days in a row, the admins will reserve the right to terminate their membership with the deletion of their ID, unless the admins are notified of his/her stipulated period of absence.
• 3.0.13 If a member's email address bounce more than 5 times, that login will be suspended until it is rectified by the member.
• 3.0.14 Duplicate IDs not allowed. If an existing member registers for a new member id for no valid reason, the admins will reserve the right to terminate their membership with the deletion or ban of both the original and duplicate IDs. The reason has to be mentioned to the admin before creating the ID.
• 3.0.15 If an member ID is found accessing by two different IPs simultaneously, the admins will reserve the right to terminate their membership with the deletion of their ID.

• 3.0.16 The zip,rar media files hosted on this website will be deleted as mentioned in 6.0.2 and the members who wish to download, should download, only if they will delete them off their harddisks within 24 hours after download. The downloader takes the full responsibility for one's own action for using the hosted media files. The media files hosted are ONLY for the purpose of sampling. It is no way to replace the original albums or movies. We request our members to buy the original discs and cassettes from legal outlets and support the artists.
• 3.0.17 If any media material downloaded from this site and is taken outside the board and misused in any way, by known or unknown member ids, the HF board or the board administration is not responsible of such actions. The uploader and/or the member sharing the media and downloading the media, will be doing it at his/her own risk and is responsible for the consequences that may arise from such act.
• 3.0.18 If any member brings matters and issues, personal and/or non-personal, that do not directly and/or indirectly pertain and/or relate, and/or is outside the scope of this forum will not be entertained by the board administration.
• 3.0.19 Scanned covers/pictures of any audio/video media with company logos should not be posted or hosted along with media files on the board.
• 3.0.20 If any member ID has been unsubscribed by way of voluntary un-subscription, the ID will be marked AWAY and the said member will not be able to post or use any of the facilities provided by the board. A request for such unsubscribed ID to re-subscribe will be considered at the sole discretion of the Admin.

• 3.0.21 All new members will be on moderation for a period of 3 months. During the period of moderation if the member abides by the board rules, the member will be removed from moderation at the end of the period mentioned. All moderated messages will be approved within 24 to 48 hours from the time of posting.
• 3.0.22 Since Jan 2007, all new ordinary members will not be able to avail the facility of private messaging, due to the prior misuse of this facility.
• 3.0.23 Angel members will have the benefit of personal messaging with attachments facility, upload files upto 50 mb.
• 3.0.24 Angel members have no restrictions on downloads or ratio to be maintained for now, but it is MANDATORY that they participate in the forums where they are downloading files, by way of posting and uploading files. If Angel members are found violating this rule, their downloading rights will be removed. Ratio for the Angel members will be introduced shortly.
• 3.0.25 Creating threads addressing Admin on the board is strictly prohibited. To contact the admin, use report link, private message or email address. Members, who do not conform to this rule will be banned from the board.

As a registered member and/or moderator of HF, in addition to the above, you have to agree to the following:

• 3.0.20 I agree that I have read and understood the board guidelines and I whole heartedly will abide by it.
• 3.0.21 I agree that I will not hold HF responsible for any offensive messages posted by me or by others.
• 3.0.22 I agree that I use the service provided by this website at my own risk. I will not sue HF, the admins, the moderators, the members and/or the webhost.
• 3.0.23 I agree, through the use of this service, that I will not use this bulletin board 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 otherwise violative of any law.
• 3.0.24 I will not mock HF or its admins, moderators by any means known or unknown to me.
• 3.0.25 I agree not to post any copyrighted material unless the copyright is unknown to me or is owned by me or by this bulletin board.
• 3.0.26 I as a member and/or a moderator agree that I have no right to challenge the admin's decision.
• 3.0.27 I as a member and/or a moderator agree that all the decisions taken by the admin will be final.
• 3.0.28 I agree that if I violate any of the guidelines listed on this page, after and/or during my registration at HF and/or other sites any point of time during my membership at HF, I put myself at the mercy of the admin and will not fight on any measures adopted and approved by the admin regarding my membership at HF during and/or after my membership.

4.0 Guidelines for DJ/RJs:

• 4.0.1 The DJ/RJ should be an active member of HF.
• 4.0.2 The DJ/RJ Name should be the full HF Login Name.
• 4.0.3 The DJ/RJ must be available in the HF Radio chat room.
• 4.0.4 The DJ/RJ should check the HF Radio Calendar and make sure that timeslot is unreserved.
• 4.0.5 The DJ/RJ should post his/her wish to DJ in the topic, RJs Online prior to streaming.
• 4.0.6 Scheduled programs should be marked in the Radio calendar a minimum of 7 days in advance, so that the time slots are booked efficiently. The said information should be notified in a PM to the admins while being marked on the calendar.
• 4.0.7 An RJ/DJ should not send mass messages to members about the schedule, unless the member has wished to request such notifications.
• 4.0.8 To use the Radio to relay or DJ a programme, the members should contact the admin for the password. If an id that has not registered with the admin with the request for the password is found djing they will be denied access to the radio. Members who already possess the password should not distribute or share the passwords amongst other members.

5.0 Guidelines for HF Radio Listeners:

• 5.0.1 Any program that is in-tribute to a legend, members should maintain decor and offer respects to the legends, without making it personal and acting in haste.
• 5.0.2 A listener or a DJ should not ask other listeners to leave HF chat room.
  

6.0 Guidelines for HF File Attachments:

• 6.0.1 The media file should have been released before year 2000. The media files should only be pertaining to those composed and performed by Asian artistes. Files released in the year 2000 and post 2000 can be posted on 3rd party websites. Violation of this rule will not be entertained and the member will be under purview of punitive action.
• 6.0.2 All the zip/rar attachments are deleted permanently after 31days.


• 6.0.3 All the Audio attachments should range in between minimum 96kbps to a maximum of 192kbps.
• 6.0.4 All the video attachments should range in between minimum 250kbps to a maximum of 780kbps with a minimum video dimension of 320 x 240.
• 6.0.5 Sample media files should be posted on 3rd party websites.
• 6.0.6 The filenames should be logically expressive, by that it means, reading the filename, a human should be able to comprehend it. You may continue the standard that was adopted earlier (File name - Track name - Movie - Year - Singer Name - MD). In case details are not known, at least the track name, movie name and singer should be mentioned in the filename. Do not use shortforms or abbreviations of any kind in the filename.
• 6.0.7 Posts with audio attachments should cover all the known details of the attached file or the files in the attached file.
  SAMPLE
  Suhani Raat Dhal Chuki Na Jaane Tum Kab Aavoge
  Film - Dulari
  Year - 1949
  Lyricist(s) - Shakeel Badayuni
  Musician(s) - Naushad
  Duration - 3.20 mins
  Bitrate - 128kbps
  Format - mp3
• 6.0.8 Posts with video attachments should cover all the known details of the file as shown in the sample above along with at least one snapshot or a frame of the video. E.g Sample, failing which the upload will be deleted without prior notice.
• 6.0.9 Files should be uploaded individually and not as bulk uploads in the form of a single compressed file containing more than one or more files. Duplicate file uploads by the same member within a period of 30 days are not allowed and will be deleted immediately.
• 6.0.10 Posts with uploads that do not conform to the file attachments rules will be deleted immediately without prior notice. A warning will be given to the member and if found to violate the board rules more than once, the member will face moderation. If found to violate the rule despite the warning, the member will lose the posting facility.
• 6.0.11 A repeat upload of a file within 30 days of previous upload is strictly prohibited. Such files will be deleted immediately and the member will be given a warning. Despite warning, if the member continues to violate the rule, the posting rights will be removed.
• 6.0.12 Newbies can read about the Know Hows of File attachment at the following link - Guide for Newbies at HF

7.0 Guidelines for HF File Attachment Ratio:

• 7.0.1 A minimum ratio of 0.5 has to be maintained for one to download attachments from any forum on the HF board. For every 1 MB uploaded, a member is entitled to download upto 2 MB.
• 7.0.2 The ratio has been made persistent/cumulative upload/download bytes. More Info
• 7.0.3 Any data transmitted over HF Radio or from 3rd party websites will not affect your ratio.
• 7.0.4 The ratio will affect only those attachments that are in zip/rar formats.
• 7.0.5 If the member uploads a file and deletes it himself/herself or deleted by admin (for the violation of rules mentioned in Guidelines for HF File Attachments) from the post, the upload bytes will get deducted. He/she will not get the credit of such uploads. However if the admin deletes it as part of the 31 day deletion process, the upload bytes will not be deducted.

Having fun is good, we like fun. Please keep it positive and polite. We do not censor opinions or ideas on our forums but we do take action against posts and/or topics that could cause unrest in the community beyond a civil and polite disagreement.

Usability of this forum is fairly simple for a regular Internet user. However, if you have any questions about a forum, please contact the moderator of that forum or the administrator in case the forum does not have a moderator. You may also send your queries to admin{at}hamaraforums.com.

We reserve the right to ban or delete any member who violates our guidelines or disrupts our community.

Thank you for being a member of Hamara Forums Board and we hope you enjoy your stay.

:)