Our rules are enforced by our team of moderators, super moderators, and administrators via a user infraction system. When a member is given an infraction, they accrue points which remain on their record for a time period. 10 or more infraction points will result in an auto-ban from DaniWeb effective until the number of active points falls below 10.

Please help us to keep the site organized by taking the extra minute to make sure you are posting in the correct place: discussions and computer support in the appropriate forums; IT news and editorial (no non-technology related musings please) in the blogs. Remember, DaniWeb Blogs are industry blogs; *not* personal blogs.

Always obey specific policies contained within individual forum announcements. Do not post any support questions within any of the following forums: Mac Rumors and Reports; Hardware Swap; Community Introductions; Geeks' Lounge; IT Professionals' Lounge; all of the Business Exchange category.

Do not post homework problems expecting a quick answer without showing any effort yourself. This especially pertains to the software development forums. For easy readability, always wrap programming code within posts in [code] (code blocks) and [icode] (inline code) tags. If you post a question and it gets resolved, please use the Mark Solved link to mark your thread solved.

Use [bbcode] only when it is necessary to the comprehension of your post. Avoid using an excessive amount of [bbcode] to alter font styles or to draw more attention to your post.

Do not post threads with generic subjects such as "HELP ME" or "PROBLEM". Instead, clearly state a phrase describing the problem as the thread's title. Do not flood the forum by posting the same question more than once (ie in multiple forums). Do not piggyback threads (aka "hijack" threads) by posting your question as a reply to another question.

What Will Happen: The offending post or thread will be moved or renamed and exact duplicates deleted.

First offense: Member will be warned via user infraction system. Warning will be documented.

Second offense: 2 point infraction will remain on user's record for 1 month.

Do not post asking for an answer to be sent to you via email or PM. Problems and their responses assist others who read them. Please do not email or PM forum staff with your support questions.

Whenever possible, include images as attached files instead of using the [img] tag to host them on third party servers. What inevitably happens is the files eventually get deleted and you're left with broken images. Do not manually post "fake" signatures in your posts. Instead, you may create a sitewide signature within the user control panel. Posts must contain actual content and substance and cannot simply be external links.

What will happen: Emails, fake signatures, and personal information will be snipped out of offending post.

First offense: Member will be warned via user infraction system. Warning will be documented.

Second offense: 2 point infraction will remain on user's record for 3 months.

Do not spam, advertise, plug your website, or engage in any other type of self promotion. To encourage open, unbiased (incentive-free) discussion, it is prohibited to refer to sites you own or are affiliated with outside of the Business Exchange category. Additionally, keeping discussions anonymous encourages more open conversation, because members are not afraid of revealing their strategies to their competition.

All forums contained within the Business Exchange category are sorted based on thread start time and cannot be bumped. To ensure these sections remain non-spammy, please try to limit yourself to one new thread per month within each of these forums.

Only the direct sale of unique (ie one-of-a-kind) items or services is permitted within the aforementioned forums. Only items within the seller's immediate possession may be sold or traded. Please do not link to off-site eCommerce sites or auctions. No affiliate links are permitted anywhere within DaniWeb (except within forum signatures). Self-promotion links are permitted within forum signatures provided they do not contradict with any other sitewide rules, such as inappropriate language or content.

What will happen: The offending unsolicited post will be deleted (or plugged URLs snipped).

First offense - plug: Member will be warned via user infraction system. Warning will be documented.

Second offense - plug: 5 point infraction will remain on user's record for 3 months.

First offense - solicitation: 5 point infraction will remain on user's record for 3 months.

We strive to be a community geared towards the professional. We strongly encourage all posts to be in full-sentence English. Please do not use "leet" speak or "chatroom" speak.

Our privacy policy requires members to be at least 13 years of age, but demographic surveys have shown the average age of our members to be over 30. Mature language and concepts are therefore acceptable on DaniWeb to the point that would be acceptable on daytime family television, but offensive postings are not. To ensure that standards are maintained we have implemented a filter that will edit out inappropriate language in your postings. However, common sense should prevail and if you are unsure if a word is acceptable or not, please don’t post it. It is prohibited to use alternative characters in an attempt to circumvent the bad words filter.

What will happen: Offensive material will be snipped out of offending post or censored by bad words filter.

First offense: Member will be warned via user infraction system. Warning will be documented.

Second offense: 5 point infraction will remain on user's record for 3 months.

Do not troll by posting anything with malicious intent against another member (including, but not limited to, racist, sexist or religiously prejudiced remarks).

What will happen: Very derogatory posts will be deleted. Flame war threads will be locked.

First offense: Member will be warned via user infraction system. Warning will be documented.

Second offense: 5 point infraction will remain on user's record for 6 months.

Keep it clean and do not post pornographic material or link to it. In addition, do not post anything warez related or related to other illegal acts. This includes tech support troubleshooting pirated software or P2P programs (i.e. Gnutella, Kazaa) used to obtain pirated software. Exceptions are helping to remove spyware or browser hijacks (that may or may not be related to illegal material) from a computer.

Please ensure you own the rights to everything you post. Do not post code snippets to our code library, tutorials, or blog entries which are not your own intellectual property.

What will happen: The offending post will be deleted and legal authorities may be contacted.

First offense: 5 point infraction will remain on user's record for 6 months.