Welcome to the BiggerPockets® Forums/Site Rules.
The real estate investing discussion forums and social network at BiggerPockets.com are where investors and other real estate professionals congregate. First and foremost, BiggerPockets.com is a community. There are certain rules which we enforce in order to provide the most enjoyable atmosphere that we can.
Please take a moment to familiarize yourself with our posting and activity regulations,
and understand that we also rely on YOU to help us keep this community
friendly and enjoyable. This means that not only do the rest of the members
expect you to follow these guidelines in your own posts and activity, the administrators
and moderators should be contacted via email or private message if you feel
that another member's post or activity has violated these rules to such a degree that
you would like to bring it to our attention.
All reports will be judged without prejudice.
Forum Posting Regulations
No Pornographic or Sexual Material.
Any sexually oriented imagery or links to such content will not be
tolerated on the forums, on member profiles, or anywhere else on the site. Additionally, sexually explicit discussions are not acceptable to
our community. Any posting of such material will result in a permanent ban.
No Profanity in Thread Titles.
We do ask that the titles of threads contain no foul language. Moderators of individual boards may also allow or disallow profanity as they see fit, and their decisions are final.
Posting Email Addresses, Websites & Phone Numbers in Threads.
In order to try to prevent spammers and protect our membership, we do not allow our users to post URLs in any form until they have posted at least 10 legitimate posts and have been with us for more than 7 days. We appreciate your understanding in this matter in order to help us eliminate spam from this forum.
If you want to include your email address, website, or phone number for people to contact you, please put this information in your Signature. We will remove any email address, website or phone number that has been placed in our message posts, and your influence will be negatively affected as a result.
Please do not give out any personal information such as phone number, postal address, zip code, last name, or anything you do not wish others to know. If you choose to ignore this request, we cannot be held responsible for the consequences. Age, Gender, Location, and Birthday are all optional upon registration. Email address, username, your Real Name and password are required. Please know privacy is very important to us; we will never divulge your email address to anyone without first asking your consent. We have implemented privacy filters to allow members to hide their last name from other members, and have added other security measures in the Settings and Password section of your DASHBOARD. If you get "spam" emails or PMs from a member please report the email address to us so we can investigate.
No FAO (for the attention of) posts.
You will refrain from having personal discussions or "for the attention of" post with other board members. Please use the Private Message feature of the board, chat, or email for this purpose.
No Impersonations.
Do not attempt to impersonate other forum members, and forum moderators/administrators. Such an attempt will not be successful and it is an offense that will get you banned from the forums -no ifs, ands, or buts about it. Out of courtesy to other forum users and moderators we expect you to use only one username or account on our site. Please do not post email addresses, standard addresses, ICQ and other messaging client numbers, or phone numbers which are not your own.
One account per user, please.
Please do not register multiple accounts. Using alternate nicknames and accounts is considered unacceptable.
No Abusive Behavior.
You agree, through your use of this service, that you will not use this
Forum to post any material which is knowingly false and/or defamatory,
abusive, hateful, harassing, obscene, sexually explicit, threatening,
invasive of a person's privacy, or otherwise violating of any law. Hate
speech is not tolerated. We will not tolerate abusive behavior to another member, moderator, or administrator.
ABUSIVE BEHAVIOR INCLUDES POSTING IN ALL CAPS! It is bad netiquette, and is flat out rude. Doing so will not be tolerated.
Do NOT Flame or Troll
Flaming, flamebaiting, and trolling are NOT allowed ANYWHERE on this site! This rule applies to posts, signatures, PMs, blogs, etc. Flaming is directly insulting another member, flame-baiting is making a comment with the intention of getting a flame as a response, and trolling is the act of making posts with no purpose other than to annoy people.
Remember - All Members are Equals
Do NOT single a member out because they have low postcount, or status on the site. All members should be treated equally, whether they be an admin, moderator, or average member. This also includes minor rule violators. You may NOT attack minor rule violators for breaking the rules, simply tell them the rule they broke and leave it at that. Although major offenders such as advertisement spammers likely won't get you in trouble for attacking them, any rule violations are best handled by reporting the member or post to a moderator or admin, not by flaming them.
Respect the Staff
If a staff member tells you to stop doing something, STOP. If you don't you'll likely be banned. If you disagree with any action taken by a staff member, please contact the administrator. We'll gladly review anything you have to say. NEVER attack the staff directly or publically, as this is immediate grounds for banning.
No Email Harvesting
Users may not harvest email addresses from our site. Doing so will result in an immediate ban!
NO PM SPAM
Members will not have access to our PM system until they have reached 10 posts. This is to discourage spammers. You agree NOT to send ANY unwanted solicitation through the use of our PM function and via email through our site. Doing so is grounds for immediate removal from the site!
NO POACHING
We will not permit anyone to divert the members of this forum to other competing real estate forums or websites. Recruiting our members to other forums or competing websites is strictly forbidden. If you are simply here to promote your own forum, then please leave as you will be banned for doing so.
No Affiliate Links
No posting affiliate links in messages, blogs or in your signature. Hiding
affiliate links through services that provide short urls is also forbidden.
Posting Images in Threads.
Screenshots, photographs, and other images
that you want to embed in your post must be no larger than 640 x 480 pixels.
Larger images will be deleted, resized, or changed to a link.
No Off-Topic Postings.
Posts in a particular forum need to stay on topic. If you want to talk about something that is drastically removed from the topic of a forum, please take it to Off-Topic.
Off-Topic was set up and designed for members to discuss issues not
related to real estate or real estate investing. We welcome most general conversation in the Off-Topic, but discourage it from the other forum threads.
No Thread Killing
If a member is not happy with a post they have made, they should remove it once posted. Removal of posts, once others have responded, does nothing but ruin the flow of a conversation and kill a thread. Users who engage in thread-killing will have their accounts suspended.
NO SPAMMING
Spamming is characterized by the initiation of threads or posts that
contribute nothing to a forum, be it off topic or on topic. Examples
include: advertisements that are not located in the classifieds section, empty posts, posts with few words that have no relation to the current thread, promotion of your website or product in any thread other than the classifieds, or discussion and those posts that state they are Spam,
either to annoy or increase a member's post count. Posting the same message across several threads is also considered Spam. This determination is
made by the forum Moderator or Administrator and is not up for discussion.
No Advertising or Promotions.
You will not post topics or messages that solicit or promote any commercial
concern or transmit advertising, promotional materials, chain letters,
pyramid schemes, or make any commercial use of our service. Doing so will
result in the immediate termination of your account.
There are several areas for promotion, all of which are located in the MARKETPLACE section of the forums. These include, but are not limited to: Make Deals, Find Partners, Mentors & BirdDogs, etc. - the area for dealmaking on the forums, Classifieds - post your real estate wants or needs, Property, Land, & Farms For Sale - Realtors, Landlords & Managers - post any available properties you may have here, and Promote your Website, Newsletter, or Product - In order to set a standard, users must post at least 10 posts before posting in these areas. These must contribute to the community, and not merely be fluff posts. From there, feel free to promote your wares here!
NOTE: Members are welcome to continue posting in the above areas once they have reached the posting requirements of the respective forums, BUT, must continue to contribute to other areas of the site if they expect to keep posting in these areas. Members who do nothing but pitch deals or their businesses will have their accounts suspended! Be sure to give back to the community if you expect to receive the benefits of the site.
Please do not spam the other areas of our forum with sales pitches.
These rules apply to the Classifieds, Property Wanted, Commercial Properties for Sale or Lease, Residential Property, Land, & Farms For Sale, Mortgages & Lending , and Seeking Deals, Partners, BirdDogs, etc. Threads:
You may only post once a month regarding your company, property, deal, or offer.
SPAM also includes sending unsolicited emails or private messages to members in an attempt to gain business. Users who use our system to SPAM will have their privileges revoked or their accounts suspended or terminated.
Member User Names, Signatures, Avatars, and Profile Information.
Usernames
We do not allow members to use website URLs or email addresses as usernames. Usernames must be appropriate and shall not contain references to drugs, sex, or any other material generally thought to be inappropriate.
Avatars
Member avatars exist so our users can share their personalities or photos. Avatars MAY NOT be used for promotional purposes. This means NO ads and NO company logos. Users may not use sexually explicit photos for their avatars, and pictures showing too much skin are also prohibited. BiggerPockets is a professional site -- keep your pictures professional as well, please.
Signatures
Registered members are allowed to append signatures to their forum posts. These signatures:
- Must be set up in your profile, and not manually added to your messages.
- May not contain any pricing, sales, product etc. details.
- May contain a maximum of two smilies.
- May include two clickable link URL and/or one clickable email (mailto: )
- May not be used to pitch yours or other websites. i.e. can't be advertisements
- May include two colors. Hyperlink color is set by the forum and is not counted as a color.
- Maximum font size cannot be larger than normal.
- Must be kept to a maximum of 3 lines or 150 characters (including spaces).
- May not contain links to other real estate forums or competing websites
- May not be rented or sold to anyone.
- Any signature that is offensive, insulting, or harmful to either BiggerPockets, its members, or its staff, are prohibited.
- Usage of all capital letters is prohibited.
- May not contain affiliate links.
- May be removed if a member is no longer active or if a member's only intention (as determined by the administrators) is to post to get their signature seen. i.e. fluff posts
The administrators may remove any signature at any time for any reason.
Administration and forum leaders will have final determination as to what is
appropriate.
LINK MODIFICATION BY ADMINISTRATORS
BiggerPockets administrators may at their discretion, upgrade links contained within our forums that point to books or other real estate materials. These upgraded links may contain codes allowing BiggerPockets to profit for referred traffic.
USE OF FORUM EMAIL & PRIVATE MESSAGING
Abuse of the forum email & private messaging systems will result in removal from the site immediately and possible banning. In addition, we reserve the right to seek financial retribution for severe cases of forum email & private messaging abuse.
Note: The forum administrators reserve the right to periodically scan & review the PM database in search of abuse.
OFFICIAL FORUM EMAIL & PRIVATE MESSAGES
Please note that when you register for this forum, you agree to receive emails & private messages sent by the administrators & moderators of the forum. Any threat of legal action will not be taken seriously, as the forum emailings do not get sent to you unless you register & thus, permit it.
BANNING, SUSPENSION, TERMINATION
BiggerPockets, Inc. reserves the right at its
sole discretion to restrict, suspend, or terminate your access to parts of or the entire BiggerPockets® Real Estate Website, if you violate any of the rules stated in this document or any other service terms documents. In some instances, a moderator will remove the offending message and may or may not send you a note letting you know why the message was removed and requesting that you adhere to the site's policies. It is your responsibility to maintain a current, valid email address in your registration information so that our moderators can contact you in the event of a policy violation. Any member who violates our policies will be denied access to these forums, or any other part of the site whether or not they were able to receive a message from a moderator stating the nature of the violation.
Members of these forums are solely responsible for ALL content that they post on
our site. BiggerPockets, Inc. shall have the right, but not the obligation, to correct any errors or omissions in any Content, as it may determine in its sole discretion.
All proprietary rights, disclaimer of warranties, indemnities, limitations of liability and miscellaneous provisions survive any termination of your Account. BiggerPockets may ban, suspend, or terminate your account with or without notice for violations of the rules in this document, other service documents, or for any external legal violations of BiggerPockets' Rights, including, but not limited to Violations of BiggerPockets, Inc.'s copyright.
BiggerPockets, Inc. further reserves the right, in their sole discretion, to delete or remove ANY user content from the site and to deny the access of any member to all parts of this site at any time for any reason without prior notice or
liability.
If a member feels that these rules have been violated, they are encouraged
to report the to a moderator or administrator via Private
Message or email for review.
Our forums are moderated and moderators or administrators hold the right of closing or
deleting a thread they feel is inappropriate. Once a topic is closed,
members are not allowed to start new ones with the same topic or to question
why a specific thread has been closed. All questions or remarks regarding
closed or deleted threads must be e-mailed privately to the moderator who
performed this action. Further any discussion of these rules is to be held
through the Administrators or Moderators, via e-mail, and not on the forums
themselves.
If you don't like these rules, please don't post or participate. If you break these rules,
we reserve the right to revoke your posting privileges. Remember, posting
here and membership on BiggerPockets is a privilege and not a right.
If your posting privileges have been revoked and you have questions about
why, or what you might be able to do to restore them (this is not possible
in all cases), please email the Forum Administrator.
BiggerPockets, Inc. takes no responsibility for the content, links to or use of the content of the messages posted on this board, nor do we endorse the opinions of the
authors. You remain solely responsible for the content of your messages, and
you agree to indemnify and hold harmless BiggerPockets, Inc. and their
agents with respect to any claim based upon transmission of your message(s).
We at BiggerPockets.com reserve the right to delete any message or any other user content for any or no reason whatsoever.
Disabling/editing of posts/users: Requests for account and/or post removal will entail, upon request, removing personal data, location, or avatar, from their profile to protect the privacy of the person. The member account will remain intact because of the nature of the threading of posts within the database, but the profile will no longer be available or viewable by anyone other than site administrators. Forum posts will NOT be removed from the site.
Social Networks and Message boards are a dynamic entity, and BiggerPockets, Inc. reserves the right to change or alter these rules at any time. An Administrators word is final.
BiggerPockets, Inc. reserves the right to publish forum post content (in whole or in part) on any or all of our associated sites. By submitting any content to this site, you give us your consent to reproduce such content in any way, publicly or privately, in any form of media, known or unknown, without any compensation to you. We will only remove such content at our own discretion, and amongst other things, that includes all forum posts, site comments, and other content.
Users of this site agree to compensate BiggerPockets, Inc. for any and all legal and court fees that may arise out of any lawsuits that are raised against it.
