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Terms of Use

Last Update: Wednesday, May 30, 2001

These are the "Terms Of Use" of  Dune-Buggy.com

These guidelines have been  implemented to help assure that Dune-Buggy.com is a fun and informative place to be. They are a work in progress and will be changed as the situation dictates. You are responsible for regularly reviewing this document for any changes.  The information here was not taken lightly. If you are unsure on any of these rules; or if you have any comments, suggestions, or disagree with anything;  please email me at tkirkwood@dune-buggy.com

You may not use this web site or any messages on it for email harvesting purposes whether it's done automatically or  manually.

Remember: Everything you do on this site is logged with the file that was loaded, your IP address, the exact time, where you came from, and where you went. This is true of every web site you will encounter.

General Behavior / Etiquette

My definition of a Flame: Anything that would get you punched in the face if you weren't hiding behind a computer screen.

Remember: The internet is a new thing for many people. One of the biggest problems with forums and email is that you lose a significant amount of information that you would normally have in a  face-to-face conversation. Think about it. When reading an email or message you don't know the age or sex of the person. Had this been a physical conversation you might have rephrased the answer differently. Furthermore, that person would have been able to hear your tone of voice and would have seen your facial expression; and used that info to base his impressions of your reply. Keep in mind how the tone of your words may be perceived by other readers and make use of "emoticons" if applicable.
 

:-)    : )   :->   :> Smiles
:-(   : (   :-<   : < Sad faces
;)  ;-) Winks

Be aware that this site can be viewed by people of all ages, so act accordingly.

What it boils down to is that you have to use common sense when posting information.  If your reply isn't going to add value to the forum -  don't post it! If it's something of a personal nature  - do it through email. If you think a posting is "dumb" -  ignore it!  It's that simple!

If you disagree with a posting, do so in a courteous manner without resorting to personal attacks. If your buggy just broke and you feel the need to flame or harass people, do it elsewhere. (I would suggest going to www.firetalk.com and venting in the insult rooms.)

When replying to a posting, don't "over quote."  Remove the information in the original post that is irrelevant to your reply.

No matter what your age, if you are incapable of acting like an adult, please do not post anything here. Feel free to disagree, but be respectful and courteous when you do so.

 

Commercial Advertising and Use

This site is free for private individuals. That does not mean it is free to everyone. If you represent a business you are obligated to follow the rules below if you want to access this site. This site costs time and money to run just as your business costs time and money to run. You will have to pay for advertising here, just as the visitors here would have to pay to receive your products or services. I have attempted to make the following rules as fair as possible to Dune-Buggy.com, the private viewers and you -  the commercial user.

First a few definitions:

business:

  1. The activity of providing goods and services involving financial and commercial and industrial
 

agent:

  1. acts on behalf of other persons or organizations
  2. a businessman who buys or sells for another in exchange for a commission

advertisement:

  1. a public promotion of some product or service especially by a business or their agent

 

In General: If you make or have the intent  to make a steady profit from anything you post; or acquire new customers; then that would be considered commercial use.  If you are acting on behalf of a business (agent), you fall under the same guidelines below.

My attempt to define any gray areas: Some people who are posting ads to sell parts for their friends or do a lot of trading to support their "habit" may fall into a gray area and not know if they they would be considered commercial or not. Below are some questions that you can ask yourself about the related activity to help you decide whether it is personal or a small business.

  1. Is this a full time occupation?
  2. Do you have employees for the related activities?
  3. Do you charge money to perform work for customers?
  4. Do you use a business name for the related activities?
  5. Do you sell new parts that you get from a distributor or do you sell new parts that you build yourself?
  6. Do you maintain a parts inventory that's not for your use?
  7. Do you write off your related expenses against income?
  8. Do you maintain a customer list and rely on repeat customers?
  9. Do you maintain a separate bank account for the related activities?

Examples:

  1. A Repair shop owner - Commercial
  2. A small repair shop working out of his garage - Commercial
  3. A person who just makes stub axles. Commercial when selling the stub axles but personal when selling his personal buggy parts
  4. A parts mail order vendor - Commercial
  5. A person building frames in his garage - If he's just selling frames, it's commercial just when selling frames and not his personal parts.  If he also sells new turn key cars then everything he sells is commercial.

 

There are several options for Commercial Businesses to advertise here. You can post a link to your site in the BuggyLinks database located on the homepage. You can post a sponsored ad in BuggyTrader or you can purchase banner ads. There is to be no advertising by businesses in BuggyTrader or BuggyTalk or in other areas except where expressly allowed. You will receive one warning. 

For advertising options at Dune-buggy.com please look in the advertising section.

Contacting Private Individuals: Commercial users may not contact any individual strictly for the purposes of advertising unless that person's message clearly states that they would like to be contacted by businesses. The key words here are "for the purposes of advertising."

Not Allowed:
An email from SuperDuper buggies offering to sell rims in response to a post in BuggyTrader that says the person is looking for a set of rims.  Explanation: BuggyTrader is for private use.

Allowed:
An email from SuperDuper buggies explaining the proper size rim to get.

Business participation in BuggyTalk:

A business may participate in BuggyTalk under the following guidelines:

No Polls of any kind. To put it another way: No Polls of any kind.

No Advertising, no self promotion.

Include your name and company on two signature lines below the message.

A person representing a business can reply to a post in BuggyTalk if the intent is to answer the question and not promote your own company.

For example:

Q: What size torsion bars should I use on this car?

Not Allowed:
A: Go to torsionbars-r-us.com we have a lot of info you can look at.
Explanation: No Self promotion. It is assumed that if you work for the above company you will be able to provide an answer to the question.

Allowed:
A: For a car of that size and use, we  recommend these size bars and we set the preload this way...

New Threads in BuggyTalk:

A person representing a business may start a new thread if the intent is to start a legitimate discussion and not promote their business. For Example:

Not Allowed:
Q: We have a shop across from the dunes, do any of you guys ride out there?

Allowed:
Q: I have a customer with a bugspray carb, I've done this, this, and this...any suggestion on how to get it to run on this engine?

 

Text and Image Uploads in General

If you post a picture or text that is considered obscene you will cause me to hunt you down and unleash my full wrath. In addition your provider and the authorities will be notified and you will be responsible for damages. nuff said.

Remember: Everything you do on this site is logged with the file that was loaded, your IP address, the exact time, where you came from, and where you went. 

The internet is a big place, by uploading images or text to this website, you agree that the image or message can be viewed by anyone. Furthermore you are giving Dune-Buggy.com the rights to use the uploaded pictures and text.

 

Uploaded Images

You are capable of uploading images to this site. This upload capability has been provided to you so that you can show the buggy community a picture of you, your buggy or something  related. There is a size limit, please read the Quick and Dirty Tutorial I put together regarding pictures.

Do not upload images or link to them unless you have permission from the owner of the image and they also agree to the terms here. In other words don't infringe on someone's Copyright.

Banner Ads or commercial ads will not be tolerated except where expressly permitted. NO exceptions. No Warnings.

 

SPAM SPAM SPAM SPAM SPAMITY SPAM

My definition of SPAM:

1.  Unsolicited posts in inappropriate places - usually done by someone promoting something.

2.  A mystery meat with questionably nutritional value

Examples of Spam:

1.  New message board just opened go here: www.somesite.com

2.  I just got a great deal on a long distance carrier...

3.  Anyone know what happened to www.commercialsite.com

Some is blatant and some is disguised. I usually base the decision on whether the message is on topic and whether the poster's intent was to add value to this site or promote something for his own purposes. Sometimes it's a tough call so if there's any feedback on that definition I'd be happy to hear it.

If you see a SPAM message feel free to reply to the individual through personal email, but do it politely. Furthermore if you're the first person to see a  SPAM message reply to it and use the prefix  "SPAM." This way other readers won't look at the message and a SPAM thread won't start.

 

BuggyTrader Classifieds

No Commercial advertising of any kind in BuggyTrader unless you are a paying sponsor and your ad fits in with the nature of BuggyTrader. Read that again please.

BuggyTrader is for ads, so the post should be an ad or in some circumstances a response directly related to an ad.

You should not post an ad for an ad.

For Example:

Not Allowed:
   There's a buggy for sale here...check it out or email me.

Allowed:
I have a buggy for sale, it has this, this and this, I want this much. You can see more pictures at this link.

If you are looking for something, be specific. For Example:

Not Allowed:
I want a Buggy send pictures to troll@myhouse.com along with full details.

Explanation: You may be wondering about this example. My view is that if the person is not taking the time to write a suitable description of what he wants, he is probably just collecting emails, pictures, etc. This wastes everyone's time.

Allowed:
I live in South Idaho and I'm looking for an off-road rail. I don't mind fixing it up but I don't want to get into a complete rebuild. I can spend up to xxx dollars.

If you have a list of parts, post the list.

Not Allowed:  I have a lot of buggy parts...email me for the list.

Explanation: If you have the time to email everyone a list, you have the time to post the list - make sense?

Prefix: When you post an ad,  pick an appropriate prefix:

WTB = Want to Buy
FS = For Sale
Trade = Trade

Location and Headline: After the prefix put in your location (Philadelphia Pennsylvania, Central New Jersey,  MummyLand Egypt, etc)  and then type a descriptive subject line. There is now a site wide search engine that people can use to search for their location. If you type the full State/location name you will be rewarded with more "hits".

Put a price either on the headline or in the ad because people will ask you that anyway - right?

In the ad include as much information as possible.

If you have any questions about an existing ad you should respond through personal email in most cases unless it is something that everyone will be interested in.

When you sell: Please post a reply to your original ad and state in the subject line that the car or part has been SOLD and leave a brief message about your experience with BuggyTrader. This is not a hard and fast rule, but it does allow the readers to see what was bought or sold. Tip: To find your ads use the search function and search for your username.

What's appropriate to advertise:

This is a community of Buggiers and as such, the ad should be for something that a buggier uses and not something that the general public would need. To put it another way: if this community is likely to have it (or want it) in their garage, at the track, or at the campsite AND the general public is not likely to have an interest in it then it's OK. There's a lot of gray area there so here are some general guidelines:

If you want to post an ad and you think it's in one of the gray areas, ask yourself this question: "Would I pay money to advertise my item to this market?" If you can honestly answer "yes", then more than likely it's suitable. If you answer "no" to yourself then it's probably not suitable.

Allowed:

  1. Rails, fiberglass buggies, Baja bugs, mini buggies, 4wd buggies, old VWs
  2. Parts for buggies
  3. An old/cheap Tacoma that could make a 4WD buggy.
  4. Tools
  5. Car Trailers
  6. VW based Kit Car bodies
  7. Engines
  8. ATVs
  9. Motorcycles
  10. Kit Car bodies

Not Allowed:

  1. Restored Bug that will never be a Baja
  2. Your neighbors brand new Tacoma

Trades are OK if the headline clearly states what you have and that you want to trade. If it's something that the general public will have an interest in (a brand new Escort for instance) then you should use autotrader or one of the other generic classified sites to sell your product and then come back with cash. (You'll get a better deal)

 

BuggyTalk

No Commercial advertising of any kind in BuggyTalk. Read that again please.

This area is for everything that has to do with buggies that is non-ad related.  Tech questions, trail reports, bad buggy jokes, etc.

Many different ideas are discussed, you're welcome to disagree with what is said but do so in a respectful manner and be aware how your words may be perceived. Many of the people reading the messages may be new to buggying. Some may be young. So keep that in mind when you post a message or a response.

Businesses can participate under the guidelines in the Commercial section above..

Personal attacks or flames will NOT be tolerated.

 

Our Right to Delete Posts

Dune-Buggy.com has the right to delete anything as it sees fit.  From time to time we may also edit a post as long as it does not change the meaning of the message.

 

BuggyWebs

BuggyWebs was designed so that the viewers can have their own web site. Feel free to show off your vehicle, make a tech tip page, or give info about your latest project. You can create more than one web. If you do, name it like this "yourname1" where possible. In addition please use the same name as you used in the message forums. BuggyWebs is intended to provide information, not for advertising.  DO NOT USE BANNER ADS OF ANY KIND! Commercial sites will be allowed under certain circumstances with written permission.

Examples:

Not Allowed:
A page with one picture and a link that says "go here for more info"

Allowed:
A page with full instructions on how to build a tubing bender with text at the bottom that says "Submitted by Joe bender at  Benders-R-Us"

Dune-Buggy.com reserves the right to edit or delete anything that does not fit in with this document or the nature of the Dune-Buggy.com community.

You have a page and space limitation. Currently 1500K and 5 pages. If you need more space let me know and I will add space to your account. Please read the Quick and Dirty Graphics Tutorial I put together regarding pictures.  The size of a web page and all pictures with few exception can and should be under 150K total size. Any larger and it takes too long for people to load with a modem.

Do not make "links" pages. Please add your links to the BuggyLinks database on the homepage.

 

BuggyLinks

If you have a commercial business or a shop of some kind but do not have a web page, you can enter information about your company in the details box along with a photo and a web page will automatically be created for you. Please go here for information on having a commercial listing.

No links to any pages similar to BuggyTrader,  BuggyTalk or the BuggyLinks database.

I have allowed you to select multiple categories to be listed in. Do not abuse this feature. The second category  was designed for the purpose of Clubs, Races, Trails, and Shops to also have a listing by their location. (ie. So you can look under a State and see everything buggy related in that State.)

Dune-buggy.com  has the right to place any listings in the appropriate category or to remove links. If you have content or link to content that is inappropriate for a child, your link will be removed. Also please do not post links to empty skeleton sites. That just annoys the visitors.

The link should point directly to information that is relevant to the category that the link is in.

 

If you have any question or suggestions regarding this document, please don't hesitate to ask.

                Todd Kirkwood

 

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