[Moderator David@stives]

I am not one for hard and fast rules but after the last few days I have no option but to write some guidelines, So without sounding to authoritarian, here goes.

 1.   NO SWEARING in any form not even using asterisk's, apostrophes etc.

 2.   No intimidating or threatening behaviour to be used against a fellow member, as in "I know where you live etc."

 3.  It is very bad form to pick on someone's spelling or use of words, for all we know some people are dyslexic etc.

 4   No Bullying or taunting other forum members

5    Do not use this section as an ordering medium to various retailers!, and do not use the forum as way     of making PM's ie "FAO Joe bloggs" and so on.

Anyone found breaking these rules could face a suspension or even an instant ban, In the first instance either myself or a fellow mod will send a friendly warning to anyone flouting these rules, asking them to moderate there behaviour.

If you do not have an email address in your profile, then I wont be able to do the above, so it is most likely you will get an instant ban until you contact the forum owners.

Anything deemed too serious for a warning, will also get an instant ban, as will people who persistently  offend.

Anyone who has had a ban  has a right to appeal and will will have to contact Mike Boxhall (Forum Owner) to do that.

As a general rule most posts aren't acted upon until we get “report to moderator” posts from fellow posters as we cant possibly read through every post. So the worse your behaviour the more likely you will get noticed and it will be brought to our attention.

Thanks for Listening   

David & Ian

[CLEANGLASSUK]

I am not one for hard and fast rules but after the last few days I have no option  to write some guidelines, So without sounding to authoritarian, here goes.

Number 1.   NO SWEARING in any form not even using asterisk, apostrophes etc.

Number 2.   No intimidating or threatening behaviour to be used against a fellow member, as in "I know where you live etc."

Number 3.  It is very bad form to pick on someone's spelling or use of words, for all we know some people are dyslexic etc.

Number 4    I haven't thought of that one yet so bear with me , I just thought it important to highlight the above points.

Anyone found breaking these rules could face a suspension or even an instant ban, In the first instance either myself or a fellow mod will send a friendly warning to anyone flouting these rules, asking them to moderate there behaviour.

If you do not have an email address in your profile, then I wont be able to do the above, so it is most likely you will get an instant ban until you contact the forum owners.

Anything deemed too serious for a warning, will also get an instant ban, as will  persistent offenders.

Anyone who has had a ban  has a right to appeal and will will have to contact Mike to do that.

As a general rule most posts aren't acted upon until we get “report to moderator” posts from fellow posters as we cant possibly read through every post. So the worse your behaviour the more likely you will get noticed and it will be brought to our attention.

Thanks for Listening   

David & Ian

Dave   NO SWEARING in any form not even using asterisk, apostrophes etc.
does this mean not to other people on the forum as a joke or not at all
cheers cleanglass

[Tosh]

Dave   NO SWEARING in any form not even using asterisk, apostrophes etc.
does this mean not to other people on the forum as a joke or not at all
cheers cleanglass

I'm sure you could express yourself in other ways; use euphimisms; 'blimey', 'git', 'Squeaky'... etc

[Moderator David@stives]

Gleenglass

Absolutely no Swearing in any shape or form, there are thousands of other words in the English language you can use.

There is a Zero Tollerence in the non related section, but i want to use my discretion and give a polite reminder first.

Bare in mind the forum owners are stricter, and are not always so forgiving as me.

[Mr H]

Well put Dave.... Nice to see someone setting standards for decency.

Regards
Mr H

P.S..... Could rule 4 be "Make sure you post topics in the correct section..." ?

[Ian_Giles]

Hi Dave,

I don't get on as often as I would wish at present, but I'd been meaning to put something similar up myself.

Maybe another rule would be to stop using the this section as an ordering conduit to various retailers! As well as way of making PM's ie "FAO Joe bloggs" and so on.

Ian

[Moderator David@stives]

Ian

I will try to add those points later.

Dave

[Alex Gardiner]

Well done Dave,

This would improve the accessibility and professionalism of this Forum. Would this be able to extend to Avatars as well. I often access the forum when my children are around, sometimes reading a simple thread can be unsuitable for them due to avatar content.

Whilst we do not want a 'police state' a few good clean standards will only help improve this forum. There are plenty of other forums on the internet for specific user groups, if some want to post offensive things.

[Moderator David@stives]

Alex

I know what you mean about avatars.

If anyone sees any which are offensive just press the report to moderator button and we will have a look at it.

[Tosh]

I wasn't thinking of yours Tosh as it is almost impossible to discern any real detail (thank goodness!)

Thank you.

I'm sure you'd find the pic of Squeaky far more offensive anyway.

I know I do.

[Moderator David@stives]

Tosh

Your avatar is awful, when my kids come in the room, they think i am on some wierd cross dressing site, when you are on my screen

[Clive McDonald]

Alex
way off topic but i've been reading another biz book- and  it occured to me that you are sitting on a fortune. Reference xls and supalite branded products, you've got price, technical, and increasing brand superioty, and the world market is massive Ie America- Russia- Australia. The world wants this stuff, especially from someone who's a couple of years ahead of anyone else, yet still has realistic prices.

However in biz terms you are too puny and don't have the reach or the time or the money to do any of this justice.Sell out to a big partner.(for a lot of money).

Just a thought.

[Clive McDonald]

I was thinking more american rights etc, let someone else distribute and probably source too. You can keep the uk.

There are companies out there that do things like this. You probably knew anyway.And besides it's none of my business anyway.

[Clive McDonald]

What i like about this thread is that it stays at the top. I can post any of my litttle thoughts and insights just so long as they stay vaguely on topic- which i belive is on forum rules..

Well i'm stretching it abit to include admin too. I beleive that, great as this forum is, it achieves no where near it's potential in terms of adding value for the members and the attempts at income streams are just ludicrous.

Get yourself a biz section old son where lots of usefull 'how to's' can be purchased.

[Moderator David@stives]

note to rules

The rules are, No advertising allowed from suppliers, as individuals we are allowed to talk about products and suppliers can answer no problem.  Just no blatant advertising and no weblinks to suppliers or other forums

[Clive McDonald]

Okay- but you need to amend your first post to include. You can call this 5 a or something.

[Alex Gardiner]

note to rules

The rules are, No advertising allowed from suppliers, as individuals we are allowed to talk about products and suppliers can answer no problem.  Just no blatant advertising and no weblinks to suppliers or other forums

I think that's fair enough, after all this is Express Cleaning Supplies forum and the ultimate aim of it is to make money for Express Cleaning Supplies.  I have often thought about setting a Gardiner Pole Systems forum but the work involved in doing so would probably outweigh the benefit to clients, presuming that anyone bothered to use it of course! 

The CleanItUp forum has got to a size now (which is quite an achievement for Mike Boxall) where it's continued popularity, whilst not guaranteed, is fairly certain.  This means that people wanting a rapid answer to a question will still post due to the fact that there are more people available to answer.

[Pj]

Well I think this is a shame and a bad move.  If Express Cleaning want to exercise exclusive rights they may lose more than they gain from the Forum.  We learn a lot from Suppliers freely commenting, they need some incentive to share!  A website link is often very helpful, most can soon see if that is being exploited.

Surely between Forum admin and the Moderators they know who the legitimate Suppliers are?  Why not give the Suppliers a clear identifying mark, Forum approved for example.  Suppliers who don't identify and seek to operate in a clandestine way will soon be sniffed out and banned permanently, others wanting to come on could be on approval for a time, with tighter rules.  You are inevitably going to lose some valuable advisers. 

For what it's worth I think this is going to negatively impact profoundly on the activity on this Forum.  Maybe that's what the owners want.

[HIGH LEVEL WINDOW CLEANERS (scrimmy)]

I think the only sensible option is to disband the whole forum, as time goes by more and more people are getting into window cleaning and suprisingly more people are getting into supplies (dropshipping etc) and as this is the biggest forum out there then inevitably it will soon be awash with guys who dabble in supplying.......which leads me to believe that CIU cannot possibly exist under those conditions and should therefore close and the owners should join the other forums to have their say on things etc where there are fewer rules on who can post.

[WCE]

note to rules

The rules are, No advertising allowed from suppliers, as individuals we are allowed to talk about products and suppliers can answer no problem.  Just no blatant advertising and no weblinks to suppliers or other forums

Can you clarify this ruling please as I am a little confused is it just equipment suppliers or does this include service providers, trades bodies etc. That is what chris has implied in the deleting my account thread hence the request for clarification. The reason I ask is I notice that the guild post has gone now and wondered if it has fallen foul of the new ruling. If it has then I am quite surprised about this as the Guild is is a not for profit association and can hardly be classed as a rival business as no one makes a penny from it, the people who give their time do so for the mutual benefit of it's members and ultimately all window cleaners and our industry. If you look on the website we have a link to here so rather than actually take business away the guild is in a position to send customers here. Also I am currently working on some special members offers so If Mike would like to take part then please feel free to contact me to discuss it, he is more than welcome. This is another example of how the guild could actually benefit CIU/Express rather than hinder it's business operations. I hope you don't mind me using the guild as an example but I have used it as an example as I know how it operates although most if not all the points I have made could equally apply to the other associations.

 Therefore may I suggest a compromise, how about a new section for the trade associations across the cleaning industry? There is already an events section. 
Anyway the suggestions there please at least consider it.
Thanks
Pete