BE My Own Lawyer Forum Rules

1. By subscribing to the BE My Own Lawyer Forum you agree to abide by these Forum Rules and be legally bound by the Terms of Use below.

2. We suggest you use an alias (User Name) rather than your real name and avoid using your e-mail address. Keep your password private and safe at all times.

3. Do not use trade names as User Names or otherwise tout for business in your posts, links or signatures.

4. We recommend you use the search function to see if your query is already answered.

5. When adding a thread or post always use a title for your question which clearly describes your problem as this helps when searching the forums.

6. Do not use these forums to promote your own or other people’s products.

7. Be courteous, kind and helpful – moderate your language and do not insult or deliberately antagonise other members.

8. Keep your posts short and to the point – if you need to include a lot of detail in your question the forums are not the best place to raise your query. Try one of our other services instead.

9. Please do not respond to spammers by replying or answering their posts. The moderators will deal with spammers.

10. Avoid using slang or text abbreviations as they may confuse other readers. Try to use Standard English spelling, puncutation and grammar.

11. Do not post the same query twice in the same thread or to more than one Forum.

12. Give and take – try to help others as often as you ask for help.

13. Be aware of online etiquette. Do not use capitals and/or large text in posts or in signatures (this is equivalent to SHOUTING).

14. When replying to a post, do not quote more information from the previous post/s than is absolutely necessary.

15. Do not introduce new topics/problems to someone else’s thread – this interrupts the flow of discussion and is considered rude (just as it would be in a normal conversation).

16. Be aware that other members may be experiencing personal, emotional difficulties such as bereavement. Do not try to introduce insensitive topics or responses.

17. Do not post discriminatory or culturally inappropriate material to the forums – posts are read by people from a variety of backgrounds, cultures and ages.

18. Avoid generalisations (stereotyping) of particular groups of people relating to their gender, race, religion, sexual orientation, occupations or roles such as, where they were born or where they live. This can cause offence and may be illegal.

19. Do not use large signatures or include hyper-links in your signature. A modest signature is acceptable but advertising is not.

20. Do not post information that should be kept private: posts must not contain information which may identify and embarrass or compromise individuals or organisations – you could become the subject of a law suit.

21. Do not post content that violates copyright or libel laws – you could be held personally liable.

22. Do not post comments which denigrate the BE My Own Lawyer service or this website’s administrators, moderators or other personnel.

23. Members must discuss site/forum management issues via PM with Administrators / Moderators and not raise gripes in public threads.

24. Please inform the moderators by clicking the “report” triangle if you spot any violations of the rules.

Infraction Penalties:

We operate a “three strikes and you’re out” policy on these forums. If a Member accumulates 3 infractions in under 3 months we will take action. First time it’s 10 days’ suspension. Any subsequent infraction within a further 3 months and your account is removed – a total ban.

Spammers and Advertisers may be banned without notice.

Serious posting offenders many receive an immediate ban subject to adjudication by the moderator / administrator team.

Main Infraction Reasons:

1 Bad Language
2 Insulting other Members
3 Libellous and Illegal Content
4 Spamming
5 Trolling, Flaming and Flooding
6 Advertising, Promoting and Touting for Business
7 Malicious Intent and Scurrilous Behaviour
8 Racist or Discriminatory Comments
9 Inappropriate Private Messages (PMs) or e-mails
10 Defamatory or denigrating comments about BE My Own Lawyer, Barker Evans Private Client Law, its administrators, moderators, personnel or advertisers on this and other forums
11 Offensive or Inappropriate User Names, Signatures or Avatars
12 Multiple aliases for malicious purposes
13 Inciting Others to Break These Rules
14 Ignoring Moderator Requests and Infractions

Terms and Conditions of Use:

1. By registering and using the BE My Own Lawyer Forums you agree to comply fully with the Forum Rules and these Terms and Conditions of Use and not to post or encourage others to post any of the following: defamatory, discriminatory, libellous, illegal, racist, threatening, harassing, abusive, obscene or objectionable material, rumours, unsubstantiated facts or hype either from or based on your own original sources, third party sources or from previously published material, unauthorised advertising or marketing material or spam infringement of another’s privacy, confidentiality or intellectual property rights, flooding the discussion forum, chain letters, computer viruses or any form of malicious software code, pyramid schemes or any other material or activity which may cause problems to us or to other users of the web site or forum

2. By submitting your contribution you grant the owners of the Barker Evans Private Client Law website a perpetual royalty-free right and license to use, reproduce, modify, adapt, publish, distribute and exercise all copyright. If you do not want to grant these rights, please do not submit your contribution.

3. We will, using all reasonable discretion, remove without notice, alter or totally block information posted on the forum where we feel we have good reason to do so, including for legal, presentation and space reasons, or when the information is out of date or offensive or in any way breaks the forum rules – see above.

4. We do not have the time to routinely monitor or screen material on or relating to our web site and discussion forum and therefore cannot accept liability for the material posted in the forums. Be aware that content or behaviour that breaches forum rules is not automatically or routinely known to us unless it is brought to our attention.

5. If we receive what we feel is a reasonable and justifiable complaint about material posted we will remove the post promptly and without notice or permission. Libellous breach of copyright posts or any post containing illegal content will be removed immediately when are notified or become aware of them.

6. We don’t normally reveal a poster’s details to complainants but may be obliged to do so if the complaint is the subject of legal action.

7. You warrant that material posted by you is your own original work and does not infringe any copyright or intellectual property rights.

8. You agree to indemnify Rosamund Evans and Barker Evans Private Client Law against all legal fees, damages and other costs and expenses that may be incurred as a result of your breach of any of the terms of this notice.

9. We do not allow advertising or touting for business on this Forum, including when your user name or signature is a business name and when you put links in your posts or signature.

10. Naming and shaming individuals or organisations on a public forum may give a short term sense of satisfaction, but such behaviour is not advisable. UK defamation laws are very onerous and organisations will often pursue individuals through the courts to protect their own reputations. Even if you are confident about your facts, the legal costs involved in defending a libel action are likely to be substantial – even if you win. If you lose, you could have to pay your own legal costs, those of the applicant, any damages awarded, and any costs for related parties such as those of BE My Own Lawyer and Rosamund Evans t/a Barker Evans Private Client Law. As a forum Member you have agreed to indemnify Rosamund Evans, Barker Evans Private Client Law, administrators and moderators against any and all legal costs resulting from your actions on these forums.

11. Removing posts can be difficult and expensive. Posts often get copied to numerous other posts which means that editing or removing them without destroying the meaning of a whole thread becomes a very time consuming activity requiring considerable technical support. We reserve the right to charge you for our time and costs involved to remove posts which you subsequently feel you would like removed or edited.

12. We accept no liability for posts removed from the BE My Own Lawyer forums, which nevertheless may still appear on a Google or other search engines. Should this be the case, it is your own responsibility as a poster to contact Google or other search engine administrators if you want to have them remove the offending content more quickly.

13. Posting of questionnaires for commercial or research academic purposes is not permitted.

14. If any part or provision of these Terms becomes or is deemed invalid, void or unenforceable, the part shall be rendered ineffective and shall in no way affect the validity or enforceability of any other part or provisions.

15. The laws of England apply.