General Forum Rules and Regulations:

1. No posting of abusive, pornographic, or otherwise offensive materials.
2. No posting Copyrighted or Trademarked material (without permission of the owner).
3. No posting of pirated software or media.
4. We understand that this may not be the only forum/website you visit.  However, please don't copy things from other forums and post them here - if stlwed forum users wanted to read the materials posted on other boards, they would read the other boards for themselves.  Also please refrain from even mentioning content on other forums (even if you're not taking the time to quote it directly).
5. Don't debate politics or religion on this forum. There are other websites devoted to those topics, and stlwed.com isn't one of them.
6. All topics which start to turn into heated debates (where arguments are apparent, where sides start slamming each other and disrespect is apparent) will be locked.
7. Aggressive behavior will not be tolerated. This includes saying anything out of hate or to hurt or cut down other people or in a sarcastic demeaning way. If you come to our forums with the sole intent to be aggressive, for whatever reason, your account may be locked out or deleted with no notice.
8. Inactive accounts may be deleted on a regular basis - don't lurk - interact to maintain your posting privileges.
9. Accounts that are suspected of being created for the use of spamming messages or advertisements may be deleted with no warning.
10. Making posts purely to advertise other sites and/or products may be deleted.
11. Spamming is prohibited and all such posts are subject to being deleted.
12. No profanity in usernames - such accounts will be deleted.

General Forum Etiquette:

1. DO NOT POST IN ALL CAPS - it looks like you're shouting!
2. Be respectful of other board members views and opinions.

Rules for Reporting Posts:

1. All complaints must be filed through the "report post" mechanism. Complaints about particular posts via emails or PMs to a particular moderator (including the admin) will not be addressed.
2. When reporting a post please give a detailed explanation of which rule(s) the post violates.
3. If the post does not violate a particular rule...
   • If you have a moral complaint about the content of the post (that is not already covered by the rules) you can:
     1. Post your alternate viewpoint.
     2. Ignore the post (and stop reading the replies) - if you don't care passionately enough about this issue to say so in public, then just let it go.
   • If you feel that the forum needs a new rule to deal with this situation, contact the admin directly.
     This forum is still new/evolving we may have overlooked something important when outlining the rules.

Rules for Brides:

1. If you must post negative feedback about a vendor - keep it fair and simple and state only the facts.  Emotional embellishments, or personal attacks may prompt vendors to seek legal action against your for damaging their reputation.  Use your best judgment, and be careful!  stlwed.com is not responsible for the negative vendor reviews posted by it's users - the vendor must contact the bride directly and seek action from there.
2. If you see an offensive post, or a vendor self promoting or selling a product on the boards, please report the post so the moderators can take action.

Rules for Vendor/Brides
(vendors who also happen to be in the middle of planning their own wedding):

1. Vendors who happen to also be brides are welcome here as long as they keep their business and their wedding separate.
2. Vendor/Brides are not allowed to give out professional advice or self promote on the boards. When a bride wants a professional opinion she will post it on the Q&A vendor boards for technical answers from the experts, so giving your pro advice is not wanted or needed in the "brides only" boards.  Remember they are called brides only boards - no pros allowed - when you spend time on the brides only board it is because you are there to plan your wedding, you are NOT there to do anything related to your business. 
3. Any communications related to your business on the forums are strictly prohibited.
4. Vendor/Brides are not allowed to post their pro advice on the Q&A boards either.  The Q&A boards are set up so that only one vendor in that category will have posting privileges each day.  This gives them 1 on 1 time with the brides.  If you cut in and make a post with your pro advice/opinion you will be interfering with the approved vendor's 1-on-1 time.  If you are interested in becoming an expert on one of the Q&A boards, and getting put in the rotation for posting vendors, you must contact the admin for more info.
5. If you happen to read posts about your business (or your field) on any board, you must keep out of it (don't post replies). Getting involved can make your business look bad so it's just not a good idea - even when you have the best of intentions.
6. If you have any clients on this board (unless the client already knows you are a bride on this board) it's not a good idea to mention posts that you read on the board to the client because it may make you look like a stalker.
7. Keeping your business and personal wedding planning completely separate is the only way to let vendor/brides post without causing drama. If you are unable to keep things separate on this board, then they may loose any or all of your forum privileges.

Rules for Vendors:

1. Vendors are not allowed to post outside of the Q&A boards.
2. Only stlwed.com sponsors are allowed to participate as vendors in the Q&A boards.  Sponsoring an ad on stlwed.com does not guarantee the right to post on this forum - if you violate the rules - you're out for good.
3. The Q&A boards are there to offer advice, not sell your product.  Selling your products/services on that forum may result in a total loss of forum privileges.  If a bride specifically asks you about your products/services, post your phone number, website, or email address and request that she contact you directly (off of the Q&A board).
4. Vendors must remain unbiased when giving advice.  Listing reason why other vendors are bad (or don't do a good job) will only make yourself look bad.  Brides will respect your honest unbiased answers, and will be more inclined to book you if you can master this task.  For example, if a bride asks on the Photography Q&A board: "Which is better a package with two photographers or one?"  Don't answer - "We offer..." instead give your honest advice listing pro's and con's of having just one shooter or two.
5. Don't initiate posts unless it's to post advice articles.  For example creating a post stating "This month receive 10% off..." is self promotion - again if you want to promote your business like this - purchase a coupon ad - that's what it's there for.  Instead posts such as "10 questions to ask your DJ in the interview" are encouraged (in moderation - you want to look helpful, but not desperate for attention).  The more info/advice you provide the girls, the more they will become educated consumers, and the more likely they will be to seek out your services (for helping them throughout the rest of their planning process).
6. Don't contradict the other vendors - we must work together to provide brides with the answers they need.  If you find an incorrect fact posted, instead of posting the corrected information yourself, please email the admin so that we can work together to fix the discrepancy.  Brides are smart enough to recognize the contradiction between two posts, but may not know which post is correct.  Therefore it will make both vendors look bad and loose credibility, so just avoid conflicting posts altogether.

Rules for moderators:

1. When a post is reported, validate that a rule has been broken.  If a rule was broken, decide whether to settle the matter via PM, locking mechanism, or deletion of the entire post.
   How do I know what action to take?
   • If this is a first time offense by a contributing member of the forum, it's likely the poster didn't realize they were breaking a rule. Most users are happy to obey the rules if they understand them, start by giving the user the benefit of the doubt.  Send them a PM explaining the rule to them and give them the chance to explain themselves and/or let them correct the mistake (if necessary).  Don't forget to email the admin with a copy of your PM - so we have a record of what action was taken to resolve the issue.
   • If there is a heated debate and things are getting out of hand - locking the post is acceptable to end the drama.
   • If the post is completely unacceptable and letting people read it is detrimental to the community, then it must be deleted.  This is the most extreme situation and is used as a last resort. 
     Examples of when a post needs to be deleted include (but are not limited to):
     • A vendor posts an advertisement on the brides only board - this is a clear violation, and will hurt the vendor's reputation as well as stlwed's reputation as an unbiased resource - this must be deleted ASAP to avoid damaging reputations.
     • A newbie joins the board, and one of their first posts is aggressive or to stir up drama... if it's clear the person only joined the forum to stir up drama, then its safe to delete the post.
     If deleting a post, copy and paste the entire post (including the username of the poster and date/timestamp of post) in an email to the admin before actually deleting the post.

2. If asked to lock or delete anything not in direct violation of the rules, no action is to be taken.
3. If asked to lock or delete anything via PM or email, remind the user to use the report post mechanism so we have records of what happened when - do not take any action until there's an official report against the post.

Violating any of these rules, may result in having your post(s) deleted and/or termination of your account or account privileges on stlwed. 
We reserve the right to edit/update these rules at any time without notice.