Community Rules

The mission of this community is to provide a forum for the exchange of ideas and information among professional landscapers, arborists, and other grounds maintenance personnel. Our hope is that the content delivered by our team of professionals and community members, or the content shared and exchange between members, will support the growth of members' businesses.

We encourage open dialogue about any industry topic in a friendly and respectful manner, we've developed this set of Community Standards, outlined below. This is the guideline that we expect all members to abide by when engaging in this community and the rules that our moderators will use in managing it.

There are many opinions out there, and we encourage them all; please remember that while you may not agree with everyone's opinion, it may not violate these Community Standards.

COMMUNITY FORUM RULES

• Keep it friendly. Welcome new members, share your tips or show them how to use the website. If you are a new member, make sure to introduce yourself – our community is waiting for you.

• Be courteous and respectful. Appreciate that others may have an opinion different from yours.

• Stay on topic. When creating a new discussion thread, give a clear topic title and put your post in the appropriate category. When contributing to an existing discussion, try to stay 'on topic'. If something new comes up within a topic that you would like to discuss, start a new thread.

• Share your knowledge. Don't hold back in sharing your knowledge – it's likely someone will find it useful or interesting. When you give information or links, provide your sources.

• Keep it safe. Remember that the forums are public places. Don't post personal information that you would not be comfortable sharing with a stranger. We recommend you use only your first name or a pseudonym in your username and that you don't post any information that may identify you or anyone else, such as your address, email address or phone number.

• Report abuse. A strong online community is self-governing. If you see abuse, report it to us using the ‘report post’ button on the forums.

WHAT WILL BE REMOVED

We need to make sure that material posted in the discussion forums is not potentially harmful. For this reason, we may edit or choose not to publish any post, avatar or display name that:

• contains disrespectful or derogatory remarks about any other member

• contains advice or content that we believe is damaging, unhelpful or distressing to others

• contains links to non-industry webpages or content

• contains swearing or offensive language

• is nonsensical and/or irrelevant

• promotes personal beliefs in a way that is disrespectful of the choices of others

• infringes the privacy of individuals or service providers

• is racist, sexist, homophobic, sexually explicit or suggestive, abusive or otherwise discriminatory or objectionable

• promotes topics outside of the theme of the site such as politics or religion

• advertises businesses or product offerings not approved by moderators

• makes any reference to specific prescription medication names and/or dosages, seeks to receive or provide medical advice

• includes personal information such as full names, phone numbers, locations, postal or email addresses; or encourages the sharing of such details

• puts overt pressure on other members to respond

• makes attempt to facilitate unwelcomed personal offline contact with other members

• describes or encourages violence or other activity

• is a copy of another post or contains the same, or similar, message posted multiple times elsewhere

• contains references to edits or moderation

• is more than 2,500 characters in length or submitted in multiple parts to avoid the character limit

• is made from duplicate accounts

MODERATION

A team of moderators have been entrusted with the ability to intervene when these Community Rules have been breached. However, due to the dynamic nature of forums, we can't immediately read everything written – therefore much of the responsibility for maintaining our friendly environment lies with you.

If posts fail to comply with our Community Standards our moderators will delete it in whole or in part. Repeat offenders will have his or her accounts permanently deleted. If there’s a concern about a member’s personal safety, our moderators will pass contact details on to authorities who may need to intervene.

Should you wish to query a moderation decision, please get in touch with us privately via email and we will respond as quickly as possible.

You will be advised by email if a post must be edited or removed from the forums because it breaches our community rules.

ELIGIBLITY

This community is open to professional users of outdoor power equipment. To register for the community, you must operate or be employed as an industry professional and so you’ll be asked to provide the name and address of the business you operate or are employed at.

Accounts that have been created using a false business or false information and later found to be breaching this rule will be deactivated without notice.