I. General posting in the forums

First and foremost No spamming i.e. no:

• Posts containing a single word or line that basically adds nothing substantial to the conversation. Keep in mind that a post with 1 line runs a very high chance of being considered spam because usually it's too short to add anything to the conversation. If you want to make sure your post is not considered spam, make sure it's longer than 1 line.
• This includes posts that only say "Thanks", "Thank you" and nothing else! While we do appreciate your thanks, if you're going to say thanks, just elaborate or say something else in the post. Otherwise, don't spam just to say Thanks. Just click the "Helpful" button at the bottom of each post to show you liked the post.
• Posts containing only emoticons
• Multiple consecutive posts. Please use the edit button!

In forums such as Chat and its subforums, where the posts do not contribute to your post count, we might be more lenient towards spamming, however, do not over do it. The rules hereafter applies to all forums.

Be reasonable when posting: This includes:

• Just type normally like this. You don't need to have perfect grammar or spelling but please refrain from excessive !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! ?????????????????? ........... OmG WtF Heeeelllppp noooow! WoRk tomorrrrowww! They are, if anything, annoying and will not make people take you very seriously.
• Do not post posts with text speak. Text speak is annoying, and seeing as we all are IB students/future IB students, the least we expect from you is fully spelled words.
• Do not use CAPSLOCK in a post. Typing in caps is considered shouting. Do not do it unless you mean to shout. Even then, don't make a whole post with CAPSLOCK on.
• Do not use huge fonts in garish/bright/otherwise-hard-to-read colours. It's extremely off-putting when you have to strain or hurt your eyes to read a post with huge lettering in fluorescent yellow or some other bright colour. Just use the normal font size and colour. It makes people concentrate on what you're saying instead of how your post looks on the page. You can use colours in posts, but just don't over do it.

Forum courtesy:

• When asking for help, please be aware that people are offering you their help freely and willingly. So please be patient while waiting for a responses. Do not nag, do not bump threads.
• When providing help, please be understanding that new members/new IB students would not always be aware of all the norms of the forums/IB. Try to be patient when answering questions, even if they seem obvious to you. Avoid making fun or ridicule of new members, it doesn't help.
• Do not start threads or make posts with offensive contents just for the sake of arguing or provoking a negative response out of someone. If you see these kind of offensive material, please report the post immediately.
• In general, be nice when posting on the forum and avoid personal attacks on anyone. Please respect and show sensitivity to other people's opinions and beliefs.
• Any flamming activities will be dealt with by warning or banning members involved.

Posting correctly and appropriately:

• Please don't just post asking about a certain subject/topic in the first forum you click on. Find the right forum for your question, there would be a greater possibility of it being answered if you do, anyway.
• Posts may be moved at any time if there is a forum better suited for the topic in discussion. Do not cross post to multiple forums. Upon cross posting all duplicates including the original post may be removed.
• Use existing threads on your topic to continue a discussion rather than starting a new one. Posts that are repetitive in nature may be removed or locked at the discretion of the moderators.
• Avoid off-topic replies and "thread hijacking". Threads whose discussion is drifting away from the original topic or have replies getting repetitive in nature are subject to closing or splitting.
• Do not repost something that has been deleted or edited. If you want to know why something is deleted or edited, PM a mod or admin to find out.

Use descriptive thread titles. Look, you would think this was obvious, but please don't just name your threads something like 'Biology Extended Essay' or "I need help' - there are so many, I can't stress this enough, threads with these kind of names and it's not motivating people to go in and find out what the thread is about. When there are about 3 threads called 'I need help with my essay', people would just go into one and miss the others. If you know your essay is about Stalin's rise to power, then for everyone's sake, put that in the title. I don't know why people can't grasp this concept that thread titles are supposed to say what the thread is about. When you're in the Extended Essay forum, a thread titled 'I need help on my EE' or even if you specify it as a Biology EE, it wouldn't say much.

Do not avoid the swear filter. The swear filter is there for a reason, write what you want and it will filter it out. For examples: don't write S**or W***er.

Avoid posting in other language. The main language of this forum is English. Unless it's in the language forum, please don't post in other languages all users will not understand. If you do post in another language always provide translation.

Use search. Use the search function before you ask a question or post a new thread. It minimises duplicate threads and you are more likely to get replies than if you ask something other people have already asked a million times before.

Respect other people's privacy. Do not post other people's personal details, photos or links to their personal sites (e.g. facebook, blogs etc) without their permission. Also do not post your own email on the public forum, asking people to email things to you. If you want personal help from someone, the PM system is there for that. A person will offer to give out their email/instant messaging details either by putting it on their profile or telling you in a PM. Do not ask for people's email addresses/instant messaging details on the main forum. You may ask in a PM but the person in question have the right to refuse to give you those details.

No advertising or linking to inappropriate sites.

You may post links to other sites if it's within the topic of the discussion. However, outright promotion of third party sites is unacceptable and will be removed, especially if the link contains illegal materials.

Advertising and inappropriate links will be deleted and person posting the link could be subject to warning or banning. If you sign up with the sole purpose of advertising, you will be banned. This rule does not limit to just your forum post, but also any other material relating to you on the site: signature, avatar, prviate messages and profile information.

Post report: If you find a post that you think break forum rules, or is in anyway rude, disruptive or inappropriate, please use the "Report post" function to alert mods and admin to that post. Don't post in the thread, as mods and admins are not always aware of every single post in the forum. The "Report" button in on the bottom left hand side of the post.

II. Cheating and plagiarism

Do not ask people on here to do your work for you. This means no "Well you're better at it, so why don't you just write it for me?" Simply because it's your work and we are not responsible for doing it for you! Don't bother using PMs either, administrators can view them - thought we respect people's privacy - do don't try being smart and PMing IAs around with the intention to use them as your own. Users who do this will be warned and even banned from the forum.

No cheating. Cheating will be taken very seriously since it could compromise the existence of the forum. If you see any sign of malpractice or academic misconduct in any post or PM, report it immediately to administrators. Do not pass on information about exams you or others have not yet taken. In exam time, the forums will be closely monitored and time zone cheating will not, in any way or form, be tolerated. Offenders will be immediately banned from the forums.

No plagiarism. All the essays provided on this board are for your consultation purposes only. Do not copy them and claim them as your own work. The essays here will show up on the International Baccalaureate Organisation's plagiarism detection services, so you will be caught if you plagiarise.

III. Forum accounts

User names must not imitate any member of the IBSurvival staff, IBSurvival members, websites, dignitaries, registered organisations or companies. Your username cannot contain any profanity. If we deem your username inappropriate, we will contact you and ask you to change it at our own discretion.

Don't try to get around the VIP system. This means do not PM or email administrators and/or members of the VIP group asking them to send/email you files on the forum that you do not yet have access to. VIP members, if you receive these PMs, please report them to administrators.

VIP membership is non-transferable and is for your personal use only. Only one person is allowed to own and make use of each VIP username. We reserve the right to suspend any VIP membership and/or permanently ban the username if we suspect the username in question has been shared by more than one person.

Multiple accounts: There is no reason for us to forbid a member having more than one account/usernames, but all these accounts must be constructive. If we find evidence that a member has made a duplicate account solely for the purpose of causing trouble, breaking rules or posting inappropriate contents, all accounts belonging to that member will be banned.

Do not abuse the reputation system. The reputation system gives you the option of voting (+) or (-) to someone else's post. It can be used as a way to thank people for helpful posts or to disagree with a post. However, this system should not be abused.

• Do not gang-rep: That is, two or more people ganging up or collaborating to rep (positively or negatively) a given account.
• No rep-whoring: Do not beg or ask to be repped.
• No rep-swapping: This means, two or more members cannot arrange with each other to give each other reputation. Reputations should be given at the discretion of the person giving the rep.
• Do not create multiple accounts to rep yourself. That's just sad. If we find evidence that a member has created multiple accounts to rep themselves, we will ban all accounts, including the repped one.

Abuse of the reputation system may result in you being denied use of the reputation system, reputation points deducted or your account being banned.

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Do not post contents that are knowingly false and/or defamatory, inaccurate, abusive, vulgar, hateful, harassing, obscene, profane, sexually oriented, threatening, invasive of a person's privacy, or otherwise violative of any law. Do not post any copyrighted material without permission unless the copyright is owned by you or by IBSurvival.

IBSurvival reserves the right for Administrators and Moderators to remove, alter or move any material posted anywhere on the forums, with or without prior warning, as we consider appropriate and necessary according to the rules listed here.

We also reserve the right to suspend, ban or otherwise restrict your access to the forums if you are found breaking the rules listed here or your behaviour on the forums is otherwise deemed inappropriate and unacceptable.