The following is a list of rules and guidelines that every member of CandlePowerForums is expected to be aware of and adhere to.

Forum specific FAQs regarding General Forum Usage, User Profile Features and Reading and Posting Messages can be found HERE or by clicking on the FAQ link in the top menubar of any page on CPF. Please take a moment to read these FAQs before emailing the webmaster of CPF or an Administrator or posting your inquiry in the Questions/Problems/Suggestions forum. Please do a search of the threads in that forum before starting a new thread. The chances are real good that your issue has already been discussed several times and the answers you seek are already posted. Most, if not all, of your questions can be answered within those FAQs.

1. Registration and password information
2. Email to Webmaster
3. Siglines, Avatars and Images
4. Flaming/Baiting/Trolling/Banning
5. Posting articles and links
6. Advertising and Shilling on CandlePowerForums
7. Read the Stickies & Announcements!!
8. Whining and complaining about the rules
9. Double and cross posting
10. Fundraisers & Donations
11. Disclaimer
12. Reposting Private Communications


1. Registration and password information

If you do not receive an email confirmation and password after you have registered, please check your email SPAM settings to make sure that you do not have email from "[email protected]" blocked. Sometimes this can happen without you knowing it. Some servers take it upon themselves to block emails for you. (AOL, Verizon, Cox, Comcast.. to name a couple) You may need to contact your ISP (mail server) to get them to unblock the CPF domain from their servers. Please check this out before you email and tell me you didn't receive your password. You may also want to consider using a different email address such as hotmail, gmail, yahoo, etc. Be sure to adjust your settings to allow email from "[email protected]"!!

Be sure to follow the directions exactly in the email with your password. If you do not click on the link provided or you do not cut and paste the entire link properly, you will not be able to login.

Once you have verified your registration and logged in, if you are still having problems posting or staying logged in, check your browser settings and make sure that you have not disabled "cookies". You must have cookies enabled in order to stay logged into CPF. Please check these things before emailing me.

If you get a notification while trying to register that your email address has been banned, try another email client such as gmail, hotmail or yahoo. There are many reasons why you would receive this notification that have nothing to do with your own personal email address or the CPF settings. It is your email client or your domain white and black list settings. I cannot fix that. Try another email client or adjust your domain settings. It has unfortunately become necessary to ban certain IP blocks due to the heavy use of them for spamming purposes. These IP blocks are mainly in use in Russia, China, the Philippines and several other overseas countries. If you receive a notification that your IP has been blocked, please contact your ISP to let them know their IP block is being abused by spammers. Once the spamming has stopped, the ban on the IP will be lifted. Monitoring is ongoing and constant.

In an effort to reduce spam in the forums by new members who only register in order to post spam, restrictions have been imposed on all new registrations.

1) The first 2 (two) posts that a new member makes (regardless of registration date) are put into a moderation queue before being posted in the open forums. A CPF moderator or administrator then reviews the post and the user account for validity and suitability. If the post is nothing but spam, the account is immediately banned and the post never sees the light of day in the forums. If the post is not spam, it is approved and shows up where it was intended to be posted. After 2 posts have been approved by a member of the CPF staff, the 3rd post will not need moderation and the user account is "promoted" to full posting privileges. Status promotions may not be immediate. It could take up to 10 minutes.

2) Until a new user account has been approved and vetted in the above manner, the account has NO private message privileges and cannot add an avatar or otherwise "customize" their profile. Again, this is due to new users registering for spamming purposes only. They use the PM system without ever making a post in the forums. As with above, once the new member has posted 2 posts and the account has been approved and vetted, full board privileges are instated.

2. Email to Webmaster

If the email contains an attachment or is in the form of an attachment, it is deleted. Attachments sent to the webmaster account are not opened. So please be sure to send your message in the body of the email and not as an attachment or else it will not be seen or read.

If you forget your password and/or login information, you can have a new password sent to whatever the email address is in your profile from the login page. This is why it is so important for you to keep your profile information up to date. Also, do whatever it takes to not lose your password.

Do not email the webmaster with inquiries about where to purchase a certain product or what the specifications of a product are or how to do modifications on products. Post your inquiries in the appropriate forum on CPF. You could also try doing a search of the forums to find your answer. The search function can also be accessed by a link in the top menubar of every page on CPF. You will have a greater chance of success with your search if you narrow the criteria down to a specific forum and if necessary, click on the link for "Advanced search tips".

When emailing the webmaster, do not forget to include your username. Otherwise, I have no idea who you are and I don't have time to try and figure it out. Your email will simply be deleted. Remember also that you can get more bees with honey than vinegar. In other words, be nice. A rude email or one completely lacking in manners will also be deleted without reply.

Additionally, if I receive an email where it is obvious that you have not read the FAQs or notices and have not searched the forums, your email will be deleted without reply.

3. Siglines, Avatars and Images

Avatars... As posted directly below where you put the URL for your avatar in your profile, 80 X 80 max pixels! No wider. No taller. And anything over 25K is too much. This is not up to negotiation. Animation is fine as long as it's not flashing and winking and blinking and strobing and generally distracting to the other members of the board. If people are scrolling through your posts just so they don't have to look at your avatar, what have you accomplished? In addition, nudity (whether partial or full) and/or pornography are not appropriate for this forum. This applies to animation and anime also.

Siglines... DO NOT use your sigline to bait and/or flame other members and/or the mods and admins of CPF. This behavior will get you banned quicker than just about anything else.

Siglines are limited to a maximum of 3 lines as a rule. But this is dependant upon the size of the font used (maximum size of 2 is allowed) and you may end up with more or less lines if linewrapping occurs due to contiguous strings of text.

Pictures in siglines... There is a limit of one image for siglines. Sigline images cannot exceed 500 pixels wide, 100 pixels high and 20k. This will ensure that the forums load quickly for all users.

Images... If you post an image in your post, please downsize the image to no larger than 800 x 800 pixels. In addition, DO NOT hotlink the images!!! Hotlinking is when you are stealing the bandwidth of a website that you do not have permission to link to. For example, if you see an image on the Surefire website that you want to post in a post of yours, download the image and then upload it to your own website or an image hosting site and then link to that image. Do Not link directly to the image on the Surefire website! That is called "hotlinking"... it is bad form... and it is stealing bandwidth that doesn't belong to you and you don't have permission to use in that manner. Members caught hotlinking will be asked to remove the link if they cannot correct it. Members who continuously have to be asked not to hotlink will lose posting privileges.

4. Flaming/Baiting/Trolling/Banning

None of these will be tolerated. In most instances, you will be asked by a moderator to edit your post. However, warnings may not always be given. It is up to the discretion of the moderator based on the content in question. If you decide to ignore the moderator, you will be banned until such time as the problem is corrected. Attempts to circumvent being banned by reregistering under another name will be considered a blatant disregard for the rules of these forums and subsequent usernames will also be banned. In addition, the attempts to circumvent the rules will not go favorably for you when/if you should ask to be unbanned.

The banning of others is not a topic for discussion anywhere on CPF unless an administrator decides it is to the benefit of the entire community to discuss it and initiates the discussion. As a rule, bannings do not concern the rest of the board. If you choose to make a fuss and issue about it on behalf of the banned member, you yourself will be banned also. These types of discussions are VERY disruptive to the entire board. Also remember that there are always two sides to every story and there's a very good chance that you really don't know both of them. So don't speculate or assume. And if you really really MUST do something, then email or PM a moderator or administrator or take it to The Underground. Keep it off of CPF!!

5. Posting articles and links

Articles from other sources are welcome. Do NOT post the entire article on CPF! 9 times out of 10, this would be an infringement on copyright. Limit what you post to around 100 words and then post a link to the original source. Always post a link to the original source!

When posting links, please take a moment and have some consideration for the other members of CPF. Do not post links or URL's that are so long that they cause horizontal scrolling of the pages. Use the regular reply page instead of Quick Reply and follow the directions/prompts for posting or inserting hyperlinks.

And one other thing. If the link that you post leads to something of mature content and/or something that perhaps some of our members may not want to see, post a warning with your link.

6. Advertising on CandlePowerForums

Policies for advertising on CPF can be found HERE or by clicking on the link at the top of the side menubar titled "Advertising". In general, advertising by any member of CPF within the general forums (with the exception of the CPF Custom Builders and Modders forums) is strictly prohibited. Threads and/or posts that are considered by staff to be advertising, or solely for the purpose of providing links or pointers to new products, will stand to be closed, links removed, or deleted in their entirety, without warning or explanation. Members who persist in posting or quoting such material are advised that their posting authority may be limited or withdrawn. For those wishing to introduce referenced new offers they've found, the Commercial Corner and General MarketPlace on CandlePowerForums.com are the proper place. There will most likely be a dedicated forum there for posting such threads.

• "Shilling" is not an acceptable practice in any CPF forum. For the purposes of this policy, a "shill" is defined as "a person who poses as a customer in order to decoy others into participating and/or one who publicizes or praises something or someone for reasons of self-interest or personal profit,". Anyone identified by the CPF administration to be acting as a shill risks losing all posting privileges on any and/or all CPF forums. Anyone found to be soliciting or otherwise encouraging shilling whether in open forums, by use of the private message system or email will also risk losing posting privileges on any and/or all CPF forums. Members who receive free products from a dealer or manufacturer for review purposes and post reviews in the proper CPF forum are allowed and encouraged to add a single line down at the bottom of the review in regular font that has no link and no URL identifying the dealer or manufacturer who provided the product. For example, "Light provided by X Company for review." Any further promotion of the company within the review thread will be removed. Dealers and manufacturers with the proper permissions to advertise in the appropriate forums on CandlePowerForums may post a link to the review.

7. Read the Stickies & Announcements!!

There are Sticky threads at the top of the thread index page of just about every forum on CPF with important information and policies regarding that specific forum. If you can't see them, scroll to the bottom of the thread index page and adjust your display options to display "From The Beginning". READ THE STICKIES!!

In addition, some thread index pages contain an "Announcement" in the top gradient bar of the thread index that outlines policies for that particular forum. READ THE ANNOUNCEMENTS!!

Ignorance of these forum policies is not an excuse for violating them.

8. Whining and complaining about the rules

CPF has rules. Just about every forum on the internet has some kind of rules. All of you are here at CPF because of how it is run and the atmosphere. There are other forums you can go to but you choose to come here. The rules exist in order to keep things running smoothly and to maintain the atmosphere that you all enjoy when you come here looking for information or to share information. You all have seen what can happen when everyone is just left to do what they want. Total chaos and disorder. How do you expect to be able to find the information you're looking for if you don't know where to start looking for it? Should we just have one big forum and you can post any topic you want in it and use any kind of language and insult other members and just generally run amok? Of course, that is a ridiculous notion. And that is why we have rules. So that your experiences on CPF are pleasant and informative and fun.

The rules exist because someone at sometime abused CPF and rules had to be made. If everyone comported themselves as mature adults, we wouldn't have to have rules. But unfortunately, that is not how things are.

The moderators and administrators of CPF are around in order to keep order. Do not whine or complain about the rules and do not abuse the moderators or administrators for enforcing the rules. It is very disruptive to the board when gripes take over a thread. Take them off the board in either private messages or email. The alternative is to go and start your own forum and set your own rules.

9. Double and cross posting

DO NOT post the same thread more than once anywhere in the forums. DO NOT post a thread whose sole purpose is to link to or refer to another thread on the board, whether it is yours or someone else's. You may look at this as just a few k's of text bandwidth but if everyone does it, we're back to total disorder as to where topics are. Not to mention completely skewing searches. And those "few k's of text" really do add up! Double and cross posting will be edited and/or deleted by the moderators and administrators.

10. Fundraisers & Donations

No fundraisers or requests for donations will be allowed on CPF, unless it is for CandlePowerForums benefit (either partially or wholly). This includes, but is not limited to, raffles, auctions, sales of individual items and solicitations for donations to paypal accounts. Threads and/or posts that violate this rule will be removed by a member of the CPF staff.

There can and will, of course, be exceptions to this rule. But those exceptions will be in cases such as the Katrina kind where many of our members are in need or in such cases where it is obvious that an individual is in great need. The criteria I use for this is if I can't get away from it on TV/radio or if I have a phone number and/or address where I can verify that it is needed... ie. the phone number of the ICU unit where the individual is hooked up to life support. And by "individual", I mean a standing member of CPF.

11. Disclaimer

Considering the real-time nature of this message board, it is impossible for the Administrators to review messages or confirm the validity of information posted. Please remember that we do not actively monitor the contents of posted messages and are not responsible for any messages posted. We do not vouch for or warrant the accuracy, completeness or usefulness of any message, and are not responsible for the contents of any message. The messages express the views of the author of the message, not necessarily the views of this BB or any entity associated with this BB.

Although we do not and cannot preview the messages posted and are not responsible for the content of any of these messages, we reserve the right to delete any message or any member from this bulletin board for any or no reason. You remain solely responsible for the content of your messages, and you agree to indemnify and hold CandlePowerForums, the Administrators and ownership of this bulletin board harmless with respect to any claim based upon transmission of your message(s). We reserve the right to reveal your identity (or whatever information we possess) in the event of a complaint or legal action arising from any message posted by you.

You agree, through your use of this BB, that you will not post any material which is illegal or which promotes activity that is illegal or could reasonably be foreseen to threaten any person's safety.

12. Reposting Private Communications

It is not appropriate for any member of CandlePowerForums to post and/or quote in the open forums any part of a private communication that is authored by someone other than themselves. This includes, but is not limited to, emails and private messages. Private communications, for these purposes defined as anything that is not originally posted in the open forums, are just that - private. The author has a reasonable expectation of it remaining so. CandlePowerForums honors and respects that and unless there are certain exigent circumstances (determined by a member of the CPF staff), you will be asked to remove the material in question and/or it will be removed for you by a member of the CPF staff. Depending on the severity and/or repetitiveness of the offense, posting privileges can be removed temporarily or permanently.

Paraphrasing and/or presenting a condensed version (summary) of private communications is perfectly acceptable. Direct Quotes (copy and paste) are NOT acceptable in the open forums unless all authors agree in the open forum to waive claims to privacy.

In addition, it is inappropriate to post personal information belonging to someone other than yourself in the open forums. This includes, but is not limited to, real name, address, phone number, email address, etc. The only exception to this rule is in the CPFMarketPlace Hall of Shame forum and is up to the discretion and determination of a member of the CPFMP staff. Violators of this policy may or may not be given a warning and may or may not lose posting privileges.

The Administrators of CandlePowerForums reserve the right to modify and/or change any or all rules and/or policies at any time without notice. The Administrators will also always have the final say in any dispute. Questions or concerns regarding any of these policies should be addressed to [email protected].

CPF MAIN INDEX · GENERAL CPF RULES & FAQS