Office of Public Sector Information
A. Registration is not required to view public topics on the forum. However, some forums may have the requirement that you register an account before you can post a new topic or reply to an existing topic. This is decided on a per-forum basis. Registration is free and only takes a few minutes. The only required fields are your User ID, which may be your real name or a nickname, a password, and a valid e-mail address.
The information you provide during registration is not outsourced or used for any purposes other than for providing access to the forum software. If you believe someone is sending you advertisements as a result of the information you provided through your registration, please notify us immediately.
A. Visit the login page and fill in the Login form with the username and password that was specified when you registered.
A. Simply click on Login on the left hand navigation and see the Related Links menu for the forgotten password link.
A. You can easily change any information stored in your forum profile by using the "My account" link located in the left hand navigation when you are logged in. You may edit any information (except your User ID).
A. If you decide you won’t need your account anymore, you can remove it permanently by logging in, accessing the My Account page and choosing the Delete Account link in the Related Links menu.
A. Information in any of the discussion forums on this website may be released in response to a Freedom of Information request.
A. These forums use a keyword-based formatting technique named Forum Code to allow you to include all sorts of rich formatting in your messages.
A. You can include hyperlinks in your messages using the [url] Forum Code or using the "linkto" buttons on the message entry form (if shown). For more information on Forum Codes see the FAQ above.
A. You may edit or delete your own posts at any time. Just go to the forum where the post to be edited or deleted is located and you will see a edit or delete link shown after each message. Click the links to edit or delete the post. No one else can edit your post, except for Moderators or Administrators.
A. The forum software does censor certain words that may not be posted. However, this censoring is not an exact science, and is being done based on the words that are being screened, so certain words may be censored out of context. By default, words that are censored are replaced with alternative words that although unlikely to be offensive will still convey the original intent.
A. You may attach signatures to the end of your posts when you post either a New Topic or Reply. Your signature is editable. You can amend your signature by logging in and accessing 'My Account' and choosing to update your profile from the Related Links menu.
A. Yes. When you add a new message to a forum make sure the "Notify me by email if someone responds to this message?" checkbox is ticked. You will then be sent a copy of any replies made to your message via e-mail as well as the message being added to the forum.
A. Maybe. The ability to post new messages or replies in a forum is a per-forum setting that may be disabled in certain forums. Administrators and Moderators can post in any forum.
A. These Forums use both cookies and server side variables to store your user id and password between visits to the forums. As this information is also stored on the server you do not need to have cookies enabled in order to use these forums.You may delete all cookies set by these forums in selecting the "log out" button at the top of any page.
A. You can search all of the forums from a single location using the Forum Search facility. A link to to the Forum Search can be found in the left hand navigation.
A. As this software is supplied in source code form it is possible that this implementation of the scripts may be highly customised, but the basic forum software is available from bttlxe.com free of charge.
By virtue of your participation in this discussion, you are deemed to have agreed to abide by the rules. Although the Moderator cannot take responsibility for monitoring every message that is sent to the website, we must reserve the right to remove items submitted from anyone who repeatedly ignores these rules.
Do not represent yourself as another person. All messages sent to a discussion must be sent using your forum username (which will be inserted automatically). When registering you can specify a username which can be your first name or a nickname, however, the fields on the registration form for your first name and last name must be submitted with your real names. This is so that you can be identified with your username in the forums. For example if another user was to view your profile they could see your nickname/username and also see your real full name. Anonymous contributions are not allowed on the OPSI Discussion Forums.
Messages should not be malicious or designed to offend. In particular, the use of swear-words or undue profanity is discouraged. By participating in any discussion, you undertake to indemnify us and our employees and subcontractors against any liability arising from any obscene, defamatory, seditious, blasphemous or other actionable statement published by you on this site and against all damages, losses, claims and costs (including, without limitation, fines and expenses arising out of or incurred in conducting or defending any proceedings) arising from any such actionable statements.
Your message should be within the scope of the subject under discussion. If you make a contribution that is inappropriate to the subject under discussion, you may be directed by the Moderator not to raise the matter further or to raise it within a separate discussion group.
Reference should not be made to the personality of other participants in a discussion nor should attacks be made on an individual's character unless the person concerned has already chosen to bring his or her personality into the issue under discussion. One to one arguments, disagreements and disputes of a personal nature must be conducted through private email and not through public discussion.
You should remember that you are legally responsible for what you write. By participating in a discussion, you undertake to indemnify us and our employees and subcontractors against any liability arising from any breach of confidentiality, copyright or other intellectual property right published by you on this site and against all damages, losses, claims and costs (including, without limitation, all expenses incurred in conducting or defending any proceedings) arising from any such publication. You must not make statements that are libellous, obscene, seek to incite racial hatred or otherwise break the laws of the United Kingdom.
If a person has sent you a private email you may not forward it to a public discussion group without the prior consent of the person who sent it. This does not prevent you forwarding private email to the Discussion Administrator should you consider this appropriate.
No advertising is allowed except where it is for an event, publication or similar items that has direct relevance to the subject of discussion. Information about locating and sharing knowledge and expertise is welcomed, but within the specific discussion category provided.
Complaints about a breach of these Rules should ONLY be made by private email to the Discussion Administrator. The Discussion Administrator will take timely and appropriate action with regard to the complaint.
By virtue of your participation in the Discussion Forums, you are deemed to have agreed to abide by these rules.