Updated 20 May 2020

Welcome to the AceHSC community, an online environment for HSC Students & High School Students in NSW where students can come together to share their knowledge and solve problems. Students can ease their studies & educational journey from high school into university successful as much as possible.
We also want to make sure that the AceHSC community is a safe and trustworthy source of information for our community.

Please note this list does not include the full terms of service (also known as your user agreement). These rules and guidelines are designed to help give a better understanding of what behaviour is expected and make your experience more enjoyable and safer.

To help you gain the most from the AceHSC Community, please familiarise yourself with these rules and guidelines before participating.

STARTING A NEW DISCUSSION/POST

First, be sure to read the FAQ and guidelines/rules here to make sure you are fully informed about our community. Then spend some time browsing and familiarize yourself with the tag system and do a few searches for keywords related to your topic before you post it could be someone has already started a discussion about it!
When you’re sure you’re ready to start a discussion, please keep the following points in mind:
Give it a good title! You will get the best results if your title makes it clear what you want to talk about.
Choose the right tag(s). (known as categories)
Search other posts to see if your topic has already been covered
Try to get your point across clearly and concisely
Make sure any links you include are relevant

REPLYING TO A DISCUSSION/POST

You are taking the time to participate in a discussion, in the hope that others will read your ideas and take them into consideration. So why not make the effort to make your reply worth reading?
Don’t just reply to a title. Take some time to read the topic, and at least scan the rest of the conversation first.
Ask yourself if your reply adds to the discussion. If it does not, give it some more thought before posting.
Avoid making one-word posts just to agree with someone; you can use the “Like” button for that.

RESPECT

Our community is expected to be a friendly and welcoming place, and one in which members can post without their motives, intelligence, or other personal characteristics being questioned by others.
All posts should be professional and courteous. You have every right to disagree with your fellow community members and explain your perspective.
Members who post in a manner that makes other members unwelcome or uncomfortable, or who conduct themselves in a manner in any way detrimental to the community, will lose posting privileges.
Also, please do not use an offensive or inappropriate avatar image or username; we reserve the right, in our sole discretion, to change any avatar or username that we deem to be offensive or inappropriate.
Do not flame or troll other users.
Do not be disruptive towards other members or provoke them intentionally. If you feel like you have been provoked or see others engaging in inappropriate behaviour, please report this to a moderator or administrator.

SEARCH
Search first: Before starting a new post on a topic that may have been discussed before, browse, or search the forums to see if there is already a post on that topic. Your question may have already been addressed, so you will not have to wait for an answer.

UPLOADED FILES TO POSTS

We would like every student to access to resources with ease, therefore for sharing your documents, use the “submit a resource” feature. So the document will be store on our database.
Do not upload your documents on a post unless you are requesting for help. E.g. I need help on question X
By uploading a document on a post, will result in deletion of the post & the document will uploaded to AceHSC document database.

COPYRIGHTED MATERIAL

Information copyrighted or owned by any individual or entity other than the person posting should not be posted on the platform without the consent of the owner
Providing or asking for information on how to illegally obtain copyrighted materials is forbidden
Distribution of illegal materials, or materials which infringe on copyright, including textbooks, exams, and similar are prohibited.

POST TITLES

Use descriptive titles for new posts. Avoid "generic" post subjects like "Help" or "Question". You will receive a better response to your posts by being more descriptive about the content of your post.
When starting a post, use a topic that indicates the specific subject. This helps members know if the post is of interest, and is especially important when other members do a search the forums by post title.
If you choose a poor title for your post, the administrators may rename it.
Examples of poor titles:
o A quick question
o Need help

MULTIPLE ACCOUNTS

Do not abuse multiple accounts to pretend to be more than one user. Multiple accounts WILL be terminated and if further accounts are made, the primary account will be banned.
Where the IP address will be blocked from the forums.
Using a disposable email address signals to us that you might not be here for the right reasons. Where it will be seen as multiple accounts been created.

STAY ON TOPIC

Keep your posts relevant to the topic of the post. If you have a different topic to discuss, start a new post in the appropriate forum.
Posts which are not relevant to the forum topic may be deleted at the moderator's discretion.
Posting comments that are not relevant to the topic subject is distracting and frowned upon.

RIGHTS OF MODERATORS
Considering the sensitive subject of the forum – that is, intelligence and security – it is only appropriate for moderators to have the ability to make sure that all forum rules are being followed. To this end, moderators can, at their own discretion:

edit topics or replies (but only by clearly displaying their edits);
close topics or posts.
move topics or replies to the appropriate topic/forum, if necessary; and
delete topics, posts or replies.

REPORT ANY VIOLATIONS TO RULES & GUIDELINES

Please report any post or topic that violates the rules of AceHSC community using the (Flag) button. Complaints to or against moderators must be sent privately. Please don’t disobey, disrespect, or defame them.
If you have an issue with another member, we ask that you please don’t confront them yourself. Please just use the “FLAG” command on the post in question, then leave it up to the staff to deal with the situation.
Our moderators may edit or delete any content that is offensive or disruptive to the flow of communication. Serious or repeated offenses may lead to suspension of the offending user’s account.

BE CONSIDERATE.

Do not post pointless messages, including those that stretch pages for no reason.
Do not make posts with a bunch of pointless pictures, this eats up bandwidth and it not very considerate for those who use mobile and limited Internet data.

ADVERTISING & SPAM
These forums define spam as unsolicited advertisement for goods, services and/or other web sites, or posts with little, or completely unrelated content. Do not spam the forums/posts with links to your site or product, or try to self-promote your website, business or forums etc.

Solely promoting your business/yourself in posts but your allowed ONLY to advertise in your “user bio” aka signature) with your website link.
Few examples of spamming & advertisement includes;
o sending private messages to a large number of different users.
o affiliate links
o another forum
o competitor
o NSFW material

PERSONAL INFORMATION

Remember that the forums are public.
Don't post personal information that you would not be comfortable sharing with a stranger. That includes your home address, family names, and account password
Do not ask for personal information from others. Use of full names (your first and last name) is a prerequisite but exchange of personal contact information should proceed with care.

CROSSPOST QUESTIONS/POSTS

Cross-posting refers to posting new duplicate posts, or the linking to posts already started by the member with the intention of gaining exposure.
Posting the same thing in multiple forums is not only rude, but it’s a waste of your time.
Our Moderators will remove duplicated posts and topics.
Duplicate posts will be deleted, combined or locked.
You may cross reference a post in another forum.
Unless updating a topic/post with updates regarding the subject, posting multiple times in a row to respond to a user's comment is not needed. If you want to add new content to your message, simply use the Edit Button. This helps to keep our forums clean and easy to follow.

PROFILE AVATAR

The only rule here can be summed up in the following way: keep in classy. It should be safe for work and inoffensive.
The content of the image should comply with other forum rules (i.e., racism, sexism isn't okay just because it's in your avatar instead of a post you made).

PROFILE BIO

Profile Bio should be subtle and not visually disruptive. In general, keep it to a little bit about you - your subjects, a favourite quote, a link to your blog, and so on.
The content in your profile bio should also comply with other forum rules (i.e., racism, sexism isn't okay just because it's in your bio instead of a post you made).

OFFENSIVE

Do not post “offensive” posts, links or images
Any material which constitutes defamation, harassment, or abuse is strictly prohibited.
Material that is sexually or otherwise obscene, racist, or otherwise overly discriminatory is not permitted on these forums. This includes user pictures. Use common sense while posting.

NSFW MATERIAL

It is unacceptable.
Even images or links that could be considered borderline are not acceptable.
A good rule of thumb is that anything beyond PG-13 will get you in trouble, but we reserve the right to remove any post we deem offensive.
This goes for vile language pornographic material, gore and generally gross stuff.

CONSEQUENCES OF BREAKING THE RULES
Breaking the rules of appropriate behaviour will have the following consequences:

Minor violations will get a warning; unless the post is edited to comply with the rules within 24 hours of the warning, it will be deleted.
Repeated minor violations will result in a temporary ban or, at the discretion of the moderator, a permanent ban.