Bay Area Riders Forum (BARF) was founded in 2002 as an online motorcycle
community - a place to share your stories of motorcycling experience with
friends, find information, learn from seasoned pros, contact each other to
organize rides and activities, and discuss the latest motorcycling news,
products and events. It doesn't matter if you simply ride to commute, tear
up the twisties or rip it up racing. Maybe stunting is your cup of tea, or
perhaps you're addicted to the track or the dirt or both! Adventure riding,
touring, or mini bikes might hit your hot button, regardless of your
specific interest, this site is for you if you enjoy your bike and, more
importantly, you enjoy riding with others.
We focus our attention on group rides, trackdays, racing, training,
learning about our passion, social events, and other miscellaneous
activities - as well as unbelievable amounts of time online getting to know
each other. BARF is not about "us vs. them" - we try to get together with as
many other local organizations as we can. Everyone is welcome here, as long
as you share that one common interest - MOTORCYCLING!
We strive to provide a moderated environment in which people can interact
freely with each other. BARF is more than an online presence, however the
rights and responsibilities laid forth in this document govern only the
interactions on this website.
Mission Statement
Bay Area Riders Forum (BARF) is an online site dedicated to motorcycle
riders in the Northern California Bay Area and beyond. Our focus is on
safety, education and fun. If you share the love of two wheels, welcome and
enjoy!
Welcome to BARF! Enjoy!
Rights
Visitors have the right to find pertinent motorcycling information quickly.
Visitors have the right not to be subjected to inappropriate graphic content.
Visitors have the right to find relevant content in the forums they choose to browse.
Members have the right to interact in a respectful environment.
Members have a right to voice their opinions as long as that it does not conflict with another right.
If such action is necessary, Members have a right to know why their Membership was suspended or banned in a timely manner.
Members will not be held accountable for infractions preceding the adoption of applicable rules.
Responsibilities
Members will conduct themselves in a respectful manner. This is not to
say that arguments and disagreements between Members are not permitted,
simply that a level of respect is to be maintained in doing so. Members'
posts should not contain malicious personal attacks, flaming, baiting, post
whoring (posting with the sole purpose of increasing their overall post
count), trolling, e-sniping, e-stalking, indirect attacks, and other such
activities that are not conducive to a positive and productive environment. Personal threats will not be tolerated, and may result in a suspension, if not a perma-ban. Such posts will be acted on by interpretation of BARF Moderators.
Bigotry makes for a divisive and unwelcoming environment for all riders. BARF views all people/ motorcyclists as equals in race, sex and more. Comments that encourage, include, or troll with divisive comments of such are subject to review and suspension. Tolerance on these specific issues are determined by the mod vote for suspension at the time.
Political content creates a divisive atmosphere and should only be posted in the Political Forum in the kitchen sink. See the P-trap sticky for applications and repercussions.
When personal disputes arise between Members they will take their squabble to Private Message (PM) when requested by Staff to do so. This does not apply to differences of opinion from which others will benefit (arguments pertaining to motorcycling technique, style, history, etc.); it is specifically targeted at those who actively engage in violation of Section 4.1. Such PM's are not to be posted publicly, nor will they be moderated.
Members shall conduct themselves respectfully when in dispute with a
Moderator. Verbal abuse of the volunteer staff may result in additional
suspension.
Members that smear or otherwise attack the site or moderators are subject
to suspension and or removal.
Members will not post other Members' personal information.
Members will not start a thread with the intent of continuing the topic of a thread that was closed or removed.
Members shall not post images containing, nudity, partial nudity, sexual
acts, or depiction thereof, questionable images should be linked and not
directly visible in a thread. This link, and if possible the thread title,
should carry a warning that such material may be offensive to some. The
general application being NWS = "Not Work Safe". BARF is primarily an adult
community, but there are younger Members, and a vast number of Visitors that
may come to BARF through links and search engines.
Graphic images depicting violence are discouraged, with the exception of those that serve an educational purpose in the motorcycling community. Those that satisfy the educational clause should be linked and not directly visible in a thread. This link, and if possible the thread title, should carry a warning that such material may be offensive to some.
Images found to be in violation of Sections 4.7 and 4.8 will be handled in the following manner:
Images depicting strong graphic or questionable ethical content will be converted to links. Those links will be labeled with a brief description of what is to be expected if the link is clicked.
Images deemed entirely inappropriate (pornography, graphic violence) will be removed.
In order to ensure that people are able to find what they're looking for it is sometimes necessary to move threads from one forum to another. Posts made to inappropriate forums will be relocated. Members are encouraged to post informative thread titles that provide other Members insight into the content. Vague thread titles are subject to editing for clarity.
Threads posted about current racing results where TV coverage is
imminent shall not contain information about the result and will have the
word "SPOILER" in the title.
Members should not post copyrighted materials without permission of
author or photographer as applicable. Links to other publications or
materials are allowed along with a short introduction to the material.
Signatures shall not exceed 10 lines and
size 2 font, and shall not contain any hidden links that add users to ignore
lists or otherwise dupe or harm other Members.
Multiple accounts by the same user are not permitted. If it is found a member has multiple accounts all but the first registered account will be permanently suspended.
Members shall not promote their business in fashion that can be
considered SPAM. Postings of such material may be removed by the Moderators
and an explanation will generally be provided, but not required. Repeat
offenses may lead to suspension and/or removal. Advertisers are exempt and
may post specials and/or information about their business.
It is the responsibility of Staff to protect the rights by enforcing the responsibilities laid out in this document to the best of their ability. When there is a question regarding the rules they will either execute their best impartial judgment, discuss with other staff for resolution, or present it to the Official(s).
Any gray areas not explicitly covered within the TOS are up to the
Moderators' to address in a fashion protecting the interest of the BARF
community.
It is the responsibility of the Official(s) to act in a judiciary role should a dispute arise between Staff and Members. Disputes between Members are to be settled amongst themselves.
It is the responsibility of The Official(s)to ensure that BARF adheres
to the structure provided by this document. The Official (s) are also
responsible for modifying this document, when necessary, to accommodate
changes in policy due to unforeseen changes. BARF reserves the right to take
immediate action to protect BARF's interest should the need arise and adjust
this document to conform with those actions.
Roles
VISITORS: Anyone connected to the Internet and visiting the BARF website
is a visitor.
MEMBERS: Any registered Member of BARF whose account is active
(registration complete and not muted or banned) is entitled to the rights of
and subject to the rules of conduct at BARF.
FOUNDING MEMBERS: Any Member of BARF who joined during the first year of
the site.
SPONSORS: Any individual or business that has a working relationship with
BARF. Sponsors shall have the same rights as members and subject to the same
rules of conduct at BARF with exceptions noted herein.
STAFF: BARF's moderators, along with those who voluntarily accept being
tasked with the execution of events, are representatives of BARF serving in
an assistance role. These individuals are collectively referred to as Staff
throughout this document by definition of the roles they play, but are not
obligated or empowered as though official representatives.
MODERATORS: Moderators are Members of BARF who volunteer to assist in the
management and government of the Internet Forum. Moderators have extended
capabilities on the Forum in order to conduct their responsibilities,
however, the enhanced privileges of Moderators end with the execution of
their Roles. They are not extended exemptions or additional leniency and, as
such, are expected to act in accordance with the same guidelines as the
entire Membership of BARF; they are entitled to the same Rights and are
subject to the same Responsibilities.
HALL OF FAME MODERATORS: Any former Moderator who has given service to
BARF during the course of the site's existence. These Members are considered
to be experienced in guiding BARF and are always welcome to join in with the
Moderators on specific actions they deem necessary.
OFFICIAL(S): The only official representative of Bay Area Riders Forum,
at the time of this publication, is Dennis Kobza (budman). There are many
who aid tremendously in the many aspects of BARF's functions, for which I am
greatly appreciative, but none shall be held responsible or liable to any
commitment on the part of BARF, nor shall BARF be held to any commitment on
their part.
Declarations
The pictures and text posted by members of BARF do not necessarily represent the opinions or views of its founder, its Official(s), its Staff, or of BARF on the whole. BARF Staff will do its best to ensure that content on this website is inline with its guidelines but the ultimate responsibility for material within the forums of BARF's website lies with the poster, not BARF.
BARF encourages its membership to interact with each other in an effort to reduce the anonymity frequently seen at online forums. However, unless otherwise indicated by BARF official(s), no activities organized through BARF are either implicitly or explicitly endorsed by Bay Area Riders Forum. This includes but is not limited to social activities, events, rides on public highways, rides off-highway (paved or dirt), and activity conducted on the website.
Any content posted to BARF immediately becomes the property of BARF and is therefore protected by BARF copyright. BARF reserves the right to use any content posted for other purposes. BARF will make reasonable efforts to contact the originator of content it wishes to reuse and acknowledge their submission when possible. BARF recognizes the copyrights of others and will remove any copyrighted material if requested to do so by the owner of said copyright.
BARF reserves the right to restrict or remove any commercial solicitations, group buys, or other promotions involving financial transactions, trades of services, or other forms of payment or bartering. Merchants are welcome to post promotions and sales but if the frequency is high enough BARF will ask that vendor to become an active sponsor to help support the site. Group buys will only be allowed when the merchant through which the buy is taking place is known.
Privacy Statement
BARF respects the privacy of its Members. At no time will BARF distribute
email addresses or other personal information of Members to any person,
business, or entity other than law enforcement officials. Only after
validation of identity and justification of purpose will BARF release any
information. BARF will not wait until being subpoenaed for information.
BARF will not create or provide access to any tools that allow any
person, business, or other entity to contact Members through any means other
than the Internet Forum.
BARF reserves the right to email Members at any time. This will typically
be an automated email sent by a machine for the purpose of maintaining
accounts on the web server, notifying Members of updated threads (to which
they have intentionally subscribed), and upon activation of other automated
system (software and server) triggers.
BARF reserves the right to email Members updates and/or newsletters at a
frequency of no more than once per month. A notice will accompany the
mailing with a process for unsubscribing.
Revision History
September 17, 2003
Slight revision of the Mission Statement.
All other content is new and original.
December 1, 2003
Addition of commerce and group buy policy (7.4)
December 9, 2005
General revisions.
November 24th, 2007
General revision with implementation of new software.