Advertising Rules and Regulations

• Advertising Levels:

Forum Sponsor – This is a company who has sponsored a specific forum. They have the ability to have up to three threads “stickied” at the top of the forum of which they sponsor. A banner in place of the usual forum header at the top of the forum denotes the company’s presence as that Forum’s Sponsor. Forum Sponsors are acknowledged by a “Forum Sponsor” user title and avatar.

Banner Advertiser – This is a company whose banner is in the main ad banner rotation in the top right section of the forums page, and also rotates throughout the website on the “editorial side” of the site at the bottom of articles, features and resources. This type of advertiser is eligible to support Group Buys and also has the ability to post in the main forums. Banner Advertisers are acknowledged by a “Banner Advertiser” user title and avatar.

Classified Advertiser – This type of advertiser is eligible to support group buys and post commercially in the classified forums only. Classified Advertisers do not have the permission to post in the main forums or anywhere outside of the classifieds. Classified Advertisers are acknowledged by a “Classified Advertiser” user title and avatar.

• Commercial Posting Regulations:

For Advertisers:

– Forum Sponsors are allowed a total of 35 commercial threads active within the last 30 days, which includes no more than 3 threads in any one forum, and no more than 3 stickies at a time in the forum they sponsor.

– Banner Advertisers are allowed a total of 35 commercial threads active within the last 30 days, which includes no more than 3 threads in any one forum.

– Classified Advertisers are allowed a total of 20 commercial threads active within the last 30 days, which includes no more than 3 threads in any one forum.

– If an advertiser exceeds their allotted number of commercial posts, please contact a member of the staff or administration to have excess posts removed and/or archived.

– Bumping of threads is allowed at the rate of two bumps per thread per day for busy forums, and only one bump per day in less busy forums. Any additional bumps may result in the thread being removed at the discretion of the moderators and/or staff.

- Certain high demand forums, such as the 2.0T technical forums and Golf VI & Jetta VI model forum, have a special “Vendor Marketplace” sub-forum attached to the main forum. This is a place where vendors can post excess threads above their allowed 3 threads per forum.

For Non Advertisers:

– No spamming or commercial solicitation of any kind allowed on our sites other than authorized individuals representing a given level of advertiser. Any such messages violating these terms will be removed at the discretion of the moderators and/or staff.

– Selling of individual items or vehicle is permissible by a private owner in our Classifieds forums, however selling multiple items of the same product is considered a commercial post and will be removed at the discretion of the moderators and/or staff.

– The classifieds were created for members to sell parts from their personal vehicles or their personal cars. The classifieds are not to be used to part out cars that have been picked up from the junk yard and then the parts sold off for profit using the forums. Doing so constitutes a commercial post and will be removed at the discretion of the moderators and/or staff.

– Using the PM system to solicit business and circumvent the advertising rules and regulations is not allowed. Violating this rule may result in your ability to send IMs to be disabled, or your account being banned.

– Personal classifieds belong in the classified forum and not the main forum. If classifieds are posted in the main forums, they will be removed by the moderators and/or staff.

– Commercial posts from distributors who carry a registered advertiser’s product are not allowed. Distributors still need to sign up as a registered advertiser if they wish to commercially post on the forums.

• Advertising Rules and Regulations FAQ

Q: I’m interested in signing up for either a Forum Sponsor, Banner Advertiser or Classified Advertiser status; how do I do so?
A: To sign up for or request more information about any of the advertising levels, please e-mail advertising at vortexmediagroup dot com.

Q: I want to organize a Group Buy, can I do so?
A: No, you will need to contact the advertiser who has the product you’d like to see in a group buy, and ask them to post the Group Buy.

Q: What if the product I want to do a Group Buy for is not sold by an eligible company?
A: Our advertisers are broad enough and numerous enough that they cover virtually all parts. If not, many are willing to help out by distributing and processing the parts in question. If the part you want is unique to a company that does not advertise with us, you may want to suggest to that company that they consider doing so.

Q: Why were these rules implemented?
A: These rules were implemented for your protection as buyers and also to help support those companies that choose to support our community. By having companies register with us, the chance of our users getting scammed is much less as those companies or entities doing this business then have something to lose. The implementation of proper user titles makes moderating the forums much easier. Forum Sponsors and Banner Advertisers may post sales in all forums.

Q: What if, even with the new rules, I get scammed in a Group Buy?
A: If a situation arises where there is a problem regarding payment without delivery on product, any user should contact an administrator immediately if they wish action to be taken. Our staff will investigate, and if the situation warrants, that entity will be removed from having Group Buy privileges. While this does not assure money will be returned or the part will be shipped, a key benefit is that it will assure that fellow users are not scammed thanks to communication amongst our users. However, in the end, VWvortex is not liable for any problems that result out of participating in a Group Buy on this site. Let the buyer beware.

Updated 1/5/2011

PLEASE READ CAREFULLY

In an effort to improve the signal to noise ratio on our forums, we ask that you please abide buy these guidelines when participating. With over 530,000 registered members from all over the world, we have reached a point where tremendous diversity, age, education, location and more are all factors to consider when participating in our forums. We want to promote a clean, healthy, respectful atmosphere where people are not afraid to ask questions, participate in this community, and have a good time discussing the things we love most – cars.

With that in mind, here are the rules:

THE BIG RULES: Violation of these rules is grounds for the IMMEDIATE banning of your account. If you think we’re kidding, think again.

• No profanity in subject lines or signatures.
• No spamming or commercial solicitation of any kind. Any such messages will be removed at the discretion of either a forum moderator or administrator. Selling of individual items is permissible by a private owner in our Classifieds forums, however selling multiple items of the same product is considered a commercial post and will be removed. Commercial solicitation through the Instant Message function by non-advertisers is strictly forbidden and grounds to have your account terminated. For more information, please review the advertising rules posted at the top of every forum.
• No flaming of other members to incite or perpetuate a conflict or argument. ANY personal attacks or name calling will get you banned.
• No bombing forums or threads with pointless posts.
• No linking or posting of pornographic or objectionable/inappropriate material.
• Do not impersonate other individuals or falsely represent yourself.
• Do not discuss, suggest, engage, or encourage any illegal activity on the forums. Linking to locations that deal with any such activity is also forbidden.
• Alias accounts are not allowed. Posting under a secondary username for the purpose of arguing, degrading, or belittling other members is grounds for losing both your primary account and your secondary account.
• You must have a valid e-mail account in your profile so you can be reached by a forum moderator or administrator.
• Signatures can have a maximum of five (5) lines.
• A car forum like VWvortex is not the place to post personal problems, questions about personal relationships, etc. These types of posts will be removed.
• No VWvortex related user names are permitted by non-staff members and will be deleted or changed with or without notice.
• Because of the volatile nature of the following topics: religion, sexual orientation, race, class, gender, and political opinion, users are advised against starting threads or entering posts expressing thoughts, beliefs or opinions on these topics.
•Any posts, threads, signatures, or biographies which are in violation of any of the rules may be removed at the discretion of the moderators or administrators.

The following posting guidelines are here to help you (and others) have an enjoyable experience here:

• Respect both forum moderators and administrators. It is a thankless job that we do, and cleaning up other people’s messes is never fun.
• No SHOUTING. Don’t use all caps when posting. It is difficult to read and annoying.
• Try to post to the forum that is most appropriate for the topic being presented.
• No cross-posting. (This is posting the same topic in more than one forum)
• Refrain from using profanity or cr3ative spell1ng to get around the censor filters. Posts that circumvent the censor may be removed.
• Respect the privacy of other members and individuals. Do not post personal information about them (i.e. addresses, phone numbers, passwords, etc.)
• Observe all copyright laws when posting copyrighted material.
• Do not post messages that violate Federal, State, or Local laws which include, but are not limited to, anything that violates a copyright, trademark, patent, trade secret, or is bound by NDA (Non-Disclosure Agreement).

Moderators and administrators frequently review forum posts for those that are in violation of VWvortex rules. Any messages found to be in violation may be deleted without warning or explanation. Furthermore, we reserve the right to remove any post at our discretion, and also the right to ban any user, at any time, for any reason.

There are going to be topics and discussions that will have heated debates. Please think before you post and re-read what you type before you post it. Keep your comments limited to the debate at hand and not make this a personal issue between you and another reader. There is tremendous diversity in age, race, gender, language, location (worldwide) and more here and there will be a lot of varying opinions on different subjects. We’re all human beings and we we’re all drawn to this site because we have a common bond as Volkswagen and car enthusiasts.

Considering the real-time nature of this bulletin board, it is impossible for VWvortex to review all messages or confirm the validity of information posted. Please remember that VWvortex does not actively monitor the contents of posted messages and are not responsible for any messages posted. VWvortex does not vouch for or warrant the accuracy, completeness or usefulness of any message, and is not responsible for the contents of any message. The messages express the views of the author of the message, not necessarily the views of VWvortex or any entity associated with VWvortex. Any user who feels that a posted message is objectionable is encouraged use the “Report This Post to a Moderator” button. VWvortex has the ability to remove objectionable messages and will make every effort to do so, within a reasonable time frame, if determined that removal is necessary. This is a manual process, however, so please realize that we may not be able to remove or edit particular messages immediately.
You agree, through your use of this service, that you will not use this Discussion Forum to post any material which is 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. You agree not to post any copyrighted material unless the copyright is owned by you or by VWvortex.

Although this Discussion Forum does not and cannot review the messages posted and is not responsible for the content of any of these messages, we at VWvortex reserve the right to edit or delete any message or account. You remain solely responsible for the content of your messages, and you agree to indemnify and hold harmless VWvortex, ZeroForum (the makers of the bulletin board software), and their agents with respect to any claim based upon transmission of your message(s).

We at this discussion forum also reserve the right to reveal your identity (or whatever information we know about you) in the event of a complaint or legal action arising from any message posted by you.

A valid email address is required for registration so that your password can be sent to you personally. This has been done to prevent and safeguard the VWvortex Forums from random attacks and people looking to cause problems and spam these forums. VWvortex does NOT sell or distribute your email address to any third parties. The option to have your email address visible in your posts on these forums is controlled and determined by settings in your profile which you control. If you feel uncomfortable submitting your email address, you can go to a number of free email services on the Internet to get a second email address for the purposes of registering on bulletin boards like this one. For more information on our Privacy Policy, please click on the “about us” button at the top of the page.

Updated 5/4/2010

Rules for posting in the Classifieds Forums
In an effort to clean up the classifieds, we are requiring that all classifieds posts be in the following formats:

1) If you are selling a part:
(Example FS: Item Name)

2) If you are selling an automobile:
(Example FS: Year, Make, Model, Mileage, Location)

3a) If you are parting out a car:
(Example Parting Out: Year, Make, Model) – Please include the parts that you are parting out in one post, and include prices for each part.

3b) If you are parting out specific parts from a car:
(Example interior parts, Parting Out: Year, Make, Model, Interior) – Please include the parts that you are parting out in one post, and include prices for each part.

4) If you want to purchase an item:
(Example WTB: Item Name)

5) If you want to trade an item:
(Example WTT: Item Name for Item Name)

6) If you want to trade an automobile for another item or automobile:
(Example WTT: Year, Make, Model, Mileage for Item Name/Automobile)

Please note – the automobile that you want to trade needs to be posted in the classifieds forum for that automobile, not the one you want to trade for.

Example: “WTT: 2002 VW GTI VR6 75k miles for 1998 VW GTI VR6 plus cash” must to be posted only in the G/J IV Cars classifieds forum, not the G/J III Cars classifieds forum.

7) If you are posting a link to an ebay auction you MUST have a buy it now price in the auction and in the thread title. If you are just looking to gather interest for your auction, then we suggest putting a link to it in your signature.

8) If you are posting wheels for sale or trade, they must go in the proper forum for the bolt pattern of the wheel that you are offering. Even if you have adapters which will allow people with other bolt patters to run the wheels, they must be posted in the forum for the wheel being offered, not for the adapters.

Furthermore, we will not allow all CAPS thread titles, or distracting characters such as ”>”, ”*”, ”!”, ”~”, etc. The thread title MUST be in a format presented above, or the thread will be removed. Also, all threads must be in the proper forum. A thread that is selling wheels must be in the respective wheels and tires classifieds forum, not in the model specific forum that those wheels came from. The same goes for parts you are selling. If you have Corrado parts, they have to go in the Corrado forum, not in other forums in which they could be an upgraded part. If someone is looking for an upgrade, they will know where to look.

You must post a price in your initial post.

Also, the classifieds are not a place to voice an opinion on a product. Questioning the value/price, linking to the same or similar item, or posting in an attempt to devalue the objects being sold is forbidden. If you wish to question the value, IM the seller. Do not reply to a classifieds thread unless you are interested in the item. This will cut down on the traffic in the classifieds, which will result in less people bumping their topics, and making it easier to find what you are looking for. Once your item has sold, or you have found what you are looking for, please make a note of that in your thread.

If you are interested in gathering a market value for your item, please be sure to use the Search feature to see what similar items have been selling for. Check both the recent topics, and the archived topics.

Tickets for events can only be sold at face-value or less.

Items that are not to be sold in the classifieds are: Firearms, Animals, Tobacco, Illegal copies of software, repair manuals, etc

Please be aware that the Advertising Rules and Regulations are still in effect (see below), and you must be an advertiser if you would like to post commercially.

These new classifieds rules will be strictly enforced for all new threads.

Updated 5/4/2010

How do I search for something?

The simplest way to search is to use the global search bar at the top of every page. This will allow you to search all available content types. If you want to use a more advanced search, you can use the Advanced Search option.

Advanced Search Operators

There are various search operators that will work when you search (you can of course use multiple operators in a single query)...