Terms & Conditions

Valley Mountain Bikers Code of Conduct

The Valley Mountain biker's forum and events are intended to be a family-friendly online resource that chronicles the history and current activities of VMB . VMB acknowledges and appreciates that, in many cases, a person’s first introduction to VMB is through our on-line forum or club events. The Forum shall primarily serve VMB's members by providing information about trails, and VMB activities (work parties, rides, events,) as well as mountain biking advocacy.

1) You must first register to use the forum. Enter a valid email address and fill out your user profile. This is an open forum.

A user may have only one account. Setting up multiple accounts and posing as different people is not allowed.

2) Spam will be deleted. Any account used for the sole purpose of spam or advertising will be deleted and/or blocked.

3) Posts regarding illegal activities will be deleted. Examples of the most frequently deleted posts are: illegal trail building, poaching trails, underage drinking, illegal drugs or drug use. Posts that reference, or have play on words, that suggest these illegal activities will be edited at a Moderator’s discretion, and the user will be warned. This also applies to users’ avatars and signatures.

4) Posts or posts with links that contain sexual content, *** or highly suggestive/sexual photographs of any kind are not appropriate for this forum and will be deleted. This also applies to users’ avatars and signatures.

5) Language & Profanity Rating is PG-13: We are not aiming for Disney - think more like The Simpson's. In general, you can use a couple of the lighter words a few times. The “filter” will automatically edit most profanity; the mistyping of profane words to go around the filter is discouraged. There is a fine line between humorous and offensive, and the moderators/officers will edit or delete content at their discretion, based on the intent of the message.

7) Conduct towards others: Personal attacks, flaming, slamming of businesses or products, is is not be permitted and such posts will be edited or deleted. This forum is not a place to vent against persons or groups for any reason, and such behavior will not be tolerated. Discussions should be positive. The club reserves the right to remove or ban anyone from the forums or club activities if the harassment persists. Removal will be determined by a vote of the executive board.

9) Trail Stewardship: VMB members are bound at all times to comply with all federal, state and local laws and regulations that apply to the club and its activities. Any member that fails to comply with any such law or regulation governing the actions of the club is subject to removal pursuant to the provisions of the bylaws. The foregoing includes the construction or alteration of trails in violation of any applicable law or regulation.
All trail building, maintenance, improvements (manmade or natural), and related activities activity must be done in accordance to the expectations and agreements held between VMB and respective land managers. In addition, a member's participation in the construction of unauthorized trails is presumptively deemed to be in direct conflict with the club bylaws and mission statement and shall constitute ground for removal pursuant to the procedures set forth in the bylaws.

8 ) Democracy, Censorship & Moderation: This forum is owned by, paid for, and operated by VMB. We welcome you to our forum and events, but our moderators/officers reserve the right to edit, delete, split, move or otherwise change your posts for reasons not specifically listed above in order to preserve VMB's mission statement. Your right to free speech does not apply here.

9) Moderators/officers will not tolerate harassment via emails, phone calls or offensive PM messages. If someone gets moderated, keep in mind that the decision was carefully made, and the moderators will stand behind the decision and be able to clearly point out why the post was moderated. If a moderator followed the rules, and gets harassed, the person who harassed the moderator will be banned from the forum for 30 days. We go by the 3-strikes rule before permanently banning a user, but some special people manage to earn permanent bans on their first or second try.

Moderators/officers responsibilities and obligations:

1) Uphold VMB forum policies

2) Remain unbiased, and consistent with regard to locking threads and deleting threads.

3) When an offensive post is made, a Mod should delete it and place it in Quarantine. Most times the offender will be PMed and
told why the post was removed, as a courtesy, but if the post is blatantly offensive, this might not be done.

4) When thread is "marginal" with respect to content, a moderator may post the question to the VMB board. Majority vote will determine if the post should be removed

5) Posts that are blatant spam/advertising will be deleted without a response.

6) All discussion between moderators shall be kept internal, and should not be discussed with others. In general when a moderator’s action is challenged, a single response can be provided, and should be backed by moderators.

Reporting Abuse

Help us maintain a safe space. Please do not encourage abuse by responding to abusive posts or otherwise engaging in the furthering of inappropriate topics and posts. And, if you notice anything you find offensive on BikeVMB.com, we would appreciate it if you would let us know by sending an email to President@bikevemb.com or by contacting the moderator or any club officer


DISCLAIMER:
I understand that bicycle riding and trail construction and repair are inherently dangerous activities and fully assume the risks associated with them. I understand that every piece of land is owned by someone and it's my responsibility to know who the land I'm riding on belongs to. I will not hold the VMB responsible for my own personal trespasses.

The views and opinions expressed in forum posts are solely of the individuals and are not the views of VMB, International Mountain Bicycling Association (IMBA), or their respective members, agents, sponsors, promoters, affiliates, heirs, or assigns.

I understand that the web is forever and that any dumb comment I put up may haunt me until the end of my days.