Rules & Guidelines

1) What are the FM forum rules?

Registration to the FM forums is free and welcome to everyone. However, we reserve the right to enforce the rules and policies. The rules are very clear and simple to follow. If you do not agree or adhere to these rules, then you will not be permitted to post. FM moderators reserve the right to ban, revoke privileges, edit, move, delete or lock any thread that does not comply to the rules below:

• Be courteous, and polite. Do not use profanity, viciously bash others, be rude, hateful, threatening, abusive, invasive, or otherwise violate any laws. By participating in this forum, you agree to any possible future rules amended, implicit, or implied.
• Do not violate copyright laws, or misrepresent someone else’s work as your own (link the images, do not embed them in your post). You may not use or publish any of the photographs displayed on these pages without express permission from the original photographer. No exceptions.
• Be aware of content. Any photographs considered lewd, vulgar, sexually orientated, or pornographic in nature will be immediately deleted. Please only post decent, tasteful, artistic photographs. You may only post a link to your artistic nude image and not embed it into your message. If you do embed the image to this site the moderator will remove it without warning.
• Messages must be posted to the appropriate board. FM Moderators reserve the right to move messages to the correct board without warning. For example: All personal sales related postings should be placed in the “Buy and Sell” section.
• No SPAM, advertisements, schemes, or fictitious announcements: Regular members are allowed to advertise their workshops or meetings in the ‘Member meetings and events’ section, but moderators can still edit, close or remove a thread when they think it’s needed.
• Links to commercial sites are NOT allowed in signatures.
• Links to subscription-oriented sites are NOT allowed. This includes forums, reviews, or blatant self-promoting sites. Allowed exceptions are: Photography sites selling photography and sharing of your personal work.
• There are no restrictions on image dimension, but please keep files around 700px (1000px maximum), so that members using monitors with lower resolution can also enjoy viewing your photos.
• Do not use all CAPS in postings or thread titles. Please do not ‘bump’ posts outside of the Buy & Sell Forum.
• Use of this forum is a privilege. This is a private forum. If necessary, we reserve the right to refuse access or deny the right to use the forum to anyone, without further notice. Let’s work together to make FM forums a beneficial contribution to the digital photography community.

2) Is there a criteria for giving critiques?

Some things that you may want to consider before critiquing a photograph:

• Effort: Has the photographer made full use of the facilities at his disposal? Or, are there things that the photographer could have improved with a little more work? Does it look like the photographer made an extra effort to capture the best possible image under the circumstances, or did he just go with what was in front of him?
• Color: Was the photographers choice to use or not use color sound? If the photographer used black and white, then is the subject of the photo something that is normally associated with color, like an apple? If the photographer used color, does the color add to or detract from the image?
• Spatial positioning and composition: Is the subject in the center of the frame? Usually a centered subject looks boring, but it works in some cases. Did it work this time? Does anything look squeezed up against the side of the frame? Are there big open spaces around the edges that could be cropped out? Is there a clear subject that occupies the majority of the frame, or is the subject unclear or small and surrounded by irrelevant material?
• Direction of attention: What do you see first in the photo? Is it the right thing? Do you have to hunt for the subject or does it stand out? Is your eye drawn to objects in the background, rather than the subject, or do you look to the edge of the frame, expecting to find something that is not there?
• Focus: Is anything in focus? Is it the subject or something else? Is the depth of field appropriate? Is the subject contained within the depth of field or are parts of the subject fuzzy? Are there distracting elements in the background that are in focus which would have been blurred out by a wider aperture?
• Exposure: Is the photo properly exposed? Are there details both in the highlights and in the shadows, or are there large “blown-out” highlight areas or “blocked-up” shadow areas? If the exposure is biased towards light (high key) or dark (low key), did the photographer make a good choice?

3) What are the Buy & Sell Rules and Guidelines:

Posting on the Buy & Sell board is limited to Upload & Sell members only. With this
membership, you will be able to start New Topics as: FS (For sale), FT (For trade), WTB (Want
to buy) or OA (Outside auction)If you would like to become an Upload & Sell member href=”http://www.fredmiranda.com/forum/upload-sell.php” target=”_blank”> color=”#FFFFCC”>click here.

As a FM member (non-subscriber), you can only “reply” to topics on the Buy and Sell board.
(You can’t sell items, only buy them)

Before posting, you are required to read the href=”http://www.fredmiranda.com/forum/disclosure.htm” target=”_blank”> color=”#FFFFCC”>board Disclosure.

What are the B&S board rules?

You are not allowed to list items for sale in your signature.

You can only start a “New Topic” every 8 hours. You may sell more than one item by
combining them on your listing.

You are not allowed to sell non-camera related items. (See restrictions below)

Replies cannot be used to sell items. Meaning only the “First Post” can be used to list an item
for sale.

Commercial sales are not allowed. No exceptions.

Running auctions is not allowed. You MUST include a listing price for the item(s) being sold.
Auction threads will be deleted. However, as a subscriber you are allowed to post your “OA
(Outside Auction) link on a new post referencing to an outside auction. (Like Ebay)

Allowed items for sale:

As a subscriber you are allowed to sell all camera related gear, photo-printers and monitors.

NOT Allowed items for sale:

We desire to keep the Buy and Sell board related to photography as much as possible.
Therefore you are NOT allowed to sell non-camera related gear. A few examples of not
allowed items are: software, DVD workshops or movies, computer, computer hardware, video
cameras, iPods (Even iPod photo), speakers..

_____________________

FAQ:

Can I list an outside auction if I’m a subscriber?

We don’t have a system in place for “running” auctions. That is why this board does not allow
people auctioning items. All items MUST have a price. However, if you would like to reference
an ouside auction that you have alreday started, (Like Ebay, Yahoo, etc…) you may do so by
referencing “OA” in the subject line.
Just to be clear:
Auctions are NOT allowed here. However linking an outside auction is ok as long as you have
“OA” in the subject line.

How do I report a thread?
To report a thread, click on the “Report” button.

Can I post my concerns regarding the seller’s price on a listing price?

You are NOT the “price police” of this board. If you don’t agree with an item’s price, or if you
know a place where the same item is being sold for less, do NOT interfere or post your
opinion/prices on the thread in question. The seller may not know what the “politically
correct” price. Members posting prices or being hostile to the seller’s threads will be warned
or even have their accounts locked.

How can I post feedback for a member?

color=”#FFFFCC”>This post explains in detail how to post feedback
for members in the Buy and Sell board. (Using the feedback system)

4) Buy & Sell board Disclosure

Buy and sell at your own risk.
My advice is to only buy items from established forum members (100 posts or more) and take the time to always check references first.This site is NOT affiliated with any seller posting equipment for sell/trade. Therefore, we are NOT liable for any misrepresentation, fraud or spam posted here. Always check your references, especially for new members selling/trading equipment.
None of the sales transactions made on this board are representative of fredmiranda.com

We reserve the right to immediately remove posts that are suspected to be of a fraudulent nature. Any member who makes a fraudulent sale/purchase will be banned from this site without further notice.