Terms of Service

The providers ("we", "us", "our") of the service provided by this web site ("Service") are not responsible for any user-generated content and accounts. Content submitted express the views of their author only.

This Service is only available to users who are at least 13 years old. If you are younger than this, please do not register for this Service. If you register for this Service, you represent that you are this age or older.

All content you submit, upload, or otherwise make available to the Service ("Content") may be reviewed by staff members. All Content you submit or upload may be sent to third-party verification services (including, but not limited to, spam prevention services). Do not submit any Content that you consider to be private or confidential.

You agree to not use the Service to submit or link to any Content which is defamatory, abusive, hateful, threatening, spam or spam-like, likely to offend, contains adult or objectionable content, contains personal information of others, risks copyright infringement, encourages unlawful activity, or otherwise violates any laws. You are entirely responsible for the content of, and any harm resulting from, that Content or your conduct.

We may remove or modify any Content submitted at any time, with or without cause, with or without notice. Requests for Content to be removed or modified will be undertaken only at our discretion. We may terminate your access to all or any part of the Service at any time, with or without cause, with or without notice.

You are granting us with a non-exclusive, permanent, irrevocable, unlimited license to use, publish, or re-publish your Content in connection with the Service. You retain copyright over the Content.

These terms may be changed at any time without notice.

If you do not agree with these terms, please do not register or use the Service. Use of the Service constitutes acceptance of these terms. If you wish to close your account, please contact us.

Linux.Forum Support Forums

Linux.Forum Support Forums was launched on 2023-06-13 as a community for people who are passionate about, support, or work with Linux®. Our community discussions are focused primarily around Linux-related topics and we encourage everyone here to be welcoming towards new users.

This is an English language forum.

This service was installed and is maintained by Linux.Chat with equipment, hosting and object storage sponsored by Conarx, Ltd and is located at OVH.

Please contact admin@linux.forum with any moderation or administrative concerns. Additional information about reporting concerns related to the Community Code of Conduct can be found below.

For media and press release related topics please use admin@linux.forum.

How to Thrive on Linux.Forum

• Add respectful replies and conversation to others' posts you find interesting.
• Report content that you find concerning.
• We strongly discourage posting topics relating to religion, politics and belief systems. While these are important aspects of societal discourse, this is not the correct platform for these topics.
• We're all here because we want a fun, friendly, safe and enjoyable place to communicate, share and collaborate free of the toxicity encountered on other platforms.
• Stay on topic, this is a community focussed on Linux®.
• We encourage everyone to steer discussions in a productive direction. For more details, review our Catalyst Guidelines.

Linux.Forum Community Code of Conduct

Our Pledge to Each Other

In the interest of fostering an open, positive, fun, friendly and welcoming environment, we as Linux.Forum members, moderators, and admins (collectively known as Linux.Forum community members) pledge to make our participation in the Linux.Chat group of communities and the greater Internet a pleasant and harassment-free experience for everyone.

Diversity is Encouraged

Linux.Chat aims to provide a positive, safe environment not only everyone in its communities but also those who interact with us, regardless of:

• age;
• body size;
• caste;
• disability;
• ethnicity;
• gender identity and expression;
• level of experience;
• education;
• socio-economic status;
• nationality;
• personal appearance;
• race;
• religion (or lack thereof);
• sexual identity and orientation;
• tribe; or
• other protected status as defined by laws or the Universal Declaration of Human Rights

Our Standards

Examples of behavior that contributes to creating an open, positive, fun, friendly and welcoming environment include, but are not limited to:

• Using welcoming, inclusive and friendly language.
• Being respectful of differing viewpoints and experiences.
• Gracefully accepting constructive criticism and respectively giving it.
• Focusing on what is best for the community.
• Showing empathy towards other community members.

Examples of unacceptable behavior by Linux.Chat community members include, but are not limited to:

• Insulting/derogatory comments.
• Trolling.
• Statements or jokes that exclude based on the demographic groups in the above "Diversity is Encouraged" section.
• Deliberate intimidation, stalking, or following.
• Public or private harassment.
• Publishing others’ private information, such as a physical or electronic address, without explicit permission.
• Sexual language, imagery, attention, or advances towards others, or behavior that contributes to a sexualized environment.
• Violence directed against another person, including violent threats and violent language.
• Expressing support for such unacceptable behaviors by others.

Linux.Forum prioritizes marginalized people's safety over privileged people's comfort. Linux.Forum moderators and admins will not take action on complaints regarding:

• "Reverse"-isms, including "reverse racism," "reverse sexism," and "cisphobia".
• The tone or writing style used when responding to harassment, racism, sexism, transphobia, or otherwise oppressive behavior or assumptions.
• Reasonable communication of boundaries, such as "leave me alone," "go away," or "I'm not discussing this with you".

Our Responsibilities

Linux.Forum moderators and admins are responsible for clarifying the standards of acceptable behavior and are expected to take appropriate and fair corrective action in response to any instances of unacceptable behavior.

Linux.Forum moderators and admins have the right and responsibility to remove, edit, or reject posts, messages, comments, commits, code, or any other contributions that are not aligned to this Code of Conduct.

Linux.Forum moderators and admins have the right to take certain action in response to any Linux.Forum community member exhibiting other behaviors that they deem inappropriate, threatening, offensive, harmful or causes damage to the reputation of the Linux.Forum community or Linux.Chat group of communities.

Examples of such actions include, but are not limited to:

• Removal or limiting viewability of content posted to Linux.Forum.
• A temporary, permanent or global ban from all Linux.Chat communities.
• A temporary, permanent or global ban from applying for a Linux.Forum account in the future or global ban across the Linux.Chat group of communities.
• A temporary, permanent or global ban from participating as a Linux.Forum moderator or admin or global ban across the Linux.Chat group of communities.

Scope

This Code of Conduct applies to all Linux.Chat community spaces, including Linux.Forum, Linux.Social and Linux.Community, herein collectively referred to as Linux.Chat:

• The Linux.Chat and Linux.Chat-related websites.
• The Linux.Chat public and private mailing lists.
• Any official public or private Linux.Chat forums or rooms on Matrix, IRC and Discord.
• Any Linux.Chat public and private git repositories.
• Any additional Linux.Chat project spaces or communities added in the future.

When Linux.Chat community members contribute in discussion in or from our services, they represent the Linux.Chat community and its reputation.

Therefore, this Code of Conduct applies to:

• Public communication between Linux.Chat community members in community spaces of Linux-related, free software projects or non-profits who are also Linux-related community members.
• Public communication between Linux.Chat community members at gatherings related to Linux.Chat and at Linux-related events generally.
• Public Linux.Chat social media posts and comments by Linux.Chat community members on those social media posts.
• Private communication between Linux.Chat community members related to Linux.Chat communities or its members.
• Private communication between Linux.Chat community members and Linux.Chat admins or moderators.

This Code of Conduct also applies to official Linux.Chat communication, such as:

• Using an official Linux.Chat e-mail address.
• Acting as an appointed representative at an online or offline event.
• Posting via an official Linux.Chat social media account.

Representation of our community may be further defined and clarified by Linux.Chat admins and moderators.

If a concern about a past incident in any space is made known to a moderator or admin about a current Linux.Chat community member, Linux.Chat moderators or admins may take it into account when deciding whether the incident should have any consequences to the community member's participation in the Linux.Chat community.

Enforcement

Instances of abusive, harassing, or otherwise unacceptable behavior may be reported by:

• Using the "Report" menu item on any post or profile in the Mastodon software (preferred).
• Contacting Linux.Chat admins directly using the lfadmin account.
• Contacting Linux.Chat admins or moderators privately through their official Linux.Chat community account.
• Sending an email to abuse@Linux.Chat.

All complaints will be reviewed and investigated as quickly as possible, and will result in a response that is deemed necessary and appropriate to the circumstances. The Linux.Chat admins and moderators are obligated to maintain confidentiality with regard to the reporter of an incident. Further details of specific enforcement policies may be posted separately.

Attribution

This Code of Conduct is adapted from the FLOSS.social Code of Conduct as of December 21, 2022 and the Outreachy Community Code of Conduct as of January 28, 2002, made available under the terms of the GNU General Public License, version 3, and this "Linux.Chat Community Code of Conduct" is published under those same terms. The Outreachy Community Code of Conduct was adapted from the Contributor Covenant, version 1.4.

Linux.Forum Rules

General Rules

• This is an English-only forum.
• All content must adhere to being PG13.
• Our Code of Conduct applies to all content.
• Any post referring to or encouraging illegal intent is not permitted.
• Contacting any user to suggest a product or service who is not explicitly expecting you to contact them from an advertising forum post is not permitted.
• Your account is yours alone. You are responsible for any activity relating to your account. You may not share your account login credentials.
• Signature spam (a post made in hopes of showing a signature) is not permitted.
• You may not post commission, referral or affiliate links. If it looks like it could be one of those links, we will treat it as such.
• Cross-posting is not permitted. This refers to posting duplicate threads or posts or linking to threads or posts started by a user with the intention of gaining exposure.
• Compensating anyone for any review or recommendation is not permitted.
• You may not post on behalf of any banned member in any public forum. This includes all forums, private conversations and signatures.
• Posting of content containing spaces, dots or any other form of substitution in an attempt to defeat any censors put in place is not permitted.
• Linking to any website containing content which violates our Code of Conduct is not permitted.
• Posting content to try garner trophies or any other forum reward is not permitted.
• You may not use discussions to recommend, praise, belittle other products, services or companies without first hand experience using those products, services or dealing with that company.
• Posting of any content which is commercial in nature is not permitted.
• You are not permitted to bump threads. This refers to the useless posting of information or one-liners or any other action that deliberately keeps a thread hot or to bring a thread to the top of the forum.
• You may not post messages that direct users to any content containing your own commercial domain, including informational or help pages. A commercial domain is defined as one that receives any type of income or links to any incoming producing mechanism.
• You may not share details about your company and/or products or services when a thread starter or poster has made direct reference to your company and stated something untrue or misleading. Any response must be in direct reference to the point discussed and contain no added commercial intent. It is advisable to contact us first before responding.
• Requests for paid services are not appropriate in any Forum Category except Vacancies & Job Offers
• Any user found to be intentionally trashing or trolling in another user's advertisement will result in a temporary or permanent ban. Negative comments on advertisements are not allowed.
• Many account features will only be available after earning 10 trophies and your account being at least 7 days old.

Profile Signatures

Profile signatures is a benefit extended to forum members who have at least 10 trophies and an account which is more than 7 days old.

Signature rules:

• Must be set up in your profile, and not manually added to your messages.
• May not contain any pricing, plan, sales, etc. details. "Free" is considered a price in the context of this rule.
• May not use the word "Free" to describe any cost.
• Please keep special characters to a minimum.
• Your signature is your signature. It is not for sale or rent.
• Any signature that is offensive or insulting to Linux.Forum, its members, or its staff, is prohibited.
• We reserve the right to ask you to change and/or remove your signature at any time, for any reason.

Limits (account upgrades may increase some limits):

• Basic text formatting is provided by default.
• May not contain links.
• May contain one smile.
• May contain up to 50 characters in length.
• May span a total of 2 lines.
• May use fonts up to the 2nd level in the editor.
• May not contain links to other threads or posts.

Advertising Forums

• Any request or offers for illegal services or content, or any other services or content which is deemed inappropriate under our Code of Conduct will result in a temporary or permanent ban.
• No lifetime plan offers. Posting such offers will result in a temporary or permanent ban.
• Keep advertising posts clean. Try to stick to two colors (excluding black) and up to two font styles.
• Any offers made in the Advertising Forum category must contain a URL to the providers website. The provider must not list a free email account (eg. gmail) as a point of contact for those interested in the offer. Public WHOIS information relating to the providers domain must be accurate as per the ICANN Registrar Agreement, should you have opted for a privacy WHOIS service, contact details must be submitted to Linux.Forum staff prior to posting the offer. Violation of this rule will result in a temporary or permanent ban.
• Any attempts to deceive or defraud users will result in a temporary or permanent ban.
• All offers must have a "PROMO" prefix.
• You may post once in an advertising forum per week and you may bump your post once every 3 days.

DMCA Takedown Notices

DMCA takedown notices may be submitted to dmca@Linux.Forum.

Please ensure your DMCA takedown notice meets the following requirements:

• The signature of the copyright owner or owner’s agent, in electronic form.
• Identification of the: (i) copyrighted work(s) infringed; (ii) the infringing activity; and (iii) the location of the infringing activity (by providing the URL).
• Contact information of the notice sender, including an email address.
• A statement that the notifier has a good faith belief that the material is not authorized by the intellectual property or copyright owner, its agent, or the law.
• A statement that the information provided is accurate and the notifier is authorized to make the complaint on behalf of the intellectual property or copyright owner.

Please also take note of the DMCA takedown procedure:

• A copyright holder files a takedown notice, under penalty of perjury, with Linux.Forum claiming that the site is hosting infringing content owned by the copyright holder;
• Linux.Forum will provide the posting party (24) hours to remove the content, should they fail to action this, we will remove the content within (24) hours;
• The posting party then has the right to file a counter-notification, informing Linux.Forum that the content is not infringing; and
• If a counter-notice is filed, the service provider must re-host the content unless the original copyright holder files a lawsuit.

Document Changes, Updates and Contributions

Our server policies and information can be contributed to via our GitLab instance repository.