Joining Our Forum CommunityOur community still eagerly welcomes new members interested in discussing ethnographic arms and armour - even brief visitors asking about a piece they have inherited or were given.
Large numbers of spam-bot generated registrations had led to a moderation queue overfilled with various dubious commercial offers and pornography. For this reason, the facility allowing immediate on-line registration has been disabled. The Moderator Team regrets having to increase the hassle factor of the registration process and hopes you understand why this has become necessary.
In order to register, you will need to send an e-mail to register@vikingsword.com. This e-mail needs to include:
1) the username you wish to be identified by on the forums (this does not have to be your real name).
2) a password (this may be just for your first login, as you can privately change your password at any time).
3) If not the one by which you are sending your request, the e-mail address you wish associated with your forums membership.Registrations are usually processed at least weekly and in due course you will receive a reply via e-mail with your log-in credentials, usually within a few days. Please understand that, in the beginning, your posts will not appear until a moderator clears them. Like every community, this one also has its own quirks and pet peeves. Please take a look at the rules and FAQ below before you begin posting; this may protect you from getting off to a bad start. Once a pattern of responsible behavior emerges, you may expect to be promoted to allow immediate appearance of posts, use of private messaging, e-mail forwarding and the ability to list items in the swap forum. Promotion is at the discretion of the moderators and based upon constructive participation in the discussion community.
EAA Forum Rules
All of the below may pretty much be summed up as
"You are solely responsible for what you write",
"Please obey the law",
"No advertising, except as permitted in the Swap Forum" and
"Keep it Civil and Respectful".Vikingsword's forums were established to create a friendly environment for edged weapons enthusiasts to interact informally. In order to foster this friendly interaction and create an environment where enthusiasts feel comfortable posting and interacting, we have created a set of guidelines and rules which all members are asked to follow. These rules are general in nature, as it is impossible to spell out every possible reason that may result in a thread being locked, deleted, or edited or in a member being banned from future posting in the forums.
Considering the real-time nature of this forum, it is impossible for us to review messages or confirm the validity of information posted. Please remember that we do not actively monitor the contents of posted messages and are not responsible for any messages posted. We do not vouch for or warrant the accuracy, completeness or usefulness of any message, and are not responsible for the contents of any message. The messages express the views of the author of the message, not necessarily the views of this forum or any entity associated with this forum. Any user who feels that a posted message is objectionable is encouraged to contact us immediately by e-mail. We have the ability to remove objectionable messages and we will make every effort to do so, within a reasonable time frame, if we determine 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 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 this forum or you have the explicit permission of the copyright holder to post such material.
Although this forum does not and cannot review the messages posted and is not responsible for the content of any of these messages, we at this forum reserve the right to delete any message for any or no reason whatsoever. You remain solely responsible for the content of your messages, and you agree to indemnify and hold harmless this forum, vBulletin, Jelsoft Enterprises, Ltd. (the makers of the bulletin board software), the forum administrators, Staff, moderators and their agents with respect to any claim based upon transmission of your message(s).
We at this forum also reserve the right to reveal such information we know about you to law enforcement agencies in the event of a legitimate complaint or legal action arising from any message posted by you.
Rules Applying to All Ethnographic Arms & Armour Fora 1. Be nice and respect your fellow members:
SPAMMING Spamming (i.e. intentional business advertisements) are strictly not allowed in the general discussion forums. Threads determined to be "spam" will be deleted; please be advised that engaging in this type of posting will likely result in the loss of your posting privileges without notice.
FLAMES, INSULTS, BIGOTRY & THREATS Flames or insults are strictly against the rules. If you disagree with another member's point of view, do so in a mature and civil manner. Civility and respect towards other participants are unconditionally expected.
If you find yourself being flamed or insulted by another member, please do not dignify that person with a response. Notify a moderator and let us handle it. If you feel you must respond to a flame or insult directly, please do NOT do so on the board - use private messages or e-mail.
Suggestion: If you are consistently or particularly irritated by another member's posting habits and are constantly fighting the urge to flame them, you can click on that person's profile, and select "Add to ignore list." This will make that person's posts invisible to you.
This is an international discussion group, a fact that the staff is particularly proud of. Threads or replies promoting or expressing intolerant views towards any group (e.g., culture, race, religion, national origin, etc.) are never appropriate and will not be allowed. Please keep in mind that, while communications on the forum are to be conducted in English, many members are not communicating in their native language, and misunderstandings can occur. The forum is home to members from varied nations and cultures, so it is important to remember that how you say something is often as important as what you say.
Threatening other members will not be tolerated. This includes threats of physical violence, threats of property damage, death threats, terrorist threats, or threatening to hack another person's online identity or computer.
CONTROVERSIAL TOPICS & TROLLING Controversial topics, such as religion and politics have no place here and only serve to distract from the intended purpose of the forums. This is a place to discuss our common passion: ethnographic arms and armour.
“Trolling" or making posts with the sole intention of creating discord or problems on the forums is obviously against the forum guidelines. This includes registering an alternate ID for the sole purpose of creating problems on the forums. "Troll ID's" will be locked immediately and permanently, and can be locked without notification to the offender.
2. Obey the law and respect intellectual property rights:
LEGAL DISCUSSIONS Discussion of laws, regulations and legal issues, such as those relating to the ownership of edged weapons, or their transportation, importation or exportation, on the open forum is permissible (and very educational and helpful besides) so long as suggestions for ways to circumvent said laws or regulations, such as shipping and/or labeling strategies, are not brought into the discussion.
Discussions of your own experiences with customs, local possession laws, etc. are also acceptable, again so long as you do not discuss "strategies" for circumventing or avoiding them (such as suggesting a careful choice of words that tends not to excite the attention of the authorities).
If there is interest in exchanging such "strategic" information, consider use of private e-mails.
COPYRIGHT VIOLATIONS & PORNOGRAPHIC MATERIAL Posting or uploading pictures or other attachments copyrighted by a person other than yourself, without the owner’s explicit permission, is expressly forbidden by Vikingsword, when done for commercial use. However, such materials may be used to a limited extent under the doctrine of fair use for purposes of academic discussion or research. In such situations it is recommended that attribution, citations or credit be provided.
An issue has been raised concerning ‘image hijacking’ when some members are occasionally posting pictures by directing image tags to a third party's server. Please do NOT do this unless you have the permission of the third party concerned. As an alternative, place a hyperlink to the (html) page on which the image appears.
Placing on the server or linking to pornographic material, whether textual or in the form of an image or other attachment, is strictly forbidden. Threads and or replies encouraging other illegal and or unethical action will not be allowed. This also includes threads about using and or obtaining illegal copies of copyrighted material such as software, music, videos, and sharing registration and license keys of copyrighted material.
Rules Applying to the Discussion Fora (Ethnographic Weapons, Keris Warung Kopi & European Armoury) Specifically 1. Discussion of items currently in the process of being offered for sale, especially active auctions, is strictly prohibited. This prohibition also includes posting of links or other identifying clues (such as auction numbers) and calling attention that a previously discussed item is now for sale.
2. Public valuation appraisals are not permitted on these fora. However, if you would like an appraisal of an item's value or market conditions, you may request that other members contact you with that information via email or PM.
3. Commercial use of the discussion fora in any manner is strictly prohibited. While there may be no enforceable external legal constraint against your posting an object for discussion in a forum such as ours and later deciding to sell the item and posting a link to the discussion in the forums, please be advised that linking to, quoting or otherwise referring to discussion forum content with commercial intent constitutes grounds for cancellation of the offender's forum registration, unless permission has been received from the authors of the relevant posts in advance for such commercial use of their remarks.
4. Posters are required to use the 'attachment' feature to place images within their posts. The purpose of this rule is to insure that the images have the same archival durability as the text of the post. Please refer to this thread if you need help with attaching images.
Discussion Fora Frequently Asked Questions and Answers Why is the staff so adamant against discussions of items that are for sale, particularly in auctions: This policy is intended to deter the possibility of a legal claim that a discussion on the forums soured a transaction or otherwise spoiled the auction process resulting in financial loss to third parties.
Can I warn the community of obvious fraud, for example if I see my own photographs of items in my collection being offered in an auction: An important permitted exception is the posting of links/auction numbers to pending (non-closed) auctions is when one has reliable proof that the auction is fraudulent. Reliable proof includes first-hand knowledge about the item in question (e.g. it is something you own, and someone has violated copyright by using your own photos to offer to sell your property).
An interesting auction has now closed, so may I now discuss it: Common sense and caution should be exercised in discussing items recently in the marketplace. For example, an auction closes without a sale. Will the seller relist it tomorrow morning? Discussion of closed auctions should never include editorial comments about the seller or the buyer; please take those discussions to private e-mail.
I decided to edit a post I made last week and the forums software will not comply: Posts which you make may be edited and reloaded by you without the automatic insertion of an ‘edited by’ tag for the first 10 minutes after posting. After 10 minutes, up to 24 hours, the post may be edited by its creator. After 24 hours, the facility to change a post is removed, except for moderators, whom you will need to contact when editing is justified by special circumstances. Deletion of posts and or threads may only be carried out by moderators.
I have recently sold an item I previously presented in these forums and the purchaser demands that I delete the thread: Your deletion request will almost surely be denied. When you place information on the internet it passes out of your control. Explain to the new owner / prospective purchaser that this is just like auction sale records, this information will persist - even in the extremely unlikely circumstance that the Moderation Team shall grant your request for deletion of one manifestation.
I do not speak or write in English but I wish to participate: Create your post in your own language in a word processor and then use a service (such as the free http://translate.google.com) where you may paste your text and be presented with a computer generated English translation. Paste this into your document at the top and then paste both the translation and your original (for those fortunate enough to read it directly) into the thread or reply entry box. Obviously, these translations will often be deficient when applied to a specialized field of interest such as ours. While the moderators reserve the right to clean up some of the computer translated text for you, such editing should not be expected, owing to the time required and or level of staff expertise.
May I link to discussions on 'competing' forum communities about the same or similar items: Yes, as long as the material at the target site is relevant and contributory towards the discussion. You should hesitate and consider before linking to pages with heavy and or intrusive commercial content. Shill recruitment links are likely to attract moderator attention and draw unfavorable action.
Do you hate to find an archived thread on fora such as these where the images have vanished: Except when copyright requires use of links, you are expected to use the uploaded attachment facility in the forum for your images. Too often free hosting sites vanish or change names and data structures resulting in broken links. Similarly, when you change which internet service provider (ISP) you use, ISP provided webspace may vanish.
I want to complain about a forum policy: These fora are managed by a volunteer Moderator Team and each moderator has a vote on fora policies. Concerns may be directed to any of the moderators (or to webmaster@vikingsword.com) for presentation to and consideration by the Moderator Team. Do not create a thread in the forums for your grievance or suggestion, unless you wish to risk being banned.
Rules Applying to the Swap Forum Specifically 1. BUYER BEWARE (caveat emptor): Vikingsword.com (including the forums, staff and owner) make no warranty concerning any contacts or transactions arising from use of the swap forum and users are cautioned that there is no vetting process for sellers, merchandise or buyers. In using this forum, you specifically and knowingly agree to assume the risk of a "bad" transaction, and further agree to release, indemnify and hold harmless Vikingsword, the owner, the moderators, and anyone officially associated with this site. Participants are expected to comply with relevant laws and regulations in good faith and to refrain from willful knowing misrepresentation.
2. The swap forum is to be used only for the posting of advertisements for ethnographic arms and armour related items (to include authentic examples of such items, related accouterments, books and literature).
3. Sale advertisements lacking an asking price are subject to deletion without notice.
4. The listing is to remain exclusive to the swap forum for 14 days with the item not to be listed or offered for sale in another venue during that period. If the item has not been sold following this interval, the seller may list the item elsewhere and may reply to their swap thread, posting a link to the current sale offer or auction. Sellers are expected to reply to their sale thread to advise the community if the item is sold or otherwise withdrawn from offer.
5. Advertisements containing links or directions to commercial websites and or auction sites may be deleted without notice, except as otherwise specifically permitted in these rules. Images must be uploaded and placed as displayed attachments, rather than as links. Members of the forum community who are also dealers or have a related business may create a thread with the name of their business in the swap forum within the title and include links to their on-line stores and or websites. Replies to this thread to announce special sale events and arrivals of new merchandise may be made. A new replacement thread may be started to reduce clutter, after which the earlier thread must no longer be refreshed. Should a member be advised by a moderator that he/she are overusing (or spamming) this service, that member is expected to comply with such limitations as the moderator advises. Dealer threads for single items complying with the fourteen day exclusivity rule above are permitted outside of this provision. Book publications, museum exhibitions and related events may also be announced and updated in this manner.
6. All other rules of these forums must be observed.
Swap Forum Frequently Asked Questions and Answers I have registered, but I cannot start a thread in the Swap Forum: The Ethnographic Arms and Armour forums are provided to facilitate open discussion and sharing of knowledge about these tangible artifacts and their places in the cultures that created them. As such knowledge confers an advantage in the commercial marketplace, many persons are understandably unwilling to publicly share their learning, experiences and insights in an open worldwide community of persons interested in this subject. The swap forum is provided as an ancillary venue to allow collectors in this knowledge-sharing community to dispose of superseded items and items outside of their evolving fields of interest with others in this community. Posting in the swap forum is a reward and privilege that is earned by constructive participation in the discussion forums community. Members in moderated probationary status are not able to initiate swap forum threads; persons having a single or few items to sell and no long term interest in this forum community may contact a member of staff to request surrogate posting. Staff may, at their sole personal discretion, place swap listings on behalf of persons unable to post; the criterion for this assistance shall be that the offering is of likely interest to the forum community.
I get an error when I try to reply to a Swap Forum post: Only the person who originated the thread (and staff members) have the ability to reply to a swap forum thread. Please think of swap posts as classified advertisements. If you see an offer that you know to be fraudulent or have good reason to suspect, you should use the 'report this post' facility on the offending page to advise staff of your concerns. Minor deficiencies in descriptions are best directly addressed to the member offering the item.
I have been ripped off in the Swap Forum and expect the staff to help me recover my money or item: Users must structure deals to protect themselves from fraud, as they should always do with any transaction at a distance involving unseen merchandise and sellers. While some auction sites provide limited protection from defaulting sellers, a buyer has no such protection here unless their payment processor provides it. Often, the only information Vikingsword staff will have about a member will be an email address (which may well be of the disposable sort) and IP origin data (which may be masked or useless owing to redirects). If you are cheated, the staff is unlikely to be able to assist you in even identifying and locating the perpetrator. Of course our staff will not knowingly let bad actors continue to use this website as a platform for their cheats, but for someone, the discovery will have come at a possibly steep price. Do not let that victim be you!
It does not make sense that I should have to list an asking price for what I expect to be a purely item for item trade transaction: Legitimate item for item swap proposals may be listed without a price, but instead with clear suggestions as to what will be considered in trade. This exception must not be used as a subterfuge to achieve a buyer initiated monetary offer by private message or e-mail. Wanted advertisements do not require a price range. It is understood that stated prices are subject to negotiation with prospective purchasers.
I have not registered or have just registered and desperately want to buy an item in the Swap Forum but have no way to contact the seller: Sellers should consider that new members and lurkers cannot use the forum software to send sellers a private message or e-mail and only the originator of the thread may reply to swap forum threads. Inclusion of a contact e-mail in a posting may increase the chances of finding a buyer; this e-mail may be 'disposable' and need not be your registration e-mail address. Realize that staff do get emails from frustrated lurkers and new members who lust after something in swap but cannot contact the seller; staff are then blamed when they miss the item owing to the delay in relaying their interest. Lurkers who want to be able to pounce on swap offers should consider active participation in the forums community.
I do not think it is reasonable that I may not offer an item in the swap forum that is currently also on offer elsewhere: This rule is intended to give our forums community the first opportunity at desirable items fresh to market. Remember, this is a free service - you were not asked to pay to use this site, nor are donations accepted. Offer a good buy to your fellow forum members first - if it does not sell after two weeks, then you may link to your auction or webstore listing from the swap forum thread.
I am a collector first, but I also deal to provide discovery opportunities and funds to improve my collection - as a "little guy"it is hard to get noticed and the forum rules place me at a disadvantage: Reread the first brown paragraph in this section to understand the philosophy behind these rules; this website is not provided as a commercial platform. Nevertheless, you have been left two free promotional options; first, you may have a single Swap Forum thread with the name of your business in the title and links to your commercial website, auction seller's page and a description of your interests and specialities in the text. You may bump this thread to the top up to six times per year with announcements of special sales, etc. Additionally, members who have a website or business are encouraged to send a private message to "Lee" with their store web address, business name, user name, and two or three sentences of description of their business for a free listing on the static links page.
How do I announce an event or book publication: Follow the business promotion thread model with event name, location and dates in the title or book name in the title, as appropriate. The text may include registration details for an event or links to a publisher, bookstore, etc. Up to six updates to the thread are permitted annually. Book reviews by an independent reviewer may be listed in the discussion forums, where further discussion by other members is possible, but links to commercial sources are forbidden there.
My item for sale was discussed in one of the discussion forums about six months ago and I believe that prospective purchasers would be interested in and benefit from reading that discussion - why can't I link to it: Because one of the moderators is going to see it, edit your link away and then demote you back to probationary status with loss of swap forum posting, private messaging and e-mail forwarding. Do not link to the old discussion, do not refer to it and do not link to or mention a swap forum listing from a discussion thread.
I do not want to load the pictures of my item onto the vikingsword.com server as I wish to retain control and be able to remove the picture after an offering or sale is concluded: Image upload versus linking is an anti-fraud policy and maintains archive integrity. The [IMG] tag facility has been disabled in swap as has been HTML image placement. An attempt to evade this rule with text links to outside picture repositories will only get your post deleted and yourself demoted. Please realize that, just as with major auction sites, old sale announcements remain in the database and are publicly available indefinitely.
Rules Applying to the Keris Swap Forum Specifically This forum is for Collectors to Swap and/or sell keris and keris related items only; items such as pendok, hulu, mendaks, holders and the like.
Aside from the regular Swap Forum rules we have some special ones for the Keris Swap Forum; please read on before you post.1. Only individuals who have actively participated in the Warung Forum as a full member for a minimum of 45 days may list items in Keris Swap.
2. All adverts will be subject to moderation before being cleared to post.
3. All items listed in Keris Swap are to be an EXCLUSIVE offer, not to be offered for sale ANYWHERE else for a time of 14 days from listing. This is a bright line rule.* *(suspension until resolution)
4. Other forms of wesi aji (tombak, parang, etc.) must be listed in the regular Swap Forum. All keris listings found in regular Swap will be moved to the Keris Swap forum and will fall under its policies and rules. (If you are listing multiple items and one of them is a keris or keris related you must list it in Keris Swap.)
5. If the item you are selling has been discussed in the Warung you must wait 30 days before listing in Keris Swap; please notify us and we will close the thread on the item . Notifying us also applies if you choose to sell your item in ANY OTHER VENUE since there is a long-standing forum policy against the discussion of any item that is currently up for sale. Referencing the thread, linking to or directly quoting a member's comments on your item is forbidden and actionable * *(suspension until resolution of the question)
6. After the two week time limit a member may state that the item has gone to eBay or other selling venue.
7. You may NOT provide any link to the item or website to redirect attention. A simple "Gone to eBay" or Auction will suffice.
8. All items must be priced. For swap only adverts a rough dollar value must be assigned to the item.
9. Pictures of items for sale must be uploaded directly to the site. No links or hyper-links; they will be edited out.
10. Adverts like "Hey check out my site; I've got a great keris newly in stock!" followed by a link are not allowed. Links to eBay auctions are not allowed.
ENJOY the forums and have a good time! Thank you for participating!
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