GENERAL RULES
The BI group is a contact point for former staff of BISN. Its purpose is to continue
the special comradeship and ethos that characterised BI. Since the board is hosted
by Yahoo, Yahoo's terms of service and privacy policy apply. Members of the group
are bound by Yahoo's terms - among which are:
Terms of service: http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
Privacy policy: http://privacy.yahoo.com/privacy/us/
Important guidance: http://groups.yahoo.com/local/guidelines.html

The BI group exists purely for communications and files with a direct connection
with BISN, its personnel, ships, trades and business, and social exchanges between
members. This group adheres to the following policy:

Messages or files which are obscene, illegal, dishonest, defamatory, abusive or
infringe another's intellectual rights or copyright are not permitted. It is against the
spirit of the BI group to use the service to send "spam", which is unsolicited email.
If you send spam or misuse the group in any way, you risk being banned.

MEMBERSHIP:
Membership of the group is free of charge, restricted to those who are eligible.
MESSAGES:
Messages are subject to moderation. Message archives are for members only.
Authors own copyright of their own messages
ATTACHMENTS:
Email attachments are not permitted. The system software filters out all attachments.
PHOTOGRAPHS AND FILES:
Members may post; exactly the same rules apply as for posting messages. Archives
are subject to moderation.
LANGUAGE:
The language of all messages and file contents (system and member-posted) is English

Moderators have the right to warn anyone who posts material which breaches the
rules or guidelines to desist. Moderators may delete any offending message or file.

The owner reserves the right to remove, edit, move, close or delete any message,
thread, topic or file for any reason, and, if necessary, ban any person who infringes
group rules.

Membership implies acceptance of all rules and guidelines. Membership of the
Yahoo system already requires compliance with Yahoo's terms of service. If you
do not wish to abide by the applicable rules, you should unsubscribe:
BIship-unsubscribe@yahoogroups.com.

GUIDELINES FOR CONDUCT OF THE GROUP

Yahoo host
This company operates the medium in which the BI group exists. Everyone using
Yahoo services is subject to its terms. Please read the pages listed above - as a
Yahoo user you are already subject to its terms and guidance.

Membership
The BI list has restricted access. Membership is open to anyone who was employed
by BISN, their spouse, and other immediate family at the discretion of a moderator.
Membership is also open to Marconi radio offiers who worked in BI ships, and to people
who worked in agencies which had a close association with BI, at the discretion of
a moderator.

Members' identity and privacy
It is a requirement that those applying to join the group enter their name and BI
connections (ships, ranks, dates, relationship, place of work, company etc) in their
application. Information given in an application to join is confidential and will not be
displayed to group members or passed to any third party. (Application form: http://www.biship.com/forum.htm)

Email addresses in Yahoo are partly obscured anywhere they appear in the system,
to protect members from email abuse such as farming/harvesting of lists. It is possible
for members to email direct to other members, using the email links provided. Abuse
of this facility by, for example, spamming other members may result in expulsion.

Contacting members
Administrators can help put members in contact with one another (using contact
information entered in the application or in the group hosting system), provided both
members agree. Even then, email addresses, telephone numbers or other contact
information will not be disclosed unless specifically requested by the person concerned.

Conduct and content
Moderators may warn any member about their conduct, including the content of a
member's messages and files. Moderators may delete messages and files. The owner
has the right to remove, edit, move or close any message, thread or topic for any reason,
and, if necessary, ban any person who infringes group rules.

Tools available for moderating posts, restricting posting and removing a member are rarely
used but may be invoked at any time.

Posting Code
The success of this will depend on how sensible members are. Please be reasonable,
exercise good sense and self-restraint. Remember that what you find totally riveting
might not be viewed that way by anyone else.

The group exists for communications with a direct connection with BI, its personnel, ships,
trades and business, and social exchanges between members. This may include:

• Maritime matters
• Countries/areas with a BI connection
• Subjects connected with life on board or in BI establishments
• Other subjects where the sender makes clear the connection with the purposes of this group

The following should be avoided:

• Off-topic subjects
• Extracts longer than 80 words from other sources (eg websites, newspapers,
  magazines, books)
• Messages or files containing little but links. If a subject is worth introducing, it is worth
  explaining it in your own words.

If you wish to participate in any of the above types of correspondence, use appropriate
sites, forums or chat rooms - there are many to choose from and just about all tastes
are provided for.

Banned:

• Obscene, dishonest, defamatory, abusive or libelous language
• External material which is copyright
• Commercial advertising
• Politics or religion
• Spam in any form
  

Be courteous - apply some netiquette
Please:

• Sign all posts, using your real name.
• Keep topics within the purposes of the group
• Be civil and keep it clean in every sense. This is a forum of real people and
  messages are often read by family members
• Avoid rants, rumours and innuendo. You are responsible for what you post
• Keep messages concise and to the point
• Do not use all-CAPS in subject lines or messages, it is generally considered
  the equivalent of shouting
• When replying to a message, use the same Subject line so that the thread is
  easier to follow. Also use the smallest possible quote from the original message
  (to set context), or better still, none at all
• Try to keep to a single topic in a message. Start another thread with a relevant
  Subject if you want to diverge into a new topic
• Ensure your message is substantive - do not send one-liners
• Be thoughtful and generous in your response to other people's messages
• If you have a complaint about another person's behaviour take it up with an
  administrator rather than trying to deal with it yourself - contact: jprescott@biship.com

The owner retains the right to makes changes to the rules and guidelines at any time.
Changes will be notified to the group.

Useful locations
Membership preferences: http://groups.yahoo.com/myprefs
Your delivery options for group messages: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/BIship/join
List of members - http://groups.yahoo.com/group/BIship/members
Messages archive - http://groups.yahoo.com/group/BIship/messages
Files posted by members - http://groups.yahoo.com/group/BIship/files
BIship open-access website - http://www.biship.com

Useful email addresses
Post message: BIship@yahoogroups.com
Subscribe: BIship-subscribe@yahoogroups.com
Unsubscribe: BIship-unsubscribe@yahoogroups.com
Group owner: BIship-owner@yahoogroups.com