Important iomtt.com Forum Statement
Tuesday 11 September 2007
TT
An important statement has been issued regarding the forums of the Official website of the Isle of Man TT.
The statement, issued on behalf of the Isle of Man Government's Department of Tourism and Leisure, reads:
"The Isle of Man TT races have seen a number of changes over the years, including the development of a fully functional website."
"The website is part of a long term approach by the organisers of the TT races to actively keep fans informed of latest news, developments and also allows fans who are not able to get to the races to follow the event online."
"The message board forum on the site has been created for road racing fans to engage in lively debate and share news, personal experiences, advice and insight into this unique event. TT representatives, and indeed riders, have frequently joined the forum to give feedback to fans to clarify any issues that may arise, and also use feedback from fans to improve the event."
"Road racing has some of the most knowledgeable and passionate fans in the world and the majority of these have frequently posted relevant and interesting comments. However, a small minority of comments have become personal."
"Unlike many other sporting sites, iomtt.com does not charge for general site access, even though the site has significant costs associated with running the site. In order to keep costs down, the site does not have a full time moderator reviewing comments as they go live."
"Duke Marketing, as the owner of iomtt.com, therefore requests that anyone posting on the site refrains from submitting personal attacks, insults and allegations and shows respect for the views and opinions of individuals posting on the site. The message board forum cannot continue in its current state, which would deprive many individuals of a useful and popular resource."
The statement includes the following advice on forum use.
"Censoring Posts - iomtt.com forum exists to inform and interact, and we want as many people as possible to participate. For this reason, we kindly ask for your help in policing the forums. Please demonstrate respect for others when adding to the site. Any racist, sexist and homophobic posts will be removed and excessive strong language is unwelcome. We will also edit potentially libelous statements for legal reasons."
"Please write clearly and sensibly and stay on-topic. Your comment should be within scope of the topic under discussion. Please don't post messages that are unrelated to the forum, or blog discussion you are contributing to."
"Advertising - While we welcome companies leaving their details when responding to posts requesting help or advice (or when posting a thread which is informative in itself), the purpose of the forum is for individuals and businesses to discuss, debate and exchange ideas - not for free advertising. Any posts left on the forum purely for advertising purposes will be removed."
"You must be registered to post on the forum. You may read messages without registering, but not reply or start a new post. We log and may have to pass the IP’s of defamatory or abusive posters to authorities to assist with any proper inquiry. The opinions voiced on this forum are not necessarily those of iomtt.com or the Isle of Man Government and we do not take responsibility for them. We do our best to ensure that defamatory, subversive or offensive statements are removed as soon as possible. Please inform us of any abusive messages at admin@iomtt.com"
"Don't impersonate or falsely claim to represent a person or organisation. Please don't mislead other users by abusing our registration procedure."
The full statement and terms and conditions can be read here.
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