Hi everyone! Welcome to Gear Fanatix! We very much hope you stay and become part of our community. Please take a moment to read over these rules and take them to heart before you begin posting. We want this to be the best community that we can build, welcoming to all people. 

* Remain respectful of other members at all times. That means no offensive language or images (including nudity), no hate speech or derogatory language against persons (racial slurs, gender slurs, sexuality slurs, all slurs). We are a community for unerrepresented voices, which include womxn, people of color, LGBTQ+, people who are neurodiverse, and mentally ill, and everyone else who doesn't see themselves in the mainstream of the audio world. Often, we face discrimination and hate on a day to day basis, and Gear Fanatix is a refuge for that. 

* Do not post copyright-infringing material. Especially links to cracked plugins and software. Audio companies spend lots of money making software for a relatively small market, and deserve to be compensated for their work. Just like you deserve to be compensated for your work. Allowing unfettered sharing of this kind of content can even get us sued and shut down! So, none of that. And this also goes for media too. No torrents or requests for torrents, if you're going to post something, post an official online source, not an illegal streaming site or a song on the wrong person's Soundcloud. And no asking for this stuff either. Seriously. 

* Do not cross post questions. We have things categorized for easy browsing and discussion. The point of going for a forum style community is that it's all archived and searchable, so people coming here with the same question as you two years down the road can be able to find your question and everyone's answers, and this isn't really feasible if there are a bunch of different threads featuring the same question. You won't have the answers and the discussion in one place, which will make it hard for both you and future readers to get the information everyone needs. And it clogs up the forums and pushes down other people's topics. If you can't decide which forum to post in, just pick one. It's not like everyone is only going to read one forum.

* In that vein, if you have a question, use our search function to see if it's been answered already. While you won't get a snarky reply from one of us about how we already answered that 7 years ago, how dare you post it again, it's still good to keep conversations as consolidated as possible.

* Do not PM users asking for help. Ok, we don't have this feature yet, web development is hard, but it is on the list. When it does arrive, the right place to ask for help is on the forums. You'll have access to a wider range of responses and the discussion will be available to future readers. And you won't be clogging up people's inboxes. 

* Do not post work-for-hire - as in, all of your advice is free and do not ask payment for it.

* Do not bump your posts to the top; we will try to get to everyone as soon as possible. 

* Do not create multiple accounts. We want you to be you. Ultimately, we want Gear Fanatix to serve as a directory for underrepresented people, so having one profile that ideally has your work info in it is the best, for both our community and for you. Yes, we're a forum, and we're not doing the Facebook "Full legal name only" nonsense. Fun usernames are fine, as long as you're not trying to pass yourself off as someone you're not. But, we strongly recommend you be here as yourself.

* Self-promotion should be limited to the Self-Promotion forum, and only be one thread per piece of work. No spamming a bunch of new topics and bumping everything up to make it more likely that people notice you. We want you to be able to highlight your work, and receive constructive critiques and suggestions if you want it (only provide constructive critiques and suggestions if the poster has explicitly asked for them). Please don't post generic business advertisements for yourself or for others. Your business info should be put in your site profile or your signature. If people like what you have to say and the work that you do, then they'll know where to find you. 

* No soliciting.

* Do not post your email address or ask others to post theirs. Those things are increasingly sensitive as their use for logons (even here) are rising. If you need to privately contact someone (and we haven't installed PMs yet) find them on the socials or ask what the best way to contact them is.

* Proper posting etiquette, or as they called it in 2000 "netiquette", should be followed. Don't post in ALL CAPS, don't do the censored swearing thing, please try to use proper colloquial spelling and grammar. Note, I said "colloquial." What's "proper" for you and your community can and often is vastly different than what's "proper" for other communities, and even then our vibe is more casual yet professional. Think industry mixer. Which this kind of is! 

* Do not threaten lawsuits or legal action on the forums. It creates a hostile environment and is never constructive and never works. If you feel aggrieved, contact a lawyer.

* Do not post spam, affiliate links, or content without permission.

* Do not ask for any kind of free access to gear. That's just tacky.

* Do not post any information which compromises your personal privacy or another’s privacy. Privacy is important for everyone, especially online. Even if you feel justified, this isn't the place to dox or to share your info either. 

Additional rules may be added later, or revised, or whatever. We are a growing community, and our needs will grow with us. And from all of us at Gear Fanatix, welcome!