Registration to this forum is free! We do insist that you abide by the rules and policies detailed below.

Although the administrators and moderators of Bulldog Barks & Bytes will attempt to keep all objectionable messages off this forum, it is impossible for us to review all messages. All messages express the views of the author, and neither the owners of Bulldog Barks & Bytes, nor Jelsoft Enterprises Ltd. (developers of vBulletin) will be held responsible for the content of any message.

Reminder - Upon registration to this site, you agreed to the forum rules, and warranted that you would not post any messages that are obscene, vulgar, sexually-oriented, hateful, threatening, or otherwise violative of any laws.

The owners of Bulldog Barks & Bytes reserve the right to remove, edit, move or close any thread for any reason.

Site Wide General Rules:

1.General Posting Rules:

1.1 No "Flaming": Do not post any messages that harrass, insult, belittle, threaten or flame another member or guest, except in the Dawg Pit, where it is actually ENCOURAGED.

1.2 No "Trolling": Do not post any topic that disrupts the peace and harmony of this board. Don't create meaningless threads with the sole purpose of starting a dispute. This includes messages in profiles and signatures.

1.3 No "Spamming": Do not double post or cross-post the same message in multiple forums, in multiple threads within the same forum, or in the same thread. You will not mass-PM or mass-email multiple members of this site the same message. You will not post for the sake of increasing your post count.

1.4 No senseless "Bumping": Do not bump your threads several times a day. Remember there are people who don't browse this board every hour or people just may not be interested in the topic you have started. So do not bump a thread within 24h or too much even after 24 hours.

1.5 No "Offensive" Posts, Links or Images: Do not post any messages that are obscene, vulgar, sexually-orientated, hateful, threatening, racist, sexist, discriminatory, or otherwise violative of any local or international laws. This includes links in your signature, profile, bookmarks as well as posted images, photos and avatars. The site administrators will ultimately decide if something is appropriate or not.

1.6 No posting of Private Messages (PMs received in our forum messaging system) or personal e-mails in the public forums: What is sent to you in a private message was intended to be private or else it would be in the open forum. Do not abuse the private messaging system which is provided to all users and keep private communications private unless you are given permission to post it publicly.

1.7 What is posted in the Recruiting Forum stays in the recruiting forum: Do not post information which is given and discussed in the private recruiting forum in public forums, or disclose this information to non-members without the consent of the administrator or the information has become public through other means.

1.8 No vindictive "Red Dotting": The reputation system is provided to give members an opportunity to gauge other member's opinions of a poster. Provide members approval points for posts you agree with and disapproval points for posts you do not agree with. Please do not manipulate the reputation system by "red dotting" people you don't like or because you have your own personal war going on. Personal attacks via the reputation system are not allowed.

1.9 No "Imitations": Do not represent yourself to be someone who you are not. Imitations include user names, avatars, custom profile fields, and signatures.

1.10 Don't hide behind an administrator: If you have a problem with a poster, then take it up with the poster. We don't ban because the opinions of our members differ with our own. You have the right to freedom of speech, but others have the right to disagree. Don't ask a moderator or administrator to ban someone because you disagree. Tell the poster why you disagree and let the debate begin.

2. Self-Promotion:

Do not post any messages anywhere on this site that are primarily for the promotion or advertising of any website, forums, email address, business, MLM, activity, or other entities that you have an affiliation without first receiving approval from an administrator (ie. no self-promotion).

3. Copyrighted Material

No "spreading of copyrighted Material": Do not upload, attach or post anything that is copyright or licensed without prior consent of the owner. For example, you cannot upload or attach full copies of news articles. Partial exerts are allowed, as long as it is not substantial, and a link to the full article is provided in the post - this will be decided by the administrators.

Forum Etiquette:

1. These forums operate on the "honor" principle; they are open to all with very few restrictions on content, but they are moderated to some extent.

Participants on these forums are expected to treat each other with dignity and respect. All participants have the right to engage in heated and even passionate debate. Remember that an attack on your opinion is NOT an attack on you, personally. Try not to take everything said to heart and you will enjoy yourself more.

2. Keep your responses on topic. While subjects tend to drift based upon the responses, try not to start talking about apples when the topic started by talking about the NBA. If you want to talk about apples, start a thread about apples.

3. Use the search feature. If you have a question or want to find something out, try searching for it first. You will find that many topics have already been addressed and discussed and you can find you answers there. And by knowing what has been discussed before, people may think you are smarter than you actually are!

4. Sign your name to reputation comments. If you are going to "red dot" someone, have the courage and backbone to sign your name and tell them why. People will never become better posters if you don't help them by telling them why you disagree.

4. Be willing to sign your name. You will never get to know people if you don't tell people who you are. If you are going to sign your messages with your username, consider putting your real name in your user profile. Forums are always criticized because people post anomyously. Don't be one of those who hide behind a username.

The Reputation System:

User Reputation in its simplest form is a ranking of a user's benefit to the forum. Its basis comes from the opinions of all of the forum users that choose take part in it.

Users gain and lose reputation based on how their posts are scored by other forum participants. Users with the ability to affect reputation, will either give or take aways points by approving or disapproving with a post's content. In response to the user feedback, vBulletin has the ability to label and reward users for the quality of their posts, as is indicated by their reputation.

All new members are given a reputation level of 10 to start. For every 180 days that you are registered on the site, you gain 1 point of reputation-altering power. For every 100 posts that you make on the site, you gain 1 point of reputation-altering power. For every 100 points of reputation, you gain 1 point of reputation-altering power.

A user must have 50 posts on the board before his reputation hits count on others. A user must have a reputation of at least 10 for his reputation hits to count on others. A user can give only 10 reputation hits in a 24 hour period. A user must give a reputation to at least one OTHER person before you can click on the previous person again.

The currently defined ranges are below.

Minimum Reputation Level

-999999 Nobody cares what you think
-50 isn't thought very highly of around here
-10 is on the way down
0 is an unknown
10 has turned a few heads around here
50 seems to have something between the ears
150 is on top of his/her game
250 is a jewel in the rough
350 is just really nice
450 is a glorious beacon of light
550 is a name known to all
650 is a splendid one to behold
1000 has much to be proud of
1500 has a brilliant future
2000 has a reputation beyond repute

User Ranks:

User ranks are names or images that are assigned based upon your post count. As you post more messages, your User Rank may change. The current post counts required for each user rank are as follows:

0-87 posts - Puppy
88-150 posts - Bulldog (Yes, it's a weird break point, but it was done in honor of the Spirit of 88! Bet you didn't know THAT!)
151-500 posts - Varsity Bulldog
501-1000 posts - Big Dog
Over 1000 posts - Champ

Disclaimer:

Bulldog Barks & Bytes is a website owned and operated by LaTechBBB, L.L.C. for fans of Louisiana Tech University. LaTechBBB, L.L.C. and Bulldog Barks & Bytes are not affiliated in any way with Louisiana Tech University, Louisiana Tech Athletics, Louisiana Tech Alumni Association, or the Louisiana Tech University Foundation. It is a privately owned and operated website and forum for the promotion and discussion of Louisiana Tech athletics. The opinions of those who participate in the open forum of Bulldog Barks & Bytes do not represent the views, thoughts, or opinions of LaTechBBB, L.L.C. and should not be viewed as an endorsement by LaTechBBB, L.L.C.