CABL is a diverse and dynamic community made up of tens of thousands of members from various backgrounds and disciplines in the broadband industry. The following rules have evolved over the years in an attempt to best manage the community for the greater good. You are welcome to let us know if you think a rule should be changed, but meanwhile strict compliance is expected and enforced.

1. Language/Obscenities. Mild expletives and non-sexual anatomical references are allowed, but profanity, strong vulgar language, crude, lewd or explicit sexual references and hate speech (whether related to race, religion, ethnic origin, gender, sexual preference, etc.) are not allowed. Specifically forbidden words will be removed from postings automatically. Obscuring a word by changing a few characters but leaving the word clearly discernable is not acceptable as a means of circumventing this rule.
2. Personal attacks/Slander. Name-calling, accusatory statements, or any remark intended to degrade, belittle, or provoke another person is not allowed. Arguments that support or reject ideas and opinions are instrumental in discussion but they must not become inflammatory or combative, or directed at people in the debate. In other words, it's okay to say someone's comment is "stupid", but not to call the person an "idiot" for making the comment. It is acceptable to post factual accounts of disagreements (e.g., "My name is John Doe. I worked for XYZ, Inc. They said I'd get paid in 30 days but I still haven't seen a dime after 3 months. I'd advise anyone not to work for them.") but it is NOT acceptable to post accusations ("XYZ, Inc. doesn't pay their contractors and if you work for them you'll get screwed.") Please note that any remark claimed factual but posted under an anonymous (non-Privileged) account or without the author's name clearly displayed is still subject to removal at the discretion of site moderators. The balance between informing the community about bad actors and protecting the rights of innocent parties is difficult to maintain. Please be understanding and take care when wording your messages.
3. Private information. Publication of any information that someone has intended to be kept private is not allowed. This includes private contact information such as a non-published home or private cell phone number. This rule will be enforced even it the information can be found through other sources.
4. Illegal activity. Postings that actively or passively engage in any activity that could be construed as a violation of a U.S. federal, state, or local law are not allowed.
5. False identity. Impersonation or any false representation of oneself is not allowed. Preventing the disclosure of one's real identity through the use of an Internet handle or pseudonym is acceptable and understandable for those who wish to remain anonymous, but a handle that would be misleading (such as using a particular company name when you have no direct relation to the company) is not.
6. Throw-away email account. Each member must have an active and working e-mail address. Free Hotmail or Yahoo accounts that get accessed infrequently are not acceptable. Failure to reply to an inquiry from a CABL administrator within a reasonable amount of time will result in this assumption. Members can choose to make their registered address private (the default setting for new accounts) so there is no reason to supply CABL with anything other than an address that is checked regularly. CABL has NEVER sold, rented, or otherwise used its member list for any purpose beyond this forum.
7. Advertising. No advertising of any kind is allowed in the discussion forums. Due to frequent abuse, this rule is strictly enforced. No solicitation for "prices" ("I have 120 mi. of fiber to build in NY, what's fair pay for guys I'll be hiring." or "I'm thinking of selling my brand XYZ meter, only 2 years old and works great... what could I get for it?") Finding work: it is okay to ask for help with your own legwork ("Does anyone have contact information for the prime doing the rebuild construction for Acme Cable in Baltimore?") but advertising for work ("Who has work going on in Maryland or Virginia?") is only allowed in the advertisement section.
8. Duplicates and repeats. The same or similar messages may not be posted under more than one category or repeated at a later time.
9. Usage of graphics. Pictures and other graphic files may be uploaded for the sole purpose of supporting and facilitating discussions (excluding graphics in paid advertisements) and the content of such files must also fully comply with this list of rules.
10. TERMS OF USE. Be sure to read and understand the complete TERMS OF USE before posting.

• CABL is primarily a business-oriented web site. Conduct at a professional level is expected at all times.
• Carefully select the most appropriate category for posting your message. Misplaced posts will be moved by moderators.
• Never repeat the same or similar message to more than one category.
• Make the subject as descriptive as possible. A message titled, "Need help with SDA 5000 operation" will get more useful responses than one titled, "Help! I'm lost."
• Don't post in ALL CAPITAL LETTERS. This is considered shouting on the Web, and makes your message harder to read. If no lower-case letters are used, the software will try to change case in the message on its own.
• Long postings are hard to read if not broken into paragraphs. Hit the ENTER key twice to start a new paragraph.
• Don't include contact information such as a telephone number or e-mail address in public messages. Always refer to contact information in your account profile. Public messages are archived forever here and on search sites such as Google, and old phone numbers on the Internet can be a nuisance for whoever gets the number after yours is changed. A friend looking for you won't know the e-mail he tried sending was bounced because you moved to a new ISP. Keep your profile updated.
• Completely perfect spelling isn't required but, if very bad, can be a distraction to the reader and diminish the content of the post. Use the spell check button on the posting page if needed.
• Use of common shorthand like LOL (laughing out loud), IMHO (in my humble opinion), and HTH (hope this helps) is OK as most visitors recognize the dozen or so most popular, but try to minimize it for those who aren't so web savy.
• Chatspeak is strongly discouraged. "Chatspeak" is using abbreviations like "4" in place of "for", "U" instead of "you", and "L8R" for "later". It can be very difficult for some to read (especially non-native English speakers) and tends to make the entire message seem childish and unprofessional. Use sparingly in informal messages only, if at all.
• Don't "sign" your messages by adding a name, company, or other info after the message text. Enter that information in your account profile.

All members may place graphic images in their messages. Image files are uploaded using the regular posting form. Each member account is given its own storage space on the server for uploaded picture files and may access those files for use again in later postings.

Images have a relatively high cost in terms of server performance and storage space, and also cost each viewer the time to download. Images should only be used where necessary in direct support of discussion topics. Frivolous or unnecessary images, company logos, or other extraneous images attached to messages will be removed by moderators.

When speaking face-to-face, much of the communication occurs non-verbally through facial expressions, body language, tone, pace, etc. Since this aspect is missing in text-only conversation, common practice on the Web is to use what are known as "emoticons" or "smilies". These are keyboard characters used to convey an emotion, such as a smile :) or a frown :( or a wink ;). To expand on these crude textual expressions, there are hundreds of ready-to-use graphical smilies at your disposal on the posting form. Express yourself !

What should you do if you dispute a posting by another person? First, take a moment to assess the actual affect it will have. Regular Bar visitors are accustomed to the flamers and their ways. A posting that is hostile or defamatory is more likely to reflect badly on its author than its intended target. If you feel it deserves a reply, then by all means defend your position. A tactfully crafted response will speak volumes.

Can you delete a message you don't like? Only if it is a reply on your own thread or to your message, and you are a Privileged member. Any other posting which you feel violates the Terms of Use may be reported using the "Report this message" command in the message's Options menu. An administrator will review the reported message to determine if it should be removed.

Can you determine the identity of anonymous poster? It is difficult, and may only be practical in cases where a crime has been committed as it can require a court order. The first step is to get the IP address and host (ISP) from the message (see above). Give the IP address and time of posting to the ISP. Most dialup connections are dynamically addressed, meaning everyone shares a pool of addresses, so the exact time the message was posted can be important. The Bar displays message posting times in the time zone set in the account options form.