Introductions Forum Guidelines

Hello and welcome to ZooChat!

We encourage our new members to post an introduction in this forum so we can get to know a bit more about the person behind the username.

I'd like to point out some housekeeping rules to help make sure everyone understands what is acceptable.

First up, please read the Forum Rules, which provide a pretty comprehensive description of what you can and can't do in forum posts and elsewhere on the site.

We are happy to relax some of these rules specifically (and only!) for the Introductions forum as follows:

1. All members are permitted to introduce themselves in the introductions forum, regardless of the type of membership they hold
2. You are permitted to describe what you do for a living - even if it would be considered "commercial" in nature elsewhere on the forum
3. You are permitted to link to your website or social media profiles as part of your description of who you are or what you do

However to be clear, there are some things you are NOT permitted to do in your introduction post:

1. You are not permitted to promote your business or advertise your services beyond a basic description of who you work for and what you do
2. You are not permitted to solicit business by recommending or suggesting that people contact you
3. You are not permitted to list items for sale or promote sales listings for items.

In general: tell us who you are and perhaps a little bit about what you do. Don't use this as an opportunity to sell or promote things.

Some examples:

• An author stating that they are an author and have written books about zoos would be acceptable, as would linking to their website or social media profile.
• An author writing a sales pitch promoting their book would not be acceptable, nor would them linking to all of their books individually on a sales site such as Amazon
• A collector stating that they regularly sell or trade items is acceptable, as is linking to their website.
• A collector writing a sales pitch for joining their website or promoting listings is not acceptable.
• A YouTuber or podcaster (briefly) describing and linking to their channel/podcast is acceptable.
• Further promotion of their channel or podcast beyond that initial introduction is not acceptable.

We hope this makes things clear and we look forward to getting to know our members!