Community Guidelines

Welcome to Pets.com.sg!

The main guidelines for discussions on Pets.com.sg are simple.

Be polite, don't break the law & don't post ads outside Marketplace.

FORUM ABUSE, WITHDRAWAL AND REMOVAL

Pets.com.sg will remove posts and threads if they meet the standard for abuse outlined in the sections below. In addition, Pets.com.sg offers members the opportunity to report abuse using Report Bad Post feedback.

Members should use caution and good judgment when making posts in the Pets.com.sg community, because:

* Posts cannot be edited or removed once it has been left. It becomes a permanent part of a member's Pets.com.sg record and is viewable by the entire Pets.com.sg community.

* Members could be held legally responsible for damages to another's reputation if a court were to find that the remarks constitute libel or defamation.

* Pets.com.sg is a network service provider for the purposes of the Electronic Transactions Act (Cap 88) and Pets.com.sg does not censor forum posts or investigate it for accuracy, and therefore Pets.com.sg is not legally responsible for the remarks that members post, even if those remarks are defamatory. However, this law does not protect the person who make the post from responsibility for it.

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All members are reminded that they may be held legally accountable for what they say or do online. In particular, members may be held liable for any defamatory comments, threats and untrue statements or other illegal and fraudulent claims made by them.

Unfortunately, Pets.com.sg cannot guarantee the prompt editing or removal of any content. Neither Pets.com.sg nor its third party contractors are liable for the content of any material accessed via the internet, any adverse treatment of any information placed by a member anywhere on the internet, or any loss or damage that a member may suffer as a result.

We do not endorse opinions expressed by members of Pets.com.sg on its discussion forums, or anywhere on the site where members can add their own content.

Pets.com.sg reserves the right, at its sole discretion, to remove material from Pets.com.sg discussion forums and member content areas at any time.

Pets.com.sg discussion forums and member content areas consist of information posted by third parties. As a result, Pets.com.sg accepts no liability in respect to the accuracy or truthfulness of any advice, information or data posted online or any responsibility for the consequences of a member acting in reliance on such information.

REHOME & ADOPTION

We consider rehoming and adoption as a kind act with best interest for the animal and involves NO FEES only.

  • Do not try to sell animals by posting it as a rehoming case. We consider these as advertisements and they will be removed.
  • Report anyone who abuse the Rehome & Adoption forum to us.

ADVERTISING

Our community is a place to share knowledge, advice and make friends with fellow pets lovers in Singapore. It is not a place for sellers to treat it as a free classifieds to spam. If everyone starts posting ads in the forums, it will be full of ads instead of meaningful discussions.

  • You are welcomed to post your classified ads. However, please post it in the Marketplace, a free service for our members. The Marketplace is the only place where ads are allowed.
  • All posts that have advertising content or links posted outside Marketplace will be removed.
  • You can start posting ads in Marketplace once you have 30 posts. This is to ensure that it is for the benefit of our members and to prevent abuse from spammers.
  • Thread replies are not allowed in Marketplace. To contact the seller, use the Private Messaging feature. (Just click on the seller's username.)
  • Any ad posted outside Marketplace will be removed and may result in loss of your membership.
  • "Wanted" posts should also be inside marketplace. i.e. Any Products or Services Wanted, Pets Wanted, Accessories Wanted.
  • Members are permitted a maximum of one account per person, regardless of how many companies you represent. Also if your company is represented by more than one person, only one person may post ads.

SELING OF LIVE ANIMALS IS NOT ALLOWED

Pets.com.sg discourage pet owners from breeding their pets. There are many pets out there waiting to be rescued or rehomed. We encourage you to adopt your pet from our very busy Animal Rescue & Rehome forum and give these pets a second chance in life. Together, we can save lifes. Help homeless pets find responsible homes.

If you still prefer to buy, buy from a licensed pet shop. Do not buy from unlicensed sellers or illegal home breeders who regularly breed and advertise to sell pets.

Individuals who post advertisements to sell animals on forums and online classifieds may be committing an offence under Section 48 of the Animals and Birds Act which states that no person shall keep in captivity for sale, export or exhibition any animal or bird in any place that has not been licensed.

Commercial breeding of animals can only be carried out on farms licensed by AVA. Pet owners who regularly breed and advertise to sell pets can be considered as commercial breeders. An individual convicted of breeding and selling animals from his premises without a licence from AVA can be fined up to $5,000 upon conviction.

How you can help?

- Report anyone who break the rules by clicking on the Report Bad Post icon

CONSOLIDATION THREADS ARE NOT ALLOWED

Consolidation of any product or likewise (eg. Sharing ABC products) are not allowed.

Posts soliciting our members to consolidation links are also not allowed.

All ads must strictly be in the MarketPlace Forum. All posts that have advertising content or links posted outside Marketplace will be removed.

Reasons
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Reason 1: Our community is a place to share knowledge, advice and make friends with fellow pets lovers in Singapore. It is not a place for sellers to treat it as a free classifieds. If everyone starts posting ads in the forums, it will be full of ads instead of meaningful discussions.

This problem is especially common in the Dog Forum. We have been observing the situation and it has worsen. Lately, consolidation threads have been rampant in the forum. Some members have started several consolidation threads, some even started consolidation threads repeatedly.

Reason 2: Any seller can fake as a member and abuse the forums by soliciting bulk order sales.

Ads are not allowed in the forums except in the Marketplace. It is not fair to members who follow the guidelines while others start all sorts of consolidation ads in the forums.

Reason 3:

There are many ways a scam can take place. The following points have recently been reported in the Straits Times, on 25 Oct 2005.

1) Because purchases are made mostly at online stores that charge in US dollars, the organiser can claim his bank charged more than the prevailing exchange rate.

Each participant then has to fork out more in Singapore dollars than what they would pay otherwise.

2) The organiser does not reveal that he got the goods at a discount. This way, the organiser gets more of a discount, instead of sharing the cost savings.

3) The most "lucrative" scamming method is simply for the organiser to disappear after collecting the orders and money.

SPAM

  • If you spam, all the spams posted by you will be archived for permanent record as evidences.
  • We will also archive your IP addresses, exact time of posting, your registration details and our server logs.
  • We will not hesitate to report to your ISP and other relevant authorities.
  • You will be banned and all your associated urls will be censored permanently from the forums.
  • An announcement will be made to inform all our members.
  • Never assume that you are completely anonymous and cannot be identified by your posts.

PRIVATE MESSAGING

Participants may not solicit via Private Messaging. For example, sending multiple invitations soliciting members to visit your website.

If we receive complaint from members that you abuse the Private Messaging, it will result in a loss of your membership. (Refer to the above section on spam.)

DEFAMATORY REMARKS

Do not post defamatory remarks on the forums. If you post defamatory remarks, you will be liable for legal action, financial damages and legal costs.

If you have a complaint to make, it's better for you to contact CASE or the management of the company you want to complain about.

What is Defamation?

A statement is defamatory if it satisfies three conditions:

  • Reference: A person or organisation is identified in the defamatory material.
  • Defamatory: Statements must have lowered the standing of the complainant in the eyes of reasonable people.
  • Publication: The defamatory material must have been seen by another person.

All defamatory remarks posted by you will be archived for permanent record as evidences. We will also archive your IP addresses, exact time of posting, your registration details and our server logs.

With a court order, we will cooperate fully with the court and relevant authorities. Never assume that you are completely anonymous and cannot be identified by your posts.

ENDANGERED SPECIES AND WILDLIFE

We allow learning about all types of animals in the forums.

We do not allow trading of endangered animals or wildlife in this forum.

Trading, or information on trading, of any endangered species, or wild animals, is strictly not allowed on Pets.com.sg.

CONVENTION ON INTERNATIONAL TRADE IN ENDANGERED SPECIES (CITES)

Singapore is a Signatory to CITES and the Agri-Food and Veterinary Authority (AVA) is the Management Authority responsible for the implementation and enforcement of CITES in Singapore.

The Agri-Food & Veterinary Authority of Singapore (AVA) prohibits certain types of animals to be kept as pets. While discussions to learn about these animals are allowed, trading of these animals are not allowed on Pets.com.sg. For more information, refer to AVA's advice on permitted pets.

ENDANGERED SPECIES (IMPORT AND EXPORT) ACT

Under the Endangered Species (Import and Export) Act, anyone caught in possession of an illegally imported specimen on the Cites list can be fined up to $50,000 and jailed for up to 2 year.

The fine applies to each animal or plant protected under the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (Cites) seized, and is capped at $500,000. Previously, offenders were fined according to species, and not the number seized.

WILD ANIMALS AND BIRDS ACT

Anyone keeping a wild animal without an AVA licence can also be fined under the Wild Animals and Birds Act.

Singapore does not allow the keeping of exotic pets such as reptiles, amphibians and primates as pets. Under the Wild Animals & Birds Act, our wild animals should not be caught or kept as pets. Similarly, imported wild animals such as snakes, lizards, hedgehogs, sugar gliders, monkeys and star tortoises cannot be kept as pets.

Anyone with information about people who have broken the law can call AVA on 6227-0670.

All offenders' posts will be archived for permanent record as evidences. We also archive offenders' IP addresses, time of posting and details. We will not hesitate to report to the relevant authorities.

Never assume that you are completely anonymous and cannot be identified by your posts.

BE POLITE

We take the "be polite" rule seriously. We do not tolerate any rudeness. Offensive racial or sexist terms and remarks are strictly not allowed no matter what is your reason. Any member who is intentionally unpleasant or disruptive will receive one warning (at our discretion). And if the member offends again the member will be banned without warning.

DON'T ATTACK EACH OTHER

Don't attack others. Personal attacks on others will not be tolerated. Challenge others' points of view and opinions, but do so respectfully and thoughtfully ... without insult and personal attack.

PERSONAL INFORMATION

Do you really want to put your address or contact number on a public discussion forum?

  • For your privacy and safety, please do not post your personal information on the forums. Also, for others privacy and safety, please do not ask them to post personal information on the forums.
  • Posts that contain personal information or request members to submit personal information to another party will be removed.
  • Examples of personal information includes your home phone number, mobile phone number, address, email address, name, age. If you must give this out for any reason, please do so privately via Private Messaging.

SIGNATURE

  • May not contain any products, services or advertising content.
  • May not include any URL. Instead, put your website title and url in your Profile.
  • May not contain links to other threads or posts.
  • Must not be manually added to your messages. It should be setup in your profile.
  • May contain a maximum of two smilies. Or one animated smiley.
  • May include two colors.
  • Maximum font size cannot be larger than normal.
  • Must be kept to a maximum of four lines (at 1024 resolution).
  • Your signature is your signature. It is not for sale or rent.

SOLICITATION

We enforce a very strict policy regarding solicitation of our members by Forum participants except in those Forum sections where advertising is expressly permitted.

  • Participants may not use the Forum to publish or discuss any information regarding their product or services, or future (possible) products or services, or any product or services they are, or have been, associated with. This includes, but not limited to suggesting your own services, or services of partners, clients, employers or friends. The Marketplace is for advertising.
  • Participants may not use the Forum for commercial gain.
  • Participants may not use the Forum to direct others to any pages at their own commercial web site, including informational pages.
  • Participants may not use the Forum to direct others to any pages which they have commercial interests in; these include commission or referral hyperlinks.
  • Participants may not use the Forum to direct others to contact them regarding their product or services or future (possible) products or services, or any product or services they are, or have been, associated with.
  • Participants who are associated with any company, or any company that advertises their services on this forum, may not use the Main Forums to direct others to the Marketplace.
  • Participants may not use discussions to recommend, praise, or belittle other products or services, or any company; without justification for those opinions expressed. This includes companies recommending other companies. Any post not meeting the criteria may be removed without notice.
  • Participants may not solicit the membership for feedback or suggestions on their product or services.
  • URLs or other forms of advertising are not allowed in custom user titles and are limited to 25 characters. Also, members may not use custom titles to impersonate, or attempt to impersonate Pets.com.sg Staff.
  • Participants may not use the Forum to solicit users for any project or purpose external to the Forum; public, private, or commercial. Most importantly our member base is not a resource to be "mined" by individuals, groups, or businesses, for profit or not for profit. Further; If you SPAM our members in any manner, your account will be disabled.
  • Participants may not post any commission, referral or affiliate links anywhere on the Forum. This includes the Marketplace.
  • Participants may only discuss details about their company and/or product offerings when the thread starter or poster has made direct reference to their company and stated something untrue or misleading or something which clearly needs clarifying. The response must be in direct reference to the point discussed only and contain no added promotional information and/or fluff. It is advisable when in the above scenario to contact us first.
  • Participants may not create duplicate threads (cross-posting) or direct others to threads they have started.
  • Participants may not post to instruct users to check your e-mail, check your PM, or inform them that they've got mail or a new PM, or any variant thereof. This rule is also applicable in the Marketplace.
  • Participants may not post URLs that are censored by adding spaces, dots, or substituting characters; or by any other means in an attempt to defeat the censors put in place by Pets.com.sg.
  • Our policy on linking to other forums is pretty simple. Members may link to any other site that provides information that helps answer another member's question or is just of general interest to members of that particular forum. One of the most basic tenets of the Web is the open exchange of information, and the forum managers wholeheartedly support this type of exchange. The only type of linking (besides porn and spam, of course) that will not be allowed on our site is when members solicit people to leave our site and join a competing service. That's just common sense. We won't allow people to use our site to promote a competing service any more than a brick-and-mortar store would allow his competitor to paste flyers all over his walls. However, people are always welcome to link to any online resource, whether it's on our site or any other site, in order to share useful information with fellow members.

OTHER GUIDELINES

In addition to the guidelines posted here members are required to read any individual forum guidelines, which may be posted at the top of specific forums as Important threads or Announcements.

PROFESSIONAL ADVICE

In light of our policy of encouraging candid, open exchanges of views and the rapid distribution of information originating from many sources, Pets.com.sg cannot determine the accuracy of information that may be uploaded to the Forum.

Opinions, advice and all other information expressed by participants in discussions are those of the author. You rely on such information at your own risk. Participants are urged to seek professional advice for specific, individual situations and not rely solely on advice or opinions given in the discussions.

WE RESERVE THE RIGHT

We don't intend to censor messages based on the opinions expressed within posts, but we will enforce the policies outlined both here and on the Forum. We reserve the right to remove, modify or move posts at our discretion and without explanation.

We reserve the right to modify and amend these terms at any time without notice. It is your responsibility to remain informed of current Pets.com.sg policies.




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