A couple of weeks ago, there was a topic about head and neck restraint devices that turned into a flame war, replete with insults and personal attacks. In order to put a stop to the flames, the topic was locked and various attempts to continue the flame war were removed from this forum.

I HATE to take such actions, but sometimes they are necessary to maintain a proper sense of decorum here. There are standards of acceptable conduct for posts on honda-tech, and these are described in the terms of service for using this site, including:

I do not want any relevant topics to be permanently prohibited from discussion here. Therefore, if anyone would like to discuss head and neck restraint devices, such discussions will be permitted at this time. Differences of opinion are welcome! However, as is our policy, any and all posts must be respectful in tone, and they must be expressed without insults or attacks. Anything that appears to be a personal attack, on individuals, companies, or other organizations, will be removed, and sanctions imposed. And if the same level of hostility resumes here as took place last time, there may be no viable alternative but to prohibit specific topics from any further discussion, permanently. I sincerely hope we don't go there. We all want such discussions to continue here, and it will help if they "start from scratch" in language and in attitude, rather than taking issue with something posted in the previous flame war or posting sarcastic references about it.

Some individuals claimed or implied that they do not understand what constitutes an insult or a personal attack. Such claims are not credible and are not an excuse for misbehavior.

Here are examples of statements that will NOT be acceptable:

• - what a crock of s**t.
  
• - $20 he has no real answer for you and just blows smoke up all of our a**es.
  
• - you certainly do have your head in the sand... or is it denial?
  
• - you are making your self look worse and worse with each of your posts in these type of threads

And here are examples of statements that WILL be acceptable:

• - I don't agree with this statement. Here's why.
  
• - Here is my personal experience with this device.
  
• - I would like to know the answer to this question.
  
• - This is a link to a technical comparison review in this publication.

Any violations of the rules will be dealt with appropriately. Don't try to test these limits and we won't have a problem.

While this situation arose with regard to head and neck restraints, it could have occurred with ANY topic in the technical forums. The rules are no different from one topic to another.

I hope we can continue to foster serious, knowledgeable, respectful, and constructive discussions here on honda-tech. I extend in advance my appreciation for the cooperation of all honda-tech users in this regard, so that we can all play a part in keeping honda-tech.com a place where facts, opinions, and issues about our cars can be discussed in a respectful manner.