Forum Rules you agreed to when you registered on the HUBB:

Registration to this forum is free! We do insist that you abide by the rules and policies detailed below. If you agree to the terms, please check the 'I agree' checkbox and press the 'Register' button below. If you would like to cancel the registration, click here to return to the forums index.

Please note that advertisements, chain letters, pyramid schemes, and solicitations are inappropriate on this BB and will be deleted immediately.

The Horizons Unlimited Bulletin Board (HUBB) has always been intended as a fact-based board, where people can ask for and provide information to help plan trips, deal with paperwork, transport, insurance, medical and other issues.

It is NOT intended or run as a 'chat' board, NOR to debate the great political or religious or cultural issues of our time. There is no shortage of other sites where you can get into that sort of debate, if that's what you want to do, so this isn't meant as a denial of anyone's free speech.

Horizons Unlimited has a zero tolerance policy for personal attacks. Posting something to the HUBB which personally attacks another HUBB user or contains profanity or any type of racial or ethnic slur will result in immediately disabling your posting ability.

Please remember that we at Horizons Unlimited do not actively monitor the contents of the HUBB and are not responsible for any messages posted. We do not vouch for or warrant the accuracy, completeness or usefulness of any message, and are not responsible for the contents of any message. The messages express the views of the author of the message, not necessarily the views of the HUBB or any entity associated with the HUBB or Horizons Unlimited. We each come to this board with different personalities, views and backgrounds. Please take what you like and leave the rest without comment.

Any user who feels that a posted message is objectionable is encouraged to contact us immediately. We have the ability to remove objectionable messages and we will make every effort to do so, within a reasonable time frame, if we determine that removal is necessary. This is a manual process, however, so please realize that we may not be able to remove or edit particular messages immediately.

You agree, through your use of this service, that you will not use the HUBB to post any material which is knowingly false and/or defamatory, inaccurate, abusive, vulgar, hateful, harassing, obscene, profane, sexually oriented, threatening, invasive of a person's privacy, or otherwise violative of any law. You agree not to post any copyrighted material unless the copyright is owned by you or by the HUBB.

Although the HUBB does not and cannot review the messages posted and is not responsible for the content of any of these messages, we reserve the right to delete any message for any or no reason whatsoever. You remain solely responsible for the content of your messages, and you agree to indemnify and hold harmless this BB, Horizons Unlimited, nor Jelsoft Enterprises Ltd. (developers of vBulletin) and their agents with respect to any claim based upon transmission of your message(s).

We at this BB also reserve the right to reveal your identity (or whatever information we know about you) in the event of a complaint or legal action arising from any message posted by you.

Advertising

You agree not to post any advertising, URL's with affiliate id's or tracking numbers or anything which actively promotes your own business site or company without authorization.

You agree not to use the addresses of any member on the bulletin board for any other purpose than 1-1 personal communication. Using Private Messaging for advertising is not allowed. Responding to a request for information is fine.

Horizons Unlimited has no objection to private businesses, large or small, benefiting from participation on this board as long as the contributions made are deemed by the moderators to be of value and not seen as blatant advertising (such posts will be deleted without explanation and you will be banned).

See "Advertising on the HUBB" section below for more information and how you CAN advertise on the HUBB.

Copyright and Licensing

In general HUBB users own copyright in their postings unless the post consists wholly or in part of a copyrighted work and therefore has a previous copyright holder.

From time to time we may use HUBB postings in our newsletters or on the Horizons Unlimited web site, other print and digital publications, television programs and products in any other media. Therefore you give us a non exclusive, perpetual, irrevocable, royalty-free, worldwide licence to use your postings by reproducing, communicating, re-publishing, editing or otherwise exploiting the postings as we see fit.

You grant us the right to sub-licence your postings (or edited or modified versions of the postings) to others at our discretion.

You cannot withdraw or retract the posting or seek payments from us in relation to this licence at any time in the future. If you do not want your material to be used in this way you must not post it on the HUBB.

With respect to your moral rights in your postings, you consent to your postings being used, copied, published, transmitted, exhibited, performed, communicated or adapted as we see fit. We generally attribute authorship, but it is not always possible. You consent to us not attributing authorship to you at all, attributing it to your HUBB 'handle' or to your real name (at our discretion).

Once you have made a posting on the HUBB, you consent to us dealing with it as necessary to perform technical and administrative functions in running the HUBB.

Now after all that, we hope you enjoy the HUBB!

You agree not to post any advertising, URL's with affiliate id's or tracking numbers or anything which actively promotes your own site or company without prior authorization. Pretending to be a traveller and hyping your own business is not okay. Businesses desiring to advertise products or services on the HUBB, the Horizons Unlimited website or the monthly e-zine should contact us. See AD RATES here.

a. Small vendors, tour operators etc: You can become a "Contributing Vendor" by simply paying for a one line Advertising Signature, which will show whenever you make a post.

• The price is only US$ 40 per year, payable in advance, minimum 1 year.
• Your signature can contain up to 40 characters of text and your link in one line.

b.You can also become a "HUBB Advertiser".

• The price is only US$ 100 per year, payable in advance, minimum 1 year.
• Your signature can contain
  • up to 150 characters of text and your link in three lines.
  • Signature Image / logo, animated .gif, 200x50 pixels, max 30kb.

c. Vendors with a regular ad (minimum 6 months, US$100 per month) on the HU website, are entitled to the "HU Sponsor" status. See AD RATES here to become an HU Sponsor.

• Your signature can contain
  • up to 250 characters of text and your link in three lines.
  • Signature Image / logo, animated .gif, 330x72 pixels, max 50kb.

IMPORTANT: The above options a, b and c do NOT allow you to make advertising posts, or any post promoting your services or products. You can offer information in response to posts by travellers, but NO MENTION of your services or products is allowed unless it's FREE. If you wish to make advertising posts, see below for details.

"HU Sponsors" and "HUBB Advertisers" can also make an Advertising Post on the HUBB. These are the start of a thread advertising an event or product, in the appropriate forum.

• Subject line is "AD: your text".
• Price is US$ 100 per thread, payable in advance.

CONTACT Grant to arrange any of the above options.

There are TWO ways to search - first, the ENTIRE website including the HUBB, and second, individual HUBB forums.

To access the search feature for the ENTIRE site, just enter your search word(s) in the search box near the top right of all pages.

To access the search feature for the HUBB forums, click on the "search this forum" link on the navigation bar, just below the "Welcome (Your name)" on all HUBB pages when you're IN a forum. You can just enter your word(s) in the search box that will drop down, or click "Advanced Search" in the same box. That will give you options to search by user name, word(s) in the post or just in the subject, posts in the last x minutes, day, hours, whatever you like, and choose individual forums or everywhere, as well as sorting options.

You can search any forum that you have permission to search - you will not be allowed to search through private forums unless the administrator has given you the necessary security rights to do so.

Yes! To send an email to another member, you can either locate the member you want to contact on the user list, or click the button on any post made by that user.

This will usually open a page that contains a form where you can enter your message. When you have finished typing your message, press the [send email] button and your message will be sent instantly. Note that for privacy reasons, the email address of the recipient is not revealed to you during this process.

Note that if you can not find an email button or link for a user, it either means that the administrator has disabled email functions for this forum, or that the user in question has specified that they do not wish to receive email from other users of the forum.

Another useful email function is the ability to send a friend a link to a thread you think they may find interesting. Whenever you view a thread, you will find a link somewhere on the page which will allow you to send a brief message to anyone you like. Your referrerid is added to the link you send, so if your friend registers on this forum as a result of viewing the link you sent to them, your referrals total will automatically be credited!

Registered users may also be able to send messages to other users of this forum using the private messaging system. For more information about private messaging, click here.

We STRONGLY recommend NOT putting your e-mail address in a posting. If someone needs to contact you they can by clicking on your name at the top left of your post, and selecting "Send email to yourname" to send you an email.

NOTE that you must have selected in "User options" (in the bar at the top of all threads) "Edit Options" "Receive Email" and check "Receive Email from Other Members" for them to contact you.

Note too that when you enable "Receive Email from Other Members" they do NOT get your email address - the system sends it for them, without using their email client. They never get your email address until you reply to them, so your security and privacy is protected.

You should also "Enable Private Messaging" so people can contact you through the HUBB without using email.

Why is this important?
The Bulletin Board pages are ordinary html web pages, like 99.99% of the web, which means that a spammers robot can read an email address on a webpage and "harvest" it, and add you to their list of people to send spam to.

The reason we have the link is to prevent this - your email address is hidden from spam robots by code behind this link to protect your security and privacy from junk mailers. We also use encoded email addresses that a spammer can't read, but your browser can, elsewhere on the site, and forms where possible, all to protect email addresses.

Suggestion:
Refer people to the link if you feel it's needed. You can edit your message to remove your address.

If you need to put someone else's email address in a post, "obfuscate" it - make it difficult to read for a spambot. e.g.

"emailaddress -Attt" somewhere =dddott" ccomm"

is readable to you, but not the bots.

This is for YOUR protection. Your security and privacy is important to us, and we do all we can to ensure it.

If the administrator has enabled the Private Messaging system, registered members may send each other private messages.

Sending Private Messages

Private messages work a little like email, but are limited to registered members of this forum. You may be able to include vB Code, smilies and images in private messages that you send.

You may send a private message to a member of this forum by clicking the 'Send A Private Message' link in the private messaging section of your user control panel, or by clicking the button in a member's posts.

When you send a message, you have the option to save a copy of the message in your Sent Items folder.

Private Message Folders

By default, you will have two folders in your private message area. These are the Inbox and the Sent Items folders.

The Inbox folder contains any new messages you receive, and allows you to view all the messages you have received, along with the name of the person who sent the message to you, and the date and time the message was sent.

The Sent Items folder contains a copy of any messages that you have sent, where you have specified that you wish to keep a copy of the message for future reference.

You may create additional folders for your messages by clicking the 'Edit Folders' link.

Each folder has a set of message controls which allow you to select messages, then either move them to one of your custom folders, or delete them completely. You may also have a button which allows you to forward multiple messages from a folder to another member of the forum.

You will need to periodically delete old messages, as the administrator has probably set a limit to the number of private messages you can have in your folders. If you exceed the number of messages specified by the administrator, you will not be able to send or receive new messages until you delete some old messages.

Whenever you read a message, you will have the option to reply to the message, or forward that message to another member of the forum. You may also have the ability to forward that message to multiple members of your buddy list.

Message Tracking

When you send a new private message, you may have the option to request a read-receipt for that message. This will allow you to check whether or not a message has been read by its recipient by viewing the Private Message Tracking page.

This page is divided into two sections: unread messages and read messages.

The unread messages section shows all messages that you have sent with a read-receipt request, that have not yet been read by their recipient.

The read messages section shows all messages you have sent with a receipt request that have been read and acknowledged by their recipient. The time that the message was read is also shown.

You may choose to end the tracking on any message you choose by selecting the message and clicking the [end tracking] button.

When you receive a message with a read-receipt request, you may have the option to read the message while denying the read-receipt request. To do this, simply click the 'deny receipt' link rather than the title of the message, if it appears.

The member list contains a complete list of all the registered members of this forum. You can view the member list ordered alphabetically by username, by the date that the member joined the forum, or by the number of posts the members have made.

The member list also has a search function, which allows you to quickly locate members according to categories you specify, such as searching for all members who have joined in the past week etc.

The calendar functions in a way similar to the forums in that there can be multiple calendars. One calendar could hold just events that you are able to see, while another may list birthdays.

There are two types of events on the calendar: normal events and recurring events.

Normal Events span the time frame from when the event starts until the event ends.

Recurring Events repeat over a set period of time based on certain criteria. Examples would be an event that occurs on the first Monday of every month and an event that occurs every Monday and Wednesday.

The administrator may have enabled registered users to post events, but usually this is not the case. You can most likely post your own private events that are only viewable to you.

Birthdays may be shown on the calendar if the administrator has enabled this feature. Your birthday will automatically be shown on the calendar if you have entered the date of your birthday in your profile. Note: if you do not enter the year of your birth when you edit your profile, your age will not be shown on the calendar.

If you enter your birthday, your name will also appear on the main forum page when it is your birthday.

Announcements are special messages posted by the administrator or moderators. They are designed to be a simple one-way communication with the users. If you wish to discuss announcements, you will have to create a new thread in the forum, since you cannot reply to announcements.

You may find a small menu on thread pages which allows you to 'rate this thread' with a number between 1-5.

Casting a vote for threads you view is entirely optional, but if you think that the thread is superb, you might rate it as a 5-star thread, or if you think that it's unspeakably dismal, you might choose to rate the thread with a single star.

Once enough votes have been cast for the thread rating, you may see a set of stars appear with the title of the thread in the thread listings. These stars reflect the average vote cast, and can allow you to quickly see which threads are worth reading if you are on a very busy forum with a lot of threads.

The administrator may have enabled referrals, which allows you to be credited for any new users you invite to the forum.

You gain referrals by promoting Horizons Unlimited - The HUBB using your unique referral link. The link you should use as your referral link is this:

http://www.horizonsunlimited.com/hubb/index.php?referrerid=0

Each time someone follows this link to Horizons Unlimited - The HUBB and registers as a new member, your referral count will be incremented by one. The number of referrals you have can be viewed in your profile.

Your administrator will have more information on any prizes or rewards that may be given out for referrals. Please be courteous when promoting Horizons Unlimited - The HUBB by not spamming other web sites with your referral link just to gain referrals.

1. Linear Mode (Oldest First) - In this mode, posts are displayed chronologically from oldest to newest. Posts are shown in a flat mode so that many posts can be viewed simultaneously.
2. Linear Mode (Newest First) - This is the same as the above mode, except that posts are ordered in an opposite way (newest first).
3. Threaded Mode - In this mode, a tree is shown along with every post. This tree allows you to see the relationship each post has to others, in terms of who responded to whom. Only one post is shown at a time.
4. Hybrid Mode - This mode is a mixture of the linear and threaded modes. The post tree is displayed like in the threaded mode, but multiple posts are displayed simultaneously like in the linear modes.

RSS syndication is enabled, and this allows you to view newly created threads in guest viewable forums without visiting the board.

The feeds are currently provided in two formats, RSS and RSS v2. The differences are as follows:

• RSS 0.91 - This feed is based on a standard written by netscape and provides a link and the title of the thread.
  http://www.horizonsunlimited.com/hubb/external.php?type=rss
• RSS 2.0 - This feed contains title, author, date and the contents of the first post of the thread.
  http://www.horizonsunlimited.com/hubb/external.php?type=rss2

To add this to MyYahoo click here.

The forums to which this applies can also be limited to specific guest viewable forums by adding another parameter to the URL containing the forumids as follows:
http://www.horizonsunlimited.com/hubb/external.php?type=rss2&forumids=123

If you would like the content to be generated for multiple forums you can separate the forumids by commas.

See the RSS Feed ID codes for all the forums below.