The Objective of the British Medal Forum is to develop and further the interest, research and collecting of British & Commonwealth medals and researching their recipients and assist each other with specialist issues such as research, naming styles, clasp combinations, etc

i) The British Medal Forum is not a commercial enterprise, nor should members use the forum for commercial advantage.

ii) The forum is maintained on a voluntary basis, members should bear this in mind when making any post to the forum.

iii) The use of the British Medal Forum is subject to the rules and guidelines as described. By using the Forum in any way you signify explicit agreement to all of the statements contained herein. Theses rules and guidelines apply to the heading and body of your posts, to your signature, avatar and to private messages (PM) and email sent from the forum.

iv) Failure to respect the rules may lead to your account being suspended or a ban being placed on your continued use of the forum.

v) Members will not involve the Forum or its staff (Owners, Webmasters, Administrators, and Moderators) in any legal action or dispute.

vi) The membership of members who threaten / suggest or support legal action against the Forum (Administrators, Moderators) will be deleted.

vii) If a member has any questions about the rules and whether a topic can be posted or wish to make a post contrary to the rules / guidelines then advice should be sought from a Moderator or the Forum Administrator before posting any such article.

i) Don’t use profane language

ii) Don’t post items that are in any way racist, sexist, abusive or obscene

iii) Don’t post items that incite or in a aggressive tone

iv) Don’t make statements that could be construed as defamatory of an individual, group or business.

v) Do respect the right of other to express their opinion

Remember the moderators are all volunteers, who give their free time to the continuation of this forum. Please make their task easier by abiding with the rules and following the guidelines.

i) All moderators have an absolute right to delete, move, edit or otherwise change any post added to the forum in order to maintain continuity, ensure adherence to these rules and maintain the positive spirit of the Forum.

ii) Disagreement with a decision of a Moderator will not be discussed on the open forum.

iii) Disputes will be discussed by a panel of Moderators. The panel decision is final.

Copyright legislation must be complied with (see the guidelines for further information).

Members who own the copyright of published material, may post the material on the Forum

i) Members will not solicit or promote any commercial activity in which they have an interest, on the Forum. A link to a non commercial website is permitted in your signature, but must be of reasonable length and of a small font size.

ii) Commercial logos are not permitted nor are they to be used as an avatar.

iii) Posts that are deemed by the moderators as promoting a commercial interest will be deleted or otherwise modified unless you have specifically approached the moderators and obtained permission prior to the post.

iv) This rule also applies to charitable appeals.

This forum is specifically for British and Commonwealth Medals, recipients of such medals and the circumstance which warranted the issue or awarding of such medals.

i) Posts and discussion are to be kept within this rule.

ii) We do not cover political, masonic, sporting, religious or similar themes unless directly related to British and Commonwealth Medals or their recipients. If posted without such reference they will be deleted. A list of acceptable medals for discussion can be found > Here <

iii) Use the appropriate collecting topic section when posting.

iv) Do not post the same or similar item in multiple topic areas.

v) Posts that are irrelevant to or disrupt the discussion will be deleted.

All members agree to the registration agreement on joining the forum.

i) Multiple registrations are not allowed, if more that one membership is detected, action will be taken to delete them and any associated usernames.

ii) Inactive registrations may be deleted.

iii) Avatars are to be images that will not cause offence or confrontation with other members. Avatars should not be deemed political, religious, racist, sexist etc

The member is responsible for what they write on the Forum, regardless of whether it is in a post, on their signature or profile or in a Personal Message (PM) or email sent by the forum.

i) The Forum and its staff do not vouch for or warrant the accuracy, completeness or usefulness of any message and are not responsible for the contents of messages.

ii) The member specifically agrees by the use of the Forum to indemnify and hold harmless the Owner, Webmaster, Administrator and Moderators of this Forum against any form of action

iii) All members have accepted theses terms on registering to join the forum and explicitly agree to these terms on their continued use of the Forum

Members can report any post that violate theses rules to the Moderators.

Members can report discussions / posts which they deem unacceptable or not within the ethos of the Forum to the Administrator / Moderators either by PM or clicking on the exclamation icon (!) at the top right side of the post below the date / time posted.

Members who do not abide by the rules, especially the standard of behavior, will be suspended. Depending on the nature or severity of the breach of the rules the Administrator / Moderators can place a member under either a seven day (Yellow Card), a fourteen day suspension (Red Card) or Permanently ban a member.

i) Re-registering during period of suspension will result in an automatic review by the Forum Administrator / Moderators, which could result in the permanent termination of membership.

ii) Posting a discussion / topic which is deemed to be a personal attack on another member will result in a red card suspension immediately and may result in a Permanent Ban.

iii) Ignoring a request / instruction from Forum Staff will result in a red card and may result in a Permanent Ban.

iv) Continued membership of those members who receive three red cards will be automatically reviewed by the Forum Administrator / Moderators and Founder Members.

The Administrator and Moderators of the Forum reserve the right to modify these rules at any time without prior notice or announcement.

Members continued use of the Forum is in explicit acceptance of the current version of the rules in force at the time of posting

i) Members are expected to show respect to all recipients of British and Commonwealth Medals and awards irrespective of race, colour, creed or religion.

ii) Medals issued by Countries that are no longer in the Commonwealth are not regarded as subject matter for discussion. However groups that contain medals / awards that were issued by a country prior to leaving the Commonwealth are permitted.

iii) Discussions about Non British / Commonwealth nationals who were issued or awarded a British / Commonwealth medal / award are permitted. However discussion should be limited to the recipient / circumstances of the medal / award.

iv) Discussions / posts about medals / awards granted by foreign countries to British / Commonwealth recipients are permitted provided they form a part of a British/Commonwealth group that is being discussed or the association with that group/recipient/entitlement is made immediately obvious.

v) Discussions about ephemera related to British and Commonwealth Medals and recipients is permitted, (provided they form a part of a British/Commonwealth group that is being discussed or the association with that group/recipient/entitlement is made immediately obvious) including Life Saving gallantry, Silver War Badges, Memorial Crosses, MiD Certificates, Flying log books, Certificates of Service, Medal Index Cards, Gold Fish/Guinea Pig/Caterpillar Club badges, Commissioning Warrants, Submarine service cards, Service Parchments, photographs etc

vi) Discussions / posts that relate to reproductions, copies and commemorative medals are not permitted, except to alert members where an item has been offered for sale as an original. In these cases information should be restricted to the item being offered for sale, to educate members in recognizing fakes and copies, the seller is not to be discussed.

vii) WALTS- Discussions/ posts about the unauthorised or fraudulent wearing of medals/ awards is not permitted, except where there is merit for the sake of research in medal rolls / awarding criteria / combination of length of services etc. The morality or reasons why the individual is wearing unauthorised medal is not within the objectives of the British and Commonwealth Medal Forum.

viii) Discussions / posts about Militaria / Uniforms / Swords / Cap Badges / Military Equipment / Badges are not permitted.

ix) Discussions / posts relating to the Postal services, Customs regulations of any country are not considered proper for this forum.

x) This Forum does not condone the making, marketing and selling of copy or reproduction medals. The Forum ethos dictates that discussions / posts should not advance the proliferation of such items

xi) This Forum does not condone the wearing or mounting of Commemorative medals with officially issued or awarded medals. Forum ethos dictates that discussions / post should not advance the proliferation of such practices.

xii) Discussion / posts that respond to requests for comments regarding the authenticity of British & Commonwealth medals should explain the rational for the opinion offered. This is to further the knowledge of members. The source of the item seller, dealer, and auctioneer is not to form any part of the rationale for the opinion regarding the authenticity.

Only members with 100+ posts will be permitted to have a Showcase

Members should create a comments thread for other member messages about their collection

Members should post comments about a specific item displayed showcase in the showcase comments thread.

Show Cases are set up by a Super Moderator, who will advise you on creating and editing your showcase

i) Only members with 100+ posts will be permitted to offer items for sale on the Forum.

ii) This commission free concession is limited to 20 items per calendar year (ie: Jan to Dec).
An item is :
• A group and ephemera related / connected to the group
• A single medal and related / connected ephemera
• A single item of Militaria i.e. Silver War Badge
• A book, a catalogue or a medal roll

iii) When posting an item it must be priced. Items posted without a price will be deleted.

iv) Items placed on the Forum for sale are sold under the condition that there is a 100% money back guarantee, if the item is found not to match the sale description.

v) The item must be available for sale to all BMF members irrespective of geographic location. The item is mailed at sellers risk but the buyer will meet full carriage/insurance costs. If the buyer requires the item mailed to a destination country which has no "signed for/insured service" then the item is sent at buyers risk.

vi) The sale of fake, named copies, or fraudulently constructed / mounted medal groups is not permitted. If any such item is posted for sale it will be deleted. Should the Forum Administrator, Moderators deem that the seller had prior knowledge of the items condition; the sellers membership will be suspended and reviewed by the Forum Staff and Founder Members.

vii) Official replacements are permitted, however the seller should draw this condition to the attention of potential buyers.

Please don’t :

i) Discuss or post messages about the issues, observations or disagreements with Dealers / Auctioneers / eBay Sellers / Pay Pal etc

ii) Ask for the identity of eBay sellers

iii) Discuss or post commercial issues or disputes

iv) Comments relating to Fakes and Copies, fraudulent items can be posted with a URL.

v) Discussions / posts should be restricted to the numismatic aspect of medals

vi) Discussions / posts relating to the services, fees, commercial activities and ethics of Dealers, Sellers and Auctioneers are not permitted.

v) Members are not permitted to post links to items that they are personally selling on eBay.

vi) Members should not recommend or bring to the attention of Forum members items that they have placed on dealers lists or placed into a specific auction.

i) A maximum of 20 “wants” per member per calendar year is allowed, with the exception of the Memorial Plaque Register and the Surnames Sought master threads. The same “wants” request must not be repeated within 2 calendar months.

ii) Members are permitted to list item that they wish to obtain. However only specific items can be listed. Medals or group to specific actions, regiments, units, ships, or campaign or recipient..

iii) Discussions / posts advertising purchasing medals / groups that are non specific will be deemed as commercial and deleted.

i) Members are limited to 20 valuation requests in any calendar year (ie: Jan to Dec).

ii) Members posting messages in the valuation topic should provide full details of the item being valued including name / naming, rank and number where applicable information regarding the awarding or issuing and if application citation or circumstances. The reason for the valuation should also be posted, sale, probate, insurance etc. Posts without this information are liable to deletion by the Moderators.

iii) When responding to request for a valuation members should post the rational for the value given, value of individual medals, awards, papers and a value added % for completeness, rarity, citation, etc.

Members are responsible in ensuring that discussions / posts comply with UK Copyright Legislation.

Copyright text should be no more that 5% of the total published article and restricted to direct relevance of the discussion / post.

Fair Use

Copyright law, there is a concept of fair use, also known as free use, free dealing or fair practice.

Fair uses sets out certain actions that may be carried out, but would not normally be regarded as an infringement of the work. Fair uses allows quotations or excerpts, where the work has been made available to the public (published)

Provided that:

i) The use is deemed acceptable under the terms of fair use
ii) The quoted material is justified and no more that is necessary is included
iii) The source of the quoted material is mentioned, along with the name of the author
iv) National laws typically allow limited private and educational use
v) Copyright text should be no more that 5% of the total published article and restricted to direct relevance of the discussion / post.
vi) Members using narrative/ photographs etc from auction catalogues should satisfy themselves that copy right law had been complied with.
vii)Copyright and Ancestry. Subsequent to an initial request for help, communication about copying documents, images etc from copyright source should be conducted using PM.
viii) If posting an image is educational in the context of researching British & Commonwealth medals and their recipients, the image should be cropped to the subject, typically to show either the front / rear of the MIC

The Forum Panel consists of the Administrators, Owners, Moderators and Founder Members. Disputes / disagreements or suggestions for the future / or development of the Forum will be considered by the Forum Panel whose decision is final.