Forum Rules

Welcome to ExpatWoman's forums - we're please you've found our boards. As expatriates ourselves, we firmly believe that pooling knowledge, wisdom and experiences helps to make our lives easier while living abroad. We do have a team of moderators to watch the action on our forums, but we do like to let the conversation flow and try to keep intervention to a minimum.

Before we get started... If, for any reason, there's a post or thread you don't like the look of on the boards, please click 'report' so our mods will pick it up and can review it quickly.

Our primary intention for our forum information boards has been the same for over 15 years... To provide a welcoming, friendly forum for newcomers and residents in the UAE and beyond to share information about living in their new country and region.

Please understand, that our forum is not a chat board. Although, we are happy to leave threads that are interesting, informative and relevant to expats. The more you use our forum, you'll begin to get a feel of the tone that we aim for, and it will either work for you or it won't.

The boards are fast-moving, which means our mods do not debate the pros and cons of deleting particular threads. We delete posts that are considered offensive, and will ban members who are abusive or who repeatedly post in contravention of the rules of the board or go out of their way to be difficult.

Our mods will not enter into a debate about why posts or threads have been removed, or why a user profile has been deactivated.

Our forum boards are a great resource for expatriates living in the UAE and beyond, and so by following the rules, we're sure you'll have a great experience using them... And we hope you find the answers you're looking for.

Please continue reading to find our full forum rules and moderation guidelines for your reference.

• Please use the same courtesy when posting messages on the board, as you would when speaking to someone face-to-face.
• Personal attacks on members or our ExpatWoman mods will not be tolerated.
• This is an English-language forum, so please post in English - but be aware that not all users have English as their first language, so please take this into account when reading posts.
• Political and religious discussions are interesting, but difficult to moderate and often degenerate into arguments - for this reason, such discussions are not encouraged.
• Users are requested NOT to post personal details and contact details of anyone, including their own - including email IDs.
• Please do not post links with the intention of promoting your business, blog, forum, Facebook group. We are not a link directory.
• We discourage users arranging meet-ups through our boards.
• Advertising of your company or services is NOT allowed on the forum - if you wish to advertise with us, please email [email protected].
• Our forum is not to be used for job adverts.
• Posters wishing to sell/buy items, can do so through our classifieds.
• The buying and selling of tickets for events e.g. concerts, sporting events, is not allowed.
• Our forum may not be used for the purpose of market research or surveys.
• This board may not be used as fodder for articles by journalists - if you are a journalist seeking a quote about a particular topic, please email [email protected].
• Don't feed the trolls, and report any inflammatory threads as spam for our mods to clean-up.
• Promotions of political groups or ideologies, political rants, inflammatory religious content, any form of spam, flooding, advertising, petitions, chain letters, pyramid schemes or solicitations of any kind are strictly prohibited, as is cross-posting the same message across multiple boards.

When making comments about companies or organisations, it is understood that sometimes they may be critical and/or negative.

But if someone is asking for a recommendation, there is no need to post who you don't recommend - post only about who you do recommend. Please be respectful.

Don't make accusations that are personal, unsubstantiated, unfounded, inflammatory or slanderous. They will be deleted.

If you have a complaint or issue about or with a company, your first recourse would be to contact them directly and solve any issues that way. If you don't tell them about any issues that they have - how can they begin to fix them?

There are various incidents reported from time to time in the local press that are of a very sensitive or tragic nature to the families and friends of those involved - please refrain from posting your opinions, speculation, supposition and the like on the forum. This simply adds to the distress of all involved.

If a thread is removed that concerns one of these issues, please do not start another one, as that will be deleted too. Messages of support, sympathy and condolences are more appropriate for this forum.

You should not post any material which is false, defamatory, derogatory, inflammatory, inaccurate, abusive, vulgar, hateful, racist, harassing, obscene, profane, sexually oriented, threatening, invasive of a person's privacy, or otherwise in violation of any law.

These boards are monitored by local Government, as are all boards in the region, and you should be prepared to answer for any comments you may post, should you be called upon to do so.

• Attacks, criticism and the like on moderators or admins of this site will not be tolerated, and will result in post deletion and may result in a permanent ban.
• Do not post complaints, criticisms, or moderation questions on the forum.
• We will remove postings that are obscene, contain personal attacks or break the laws of the land.
• The Middle East has its own traditions, culture, and laws, and if the moderators feel a topic or post is on the wrong side of the line, they will move, edit or delete as they see fit without entering into debate.
• We will generally delete links to foreign papers and websites which are not subject to the same censorship rules as those operating within the region, by which we must also abide.
• If a thread is deleted, please resist the temptation to start a new one about the same subject or asking why the thread was deleted- they will just be deleted too.

Please remember this site is moderated by real people... People with families and lives outside the world of ExpatWoman.com.

They do not sit on the boards 24/7, and consequently, things may slip through but we tune in regularly and catch them eventually. We also, occasionally, make mistakes.

We are sometimes contacted by person, a poster or a company, who wish to have a particular thread removed for some reason - incorrect facts, damaging to them personally or professionally, personal situations they do not wish to be discussed publicly, too much information, original poster wants it removed etc. etc. and this is done, without entering into any debate on the board, as to why a particular thread has been removed.

We do not differentiate between site sponsors and non-sponsors, posters and non-posters. We will delete any thread whenever requested by anyone.

To bring a post or thread to our attention that you would like deleting, please select 'report' on our forum, or alternatively email our team directly on [email protected]

It is impossible for us to confirm the validity of posts on this forum. Please remember that although we do actively monitor the posted messages, we are not responsible for their content.

We do not warrant the accuracy, completeness or usefulness of any information presented. The messages express the views of the author, not necessarily the views of this forum.

Anyone who feels that a posted message is objectionable is encouraged to notify an administrator of this forum immediately. We have the right to remove objectionable content, within a reasonable time frame, if we determine that removal is necessary. Any removal will be completed as soon as possible.

We also retain the right to edit, move or delete any posted message and suspend, delete or deny any account or account registration request without giving any reason.

Account owners are expressly prohibited from opening a new account if an earlier account has been closed or suspended or earlier registration request denied.

You acknowledge that all posts made to this website express the views and opinions of the author and not the site owner, administrators or moderators (except for messages by these people) who cannot be held liable for the contents of such posts.