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Terms of Service and Rules
About the forum:
I would like to start by stressing that this is a privately owned and privately run community and has been since its creation in 1999. I therefore reserve the right to set out terms of use and expectations for members' behaviour. This is a moderated forum and I reserve absolute rights to edit or remove content and to restrict or close member accounts whenever I deem it necessary to enforce the community rules and terms.
This community is intended as a positive and pro-fireworks website which supports both consumer and professional firework activities in the UK where it is based. I do not sell fireworks and do not have paid staff - I am a fireworks hobbyist.
Accessing content:
The forum is currently running as a private community. This means that posted content (other than this page) is no longer visible either to guests (visitors without an account, or members that are logged out), or search engines.
In order to view content, you need to already have an account here and to log in.
Joining the forum:
As a private community, registration for new members is now very restricted. The current status will be displayed on the log in page and may be one of the following, subject to change from time to time:
- Closed. No new registrations are being accepted.
- Invite only. Existing members of good standing can contact the site owner ("Pyro Pete") within the Forum by private message to nominate a new member. An invite code will then be issued for them to use on registration within a limited time period.
- Seasonal opening to all. At some specific and limited times, for example around Bonfire Night, registrations may be open for anyone to join without an invite code, subject to conditions for remaining a member which will be explained during the registration process or in the new member welcome message.
Existing members unable to log in:
If you already had an account here but it is no longer recognised, it is likely to have been deleted. Through 2022, 2023 and 2024, inactive and noncontributing accounts were pruned out. This is because over 20+ years we have accumulated a lot of inactive accounts and bloat. Examples of inactive accounts include:
- Accounts which showed no activity (no login) for long periods, such as 12 months or more.
- Accounts with zero posts over an extended period of time. These accounts were deemed to have contributed nothing to the community and removed so we can refocus on those playing an active part in posting content here.
If your account was deleted you will need to reregister, subject to us being open for new registrations or by being invited by an existing member.
General terms for new and existing members follow:
Anonymity and privacy policy:
Registration is free and I do not require you to give your real name nor to prove your identity providing your use of my site is lawful, constructive and within these terms.
I do not collect or share any user data for marketing purposes nor operate any kind of e-newsletter.
Please note that the ability to post under a pseudonym (ie. anonymously) is granted as a privilege and not a right. I strongly oppose, and will defend against, anonymous use of this community for malicious purposes such as flaming or attacking other members, posting libellous content, acting unlawfully or any other activities which break these terms or could bring this community into disrepute or implicate it in a crime; in such cases I reserve the right to investigate further, to report the matter to the police or my solicitor, and to contact relevant third parties and share information in accordance with my privacy policy which explains this in more detail.
Usernames must not include words or phrases that are offensive, rude or anti-fireworks and members using company names or trademarks must have permission to do so. I do not allow the use of web addresses or email addresses as usernames as these could be considered as advertising a person or company.
User profile images (known as avatars) similarly must not be offensive, rude, anti-fireworks, unlawful or contain logos or trademarks unless you have permission to do this.
Sorry, I do not welcome:
- Reporters or undercover reporters or people from law enforcement or similar, unless with my permission.
- Chinese factories - with apologies to my Chinese friends but in over 20 years I have not had a single Chinese factory register here that has not gone on to post spam.
- Duplicate accounts. If you already have an account please do not create any more unless you have permission from me to do so.
- People previously banned, unless you have my permission to rejoin. I take this very seriously and warn previously banned members that rejoining my site in order to try and circumvent a ban or moderation could be taken as harassment.
I reserve the right to refuse membership of my forum for any reason and at any time, and to close an account at a later date, without notice and without explanation.
General Community Rules:
I welcome debate and accept as a forum of diverse people that a wide range of sometimes opposing views will present themselves. However, please be constructive and friendly. I do not allow trolling, flames or attacks on other members, unnecessary insults, excessive profanity or conduct that is nasty or negative for the sake of it.
Please leave any personal issues with other members at the door when you enter this community. Under no circumstances do I allow the use of this site to attack or harass other members.
I caution all members that they are responsible for what they post and for their actions here.
I do not allow "naming and shaming" posts as it is impossible for me to verify that the information being posted is true and in many cases these are done from an anonymous account! If you believe there is information about an individual or fireworks trade member you think is in the public interest to post here, which is backed up by verifiable sources (court records, Companies House records, news reports and so on) then you must contact me first to discuss; I rarely agree to such posts however due to the danger of libel and for other legal reasons.
I do not allow the posting of content regarding making your own fireworks where the intention is to build an actual device or gunpowder or other explosive material. I may however, at my discretion, make exceptions for educational questions or where the motive/poster is clearly lawful, such as a professional.
I allow discussion about fusing fireworks by consumers. This includes adding additional fuse to a firework, replacing the fuse with an electrical igniter, the use of firing systems and so on. This is done on the basis that fuse modifications are done at the site of intended use (in line with the legal guidance on the matter) and solely at the risk of those doing it. There are no black and white rules here and therefore any such discussions operate at my discretion: I reserve the right to edit, lock or remove discussions at any time.
I do not allow the use of this community to fundraise or promote charitable events unless you have my permission to do so. Sadly, this is necessary because I am unable to verify if those doing so are genuine.
Generally I do not allow discussions about politics because these usually end up in huge fights between members of opposing views or mindless soapboxing by those with strong political views; please respect this is a fireworks forum, not a platform to broadcast political views.
I do not allow the use of this site to promote other fireworks-themed forums or Facebook Groups (or similar), YouTube channels and so on without my permission and will remove new accounts and posts where this appears to be the only motive for joining. Please ask first.
I may remove or edit content posted about a small number of specific companies or retailers without warning. This is generally because that company has been banned for spamming here or I have some other dispute with them which I do not wish to make public.
In posting in this forum you understand and accept that your posts become a permanent part of this site. I generally do not remove content on request, nor do I grant members the right to edit or delete their own post content beyond a courtesy edit period for the purposes of correcting spelling or other mistakes. Members are therefore advised to think before posting. There are some cases in which I may consider a post edit or removal. These are at my discretion and include for example if you have posted personally identifiable information in error.
Commercial use and information for retailers and those in the trade:
[2025 Update: The "UKFR Sponsor" banner advert and upgraded account service has been wound-down from 1 Jan 2025. All retailers and importers are now treated on an equal footing and permitted to post about their products and services providing it is not excessive or spammy. See below for further guidance.]
Trade members and retailers are welcome to join and register under their company name. The posting of commercially orientated content is permitted providing it is appropriate, on-topic and does not cross the line into spam. The definition of spam is entirely subjective and therefore is at my discretion and the discretion of moderators; we will also take into account whether any such content has been reported by other members.
In general, the following is welcome from retailers and importers:
- Taking part in the "New For [year]" thread, posting video and details of new products, whether you are the importer itself or a retailer of those items.
- Answering questions from members where they relate to your products, shop, or if you can help with a constructive answer.
- Letting the community know about significant news or updates that would be considered of interest, such as changes to your location, merging with another company, creating a new brand, shop refurbishments and so on.
- Posting about demo nights, courses, training and "sales weekends" or similar annual events.
- Posting deals or offers that are exclusive to UKFR members here - I stress this does NOT include general sales/offers posts where those offers are available to the general public and/or publicised on your websites or social media, as that would just be repeating already available content (ie. spam). You should not post this kind of content excessively, once a month or less would be the absolute maximum, and I reserve the right to ask you to stop doing so or to remove such posts.
But don't do the following please:
- Post content that is written by AI, written for SEO or basically just poor quality.
- Post excessive links, anchored backlinks or anything SEO related - a reminder this forum is NOT indexed by Google now anyway, as it is private.
- Post any kind of tracking URL, affiliate code or anything that can be used to track clicks or track our members.
- Post obfuscated links (shortened links that obscure the full URL).
- Post content that excessively "bigs up" your service as being "the best" or other such shallow and meaningless drivel.
- Post commercial content excessively. If all you do is post about your own shop, offers, services etc you will be asked to leave the community, as this generally is not seen as taking a constructive part.
- Hijack other retailers' threads.
Private Messages:
The community software offers a feature to contact other members privately, known as a "private message" or "PM" (though the software here calls them "conversations").
The rules relating to posting also apply to content posted on profiles and messages sent through the private message system.
Please report any private message you receive which you think breaks these rules or is otherwise unwanted.
The PM facility is offered "as is" without any guarantees of accessibility or long term storage of your messages. Be aware that file attachments to private messages (photos, video and PDFs as examples) are regularly deleted without notice beyond a certain age as these contribute to significant file storage overheads and costs to me. For this reason, you should ALWAYS save (download) any important files to your own devices. I accept no responsibility for any lost data or files within the PM system and it should not be used for the storage of important files or data.
Donations and "Supports UKFR" members:
I encourage members to make a donation towards my running costs. This will tag your account with the "Supports UKFR" banner for the time specified. Note that all donations are non-refundable, even if your account is subsequently moderated or closed for breaking the site terms.
Account closure and account deletion:
You may request the closure of your account at any time. In this case I would render the account locked from being logged into again but your content and username remain on the site as do my records of your user registration and logs of your account use.
You may request the complete deletion of your account and account data at any time, but I may refuse this if I have reasonable grounds to do this or I believe it to be in the public interest to retain this information (for example in cases where I have moderated you, where you have broken my site terms, where you are the result of a complaint by another member for example in the case of libellous content, where I believe I might need that data to take legal action or to defend my legal position, where I believe the data might be needed by my solicitor, a court of law, the police and so on). Please note that accounts created under an alias may not fall under the scope of GDPR as by their very nature they are anonymous. If I agree to delete your account, I do not remove historic post content itself, but am happy to anonymise your posted content (removing your registered username from your historic posts)
In the event of a problem or you see a post that you feel breaks these rules:
Use the "report" option under the post or private message to bring it to the attention of a moderator. I do not guarantee to act proactively with moderation due to the number of posts made and therefore rely on my community to report content it feels is unacceptable.
Further information:
Various sub-forums on this site have further posts pinned to the top of the post list where additional posting rules apply. I also have a pinned post at the top of the General Discussion area that elaborates further on acceptable posting and conduct (though at all times these terms take precedence). You must also accept the Privacy Policy in order to use my site.
A final word:
This forum has been running for over 20 years. It is older than Facebook and YouTube and has outlived many firework companies. Some of my members have been active the whole time too! Remember, PLEASE, I run the site as a labour of love and in my spare time. It is intended to be a positive community and to support fireworks in the UK. Be nice, be constructive and be a part of something wonderful.
[These terms were last checked and updated on: 1 June 2025]
I would like to start by stressing that this is a privately owned and privately run community and has been since its creation in 1999. I therefore reserve the right to set out terms of use and expectations for members' behaviour. This is a moderated forum and I reserve absolute rights to edit or remove content and to restrict or close member accounts whenever I deem it necessary to enforce the community rules and terms.
This community is intended as a positive and pro-fireworks website which supports both consumer and professional firework activities in the UK where it is based. I do not sell fireworks and do not have paid staff - I am a fireworks hobbyist.
Accessing content:
The forum is currently running as a private community. This means that posted content (other than this page) is no longer visible either to guests (visitors without an account, or members that are logged out), or search engines.
In order to view content, you need to already have an account here and to log in.
Joining the forum:
As a private community, registration for new members is now very restricted. The current status will be displayed on the log in page and may be one of the following, subject to change from time to time:
- Closed. No new registrations are being accepted.
- Invite only. Existing members of good standing can contact the site owner ("Pyro Pete") within the Forum by private message to nominate a new member. An invite code will then be issued for them to use on registration within a limited time period.
- Seasonal opening to all. At some specific and limited times, for example around Bonfire Night, registrations may be open for anyone to join without an invite code, subject to conditions for remaining a member which will be explained during the registration process or in the new member welcome message.
Existing members unable to log in:
If you already had an account here but it is no longer recognised, it is likely to have been deleted. Through 2022, 2023 and 2024, inactive and noncontributing accounts were pruned out. This is because over 20+ years we have accumulated a lot of inactive accounts and bloat. Examples of inactive accounts include:
- Accounts which showed no activity (no login) for long periods, such as 12 months or more.
- Accounts with zero posts over an extended period of time. These accounts were deemed to have contributed nothing to the community and removed so we can refocus on those playing an active part in posting content here.
If your account was deleted you will need to reregister, subject to us being open for new registrations or by being invited by an existing member.
General terms for new and existing members follow:
Anonymity and privacy policy:
Registration is free and I do not require you to give your real name nor to prove your identity providing your use of my site is lawful, constructive and within these terms.
I do not collect or share any user data for marketing purposes nor operate any kind of e-newsletter.
Please note that the ability to post under a pseudonym (ie. anonymously) is granted as a privilege and not a right. I strongly oppose, and will defend against, anonymous use of this community for malicious purposes such as flaming or attacking other members, posting libellous content, acting unlawfully or any other activities which break these terms or could bring this community into disrepute or implicate it in a crime; in such cases I reserve the right to investigate further, to report the matter to the police or my solicitor, and to contact relevant third parties and share information in accordance with my privacy policy which explains this in more detail.
Usernames must not include words or phrases that are offensive, rude or anti-fireworks and members using company names or trademarks must have permission to do so. I do not allow the use of web addresses or email addresses as usernames as these could be considered as advertising a person or company.
User profile images (known as avatars) similarly must not be offensive, rude, anti-fireworks, unlawful or contain logos or trademarks unless you have permission to do this.
Sorry, I do not welcome:
- Reporters or undercover reporters or people from law enforcement or similar, unless with my permission.
- Chinese factories - with apologies to my Chinese friends but in over 20 years I have not had a single Chinese factory register here that has not gone on to post spam.
- Duplicate accounts. If you already have an account please do not create any more unless you have permission from me to do so.
- People previously banned, unless you have my permission to rejoin. I take this very seriously and warn previously banned members that rejoining my site in order to try and circumvent a ban or moderation could be taken as harassment.
I reserve the right to refuse membership of my forum for any reason and at any time, and to close an account at a later date, without notice and without explanation.
General Community Rules:
I welcome debate and accept as a forum of diverse people that a wide range of sometimes opposing views will present themselves. However, please be constructive and friendly. I do not allow trolling, flames or attacks on other members, unnecessary insults, excessive profanity or conduct that is nasty or negative for the sake of it.
Please leave any personal issues with other members at the door when you enter this community. Under no circumstances do I allow the use of this site to attack or harass other members.
I caution all members that they are responsible for what they post and for their actions here.
I do not allow "naming and shaming" posts as it is impossible for me to verify that the information being posted is true and in many cases these are done from an anonymous account! If you believe there is information about an individual or fireworks trade member you think is in the public interest to post here, which is backed up by verifiable sources (court records, Companies House records, news reports and so on) then you must contact me first to discuss; I rarely agree to such posts however due to the danger of libel and for other legal reasons.
I do not allow the posting of content regarding making your own fireworks where the intention is to build an actual device or gunpowder or other explosive material. I may however, at my discretion, make exceptions for educational questions or where the motive/poster is clearly lawful, such as a professional.
I allow discussion about fusing fireworks by consumers. This includes adding additional fuse to a firework, replacing the fuse with an electrical igniter, the use of firing systems and so on. This is done on the basis that fuse modifications are done at the site of intended use (in line with the legal guidance on the matter) and solely at the risk of those doing it. There are no black and white rules here and therefore any such discussions operate at my discretion: I reserve the right to edit, lock or remove discussions at any time.
I do not allow the use of this community to fundraise or promote charitable events unless you have my permission to do so. Sadly, this is necessary because I am unable to verify if those doing so are genuine.
Generally I do not allow discussions about politics because these usually end up in huge fights between members of opposing views or mindless soapboxing by those with strong political views; please respect this is a fireworks forum, not a platform to broadcast political views.
I do not allow the use of this site to promote other fireworks-themed forums or Facebook Groups (or similar), YouTube channels and so on without my permission and will remove new accounts and posts where this appears to be the only motive for joining. Please ask first.
I may remove or edit content posted about a small number of specific companies or retailers without warning. This is generally because that company has been banned for spamming here or I have some other dispute with them which I do not wish to make public.
In posting in this forum you understand and accept that your posts become a permanent part of this site. I generally do not remove content on request, nor do I grant members the right to edit or delete their own post content beyond a courtesy edit period for the purposes of correcting spelling or other mistakes. Members are therefore advised to think before posting. There are some cases in which I may consider a post edit or removal. These are at my discretion and include for example if you have posted personally identifiable information in error.
Commercial use and information for retailers and those in the trade:
[2025 Update: The "UKFR Sponsor" banner advert and upgraded account service has been wound-down from 1 Jan 2025. All retailers and importers are now treated on an equal footing and permitted to post about their products and services providing it is not excessive or spammy. See below for further guidance.]
Trade members and retailers are welcome to join and register under their company name. The posting of commercially orientated content is permitted providing it is appropriate, on-topic and does not cross the line into spam. The definition of spam is entirely subjective and therefore is at my discretion and the discretion of moderators; we will also take into account whether any such content has been reported by other members.
In general, the following is welcome from retailers and importers:
- Taking part in the "New For [year]" thread, posting video and details of new products, whether you are the importer itself or a retailer of those items.
- Answering questions from members where they relate to your products, shop, or if you can help with a constructive answer.
- Letting the community know about significant news or updates that would be considered of interest, such as changes to your location, merging with another company, creating a new brand, shop refurbishments and so on.
- Posting about demo nights, courses, training and "sales weekends" or similar annual events.
- Posting deals or offers that are exclusive to UKFR members here - I stress this does NOT include general sales/offers posts where those offers are available to the general public and/or publicised on your websites or social media, as that would just be repeating already available content (ie. spam). You should not post this kind of content excessively, once a month or less would be the absolute maximum, and I reserve the right to ask you to stop doing so or to remove such posts.
But don't do the following please:
- Post content that is written by AI, written for SEO or basically just poor quality.
- Post excessive links, anchored backlinks or anything SEO related - a reminder this forum is NOT indexed by Google now anyway, as it is private.
- Post any kind of tracking URL, affiliate code or anything that can be used to track clicks or track our members.
- Post obfuscated links (shortened links that obscure the full URL).
- Post content that excessively "bigs up" your service as being "the best" or other such shallow and meaningless drivel.
- Post commercial content excessively. If all you do is post about your own shop, offers, services etc you will be asked to leave the community, as this generally is not seen as taking a constructive part.
- Hijack other retailers' threads.
Private Messages:
The community software offers a feature to contact other members privately, known as a "private message" or "PM" (though the software here calls them "conversations").
The rules relating to posting also apply to content posted on profiles and messages sent through the private message system.
Please report any private message you receive which you think breaks these rules or is otherwise unwanted.
The PM facility is offered "as is" without any guarantees of accessibility or long term storage of your messages. Be aware that file attachments to private messages (photos, video and PDFs as examples) are regularly deleted without notice beyond a certain age as these contribute to significant file storage overheads and costs to me. For this reason, you should ALWAYS save (download) any important files to your own devices. I accept no responsibility for any lost data or files within the PM system and it should not be used for the storage of important files or data.
Donations and "Supports UKFR" members:
I encourage members to make a donation towards my running costs. This will tag your account with the "Supports UKFR" banner for the time specified. Note that all donations are non-refundable, even if your account is subsequently moderated or closed for breaking the site terms.
Account closure and account deletion:
You may request the closure of your account at any time. In this case I would render the account locked from being logged into again but your content and username remain on the site as do my records of your user registration and logs of your account use.
You may request the complete deletion of your account and account data at any time, but I may refuse this if I have reasonable grounds to do this or I believe it to be in the public interest to retain this information (for example in cases where I have moderated you, where you have broken my site terms, where you are the result of a complaint by another member for example in the case of libellous content, where I believe I might need that data to take legal action or to defend my legal position, where I believe the data might be needed by my solicitor, a court of law, the police and so on). Please note that accounts created under an alias may not fall under the scope of GDPR as by their very nature they are anonymous. If I agree to delete your account, I do not remove historic post content itself, but am happy to anonymise your posted content (removing your registered username from your historic posts)
In the event of a problem or you see a post that you feel breaks these rules:
Use the "report" option under the post or private message to bring it to the attention of a moderator. I do not guarantee to act proactively with moderation due to the number of posts made and therefore rely on my community to report content it feels is unacceptable.
Further information:
Various sub-forums on this site have further posts pinned to the top of the post list where additional posting rules apply. I also have a pinned post at the top of the General Discussion area that elaborates further on acceptable posting and conduct (though at all times these terms take precedence). You must also accept the Privacy Policy in order to use my site.
A final word:
This forum has been running for over 20 years. It is older than Facebook and YouTube and has outlived many firework companies. Some of my members have been active the whole time too! Remember, PLEASE, I run the site as a labour of love and in my spare time. It is intended to be a positive community and to support fireworks in the UK. Be nice, be constructive and be a part of something wonderful.
[These terms were last checked and updated on: 1 June 2025]
