GENERAL FORUM RULES
To those who have chosen to read the rules, I thank you deeply as it means you wish to follow our little community with respect.
Breaking rules result in punishments. There are several types of punishments:
The following rules list the most serious violations:
If you break one of these rules, the following penalties will apply (in order as written):
The following are a set of amendments to clarify the rules for those people who wish to nitpick:
Amendment 1 - There are no excuses for breaking the rules. It doesn't matter if you were angry at the time and weren't thinking straight. It doesn't matter if you were only kidding around. If you break a rule, it does the same damage, regardless of your reasons for breaking it, and you will be punished all the same.
Amendment 2 - Staff abuse will not be tolerated. As a staff member, your job is to help the people, not harm them. You may only use your powers for the purposes that they have been given to you for. There is no limit on how much you may be punished for this severe offense as this must be stopped at all costs to protect the people. This means that if you abuse your powers, there is a good chance you will be permanently banned.
Amendment 3 - Harrassing the administration about punishments is not allowed. The admins and moderators are only trying to do their job, and many times they have to make difficult decisions. You may post your opinion in the topic that announces the punishment, so long as you do not flame anyone. If this topic gets out of hand, it will be closed, and you may not complain elsewhere on the board, or by other means including, but not limited to: private messages, instant messaging programs, email, telephone calls, and house visits. You also may not make threats against administrators (or other members for that matter...). Punishments for harrassment range from a 1 day mute for minor harrasments to a permanent ban if serious threats are involved.
Amendment 4 - If you break more than one rule, the punishments will stack up to a maximum of 2 months, or a permanent ban if necessary. If a sentencing length is 2 days or less, it is a mute, otherwise, it can either be a temporary or permanent ban.
However, no matter how harsh the rules may sound to you, they were establish for you and everyone else to enjoy their time in our little community. Remember, you can also have fun while respecting rules and other members.
To those who have chosen to read the rules, I thank you deeply as it means you wish to follow our little community with respect.
Breaking rules result in punishments. There are several types of punishments:
- Warning - This is where a public announcement is made that mentions your name and that you have broken a rule. I will determine whether you knew what you were doing was wrong or whether a warning is necessary to explain it to you. If I do not give a warning, I will skip ahead to the next step in the penalty list.
- Muting - This is where you are not able to talk on the board. You may still view it.
- Temporary Ban - This is where you are not able to view the board for a certain period of time.
- Permanent Ban - You can never again view the board.
The following rules list the most serious violations:
- No Discrimination, - You may not insult members based on their religion, race, sex, political beliefs, or whether they are gay or straight. This is worse than flaming, because it also hurts other members of the board who fall into the category you insult. Discrimination will NOT be tolerated!
- No Bullying - Do not pick on other members. The worst kind of bullying is where new members are picked on. This hurts the member as well as the board.
- No Flaming - Flaming harms the nice atmosphere of our community. It also causes topics's to go off-topic, and most importantly, it hurts the person being flamed. The victim may defend themselves against any accusations made to them, but may not make any additional accusations to the flamer (which also counts as flaming).
- Leave the Moderating to the staff - the staff have been given the job of dealing with rule breaking by the owner if you see an offence being committed notify members of the staff, don't threaten the offender or start arguments with him / her. All members new and old are treated equally nobody except a member of the administration team has the right to discipline another member in anyway.
- No threatening to have another member banned - Do not use the topic of having a member banned or use the names of any member of the staff to achieve the same effect . The staff take a dim view of this and see it as an act of bullying regardless of whether it was in the heat of an argument or the result of someone breaking the rules, it only serves to cause arguments which can affect everyone else on the forum. If you have a problem report it to a member of the staff.
If you break one of these rules, the following penalties will apply (in order as written):
- Warning - Depending on how serious a violation is, you may be issued a warning first
- Muting - Muting for 2 days
- Temporary ban - People who cause more problems after being muted for 2 days will be banned for a week, and for a month for the next offense.
- Permanent ban - At this point, it is obvious that will never learn your lesson, thus, a permanent ban is necessary to be rid of the problems you cause.
The following are a set of amendments to clarify the rules for those people who wish to nitpick:
Amendment 1 - There are no excuses for breaking the rules. It doesn't matter if you were angry at the time and weren't thinking straight. It doesn't matter if you were only kidding around. If you break a rule, it does the same damage, regardless of your reasons for breaking it, and you will be punished all the same.
Amendment 2 - Staff abuse will not be tolerated. As a staff member, your job is to help the people, not harm them. You may only use your powers for the purposes that they have been given to you for. There is no limit on how much you may be punished for this severe offense as this must be stopped at all costs to protect the people. This means that if you abuse your powers, there is a good chance you will be permanently banned.
Amendment 3 - Harrassing the administration about punishments is not allowed. The admins and moderators are only trying to do their job, and many times they have to make difficult decisions. You may post your opinion in the topic that announces the punishment, so long as you do not flame anyone. If this topic gets out of hand, it will be closed, and you may not complain elsewhere on the board, or by other means including, but not limited to: private messages, instant messaging programs, email, telephone calls, and house visits. You also may not make threats against administrators (or other members for that matter...). Punishments for harrassment range from a 1 day mute for minor harrasments to a permanent ban if serious threats are involved.
Amendment 4 - If you break more than one rule, the punishments will stack up to a maximum of 2 months, or a permanent ban if necessary. If a sentencing length is 2 days or less, it is a mute, otherwise, it can either be a temporary or permanent ban.
However, no matter how harsh the rules may sound to you, they were establish for you and everyone else to enjoy their time in our little community. Remember, you can also have fun while respecting rules and other members.
