Rules and Guidelines

Administrator’s and moderators’ responsibility

1. The administrators’ most important responsibility is monitoring the health of the forum. If the administrators feel that someone or something is having a negative effect on the forum, they will address the issue and will rectify it. They will employ the use of the moderators and will also ask the forum members for assistance and cooperation.

2. The moderators’ responsibilities include but are not limited to executing instructions handed out by administrators (after discussions), assisting forum members with problems or requests and see to it that everyone receives proper treatment.

Rules and Guidelines

1. Profanity: You are allowed to express yourself using profanities and swear words. However, the moderators will be forced to step in and take action if
(a) The members are engaging in excessive swearing/profanities that serve little to no purpose (the measure of this is left to the member's and moderator's discretion)
(b) are targeted towards other members of the forum. A personal attack of any kind does not require the use of profanities and insults. Saying ‘You’re an asshole” does not advance any argument and serves to only spite another forum user.

2. Obscenity: Explicit nudity will not be allowed on the forum. Implicit nudity is fine. Explicitly violent images will also not be allowed on the forums. The explicit nature of any image posted up will be determined by the moderators. In regards to avatars and signatures though, the above rules do not apply. While a sexual or violent image residing somewhere in a thread is viewed only a few times, an avatar/signature is viewed every time a member posts. Moderators may ask users to take down avatars if it seems inappropriate for viewing in a public environment.

3. Duplication of threads: Duplicating a thread already in existance will be discouraged, and in most cases, will be locked with a message pointing to the relevant thread to post in.

4. Duplicate Accounts: 1 user will be entitled to no more than one account at any given time. Banned users must make a request to the administrators for posting previledges. Banning of posters on this site will occur in the most extreme cases so if you were banned, there is very good reason why the community does not want you back on the forums. There are certain cases when a double account is created by mistake. Moderators and administrators will let this pass so long as only 1 account is used and the member had a legitimate reason for making that mistake.

5. Crediting stories and copyright material: Avoid posting entire articles as they may be copyrighted material. Falsifying stories or quotes will result in indesirable consequences. This site will not tolerate any kind of Plagiarism whatsoever. If you haven't written something, credit it. Or do not post it.

6. Language:. Members will be requested to be civil towards each other and not engage in any kind of racial slurs whatsoever. The moderators realize that there are occasions where certain undesirable words may be used in a discussion topic. The moderators will reserve the right to judge if it will pass for an offense or not. In addition to that, members are requested to be respectful towards one another. If constant attempts by a member to spite others for the sake of fun are noticed by the administrators or moderators, the member’s actions will be addressed. As mentioned above, the administrator’s main responsibility is the health of the forums. If a member is purposely trying to ‘piss’ others off, it effects the health of the forum!

7. Warning/Bannings: Anyone not following the rules/guidelines or not conforming to moderator requests on the boards will be warned. If a member is still not conforming after a reasonable number of warnings (subject to moderator’s discretion), a temporary ban will be placed. We discourage permanently banning people here but will do so in extreme cases. At this point, if members on this forum feel the banning was unjust, an open forum may result allowing for both point of views to be voiced.

8. Posting style and behavior: We do not dictate how a person should and should not post a message or where they should post a message. But sometimes, a member’s actions pose a threat to the health of the forums. A word of advice is to be tactful and respectful about how you post. We are all from different places here and have a different way of conversing. We find different things offensive. Joke around with who you know will take a joke. Also learn to take a joke from others. But if member is purposely found bothering a poster again and again just because you feel they think they have the right to say what they feel like, it will not fly well with the moderators and administrators here. Action will be taken against that member.

9. Personal Attacks: Flame wars are a part of forums. The moderators and administrators will keep a check on any disagreements taking place between certain members here. The moderators will encourage ways to sort out the problems. As long as the discussion pertains to the subject at hand, the discussion is fine. If a moderator notices that a purely healthy discussion is turning into attacks on a person’s character or issues that are in no way relevant to the topic at hand, the moderators will step in and warn users from engaging in this type of behavior. Bottom line: Do not attack a person’s character, looks, and/or social life if it has no connection at all to the topic at hand.

10. Exceptional cases: Sometimes, members develop problems with each other, turning into long term grudges. If moderators and administrators notice these grudges effecting the otherwise healthy discussions in threads, they will step in and take action. We will not tolerate attacks between these members for no relevant reason. If you do not like one member here, do not purposely start a fight with them. If you have a legitimate reason to answer their post especially with some negativity, keep it related to the topic and make it so it is not confrontational. If you’re attacked for no reason whatsoever by a member you have issues with, contact a moderator or an administrator, not reply back and start a fight and destroy a completely nice thread.

11. Member input: Please advice the moderators and administrators of the site of your concerns. This may be regarding the behavior of another member, problems with the site or anything that may concern the forum directly.

12. Moderation: It will be the administrator's and the moderator's job to moderate this forum. While the rules and guidelines will not be extremely rigid on the forums, the moderators will step in if this leniency is abused.

Note on Moderation: Moderation extends beyond just the rules and guidelines. Moderators will reserve the right of informing posters to change the way they format text if it harms the user experience for members on this site or informing and requesting changes to any other matter they feel may be relevant. Upon an administrator’s request, a moderator may also ask a poster to change their posting style if the administrators deem that it is harmful to the forum.

[color=red]13. Moderator and Administrator accountability:[/color] The site allows the administrators and moderators to exercise a certain amount of power. Having said that, members are encouraged to bring into question a moderator's or an administrator's actions. In such a situation, the administrators and moderators are REQUIRED to provide a good explanation and if this is not to the liking of the members of the forum, an open discussion will take place to see how a compromise between the 2 parties may be reached for that instance and for future reference.

Furthermore, all threads locked or moved will be accompanied by a reason from the moderator closing the thread. If this is again, not to the liking of the forum members, the moderator's actions will be called into question.


Added: Forum (mis)conduct.

If you are suspicious someone is just being a blatant obnoxious spammer, or if someone has exssesive use of language that makes you uncomfortable...OR if the content of a message is particularly upsetting to you:

1. Do not respond directly to it in the thread. This is what leeps threads at the top of the forum instead of sinking to the bottom. If it is a thread you do not like, just do not comment in it. If it is a post in an interesting thread, do not respond to it, respond to the posts pre and/or anticeding it as though the comment was not there.

2. Notify a MOD about the comment, and we will investigate. We may decide your complaints are frivolous and do nothing, but we may also find them valid and take action through warnings and/or in extreme cases banning.

Any questions or comments, please let us know.