Rules of the Forum

[Arin the Eloquent]

Hello, I'm your friendly neighborhood Arin the Eloquent, and I'm here starting up a new forum to get the word out about my new CCG. This Forum is the first step in realizing that, but first I thought I would go over some ground work about what I expect from all the members here.

RULE 1: THE STAFF HAVE FINAL SAY

The Moderators and Administrators of The Forum have been appointed to their said positions because of their demonstration in handling the problems that come to the forum. They are people with exceptional patience, confidence, and leadership. With that being said, whatever they say, you are expected to follow. If you are not a moderator yourself, you do not have a say on what the site moderation does - that is called "backseat moderation", and will be handled with extreme prejudice. If you feel you have been wronged by the Moderation Team, you can either use "Report" Function, or you can PM the Administrators to appeal. If the problem exists from a Local Moderator (Purple Text), you can appeal to a Global Moderator; if the problem exists from a Global Moderator (Green Text), you can appeal to an Administrator.

RULE 2: NO INAPPROPRIATE CONTENT

This one's simple. No pornography, no links to anything lewd, no excessive language (even though the system is filtered, still, don't do it), no derogatory/racist comments, and no excessive violence. Offenders will be banned.

RULE 3: NO ILLEGAL CONTENT

This is basically anything that breaks copyright infringement. You are also not allowed to post any links to any torrents, keycodes, hacks, logs (though blogs/vlogs are okay), or anything that would be considered illegal. Also, this constitutes the sharing of PMs, Messages, Private Comments, or Private Topics in the Forum. Those are kept confidential for a reason.

RULE 4: NO SPAMMING, FLAMING, OR TROLLING

A lot of you that surf the Internet probably know what these three are. Spamming is the act of repeatedly posting several one-word remarks, or continuously posting off-comment remarks in topics that have nothing to do with the discussion of the topic at hand.

Flaming is the act of intentionally harassing someone because of their personality or their choices made in the topic. This is also called "ad hominem", and is looked down upon. In the case that you are criticizing someone on this Forum, carry out your discussion in a civilized manner.

Another thing that is an important to stopping flaming is the "Jack Witt Clause", which basically states that you cannot criticize someone wrongly without providing proper critique as to how to make it better. Those who break the "Jack Witt Clause" will be warned.

Trolling is not allowed. At all. Don't do it. "Trolling" has many definitions and comes in many forms. Posting inflammatory, extraneous, or off-topic messages with the primary intent of provoking other users into a desired emotional response and disrupting normal, civil, on-topic discussion is just one definition of trolling. In short, it falls under both harassment and spamming.

RULE 5: NO ACCOUNT OR FEATURE ABUSE

Your time spend on here is a privilege. That is to say, spamming the Chatbox with useless or off-topic information, Profile Feeds, Avatars, Signatures, The Reputation System, the Points System, Multiple Accounts, and any and all access to the board/private forums is not allowed. Those who look for loopholes in the system with the Reputation System or the Points System will be harshly penalized, and repeat offenders will be banned. There is no "goal to get the highest Reps" on this Forum, nor is there a "goal to get the highest Points" on this Forum; the Reputation System is there to "like someone's post".

RULE 6: THE WARN SYSTEM

1. Coarse Language/Inappropriate Language: 1st Offense will result in a verbal warning. 2nd Offense will result in a three day ban. 3rd Offense will result in a perma-ban.
   
2. Harassment via PM: 1st Offense will result in a seven day ban. 2nd Offense will result in a perma-ban.
   
3. Harassment via Forum Board: 1st Offense will result in a three day ban. 2nd Offense will result in a perma-ban.
   
4. Repeated Spamming: 1st Offense will result in a three day ban. 2nd Offense will result in a perma-ban.
   
5. Trolling: 1st Offense will result in an immediate perma-ban.
   
6. Distribution of Illegal Content: 1st Offense will result in an immediate perma-ban.
   
7. Anything that doesn't fit in this list will be taken by the gravity of the situation, as well as how many times the offender has done the act. Though, usually, repeat offenders will be either banned temporarily or perma-banned.
   

We, of the Administration Team, expect you to uphold these rules.