PREFACE: Your rights here can be terminated without justification at any time. Despite the ease of accessibility here, this is NOT a public forum, and the only "rights" you have here are those that have been granted to you by the owners of the site and their appointed representatives. That these representatives treat you or anyone else fairly is expected, but NOT guaranteed.Reposting the rules in the BR, since the forums have been rearranged. No changes at this time. (6/07)
1. No Spamming. The definition of spamming is to repeatedly post the same topic or post over and over. It also means if one of your topics is locked or deleted, and you restart it without the express permission of an admin, you will be in violation. Continually posting topics in the incorrect forum qualifies as well. The No Spamming rule applies to PM's as well. Evidence must be supplied by the person reporting PM spam, so please do not delete these before showing them to an admin.
2. No flaming outside the Boiler Room. Period. When flaming inside the Boiler Room, be aware that there are limitations to behavior that will be accepted. The limitations are not very hard to abide by, as common sense should tell you what to, and what not to say, and what is going to far into someones' personal life. Determination of what crosses this line will be considered on a case by case basis, and if staff decides it's over the line, you will be warned, then banned if it continues.
3. Even in the Boiler Room, please attempt to keep threads on topic when possible. The Boiler Room and Igloo are looser on this criteria, but every thread that is created is not a postwhore thread.
4. Staff decisions are final when it comes to bannings. Before a ban is initiated, particularly in a case of a controversial ban, a vote will be called for in the Staff forum and a vote will run for 24 hours. If after 24 hours, the majority vote is for a ban, that ban will stand for the set amount of time. The ban should not be discussed on the board as much as possible. We have a PM system, and most of the staff members have published their AIM ID's. Take any complaints regarding bans to PM or AIM. Questioning a ban and asking about the reasons is fine (preferrably via PM or in the feedback section), but lobbying for the return of the poster will not work, and will not even be considered until the term of the ban has expired. In the case of a spammer or a newer blatanly abusive poster, an immediate ban will be imposed at the decision of the staff online at that time (even if it is just the banning admin), the evidence cut and pasted in the staff forum, and the 24 hour vote will begin to decide if the ban stands and for how long.
5. No porn. Sigs/Avatars/graphics posted on the board that contain women must have the nipples and genital area (including hair) covered, and men must have have the genital area covered as well. In the case of a sig that is offensive, an admin reserves the right to edit it out of your profile, and PM you about it after the fact, if they deem it necessary. In line with this, please test links off the board before you post them, as some companies replace picture links with lewd or offensive pictures to prevent offsite linking. There is also to be no linking to porn sites, or pornographic images.
6. Also in regards to sigs/avatars/graphics that are posted on the board; pictures of human biological functions (feces, vomit, etc.) and severe gore and/or disfigurement are not allowed. If you have a question about posting a picture, see a staff member first, as they are chosen to make judgement calls in this area.
6a. Sigs and avs are subject to a 1 MB filesize limit. Some users are on dialup, and decent-sized images are not difficult to come by, or make, or have someone make for you. If you are found to have a large file in your sig or av, staff will first ask you to remove it, and if you do not, it will be removed for you.
7. Blatant attempts to crash the board, or ruin posts by using HTML either in the post itself, or in a signature is unacceptable. Mistakes will be made, but please refrain from using potentially harmful code in posts and signatures. If it appears to be intentional, your ISP will be contacted, and legal action could be taken.
8. Do not attach music files to your signature. This is self explanatory.
9. Alter Egos are seriously frowned upon in this forum. Persons will make no more than 1 alter ego at any time. If any suspicious names pop up an Admin will administer IP checks and the person making the alter egos will be notified and the alter egos will be deleted.
10. As with anything some rules may not be listed here because we consider them to be common sense. Offenses of something fitting into that category will be discussed by as many staff members as possible, and dealt with accordingly.
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