Post by Skelly on May 26, 2005 16:31:34 GMT -5
Hello everyone, this is your administrator, doshindude. After you read this topic, you're all set to post. Read the following Terms of Service and Membership:
Not reading these rules does not make you exempt from them. It only makes you even more eligible for warnings.
***LAST MAJOR UPDATE: 6/24/06***
Here's the guidelines for the site for stuff that you shouldn't do. By registering, you are agreeing to abide by the set rules. Failure to follow said rules will result in warnings. The following is what is not allowed on the boards:
A1. OFFENSIVE POSTING
-racial insults of any kind
-sexual insults of any kind
-hate speech, threats
-anything else that would seem offensive
A2. CENSOR BYPASSING
-Not fully censoring words
-A censoring system is in place, but attempting to bypass that system as well is not allowed either and I will catch it.
-For example, if "gris" is a banned word:
Not allowed: g-r-i-s, gr*s, gr1s, 9|-1$, girs, gryeeeas, grizznizz
Allowed: ****, ****ed, ****ing, g'ed, g-word, and to an extent: g***
A3. TROLLING
-Inciting insults
-Asking completely useless questions
-posting false information as fact
-Bashing game systems with no reasoning at all
-posting for the sole purpose of annoying users
-Using words such as "suck," or shooting down others' opinions.
-According to U.S. Law, trolling is illegal. We reserve the right to ban any trolls.
A4. FLAMING (insulting others)
-Clear insults (you're an idiot, you moron)
-Direct insults (screw you, etc.)
-Insults to family, other people (your mom, your family)
-Comments like "go kill yourself" or related comments.
-any other kind of insult
A5. GUEST TROLLING
-Coming in as a guest, not registering and replying to topics as trolling or flaming.
-Advertising as a guest
A6. SPOILERS WITH NO WARNING
-Revealing critical plot details in games without warnings in the topic title or in the post will get that post deleted. Make sure if you're putting spoilers in a post that you mark *spoilers* and put a few lines below it, below's an example:
*spoilers*
Insert critical plot here.
A7. ILLEGAL ACTIVITIES
ROM providing, MP3, copyrighted material, etc., is not allowed here. I don't want to get myself (or anyone else) in trouble.
A8. OFF TOPIC POSTING
-Posting topics or messages that clearly don't belong on the specific board. If you have something you want to post that you think doesn't fit on any of the boards, post it in this board or in the lounge.
A9. HARASSMENT
-Continual harassing behavior directed towards a certain individual or group with the intent of an creating an intimidating, offensive, or hostile environment on the boards, with or without use of explicit or implicit threats is strictly prohibited.
A10. PORNOGRAPHIC IMAGES OR OFFENSIVE IMAGES
-These are NOT ALLOWED UNDER ANY CIRCUMSTANCES. discussion over. It is not only an issue and disturbing, but also it is illegal for people under 18 (21 in some states) to view pornography. This site is for all ages and is meant to be PG and below. Instant ban to anyone posting these.
A11. ADVERTISING[/color]
Advertising in other than your sig in posts or creating your own topic for it is not allowed. Advertising through private messages is also forbidden. You may post your site to be rated on the Get Opinions About Your Site board, but do not advertise it there.
A12. DISRUPTIVE POSTING
We're pretty lenient on this, but if there comes a time where it's annoying to users and is a large blank post, it will not be allowed. Also, threads that are only for boosting your post count or the post/thread count of a board will be locked. Also, extremely long display names are classified as disruptive posting, because they stretch the page and can be very annoying.
A13. UNDERAGE USERS
Thanks to COPPA, the Children's Online Privacy Protection Act of 1998, we cannot collect information (such as an e-mail address) from any user under the age of 13 without a parent's permission. The amount of paperwork and tracking required to prove the identity of the parents is substantial, and could increase costs so much as to cause the site to shut down. You'll find that most web sites in general, have the exact same restriction. Therefore, underaged users will not be allowed accounts on this forum, if a user is admitted underage (even if it's a joke), they will recieve an instant ban.
A14. DIAL UP USERS
This is a new concern. As you know, dial up users don't have access to the fastest internet in the world, in fact, quite far from it. Large images tend to take a very long time to load for them and can slow down their computers. All we're asking is that if you post something like a large image or something larger than 500KB in size, we PLEASE ask that you put a warning in the thread title saying: "Dial up users beware" or something of that sort. Excessive failure to do this will result in a warning.
A15. HOTLINKING
Hotlinking is against the law. It's when you take a URL to an image from another site that you didn't host. It takes bandwidth and slows down the site that is hosting the image. Users caught doing this will be warned.
A16. MONEY MAKING SCAMS, HOTEL DEALS, ETC.
Since there have been numerous problems with this, this rule is being implemented. If you are caught posting money making scams, hotel deals, paypal schemes, etc., you will be banned instantly, no questions asked.
If you follow these rules, you will be fine. Don't worry about others violating the rules. If it bothers you so much, report it to me through the Report to Staff system. Also, this is sort of a humerous way of teaching new users how to post: Posting and YOU
Violating the above rules repeatedly will result in:
(punishments below are in order of severity)
B1. WARNINGS
Warnings are given out for disorderly conduct on the boards. Usually they are given upon the user's first or second rule violation. The warning system is as follows:
Every member has a warning level on this forum. This level ranges from 0-100%
Once you have reached 100% you get a straight ban.
This allows for variable offenses. Things which previously would not have warranted a warning, will result in a small percentage increase. This will stop those who liked to walk the line, as they too will eventually get banned.
The only people who will be able to see a users warning level will be that member, and staff.
Depending on the severity of the violation, A public warning will be issued as a custom title.
In most cases this will be on the single offense, as currently. If not, it will indicate it was the result of multiple minor offenses.
At a second point (should it come to that) extra warning text will be added to make uses aware that the user is being punished for further offenses.
As a result of the ability to give an increase proportional to the severity of the crime, this will allow us to tighten up on rules also, as staff wont have the problem of needing to ban a user for accidentally bumping too early for example.
More information will be posted on the new rules as they are decided.
Rest assured that those who have done wrong, will have warnings, even if you cannot see that fact. Usually, the length of a warning depends on how bad the violation was.
B2. DISABLED ACCOUNT FOR X NUMBER OF DAYS
Usually if your account is disabled, it will be restored in a few days, depending on the violation. The most common duration is 3 days. This hasn't been used very often, usually we just use warnings and bans.
B3. BAN
Usually, you're banned if you are a repeat rule breaker and seemingly don't stop breaking the rules. You can get banned if you are misbehaving when you are suspened or warned, or you can be banned even if you are at a normal level, if you do something bad enough. Banned accounts are never restored and can't access any boards, and will be eventually deleted.
B4. IP BAN
This type of ban is where we ban your IP address (that's the area where your computer is), and you can never re-register from that IP again. We have the ability to see all users' IP addresses.
C1. The Moderators:
stevo107
Arcum
Rekkin
log'a'log
Phantom
C2. Deleted accounts/purged accounts:
Usually, accounts are deleted, if they're banned or if you aren't active enough. If you register and never post, you'll be deleted and you'll have to re-register.
C3. Inactive Users and purges:
Inactive users are members under the level 0 (provisional) level for more than 3 months. After such time, I do a clean out and will delete these members. If you want to keep your account, you must stay active or else it will be deleted and you must reregister.
Recent purges:
12/1/06
8/27/06
6/16/06
5/2/06
3/28/06
1/21/06
C4. The hidden boards:
Life, Universe and Everything-A private board for those who signed up back in fall of 2005, if you didn't sign up, you can't access the board.
Admin/Moderator discussion-A board for discussion between staff members only.
C5. User Levels:
When you get to a certain number of posts, your ranking goes up. Here's the rankings:
Provisional: 0 posts
New Player-1 post
Typical Gamer-50 posts
Veteran Gamer-100 posts
Long Timer-250 posts--Are you a long timer? Click here!
Elite Gamer-500 posts
Icon of Gamers-750 posts
Idol of Gamers-1000 posts
Bronze Gamer-1250 posts
Silver Gamer-1500 posts
Gold Gamer-1750 posts
Platnium h4x00rz Gamer-2000 posts
Ancient-2250 posts
Ub3r1337 h4x00r who posts too much-2500 posts
Member of mass postruction-3000 posts
Winner-3500 posts
Master-4000 posts
C6. How to Change Skins, avatars, etc:
To change skins or avatars, Go to Profile at the Top of the page, click modify profile, and you can tweak these options there. There is a dropdown box that has the selection of skins to choose from. There is a dropdown box where you can choose your avatar or you can put in your own custom avatar by putting the URL of the avatar in the custom avatar URL text box.
C7. The 15 Second Rule:
As a rule on this forum, no user can post more than 2 posts in under 15 seconds. If you do, a warning will come up asking you to wait 15 seconds (besides, the world won't end if you don't post before 15 seconds are up)
C8. The Report to Staff Function:
If you find a post that you think is a rule violation, there is a button in the bottom right corner of every post called "report this post to staff," which reports the post to me, Arcum, Rekkin and stevo107. We will get a PM with the reported message and we will take action on it. only report it once, if you report it more than once, it'll flood our PM inboxes and you will get a warning. Do not abuse this feature.
C9. The Money System:
You get $10 per post. You can buy stuff on the Shop board. And you can buy stuff in specially designed Role Plays in the role playing board. Money isn't visible in Internet Explorer.
C10. Update nights:
On saturday nights, I'll log in and apply any major changes that need to be done or big news updates/stuff that needs to be worked on. Of course, you'll see small updates on other days as well, but I usually update poll of the week on saturday nights, so that's when I'll also take the time to update other stuff if it needs to be updated. Note that I am not perfect and may not be able to update at times.
C11. English Only:
This forum, along with the rest of ProBoards, is english speaking only, so only that will be allowed on the boards.
C12. New Users:
New users caught spamming will recieve more stiff punishments than users who have been here for a while due to the fact that we have had recent problems with this.
Further help:
Forum Support
Forum Announcements
Test Posts
Forum Suggestions
Q: How do i become a moderator?
A: You can't. Unless handpicked by the admin. Chances are that you won't be asked, unless you are an active contributor to the site and help out the forum, and if we need the staff, but moderators aren't in high demand at this point and the demand probably won't go up. Do not ask to be a moderator, that will solidify your chances to not become one.
Q: Why was my account deleted?
A: Usually, accounts are deleted if they're banned or if you aren't active enough. If you register and never post, you'll be deleted and you'll have to reregister.
Q: How did the Gamer's Forum get started?
A: Well, great credit goes to Black Dragon Scrolls to give me a rough idea on how to shape the site. Friends from school told me about Proboards, so i got a message board from proboards and started making the forum. I over time added more skins and stuff and took ideas from BDS and now BDS and the Gamer's Forum work back to back, sharing moderators and such. Things have been going pretty well so far, and things will keep getting better in the future. I also made this site to challenge my HTML skills, as experience, for I plan to go into the field of computers when I go to college. (plus, this also helps my essay writing skills!!!)
Q: I can't access a board, I recieve an error message.
A: You are trying to access a staff only board.
Q: I have a private question for a member
A: Don't ask it here, PM the member.
Q: I found a Ground Rules Violation!!!
A: Don't make a thread about it, click the button called "report this post to staff" under the post you believe is violating a rule.
Q: How old is the forum?
A: The forum was created on May 21st, 2005 at 2:53pm EST.
Q: What the Fudge Ripple is that crazy random pointless board?
A: A spam board for random stuff. Want to let something random and stupid out? feel free to go nuts there, just don't advertise.
Update log:
9/2/06: hotmail users notice
8/18/06: new users rule
8/11/06: english only rule, money making scams rule
7/26/06: removed karma ranks
7/20/06: added note under disabled accounts, updated warning description, transferred site FAQ to Ground Rules
6/24/06: added rule A15
6/19/06: added dial up users rule A14
6/14/06: purge update
6/12/06: added another disruptive posting rule
5/31/06: added numbers to each rule
5/2/06-Removed hidden board paragraph, added new purge
3/29/06-Added hidden boards list
3/28/06-Update night description changed, added a recent purges list
3/19/06-updated disruptive posting rule
3/11/06-Added code bibliography
2/20/06-Updated Ranking level 16
2/3/06-grammar change in opening paragraph, added a moderator list, added underage user restriction
1/20/06-Minor spelling/grammar, deleted users paragraph, minor updates to rules.
Not reading these rules does not make you exempt from them. It only makes you even more eligible for warnings.
***LAST MAJOR UPDATE: 6/24/06***
.......:::::::SECTION A, POST VIOLATIONS:::::::.......
Here's the guidelines for the site for stuff that you shouldn't do. By registering, you are agreeing to abide by the set rules. Failure to follow said rules will result in warnings. The following is what is not allowed on the boards:
A1. OFFENSIVE POSTING
-racial insults of any kind
-sexual insults of any kind
-hate speech, threats
-anything else that would seem offensive
A2. CENSOR BYPASSING
-Not fully censoring words
-A censoring system is in place, but attempting to bypass that system as well is not allowed either and I will catch it.
-For example, if "gris" is a banned word:
Not allowed: g-r-i-s, gr*s, gr1s, 9|-1$, girs, gryeeeas, grizznizz
Allowed: ****, ****ed, ****ing, g'ed, g-word, and to an extent: g***
A3. TROLLING
-Inciting insults
-Asking completely useless questions
-posting false information as fact
-Bashing game systems with no reasoning at all
-posting for the sole purpose of annoying users
-Using words such as "suck," or shooting down others' opinions.
-According to U.S. Law, trolling is illegal. We reserve the right to ban any trolls.
A4. FLAMING (insulting others)
-Clear insults (you're an idiot, you moron)
-Direct insults (screw you, etc.)
-Insults to family, other people (your mom, your family)
-Comments like "go kill yourself" or related comments.
-any other kind of insult
A5. GUEST TROLLING
-Coming in as a guest, not registering and replying to topics as trolling or flaming.
-Advertising as a guest
A6. SPOILERS WITH NO WARNING
-Revealing critical plot details in games without warnings in the topic title or in the post will get that post deleted. Make sure if you're putting spoilers in a post that you mark *spoilers* and put a few lines below it, below's an example:
*spoilers*
Insert critical plot here.
A7. ILLEGAL ACTIVITIES
ROM providing, MP3, copyrighted material, etc., is not allowed here. I don't want to get myself (or anyone else) in trouble.
A8. OFF TOPIC POSTING
-Posting topics or messages that clearly don't belong on the specific board. If you have something you want to post that you think doesn't fit on any of the boards, post it in this board or in the lounge.
A9. HARASSMENT
-Continual harassing behavior directed towards a certain individual or group with the intent of an creating an intimidating, offensive, or hostile environment on the boards, with or without use of explicit or implicit threats is strictly prohibited.
A10. PORNOGRAPHIC IMAGES OR OFFENSIVE IMAGES
-These are NOT ALLOWED UNDER ANY CIRCUMSTANCES. discussion over. It is not only an issue and disturbing, but also it is illegal for people under 18 (21 in some states) to view pornography. This site is for all ages and is meant to be PG and below. Instant ban to anyone posting these.
A11. ADVERTISING[/color]
Advertising in other than your sig in posts or creating your own topic for it is not allowed. Advertising through private messages is also forbidden. You may post your site to be rated on the Get Opinions About Your Site board, but do not advertise it there.
A12. DISRUPTIVE POSTING
We're pretty lenient on this, but if there comes a time where it's annoying to users and is a large blank post, it will not be allowed. Also, threads that are only for boosting your post count or the post/thread count of a board will be locked. Also, extremely long display names are classified as disruptive posting, because they stretch the page and can be very annoying.
A13. UNDERAGE USERS
Thanks to COPPA, the Children's Online Privacy Protection Act of 1998, we cannot collect information (such as an e-mail address) from any user under the age of 13 without a parent's permission. The amount of paperwork and tracking required to prove the identity of the parents is substantial, and could increase costs so much as to cause the site to shut down. You'll find that most web sites in general, have the exact same restriction. Therefore, underaged users will not be allowed accounts on this forum, if a user is admitted underage (even if it's a joke), they will recieve an instant ban.
A14. DIAL UP USERS
This is a new concern. As you know, dial up users don't have access to the fastest internet in the world, in fact, quite far from it. Large images tend to take a very long time to load for them and can slow down their computers. All we're asking is that if you post something like a large image or something larger than 500KB in size, we PLEASE ask that you put a warning in the thread title saying: "Dial up users beware" or something of that sort. Excessive failure to do this will result in a warning.
A15. HOTLINKING
Hotlinking is against the law. It's when you take a URL to an image from another site that you didn't host. It takes bandwidth and slows down the site that is hosting the image. Users caught doing this will be warned.
A16. MONEY MAKING SCAMS, HOTEL DEALS, ETC.
Since there have been numerous problems with this, this rule is being implemented. If you are caught posting money making scams, hotel deals, paypal schemes, etc., you will be banned instantly, no questions asked.
If you follow these rules, you will be fine. Don't worry about others violating the rules. If it bothers you so much, report it to me through the Report to Staff system. Also, this is sort of a humerous way of teaching new users how to post: Posting and YOU
.......:::::::SECTION B, PUNISHMENTS:::::::.......
Violating the above rules repeatedly will result in:
(punishments below are in order of severity)
B1. WARNINGS
Warnings are given out for disorderly conduct on the boards. Usually they are given upon the user's first or second rule violation. The warning system is as follows:
Every member has a warning level on this forum. This level ranges from 0-100%
Once you have reached 100% you get a straight ban.
This allows for variable offenses. Things which previously would not have warranted a warning, will result in a small percentage increase. This will stop those who liked to walk the line, as they too will eventually get banned.
The only people who will be able to see a users warning level will be that member, and staff.
Depending on the severity of the violation, A public warning will be issued as a custom title.
In most cases this will be on the single offense, as currently. If not, it will indicate it was the result of multiple minor offenses.
At a second point (should it come to that) extra warning text will be added to make uses aware that the user is being punished for further offenses.
As a result of the ability to give an increase proportional to the severity of the crime, this will allow us to tighten up on rules also, as staff wont have the problem of needing to ban a user for accidentally bumping too early for example.
More information will be posted on the new rules as they are decided.
Rest assured that those who have done wrong, will have warnings, even if you cannot see that fact. Usually, the length of a warning depends on how bad the violation was.
B2. DISABLED ACCOUNT FOR X NUMBER OF DAYS
Usually if your account is disabled, it will be restored in a few days, depending on the violation. The most common duration is 3 days. This hasn't been used very often, usually we just use warnings and bans.
B3. BAN
Usually, you're banned if you are a repeat rule breaker and seemingly don't stop breaking the rules. You can get banned if you are misbehaving when you are suspened or warned, or you can be banned even if you are at a normal level, if you do something bad enough. Banned accounts are never restored and can't access any boards, and will be eventually deleted.
B4. IP BAN
This type of ban is where we ban your IP address (that's the area where your computer is), and you can never re-register from that IP again. We have the ability to see all users' IP addresses.
.......:::::::SECTION C, MISC. NOTES:::::::.......
C1. The Moderators:
stevo107
Arcum
Rekkin
log'a'log
Phantom
C2. Deleted accounts/purged accounts:
Usually, accounts are deleted, if they're banned or if you aren't active enough. If you register and never post, you'll be deleted and you'll have to re-register.
C3. Inactive Users and purges:
Inactive users are members under the level 0 (provisional) level for more than 3 months. After such time, I do a clean out and will delete these members. If you want to keep your account, you must stay active or else it will be deleted and you must reregister.
Recent purges:
12/1/06
8/27/06
6/16/06
5/2/06
3/28/06
1/21/06
C4. The hidden boards:
Life, Universe and Everything-A private board for those who signed up back in fall of 2005, if you didn't sign up, you can't access the board.
Admin/Moderator discussion-A board for discussion between staff members only.
C5. User Levels:
When you get to a certain number of posts, your ranking goes up. Here's the rankings:
Provisional: 0 posts
New Player-1 post
Typical Gamer-50 posts
Veteran Gamer-100 posts
Long Timer-250 posts--Are you a long timer? Click here!
Elite Gamer-500 posts
Icon of Gamers-750 posts
Idol of Gamers-1000 posts
Bronze Gamer-1250 posts
Silver Gamer-1500 posts
Gold Gamer-1750 posts
Platnium h4x00rz Gamer-2000 posts
Ancient-2250 posts
Ub3r1337 h4x00r who posts too much-2500 posts
Member of mass postruction-3000 posts
Winner-3500 posts
Master-4000 posts
C6. How to Change Skins, avatars, etc:
To change skins or avatars, Go to Profile at the Top of the page, click modify profile, and you can tweak these options there. There is a dropdown box that has the selection of skins to choose from. There is a dropdown box where you can choose your avatar or you can put in your own custom avatar by putting the URL of the avatar in the custom avatar URL text box.
C7. The 15 Second Rule:
As a rule on this forum, no user can post more than 2 posts in under 15 seconds. If you do, a warning will come up asking you to wait 15 seconds (besides, the world won't end if you don't post before 15 seconds are up)
C8. The Report to Staff Function:
If you find a post that you think is a rule violation, there is a button in the bottom right corner of every post called "report this post to staff," which reports the post to me, Arcum, Rekkin and stevo107. We will get a PM with the reported message and we will take action on it. only report it once, if you report it more than once, it'll flood our PM inboxes and you will get a warning. Do not abuse this feature.
C9. The Money System:
You get $10 per post. You can buy stuff on the Shop board. And you can buy stuff in specially designed Role Plays in the role playing board. Money isn't visible in Internet Explorer.
C10. Update nights:
On saturday nights, I'll log in and apply any major changes that need to be done or big news updates/stuff that needs to be worked on. Of course, you'll see small updates on other days as well, but I usually update poll of the week on saturday nights, so that's when I'll also take the time to update other stuff if it needs to be updated. Note that I am not perfect and may not be able to update at times.
C11. English Only:
This forum, along with the rest of ProBoards, is english speaking only, so only that will be allowed on the boards.
C12. New Users:
New users caught spamming will recieve more stiff punishments than users who have been here for a while due to the fact that we have had recent problems with this.
Further help:
Forum Support
Forum Announcements
Test Posts
Forum Suggestions
.......:::::::SECTION D, SITE FAQ:::::::.......
Q: How do i become a moderator?
A: You can't. Unless handpicked by the admin. Chances are that you won't be asked, unless you are an active contributor to the site and help out the forum, and if we need the staff, but moderators aren't in high demand at this point and the demand probably won't go up. Do not ask to be a moderator, that will solidify your chances to not become one.
Q: Why was my account deleted?
A: Usually, accounts are deleted if they're banned or if you aren't active enough. If you register and never post, you'll be deleted and you'll have to reregister.
Q: How did the Gamer's Forum get started?
A: Well, great credit goes to Black Dragon Scrolls to give me a rough idea on how to shape the site. Friends from school told me about Proboards, so i got a message board from proboards and started making the forum. I over time added more skins and stuff and took ideas from BDS and now BDS and the Gamer's Forum work back to back, sharing moderators and such. Things have been going pretty well so far, and things will keep getting better in the future. I also made this site to challenge my HTML skills, as experience, for I plan to go into the field of computers when I go to college. (plus, this also helps my essay writing skills!!!)
Q: I can't access a board, I recieve an error message.
A: You are trying to access a staff only board.
Q: I have a private question for a member
A: Don't ask it here, PM the member.
Q: I found a Ground Rules Violation!!!
A: Don't make a thread about it, click the button called "report this post to staff" under the post you believe is violating a rule.
Q: How old is the forum?
A: The forum was created on May 21st, 2005 at 2:53pm EST.
Q: What the Fudge Ripple is that crazy random pointless board?
A: A spam board for random stuff. Want to let something random and stupid out? feel free to go nuts there, just don't advertise.
Update log:
9/2/06: hotmail users notice
8/18/06: new users rule
8/11/06: english only rule, money making scams rule
7/26/06: removed karma ranks
7/20/06: added note under disabled accounts, updated warning description, transferred site FAQ to Ground Rules
6/24/06: added rule A15
6/19/06: added dial up users rule A14
6/14/06: purge update
6/12/06: added another disruptive posting rule
5/31/06: added numbers to each rule
5/2/06-Removed hidden board paragraph, added new purge
3/29/06-Added hidden boards list
3/28/06-Update night description changed, added a recent purges list
3/19/06-updated disruptive posting rule
3/11/06-Added code bibliography
2/20/06-Updated Ranking level 16
2/3/06-grammar change in opening paragraph, added a moderator list, added underage user restriction
1/20/06-Minor spelling/grammar, deleted users paragraph, minor updates to rules.