Read ALL rules before posting!
Breaking rules result in punishments. There are several types of punishments:
Warning - Moderators will determine whether you knew what you were doing was wrong or whether a warning is nessisary to explain it do you. If moderators do not give a warning, moderators will skip ahead to the next step in the penalty list.
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 forums.
The following rules list the most serious violations:
No Hacking - This should go without saying, but you are not permitted to hack the board. Guessing someone else's password and succeeding counts as hacking. Members who hack will instantly be permanently banned without any warnings.
No Discrimination - You may not insult members based on their religion, race, sex, political beliefs, or sexual orientation. This is worse than flaming, because it also hurts other members of the forums who fall into the catagory you insult. Oblivious Forums is a place where everyone is equal, and 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 Oblivious Forums. It also causes thread's to go off topic, and most importantly, it hurts the person being flamed. The victom may defend themselves against any accusations made to them, but may not make any additional accusations to the flamer (which also counts as flaming).
No Profanity or Obscene Content - Such content does not belong on Oblivious Forums. A censor system is in place as a backup. If you see words in your post being replaced with ****, you have done something wrong. Please edit your post and tone it down before your timer runs out. To edit a post, click the "Edit" button.
Cheating the censor system is against the rules.
If you break one of these rules, the following penalties will apply (first time, second time, third time...) with the exception of breaking the rule "No Hacking" which immediately results in a permanent ban:
Warning
- Depending on how serious a violation is, you may be issued a warning first.
Temporary ban
- Users who cause more problems after being warned will be banned for a month, and for 2 months for the next offense.
Permanent ban
- At this point, it is obvious that the user will never learn their lesson, thus, a permanent ban is necessary to be rid of the problems that the user cause.
The following rules are also important:
No Advertising - Users are not permitted to make money by using the forums. Users are not allowed to use the member list to obtain Instant Messenging screennames to harrass people to purchase a product from you.
No Illegal Activity - Users are not allowed to break the law using the forums.
No Double Posting or Spamming - Users may not post more than once in a row in the same thread. Posting lots of times in a row reduces the quality of the board, is a waste of the board's memory, and provides the culprit with ill earned post count points. Double posts will be merged into regular posts, and you will lose 10 postcount for each of the posts excluding the first one. Your post count can be changed to a negative number if necessary. The only exeption to this rule is if your edit timer (24 hours) for the post has run out, in which case you may double post if you have something important to add. Spamming is also not allowed, and is defined as a post that has no meaning.
No Topic Bumping - If a topic that the user created has no replies, users may not post again in it in attempt to bring up the users thread to the top. If a user made the thread because they need help with something, you may post again as long as you include additional information about your problem (the fact that you really really want it fixed does not count as additional information). You must post this in the same thread, and you are not allowed to create more than one thread per topic.
No Posting Personal Info - You may not post your last name, or your street address on Oblivious Forums. This is because this information then becomes accessible to anyone.
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 are only trying to do their job, and many times they have to make difficult decisions. You may post your opinion in the thread that announces the punishment, so long as you do not flame anyone. If this thread 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 5 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 neccessary. If a sentencing length is 10 days or less, it is a mute, otherwise, it can either be a temporary or permanent ban.
Posting Etiquette (manners)
#1 All topics must contain a full & meaningful description.
#2 Treat others positively and with respect. Flaming other members or other forums will lead to a warning, possibly even a ban.
#3 Topics must be submitted to the relevant forums. Please read the forum descriptions before posting.
#4 Topic titles must be descriptive. Example:A good example is "Help needed with game". A bad example is "HEEEEELP!".
#5 Bumping is allowed provided that the reply has relevant information that is useful to the continuance of the topic. Short intervals of bumps is not allowed to bump the topic up onto the first page by the same person.
Quote:
Example:
Allowed: A topic discusses a news event. The topic's discussion has died but there is new striking evidence to turn thoughts around. A reply with such information that is relevant and useful is allowed.
Allowed: Requests may only be bumped once every 48 hours since the last reply.
Disallowed: A one-liner reply with the words "lol".
Disallowed: Bumping topics continuously to get them up to the first few pages.
#6 Double posting of the same links may lead to a warning, especially if you have your own independent topic for a set of links and yet still post the same links in related topics with the intention of gaining exposure.
Also use the edit button when altering your reply if you're the last to post in the topic.
#7 Images must not contain hidden viruses or any other information. Doing so will result in a permanent ban.
#8 Content of posts should not be explicit, offensive, shocking, discussions of demerit commodities or pornographic unless it is posted in an educational sense. Content which is inhumane or unethical to be viewed by ages below 13 years old is not allowed.
Quote:
Example:
Mainly for movies: Mainstream horror, gore, bloody movies are allowed. Videos such as bum fights, real death scenes, cruelty to animals, or anything which is just indecent/sick is not allowed.
Disallowed: Hacking, fraud, drug related, porn, political/religious discussions even if educational.
#9 No topic hijacking (going off topic).
#10 Requesting mirrors is allowed in topics as long it is requested in a polite manner.
#11 Post count milestones may be posted at 500, afterwards only in increments of 1000 up to 5000 and then at 10K - 15K - 20K and so on.
#12 Removal of moderated messages is not allowed.
#13 Posting serial numbers or license keys in messages is not allowed.
Spam Rules
#1 If you choose to post a link, it should benefit everyone.
#2 All topics with a never-ending plot will be locked after 500 replies. We do not want to spoil the fun however if the topic is locked and another similar topic with the same plot is posted again, the newly created topic will also be locked.
#3 Excessive posting of similar messages to increase post count is not allowed.
#4 You may not have links advertising other websites within your signature.
** Post edited by shokix on 7/13/2009.