GUIDELINES
Flaming, Bashing, Snide Remarks and Trolling
Hate posts and personal attacks will not be tolerated on the Message Boards. Treat others on these message boards as you would expect them to treat you... or in other words, with respect. Talking trash about another user is a quick way to earn a banning, regardless of the reason for it, as is posting topics specifically to provoke a negative response from someone (aka trolling). Any personal threats will constitute a reason for banning.
Personal Information
You may not distribute private messages, instant message logs, e-mail, etc. unless both parties have provided consent. You may not post any form of real life information about another user unless they have specifically indicated that this is OK. While we encourage the use of real names in the forum, we do not require it, and respect the privacy of the users who do not wish to use a real name in a public forum.
However, if you wish to make controversial comments in a public forum, hiding behind anonymity is not really a preferred choice. Even if you use a nickname as your login, you will get more respect from your fellow posters if you sign off your message with your real name.
People who continually post inflamatory comments behind pseudonyms may be asked for more information regarding their identity.
Profanity
Keep offensive language to a minimum. While we might let you get away with anything you might hear on network television (no, NOT Sky) or radio, don't go overboard (that means no S word, no F word, no racial or sexual-orientation slurs, no slurs of any kind, etc.). A simple rule to follow is: "when in doubt, leave it out." You don't have to use excessive profanity to get your point across, and it's usually better to avoid it altogether. Also, please censor any images you display and chat logs or 3rd party text you may copy/paste. It is your responsibility to nullify any violations.
Please note, substituting letters for character symbols (changing s to $ for example) so that a swearword remains readable is considered bypassing the profanity filter and is not acceptable.
Spam
Purposely spamming a message board with senseless, vacuous, or empty messages is highly frowned upon!
This includes such things as party posts, chain letters, two-word "I agree" or "me too" responses, continually posting the same topic on a particular forum, and posting the same question across several forums.
Impersonating Other Users / Accessing Another User's Account
You may not impersonate another board member or create an account specifically for the purpose of provoking other users. Also, accessing or using someone else's account or attempting to access another poster's account for any reason is strictly prohibited and may result in locking out of accounts and/or IP ranges.
Off-Topic Posts
Okay, so you probably won't get banned for an off-topic post, but c'mon, try to post suitable subjects on each of the appropriate boards. It's probably not a great idea to ask "Is Dark Ages of Camelot out for Mac yet?" on the dbfibre.com Message Board "ATCI" forum, for example, when we have a dedicated Off Topic forum just screaming for questions like that. Off-topic posts will most likely be deleted, and further action may be taken against repeat offenders.
Posting Huge Images / Signature Pics
Out of respect for your 56k brethren, please let them know if your thread contains a number of large images. A simple **56kers Beware!** in the subject line will go a long way in helping those who are broadband-challenged know not to open a thread that might bring their web browsing to a crawl. Also if you must use signature pictures, please limit it to one 15k or less image since huge pictures slow down the boards, and if you are using one as a signature, make sure it is reasonable in size. The 'banner ad' convention of 400x60 pixels is more than reasonable in this regard.
Filters
There are two types of filter on the forums.
Profanity Filters, which are designed to help keep the forums inclusive, and avoid offending younger or more sensitive readers.
URL Filters, which are designed to actively remove certain URL's or domain names from posts. These filters may be changed or updated periodically as required.
Posting in such a manner as to bypass the filters is considered a breach of the guidelines, and may result in post deletions and/or account banning.
This includes, but is not limited to, the creative use of dots, spaces, other characters. If you see this as a gross violation of your right to free speech, you are welcome to post elsewhere.
Moderation
You may not re-edit a post that has already been edited by a moderator (a mod's decision is final). Bypassing a temporary forum access ban by any means (including passing messages through a third party) will result in a permanent ban.
You may not bait, insult, flame, or otherwise abuse a moderator; mods are here to make the boards a better place for everyone. If you have a problem with the moderation, please contact that mod or the webmaster of the site with your concerns (we take them seriously).
Questionable Content
Since we can't have a rule to cover everything, this is the rule to, well, cover everything. This is a public board, so act like you would if you were in a public place. These issues are left to the discretion of the individual moderators, but may include any material that is knowingly false and/or defamatory, misleading, inaccurate, abusive, vulgar, hateful, harassing, obscene, profane, sexually oriented, threatening, invasive of a person's privacy, that otherwise violates any law, or that encourages conduct constituting a criminal offense.
Another rule of thumb: If a moderator or admin tells you to cut something out... cut it out!
Another Note: This is nothing new. This is merely a statement that we'll be enforcing the long standing rules more stringently in the future, and it's a clarification to make people aware that we will be enforcing it.
That doesn't mean that we're going to be catching every ToS violation, though. When we do see one, we will address it, as always. If you see one that we haven't addressed in a timely manner, feel free to contact any Moderator from any forum and it will be taken care of.
