Maturity
Everyone who comes to this board is expected to act mature and
levelheaded. Jokes and funny stuff are fine, so long as they
don't become insulting, off-topic or of an extremely sexual
nature.
"Mature" doesn't mean "Adult material," it means, "based on slow
and careful deliberation (a ~ judgement)" (Source: Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary, Tenth Edition, principal
copyright 1993).
Flaming
You are free to debate and discuss with the rest of the
community, but rude and immature insults shouldn't be posted. I
ask that everyone please mind their manners and people's
feelings.
If you have a problem with someone else on the forum, don't drag
it into the public. Resolve it quietly, as it is rude to bring
everyone into an argument when they might not even know what
you're talking about, much less care. Blaming them loudly across
the board won't solve the problem and it won't prove your point.
In fact, the only thing that will do is get you a warning (which
is explained at the bottom of this page).
If a topic becomes a flame war, then the offending post will be
deleted and/or the topic itself will be closed permanently.
There shouldn't be any flames/nasty remarks/etc. about race,
religion, or sexual preference. To be perfectly clear, I'd
prefer it if such topics never come up for the simple reason of
respect.
Do NOT target any person, group, website, etc. for bashing. Your
complaint against them will sound like whining and/or mud-slinging. Depending on how severe your post is, it will be
deleted immediately and you will be given a warning.
Although there is a forum for spamming, do not let it go to your
head. It is NOT a place to senselessly bash anyone or anything,
it is simply a place to post useless topics that don't have
anything to do with the board or to release any built-up
aggression in a small pointless rant WITHOUT mentioning names or
even hinting at anyone or anything in specific.
Swearing
Please don't. Swearing is crude, offensive and really makes you
look bad. The EZBoard sensors are on but they are stupid and
won't block everything, so I'm asking you to be your own swear
filter. If you're smart enough to use a computer, certainly
you're smart enough to not waste your time by swearing.
I can understand if you get mad, we're all human and can't avoid
that sometimes. But what I can't understand is one, why you
would use swear words when all they'll do is make you look dumb
and two, how you can possibly be so mad that you'll go through
all the effort just to type such words out. Think about it: in
real life, you're usually right there in front of the person,
talking, and then you get mad. Since humans talk faster than
they can think, swearing is a lot easier to do. But when you're
posting on a message board you have to think about what you're
writing, and so you don't have to write out the actual cuss word.
Bottom line on swearing: don't do it, it will be deleted and an
appropriate duplicate word will be used to replace it.
Spamming
There is a spamming forum for you to spam on this board, so if
you want to test signatures, personal icons or photos, or post
topics that have absolutely nothing to do with the board, then
please post them in the spamming forum. The other rules still
apply to what you post in the spamming forum, however, so do not
lose control and start flaming/insulting/acting like a jerk or
post inappropriate material, because it will not be tolerated.
Typing style
DO NOT TYPE IN ALL CAPITAL LETTERS. IT IS CONSIDERED YELLING AND IS EXTREMELY ANNOYING. Also Please Don't Type Like This. It Is Hard To Read And Confuses People.
Please, it isn't that hard to type normally. You may use
capitals, italics, bold, or underline to emphasize words, but
don't overdo or abuse that.
Redundant posting
Do not post the same thing multiple times. Or, don't post the
same thing over and over and over and over on purpose (in the
same post or in multiple posts). It's called flooding, and it'll
only fill up the board with junk that will be deleted.
Editing posts
It's all right to edit your posts to correct spelling, grammar
and minor discrepancies in your writing. However, if I edit your
post because you posted something that is against the other
guidelines here, then don't re-edit it, period. Editing a post
after I have edited it earns you a warning, and since you
probably already earned a warning from what was contained within
your post, you're only one warning away from getting a ban
(detailed at the bottom of this document under Warning system).
Patience in posting
Don't whine if no one answers a post or topic that you've made.
Maybe they haven't seen it or they just don't have anything to
say. As traffic grows, there may be more people willing to reply
to your topics.
Polls
For simplicity, polls have been turned off at this message board.
If you want to ask the opinions of people on a subject, you
should just ask them. That way you can get more answers and
insight when they write out their answer instead of voting for
one of the choices that you picked for the poll, and quite
frankly the poll is limited in usefulness.
Signatures
Please try to keep signatures small. Pictures, scrolling text
and animations are all right, as long as they stay small and
under 100k. No one really needs a signature any bigger than
that. This way, the board will have less load times and you can
access everything faster.
Personal icons/photos
Personal icons are the tiny little images that appear next to
your name. EZboard provides 10x10 images that are perfectly
fine, and any 10x10 image you may want to use is also fine (as
long as it isn't offensive or crude), but you should avoid
anything larger than that.
Personal photos are the pictures that appear below your name.
Try to keep these small, preferably no bigger than 130 pixels
wide and 250 pixels in height.
Content Rating
While there is a lot of flexibility to what you can post, keep
everything you post within a PG rating.
No adult-themed material of any kind will be tolerated on this
board. PERIOD.
Warning system
Sometimes, people step over the line and get into trouble. It's
understandable for people to make one mistake, in which case a
mod or admin will give a friendly warning. However, should
someone step over the line more than three times after a
mod/admin corrects them, then they will be banned. To "drop" an
offense, you should apologize for the problem as soon as possible
and then not earn any more warnings for a whole month.
HOWEVER, there are exceptions to this rule. Someone who
repeatedly breaks the rules without remorse or regard for others
will suffer an immediate ban, no ifs, ands or buts about it.
This also goes for people who deliberately hang on the edge of
the rules, barely avoiding getting a ban by dropping off warnings
but constantly attacking other people.
The first ban will be a temporary one of a fixed duration (most of the time it will be a month), but the second one will be permanent.
---------------------------------------------------
If you have read all of the rules and understand what we expect from you and everyone else, you may now participate on the forum.