System Time: 13:05 22 May 2008 - 12 Players Online

Category: Official Pages

Forum Rules

By the authority of the Game Directors and Administrators, the following rules and guidelines for the BlogShares Forums are hearby enacted and in force. They are effective immediately as of 06/16/2006.

A. General Rules

• Posts are to be made in the relevant forum. Users are asked to read the forum descriptions before posting. Users consistently posting to the wrong forum may be given a warning (see policing below).

• Users should post in a way that is respectful of other users. Flaming or abusing users in any way will not be tolerated and will lead to a warning.

• Users are asked to not act as "back seat moderators". If users note an issue which contravenes something in this policy document they are asked to alert the moderation team through the "Report to Moderator" link on the post. Do not respond to such topics yourself. Users who consistently "act" as moderators may be warned.

• Users should remember this board is aimed at a general audience. Posting pornographic or generally offensive text, images, links, etc. will not be tolerated and will lead to a warning.

• Users should post in a way which is consistent with "normal writing." That is, users should not post excessive numbers of emoticons, large, small or colored text, etc. Similarly, users should not SHOUT or use excessive punctuation (e.g. ! and ?) in topic titles or posts. Users consistently abusing this will be warned.

• Users should use an appropriate, descriptive title when posting a new topic. Examples of bad titles include: "Help me!", "I'm stuck!", "I've got an error!", etc. Examples of good titles include: "Bonds not issuing properly", "Did not receive any shares after HTO", etc.

• Spam is not tolerated here under any circumstance. Users posting spam will have their post removed and may be permanently banned.

• Users may not publicly or privately disclose or list any vulnerabilities or bugs of the game or forum. You must notify an administrator immediately.

• Users found to be consistently blanking or deleting their posts will be warned.

• The moderators and administrators reserve the right to edit or remove any post at any time. The determination of what is construed as indecent, vulgar, spam, etc. as noted in these points is up to the moderators and administrators, who will try to be as fair and consistent as possible.

• The above forum rules where applicable also apply to private messaging. Abuse of the private messaging system may lead to warnings (as above) and/or the revocation of private messaging ability.

B. Signatures and Avatars

• Text in signatures should no larger than 10pt. The use of bold fonts in text should be undertaken sparingly. Text in signatures is subject to the same conditions as posts with respect to decency, warez, emoticons, and so forth.

• Images in signatures may be no larger than 100px high and 500px wide. Animated images are not allowed. When images are used, they may occupy only one line in the signature. Stacking images on top of each other is not allowed. Images in signatures are subject to the same conditions as posts with to respect decency, warez, emoticons, and so forth.

• You may not link to warez, porn, racist or other similar hate sites.

• Users are permitted to utilize a forum-provided avatar or to upload one of their own. User-uploaded avatars can be no larger than 75 pixels square, contain no animation, contain no image which attempts to portray the user as having an official status here, and should have a consistently high availability (i.e. links to images on slow servers or those prone to failure may be removed).

• Avatars are subject to the same conditions as posts with respect to decency, and so forth.

• Users abusing these rules will be warned and/or may lose their signature and/or avatar privileges.

C. Policing

• BlogShares Forums operate a three strike policy. Users will be warned a maximum of three times for any and all offenses in a three month period. If the need arises for a fourth warning, a temporary ban will be put in place of between 1 to 7 days as determined by an administrator.

• Arguing with moderators or administrators after having received a warning will lead to an immediate additional warning. Should this exceed three strikes, a temporary ban will be put in place as above.

• Users who feel they have been unfairly warned are welcome to contact an administrator. If they feel you were treated unfairly they can remove or reset your warnings. Their decision is final.

• Any attempt to circumvent a temporary ban will lead to that ban being made permanent. Circumvention includes re-registering under a non-banned username, changing IP addresses to evade an IP ban, or registering a new email account to evade an email ban.

• An exception to the three strike rule applies when users contact moderators or administrators personally (via any method) and post insulting, indecent, or vulgar material. Such users may be subject to an immediate permanent ban.

• Permanent bans are a last resort, and thought is given before implementing them. While BlogShares may consider lifting permanent bans from time to time, this is a rare occurence.

D. Other Guidelines

• Use your best judgement when writing a post. If you think it might be skirting the rules, please err on the side of caution.

• Before asking a question, please review the Help Pages and use the forum search feature before posting. Your question may have been answered before.

• Users in BlogShares are located across the globe and may not be in the same timezone as you are. Please be patient when waiting for someone else to respond. Give them at least 24 hours before attempting to contact them by other means or re-posting in the thread.

• Do not assume that a private message will be kept private. While etiquette may suggest that the receiver of a private message will keep the message confidential, there are no prohibitions on this forum against posting excerpts of messages, except with regards to the release of vulnerabilities and bugs.

• In rare cases it may be necessary for administrators to examine private messages while investigating rules violations. Please note that administrators will never view another user's private messages unless there is probable cause to believe a rule has been violated.

• User-to-user deals and transactions carried out in the forum are conducted at your own risk. Except in rare circumstances, administrators and/or the BSEC will not get involved.

• While a user retains the right to delete any thread started by him or her or any post made by him or her, please do so only when absolutely necessary as repeated deletions may lead to a warning. If a post or thread is deleted accidentally, please contact an administrator immediately as it is possible to restore them.

• Threads which have gone off-topic, have served their purpose, or have not been posted in for some time (as determined by a moderator or administrator) are subject to locking. If you believe a thread should be unlocked, please contact a moderator. If the moderator declines or does not respond, you may contact an administrator to make the request. If an administrator declines, the decision is final.

• These rules and guidelines are enforced by the moderators and administrators. The BSEC has no jurisdiction over the forum except where they act as board moderators over their specific boards (Report Violations, Deliberation, and Pronouncements).

• These rules and guidelines may be modified at any time; public notification, however, will be made.

(Rules adapted and modified from phpBB Board-wide Policies.)