New Rules and Warning System

[Jyosua]

It has come to our attention, that our current system of guidelines and warnings, has proven ineffective. We originally had chosen a very lax set of guidelines, and no distinct warning system, because the board atmosphere was to be very casual. This worked well for a while, until we grew. We then tried to refine our system a little bit, to retain the lax atmosphere, but keep everything in order. Unfortunately, due to the memberbase size, this proved nearly impossible. As such, we have decided to refine our guidelines into a well defined set of rules, that is mandatory to read. At the bottom, is the new set of warning guidelines. You'll notice that the warning guidelines are rather vague. This is intentional. They are guidelines for us to follow, however, we kept them nonrestrictive, so that we may do things on a case by case basis. This is especially important to those of you with exceedingly high warn levels already.

It is my earnest wish that these adjustments to our forum policies will improve the forum quality as a whole. However, this means we must restrict the sillyness to the FftF. Screwing around outside of that forum, and in some cases the introductions forum, which not be taken kindly. Also, expect us to crack down on spam.

Finally, before you post a response to this thread, pay close attention to forum attitudes rule number 2. If you have any suggestions or thoughts as to why things should be different, you MUST use PMs to get this across. Making this thread a debate will NOT be tolerated under any circumstances.

Note: warning refers to a physical warn unless otherwise noted.

Rules

General

1. If you see somebody or something violating the rules please report it. If no action appears to be have been taken, it is possible that the moderation team judged that no rule-breaking occurred or they contacted the offender privately. If you are unsure if the situation has been dealt with or not, feel free to PM an administrator or moderator. However, please do not report something multiple times, or spam reports from many different threads: This will be punished with a warning.

2. Do not minimod. Telling people to calm down, or to stop doing something is our job. If you suspect a situation could get worse, please report or inform a member of staff.

3. Multiple accounts for the same person are not allowed, no matter what the reason.

4. No unreasonable impersonation of others.

5. Regardless of title or privilege, do not reverse an administrative action.

Post Quality

1. Use proper grammar, spelling, capitalization, and punctuation when posting. The only exception is if English is not your first language, in which case this rule will be more lenient. This rule will be enforced within reason, of course.

2. Do not make one-line posts, unless it adds something new or interesting to a discussion. Likewise, do not just quote another member and simply write "I agree", "quoted for truth", "no", etc. In these cases, make sure to at least explain why you agree or disagree.

3. In the Creative board, posts are required to expound on the reasons for why something is good, or not good in your opinion. In other words, if you want to say someone did a good job, you must tell them the specific reasons why.

4. Unless the topic explicitly specifies it will contain spoilers, mark any and all spoilers using spoiler tags. Spoiler tags are located in the "Insert Special Item" menu. This applies to all games, movies, books, etc.

5. Do not derail threads, i.e go off-topic for more than 3-4 posts. An example of going off-topic is discussing why Volke is better than Sothe (two FE9 characters) in a topic about Thieves in Fire Emblem DS. While another may be discussing why Fire Emblem DS's Wi-Fi battles are bad, when the topic was about making a Wi-Fi battle team. In these cases, it is probably wise to make a new topic.

6. If a topic has not been posted in for 1 month, any non-contributing posts made in that topic will be considered necroposting, which is forbidden. Instead, if necessary, simply make another topic. This rule does not apply to art topics, hacking projects, and other threads of similar nature that need to be updated.

7. No image macros are to posted outside of the Introductions and Far from the Forest forums.

8. Absolutely no plagiarism allowed. Expect a suspension if you violate this rule.

9. No double posting. If somebody hasn't posted after your post and you need to add something, simply edit your existing post. This only applies if it wasn't because of lag. Double-posting is, however, allowed when adding to project threads (but try to edit instead if possible).

Forum Attitudes

1. Show respect towards ALL members, no matter who they are.

2. Do not publicly question us on policies. We will listen to a well reasoned opinion on why policies should be different, but this needs to be done through PM.

3. Do not flame people, or bait them into flaming you.

4. Prejudicial comments will not be tolerated under any circumstances.

5. Don't be a troll. Nobody likes them. Neither do we.

6. Don't take everything too seriously; the Internet is not serious business. That said, use common sense to avoid making jokes which are clearly out of place.

Forbidden Content

1. No requesting, sharing of or linking to illegal wares (such as ROMs, or certain mp3s). This includes requesting via PM or comments. If you are unsure of whether an piece of content is illegal or not, PM an administrator or moderator.

2. No inappropriate content such nude images, pornography, gore, etc.; try to be PG-13.

3. Cursing is allowed. However, please take care not to curse in topic titles and not use a curse word in every other sentence, or otherwise abuse the privilege.

Signature Guidelines

1. Your whole signature (including text/image etc) must be no higher than 400 pixels.

2. Signature images can be no longer than 550 pixels, total. The maximum height is 300 pixels. The maximum size is 300 Kb per image.

Advertising

1. Posting advertising threads is not allowed, unless permission is given by a staff member.

2. Advertising links in signatures are allowed.

Warning System

• An infraction of the rules warrants a warning. They will be given at the discretion of the moderators.
  
• Being warned more than once in a day warrants a short suspension.
  
• Being warned more than once within a span of 1-2 weeks warrants a suspension.
  
• Being suspended multiple times is grounds for consideration to be banned. Especially if your total suspensions add up to more than 2 weeks.
  
• An infraction of the rules, if severe enough, can warrant a suspension in it's own right, or even a ban.
  

[uguu]

I noticed that in the signature area it no longer says only one signature image.

Is this the case or did you forget to add something?

[Jyosua]

No. We're allowing more than one image, but they must be within the total number of pixels we said, combined.

[Nightmare]

Well that's a relief. These new rules and stuff certainly sound better. Now show us your hidden might and enforce them!

*Goes to fill his sig with images*

[Mufasa]

6. If a topic has not been posted in for 1 month, any non-contributing posts made in that topic will be considered necroposting, which is forbidden. Instead, if necessary, simply make another topic. This rule does not apply to art topics, hacking projects, and other threads of similar nature that need to be updated.

I have a question about this rule. I understand that if someone is necro posting simply to say "Lol Bump", it's a no no. But when newer members have something genuinely relevant to say about a topic that would result in a violation of the rule, it seems a little unfair to close the topic on them, and it might even make a bad impression on the new members.

And what if it's something like an anime or manga? I don't really expect someone to make an entirely new topic saying that they didn't like the ending of Inuyasha when they can easily just post it in an older topic.

But again, I understand the annoyance of someone just bumping a dead topic from 8 months ago for no other reason than to bump it.

[Jyosua]

Those sound like debating words. Like I said, if you want to question us on stuff like that, you need to use PMs. Asking simple yes or no questions, or asking for a rule to be explained is fine, but questioning the way we're doing things, and then suggesting that we should do it a different way needs to be done through PMs.

[Mufasa]

Those sound like debating words. Like I said, if you want to question us on stuff like that, you need to use PMs. Asking simple yes or no questions, or asking for a rule to be explained is fine, but questioning the way we're doing things, and then suggesting that we should do it a different way needs to be done through PMs.

Sorry. I didn't mean for it to sound rude. Should I PM that to you?

[Dr. Tarrasque]

Which rules under post quality will NOT be enforced in FFTF?

[Jyosua]

Sorry. I didn't mean for it to sound rude. Should I PM that to you?

Sure.

Which rules under post quality will NOT be enforced in FFTF?

None of them except Spoilers and Plagiarism

[canas is back]

Please tell me we can multi post in ultima.

[Jyosua]

Please tell me we can multi post in ultima.

I take that back. No multiposting either. >_>

[TheEnd]

Question.

Does that mean that the doubleposting rule is fully enforceable in FFtF (so that occasional double or triple posting is forbidden), or just that taping down the enter key to get 80 posts/minute is being outlawed?

[Jyosua]

The latter. We really don't care if you double or even triple post in the FftF, but I can't let it get out of hand, to the point where we have entire pages filled with one person's posts.

[Defeatist Elitist]

Another question, does this mean that we are never allowed to question any decision by the staff, or rule, except in PM, effectively making it so that we are completely unable to bring it to the attention of other members of the site without breaking the rules? Also, does this make the Suggestions board completely unnecessary? Does this mean that if we have any problem with something we have to cleverly disguise it as a question like I'm doing right now?

[Jyosua]

Basically, it means, when we make an announcement topic, it is not to be derailed with people questioning our decisions. This also applies when we make a decision outside the announcement forum, and a "suggestion" pops up that we are wrong. The suggestions board is to be used when not discussing an administrative decision or a forum policy. Like suggesting a new feature, or some such. If you want to discuss how you think we're assholes for doing something, I ask that you take it off the forum.

[Deity]

I saw the new rules a couple of minutes ago.

They look good. Now I hope we can all follow them, be nice to one another and be one happy forum family. ^^

[lolDeath]

Such a massive improvement, but I actually have a question about two things.

1. Show respect towards ALL members, no matter who they are.

What exactly do you mean by this? By that wording it could be as simple as not calling them idiots, or something much more sinister and hilarious.

5. Don't be a troll. Nobody likes them. Neither do we.

How will you determine who is a troll and who has genuine opinions with mass-appeal annoyance? I'm guessing just a simple "as the staff sees fit" case, but I figured I should ask for clarity anyways.

[Defeatist Elitist]

Basically, it means, when we make an announcement topic, it is not to be derailed with people questioning our decisions. This also applies when we make a decision outside the announcement forum, and a "suggestion" pops up that we are wrong. The suggestions board is to be used when not discussing an administrative decision or a forum policy. Like suggesting a new feature, or some such. If you want to discuss how you think we're assholes for doing something, I ask that you take it off the forum.

But for example, if we believe there is a problem with a certain decision or policy, for whatever reason, we now have no choice but to basically suck it up, as the staff has little or no reason to take it into consideration (due to many factors). I understand the point of not cluttering a topic like this, but I fail to understand the reasoning behind stopping anyone from questioning a decision in the Questions and Suggestions board. The only thing it does is give the staff an incredible amount of power, and takes away pretty much any power any members had to argue their own point, as when they do it will be in an arena completely dominated by the very people who implemented/made the decision.

[TheEnd]

But for example, if we believe there is a problem with a certain decision or policy, for whatever reason, we now have no choice but to basically suck it up, as the staff has little or no reason to take it into consideration (due to many factors). I understand the point of not cluttering a topic like this, but I fail to understand the reasoning behind stopping anyone from questioning a decision in the Questions and Suggestions board. The only thing it does is give the staff an incredible amount of power, and takes away pretty much any power any members had to argue their own point, as when they do it will be in an arena completely dominated by the very people who implemented/made the decision.

Take it to PMs.

It's a far more effective method anyway. Staff members are much more likely to admit they're wrong (if that's the case) privately than in a public post whining about something.

[Jyosua]

Such a massive improvement, but I actually have a question about two things.

1. Show respect towards ALL members, no matter who they are.

What exactly do you mean by this? By that wording it could be as simple as not calling them idiots, or something much more sinister and hilarious.

5. Don't be a troll. Nobody likes them. Neither do we.

How will you determine who is a troll and who has genuine opinions with mass-appeal annoyance? I'm guessing just a simple "as the staff sees fit" case, but I figured I should ask for clarity anyways.

It means don't be an asshole to anybody. We'll determine what that means and call you out for it if you violate it, don't worry. :> This goes for both of those rules.

But for example, if we believe there is a problem with a certain decision or policy, for whatever reason, we now have no choice but to basically suck it up, as the staff has little or no reason to take it into consideration (due to many factors). I understand the point of not cluttering a topic like this, but I fail to understand the reasoning behind stopping anyone from questioning a decision in the Questions and Suggestions board. The only thing it does is give the staff an incredible amount of power, and takes away pretty much any power any members had to argue their own point, as when they do it will be in an arena completely dominated by the very people who implemented/made the decision.

I've already said this thread is not to become a debate. I will not argue this issue with you, however, let it be said that we had already given the members the chance to openly discuss these issues but it got out of hand and was abused. Therefore, we will do things like this. What you're saying is not true. Most of the time when several people come to us through PM about the same issue, we respond in their favor, with the exception of certain times where this is simply not possible, no matter where they asked us. That's all that will be said here on this issue.

[Admiral "Bull" Halsey]

Would mocking someones avatar and signature be consider flame?

[YokaiKnight]

1. Show respect towards ALL members, no matter who they are.

What exactly do you mean by this?

No more "Loki is an idiot" circlejerks. I know, I know. :(

I have one question:

4. Prejudicial comments will not be tolerated under any circumstances.

What are you generally considering a "prejudicial comment?"

[Tino]

I'm impressed by this improvement, honestly. Though I do have a question.

3. Cursing is allowed. However, please take care not to curse in topic titles and not use a curse word in every other sentence, or otherwise abuse the privilege.

I assume you meant that you shouldn't be excessively swearing, but what exactly, in your opinion, is excessively swearing?

[Defeatist Elitist]

Would mocking someones avatar and signature be consider flame?

Not if I can help it. :P

[lolDeath]

Would mocking someones avatar and signature be consider flame?

I can save Jyo a minute on this one I'm sure, unless SF has some unique definition of flaming.

No. To flame words must be used.