Rules
From XgenWiki
The following are the previous rules of XGenStudios Forums, and are outdated. Please refer to the Official Forum Rules for the complete regulations for the forum.
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The Rules
These rules strictly applied only to the forums itself. Games by XGen with chat components (such as Stick Arena and Territory War Online, for example) each have their own independent rules, moderation, and user management processes. Please check their respective rules and FAQs on the forums for further information.
Additionally with these rules, the moderators and administrators were able to, at their discretion, issue a ban for any length of time for any reason to any user. They are still able to even after the implementation of the new Forum Rules and the system concerning them. The bans did not accrue points nor did they appear on your permanent record.
On January 1st, 2010, the Rules as they were, were changed as decided by the moderators and administrators of the forum[1]. Justin, in the thread regarding said changes, stated that the alterations made "better fit the changing forums." The changes notably include the removal of the November Policy and changes to the Points system, which means that the 5-point system was replaced with a 4-point system with a year ban being the replacement of its proceeding permanent ban.
General Rules
The general rules were as follows:
- Register only ONE (inoffensive) username only. Do not log on to any other screen name but your own. Do not let someone else log onto your screen name. We can track this kind of stuff, so don't do it! Accounts are permanent, and will not be deleted under any circumstances once used.
- Commercial Advertising of any type is not permitted on this forum. Any user posting advertising of any kind will be permanently banned and may not appeal.
- Flaming, trolling, offensive posting, flooding, spamming, etc. will not be tolerated and will result in infraction/ban. For detailed descriptions see below.
- Major Offences: Posting/Distributing inappropriate pictures (e.g. pornography, this includes animated gifs that do not actually show body parts, but imply a strong sexual undertone), mass spamming, extreme language and flaming, or any other major disregard of the rules will result in an instant permanent-ban.
Detailed Description of Offenses
Below were the detailed description of the offenses:
Multiple Accounts
Each user is permitted ONE and only ONE account, NO EXCEPTIONS. Anyone caught creating an additional account FOR ANY REASON will be permanently banned. If you have created an account and cannot post, please see this thread.
NOTE: If anyone who uses the same internet connection as you (eg, a sibling) wishes to create an account on these forums, you must notify the moderators in advance. Otherwise, both accounts will be banned since it will appear as if you have created a second account. Please send a private message to at least one member of the moderation team (or myself) with the desired username and your relationship to the person who will be using the account.
NOTE: Users accessing the forum via proxy servers will frequently be identified by our system as having multiple accounts, since other users may have used the same proxy server in the past. It is therefore advised that you do not access the forum using a proxy server. AOL users accessing the forum via the official AOL proxy server are exempt from this policy.
Offensive Posting
Posts of a patently offensive nature are not allowed. This includes, but is not limited to:
- Using vulgar, profane, or sexually explicit language
- Using race, religion, sexual orientation, culture, ethnicity, disability, nationality, or gender as a means of insult
- Using threatening, harassing, defamatory, hate-speech, or libelous language
- Posting or requesting links to (or material from) pornographic, obscene, illegal, or hate-speech web sites
- Posting links to web sites with potentially offensive content without a clear warning
- Descriptions or details about any sexual act or sexual organs.
Flaming (Insulting Other Users)
Posts clearly insulting other board members, directly or indirectly, are not allowed. This includes, but is not limited to:
- Name-calling ("You're an idiot", "You moron")
- Direct insults ("Screw you")
- Offensive orders ("Go kill yourself")
- Insinuations ("Are you stupid or something?") or insults toward family members ("Your mom...")
- Hit lists
In addition, do NOT flame "newbs." Treat them the way you'd want to be treated.
Trolling (Inciting Flames)
Posts intended solely to annoy or offend other posters by going against the clear nature of a board or topic is not allowed. This includes, but is not limited to:
- Provoking other users to respond with flames
- Making misleading topic titles
- Asking obviously useless questions
- Posting false information as fact
- "Spoof" Threads
- Informing users that you have reported their post
- Flooding with the intent of disrupting forum activities
- Posting only for the sake of informing other users that they are on your ignore list
Special note for flaming/trolling (Previously known as the "November Policy") Any member found flaming and/or trolling the forums will be subject to a week-ban. These will not incur a warning. Any member who does not desist in flaming may be subject to one or more warnings. If a user on probation is found trolling and/or flaming, he or she will be permanently-banned.
Spamming
Posts that do not contribute to forum discussions or distract from ease of reading are not allowed. This includes, but is not limited to:
- Posts that clearly advertise a service or product
- Repeated web site advertisements
- Scams, chain letters, and pyramid schemes
- Posting links to games like "OUTWAR".
- References to "The Game".
- Posting one or few worded posts
- Posting multiple messages in succession. (use the EDIT button to add to your post)
- Off-topic posting
- A post that contains no real words (exclusively random symbols, emoticons, 1337-speak, etc)
- A post simply telling someone that their post is spam (it is spam itself)
- Posting to ask a question that could be answered by a simple google search
- Posting "+1 Post" "postcount +1" or similar.
Disruptive Posting
Posts that disrupt the message boards for other users are prohibited. This includes, but is not limited to:
- Posts with large spacing
- "Bumping" older topics (posting in them well after the last post - 2 weeks as a general guide)
- Posting multiple, identical, or near-identical messages or topics, including "fad" topics
- Intentionally hard-to-read topic titles (i.e. ALL CAPS, ToGgLeD cApS, no spaces, no or excessive punctuation, 1337 speak, etc.)
- Posting multiple, hard-to-read messages in a single (or multiple) topics
- Posting (either in a thread or in your signature) autoplaying flash/videos with sounds. Any source of audio must have a "play" button.
Inappropriate Language
Curse words or other inappropriate language are NOT allowed here. This includes images containing curse words. Using curse words results in a warning. We do warn for saying a curse word with merely one letter present: use something to completely censor the word (eg ####). Attempts to evade the swear filter (by intentionally misspelling swear words, for example) will result in a particularly harsh penalty - 2 points minimum.
Also, swearing in code is not allowed (e.g. spelling out words making each letter the first letter of a word), nor is swearing in foreign languages.
Impersonation
Users have been immediately banned (along with any associated accounts) for impersonating other boards users by creating and/or using a message board account with names clearly intended to impersonate, mock, or antagonize another user, or otherwise falsely claim to be another message board member. Anyone that was found using the avatar and/or signature of a moderator/administrator after being given a light reminder via PM, was given a warning. His/her avatar/signature would then follow with the removal of them as well.
Spammerland
Spammer Land was and remains to be unique. Anything reasonable, inoffensive, and not directly harmful to others was allowed to be posted in Spammer Land.
Additional Rules
The additional and trivial rules of the forum were as follows:
Signature Rules
- Images: One 600x150 pixel image OR any combination of images such that the width does not exceed 600 pixels and the height does not exceed 150 pixels
- text: 1 or 2 lines of normal sized text in addition to images. If no images are used, 5-6 lines of normal sized text (or 1-2 lines of larger text) are acceptable. Please note that using a quote tag will add 2 extra lines of text, which counts toward your total.
- If you use a Flash signature, these rules still apply to you. Make sure your Flash is still under 600 x 150.
- Additionally, flash signatures which are used with the intent of causing lag to other people's computers are not allowed; whether they be auto-playing, or require a button to be clicked.
- Auto-playing signatures should not contain excessive or overly distracting animation.
- Any use of Audio must have a play button. Audio may not play automatically.
- Signatures should not contain images inappropriate for school or work.
- THESE LIMITS ARE NON-NEGOTIABLE AND ARE STRICTLY ENFORCED
Spam/Raid Plots
Any member that was caught using the forum to plot the spamming/raiding another forum/website/message board was met with a week-ban.
Pirated Software
Anyone who was found posting links to illegal software or providing sites, keys, warez, cracks, keygens downloads, etc. received a 1-week ban. General discussion on where to obtain such was still allowed, so long as no specific details are provided.
