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[LocoColt04]

Forum Rules and Regulations

Due to some changes in the forums over the past couple of years, the rules are in need of an update. Now, the rules you've all come to know and love aren't changing, per se; rather, they're going to be expressed in a different manner, as to hopefully clear up some of the grey areas we've had in the past. Though what you are about to read may feel less "official" than the previous listing of rules, I felt it was more important to clarify the points rather than the diction. Changes were brought to a thread in the Shinra Corporation forum, a forum in which staff members can meet up with some of the more active senior members of the forum to make decisions which may affect the forum as a whole.



The Warning System
TheFinalFantasy (henceforth "TFF") currently runs vBulletin 3.x with a warning tools modification installed. Warnings to the user will be issued through this mod, and PMs are sent to the user's inbox as a formality. The user is automatically banned for one year's time upon reaching 100 points.

If a moderator chooses to give a new user some guidance on the rules, a private message may be sent without a warning attached. The warning mod also allows for custom warnings, which we have altered to best fit our style.

A "pre-warning" is a light warning for breaking one of our rules, like a slap on the wrist for the user. These pre-warnings are worth five or ten points apiece, and expire after 90 days. An "official warning" rings back to our original three-strike banning system, and is worth 34 points. Three of these warnings will result in a banning. Official warnings also expire after 90 days.

The following is a list of subject matter which may (and often will) result in a warning:


Spamming
Spam is one of the hardest things on the internet to define. Everyone has his or her own definition of what it entails; even amongst staff here at TFF, we have varying opinions of what constitutes spam. In an attempt to clarify, I have decided to use some examples.

SHORT POSTS, 1.1: There are some instances in which a short post is a valid type of response. Example: There is a topic currently up in the FFIV forum in which the Original Poster (henceforth "OP") asks what color Anna's hair is. Anna's hair is brown. A valid response to this question would be along the lines of "Anna's hair is a light brown color. Hope this helps!" It is short and to the point, and completely answers the question at hand.

SHORT POSTS, 1.2: There are other instances in which short posts may also be appropriate. For example, most topics in the "Word Games & Humor" forum have spam-like qualities, and such responses are perfectly fine at all times. All posts made in the Word Games & Humor forum, along with those in the Member Business forum, do not count toward your total post count, considering the nature of the posts in those forums.

SHORT POSTS, 1.3: All other posts should contain some decent amount of content. If the topic is "What is your favorite band," the response should have more content than "Band Name." Tell us WHY it is your favorite. Most topics in the forum will ask for some type of explanation, rather than just an answer. This is what separates discussion threads from lists. This applies to threads forum-wide. There are times when a witty, one-liner response may be appropriate, so long as it stays within other guidelines of the forum.

ADVERTISING, 1.1: Advertising is not allowed here at TFF. Do not post a thread saying "Hey come visit my site" and throw in some links. We have signatures enabled for our users. If you want to advertise your website, do so in your signature. If you have further questions regarding your signature, you may visit this thread in the help forum for more details. It is stickied with an IMPORTANT: label for your convenience.

ADVERTISING, 1.2: If you find something on the internet which you wish to share with people, please place it appropriately. If it is a video of game-related material, take it to the Gaming Media forum. If it is music, stick it in the Music forum. If it is something you wish to bring up discussion (politics, news, etcetera), take it to General Chat or Intellectual Discussion. Attempting to create a discussion from a website, image, or video you find does not fall under the category of advertising.

SPAM WARNINGS: Pre-warnings for spam are worth 5 points. Repeated spamming results in official warnings.


Trolling
Trolling is, by our definition, one of two things.

THING ONE: A post which has NOTHING to do with the topic at hand (e.g., a topic about small animals, and a post about eating dog meat in another country). These types of posts serve only to derail a thread from its original purpose, and are useless to the discussion. We discourage against this type of posting. An off-topic note in a post is one thing, but an entire post off the topic is another. If you feel the need to post entirely off the topic, quote your source material and create a new thread for your new discussion.

THING TWO: A post which serves no purpose other than to aggrevate a person or people as a whole. This is generally classified as "flamebaiting," goading people into retaliating against you for no reason whatsoever. These posts will always receive some type of warning.

TROLL WARNINGS: Pre-warnings for trolling are worth 10 points; however, most warnings for trolling may be official.


Flaming
A flame is an outright stab at another member, or group of members. This sort of behavior will not be tolerated here at TFF. Since everyone has a different idea of what an insult is, I've created some guidelines.

JABS: We have decided that a little ribbing can be a good thing. We don't want to stop you from having a little fun with one another. A little prodding is okay now and again, but be wary of the following categories when doing so.

INSULTS: There is no reason to directly insult another member, OR his/her intelligence. Calling someone out on a mistake is fine; calling someone out on a mistake and berating him/her for it is not. Making a personal attack based upon something you know about someone, even if it's information available online (Journal forum, other threads, etc.) is still not allowed.

FLAMES: Insulting someone's mother, while in good fun, may ACTUALLY be offensive to people. We judge most flaming based upon post reports; your peers are going to decide whether what you say is offensive or not. This is where your best judgement is called into question. Making a joke is fine, but you have to be clear about it. If that means typing </sarcasm> at the end of your post, then do it. Better safe than sorry. Sarcasm is often difficult to convey through text; even if you think it's obvious, not everyone else will.

FLAME WARNINGS: Pre-warnings for flaming are worth 15 points. Repeated occurrences, or flaming in response to someone else's trolling, will result in an official warning.


Multi-posting
Posting two or more times in succession is generally not allowed. There is an edit button on each of your posts. Use it wisely.

EXCEPTIONS: If there is a stickied help topic and you are awaiting a response, double posting to bump the thread is permitted; however, wait at least two days before doing so. If there is a topic containing some type of news, and there is an update to the news, a double post is permitted.

All other instances are not allowed.

MULTI-POSTING WARNINGS: Pre-warnings for multi-posting are worth 10 points, after all of the posts have been merged into a single post. After a couple instances of this, official warnings will be issued.


NSFW Content
NSFW (Not Safe For Work) is the general categorization of any image or video that is not safe for the workplace, school, or other such public environments.

PREVIOUSLY: Before now, in all the years of TFF, this was the "pornography" warning. There are so many definitions of what is and is not pornographic content that we felt it would be easier to go for a broader NSFW tag instead.

LINKING: Linking to NSFW content is not allowed. Just because you don't display it directly on the forum doesn't mean we'll allow you to post it.

EXAMPLES: Here is what we have constituted as NSFW content.
• ANY bare "private" body parts. Breasts, penises, vaginas, buttocks all fit here.
• Explicitly provacative positioning; a picture/image in such a fashion that the intent is to see portions of aforementioned parts.
• "Side-boob." Some cleavage may be acceptable, but views of the naked body from the side are not.
• Underwear. No, you cannot post your Victoria's Secret banners.

These apply to all images/animations, not just actual pictures.

Basically, if your boss/teacher/parent walked by and you would get fired/detention/grounded for it, it is not allowed.

NSFW WARNINGS: There is no pre-warning for NSFW content. All NSFW content results in an official warning.

NOTE: In the case of an avatar/signature combination which borders the line of appropriateness, a supermoderator or administrator will remove the image(s) first and send a private message explaining why. This will only be the case with images that do not blatantly break this rule.


Illegal Content
Plots of terrorism, whether in jest or serious, will result in immediate official warnings.

Discussion of hacks, warez, cracks, and other such content is not allowed. Asking for serial numbers or CD keys, or account information for online games is not allowed. Links to illegal downloads (including music), torrents, or other such content are not allowed. Note that legal downloads of music are fine.

Discussion of emulation IS allowed. Linking to emulators IS allowed. Linking to the ROM files IS NOT allowed (if you need to find these, Google is your friend).

ILLEGAL CONTENT WARNINGS: These warnings will be classified as spam via the warning mod. First-time offenses will be given spam pre-warnings; repeat offenses will receive official warnings. Moderators, please remember to include this rule in the commentary of the warning.


Multiple Accounts
There is no reason to have more than one account. Staff members may be permitted a second account in certain circumstances (for example, I have a second account for account restriction testing purposes; Merlin has a second account for technical administrative purposes).

BAN EVASION: If you are banned and create a second account, it will be banned immediately. If you are banned by means other than the automatic bans issued by the warning mod, and wish to appeal the ban, please contact an administrator via email, WEBMASTER AT THEFINALFANTASY DOT COM.

If we catch you with multiple accounts for other reasons, the secondary account will be banned and you will receive a private message asking for an explanation. If it is, for example, a sibling, or a friend posting from your place of residence, we will lift the ban on the second account. If the second account does nothing but cause trouble, it will be re-banned and the primary account will receive an official warning.

That said, if you allow siblings or friends to register accounts from your place, make sure they intend to follow the rules, or you may get into trouble for it.


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This concludes the list of rules and regulations here at TFF.

If you see another member breaking one of these rules, please use the post report function. There is a button at the bottom left of every post which will access this function. PLEASE ONLY REPORT POSTS WHICH ARE LEGITIMATELY BREAKING THE RULES. Unnecessary post reports may be ignored.

If you receive a warning and want a clearer explanation, feel free to respond to the message you receive in your inbox. Our moderators will be happy to explain why they warned you. If you feel the warning was unjust, please take it up with the moderator who issued the warning. If the explanation given to you is not sufficient, or you still feel it is an abuse of the system, please proceed to forward the succession of messages to a supermoderator or administrator and we will review the warning.