News:

Cammerz brings us some fantastically painted and customised Alpha Legion. Check out their work with detail shots and design insight.

Main Menu

Forum Rules

Started by Sorck, June 26, 2012, 10:59:41 AM

Previous topic - Next topic

Sorck

Please note that 2S reserves the right to change any of these rules at any time. Please check these rules before posting (the date of the latest revision will be kept in the topic title).

Posting of Copyrighted Information
Games Workshop spends huge amounts of money to produce rules and fluff for our enjoyment. As such Games Workshop doesn't want their copyrighted material posted on these forums and so posting of copyrighted rules, stat lines, fluff etc is prohibited. To see Games Workshop's official line on this, please read their Intellectual Property policy.

Posting
Please don't spam in these forums and remember to post in the correct areas for your posts. If in any doubt, ask one of the moderators or staff (linked to above) and they'll be happy to help.

For those who aren't sure, spam, or spamming, is the art of making useless, pointless posts to raise post counts. Please remember that post counts are not a status symbol of any kind, a post count is simply a number. That is all it is. Please don't feel the need to make short, useless posts to increase your post count- it may result in your post count being reset.

What do we define as spam?
As a general guideline, single word posts and single image posts are counted as spam. Short posts (less than a line) are borderline cases and are dealt with moderator discretion.

NB: These rules apply in every board, even the Enclave/Asylum

The language spoken on these forums is English. Not 'leet' or chat-room English, simply proper, grammatically-correct English. Please make every effort to include good spelling, punctuation and grammar in your posts. Moderators may PM you with a friendly warning to ask you to make your grammar better. If a member ignores the friendly warnings, editing of posts with poor grammar may take place, and you may also be warned (repeatedly, leading to further punishments).

Swearing is not permitted here. This extends to all swear words not just some of the 'worse' swear words. There isn't an age limit on members who can register here and as such there are young members here. Also please don't censor swearing- simply don't do it.

Double-posting is generally prohibited on these forums, though some exceptions exist. Most cases of double-posting involve quoting multiple messages to respond to, though instead of multiple posts we advise copy and pasting each quote and message aimed at the quote into the post you intend to reply with. If you have something to add later, please edit your own posts.

Note also that creating multiple threads in multiple parts of the forum on the same issue is also prohibited. If you feel that you truly require the input of multiple sections to your issue, please PM a global moderator or Admin to get permission before hand.

The use of derogatory jokes, remarks and comments are strictly not allowed. Negative remarks regarding race, sexual orientation or other such prejudices are covered by this rule.

Flame wars (Heated-arguments between two or more members) are not permitted under any circumstances. This is a friendly community and it will stay that way.

Advertising & Links
Only advertise in your signature. Starting new topics or posts solely to advertise another website, 40K or not, is against the rules without permission from one of the Admins. Indirect advertising in posts is only allowed if it's germane to the post and/or the discussion and it is clear in your post that you are not advertising but asking for opinions, discussion or simply informing another member of his options. Advertising via linking to other websites, or by advertising goods being sold on websites such as eBay, Amazon etc are what this rule talks about.

When advertising in your signature, you may not use any misleading links - the link must fully describe where the user will end up. For example you cannot have a link which says "Click here for free money" which then ends up taking the person to a "Join my army" type site etc. Links must be clear.

Posting of information, or links to, warez, pornography, information of pirated software, hacking or discussing anything illegal is not allowed and you may be banned outright for posting such things. The list at the start of this paragraph is just a guide to what you can't post; please view Second Sphere's host's Terms of Service for further information about prohibited content.

Threadomancy

Please don't bump up old threads - if they're over a month old (for example, although that timing isn't set in stone) then it's generally frowned upon to bump up the thread - we call this 'threadomancy' (thread necromancy). Only do this if you have something really very useful to add to the thread.

When is it against the rules (ie punishible) with regards to threadomancy?
You are never punished if replying to a thread within 2 months (60 days), a notice is shown to you when a thread hasn't been replied to within 60 days. Also, if a thread is on the first page (has fewer than 20 posts) then it is not punishable under threadomancy (although if you do not add anything to the thread, such as just agreeing with what has been said or commending the OP, then this will be punished as spamming. For these purposes please "approve" the post in question).

General Rules
Only one account per member is allowed unless authorised by a forum administrator. If you have forgotten your password there is a forgotten password feature that you can use. If you want to change your nickname displayed, you can do so by editing the "Name" field in this page of your profile settings.

Although we have a PM, or personal message feature, the rules of this forum still applies to PMs. You are not allowed to flame people via PM, or advertise your site etc. Please use the "Report to Admin" feature of PMs to report anyone breaking the forum rules via PM.

Staff Impersonation
Impersonation of our staff is both unethical and against our rules. If you see anyone post something which infers (or explicitly says) they're part of the 2S mod team or staff (who does not have the appropriate moderator bar) then we urge you to report the post in question so that appropriate action may be taken against that user.

Army Lists and Individual Points Costs
Sometimes when you write an army list, you may prefer to list individual points costs. However, the posting of the points costs of items is seen by the Second Sphere forum staff as a technical breach of GW IP: though arguably a justified use, we would rather compromise and ask that you do not post the points costs of the individual items added to a squad or unit but instead only the total cost of the unit in question.

As an example of this, this would be perfectly fine:

Quote
Tactical Squad: 220 points
10 Space Marines. Seven have bolters, one has a plasma gun and another has a lascannon. Sergeant has a power fist.

This would not be:
Quote
Tactical Squad: 220 points
10 Space Marines (160). Seven have bolters, one has a plasma gun (15) and another has a lascannon (25). Sergeant has a power fist (20).

Please note those points costs are not correct and are merely to highlight what is acceptable and what isn't.

Punishment System
We have a number of punishments which we may issue to members, ranging from nothing more then a rap on the knuckles to bans which stop you using the forums.

Our four main punishments are:

Issue a Mod Warning
These can be issued by any mod at any time for any offence and vary in severity depending upon what happened and potentially why.

The warnings themselves range from 0% (an non-warned, innocent member) to 100% (pretty much a full ban). It is important to note that should you reach certain levels, certain permissions will become restricted.

For example, should you get a 25% warning level, your posts will become "moderated". This means that a mod(s) will have to approve your posts before they get seen by the public. This is to ensure that only the good posts are seen and that anything bad gets removed without causing further grief for anyone.

Another thing we have recently introduced is another penalty. Should you reach 10% warning level, access to the Enclave will be disabled until your warning level drops below 10%.

At 50% warning level, you will be unable to post at all and at 100%, we will generally ban you (it isn't an automatic ban though and we may decide to let you stay if you show improvement).

Another point to remember about the warning levels is that they do go down over time. For each day, the warning level decreases by 1%. So if you get a 25% warning, you'll only be on post moderation for a single day (as by then you'll be on 24% and not on post moderation). Also bear in mind that warnings are also accumulative as well, you can be warned multiple times over a few days and the effects will stack up. For example, if you get 4 15% warnings over a few days for minor offences, the total would be around 60% and therefore you would be on post moderation for around 30 days.

If your ever unsure of if you've been warned (or why) or your present level of warning, contact one of the mods or staff and we will discuss the matter with you.

Negative Karma
This punishment is permanent and is usually only given when a serious breach of forum rules happens. For example, you would expect a smite if you openly flamed another member, or you knowingly posted copyrighted material (see above). See the Karma system for more details.

It is also important to note that if you hit 25 either way (negative or positive), other things will happen. For example, if you hit +25 karma you'll get a user-changeable custom title, if you hit -10 you'll be permanently banned. So be warned. ;).

Official Warnings
These are pretty serious affairs, certainly more serious then a smite. Should you receive an official warning, you will be told about this via PM and also have something put in your custom title like "Warning: Member has flamed" or "Final Warning: Posting copyright material".

You will only get three official warnings before you get permanent banned (usually self explanatory in the warning itself, "Warning", "2nd Warning" and "Final Warning" indicated which level you have).

Forum Ban
These range from permanent bans where you are unable to do anything on the forums, including log in, view the forums or may be more limited in scope such as not allowed to register new accounts (in the case of spam bots). These may also be temporary or permanent and can range from a few days up to an unlimited period of time.

This is the last resort for most issues.

Please note that this system isn't written in stone, for example, you might go straight to a 2nd Warning for some offences and for others you may be banned outright.

Got a Problem/Question?
If you have a problem or a question about anything, or you feel that you've been dealt with unfairly by a mod, bring it up with the mod in question politely first. If you still feel they've been unfair, bring it up with someone higher in the forums, like a global moderator or Admin to have a look. They'll give you a fair hearing and check into things. It may be the case that they find what the mod was indeed fair and do their best to explain things better. If not, then they'll correct it for you.