Forum Rules

[Robin Drake 731]

An update on the forum rules which really needed done.

General Forum Rules

Backseat moderating is against the rules; this means doing the job of a Moderator, please let them take care of things.
Making a new account to avoid being banned will result in a permanent IP Ban. You are limited to one forum account per player; an exception may be made if you make the account for say, your nation, or for an event which you don't wish to risk metagaming in. (Such as Realm of Hanseti, Holy Kingdom of Oren, Red Hunting etc)
Spamming of any sorts is prohibited, this includes constantly posting a topic in every section of the forums.
Do not bump old topics without a true purpose.
Do not Double, Triple, or Quadruple post, posting more than those will bring even higher punishment.
Refrain from flaming, trolling, and just causing trouble. This is extremely terrible conduct, and reflects badly upon your person.
Do not post just to correct another players grammar/spelling. This is embarrassing and demeaning to the player involved.
Do not behave inappropriately.
Do not swear out of character or in non rp threads and do not use excessive amounts of swearing, there are younger members of the community within LotC.
Do not knowingly link material that will/may cause harm to others computers.
Avoid use of 1337 and other poor forms of speech.
Do not personally target and attack a member of the community. This is a form of cyberbullying, and a serious offence.
Disrespecting the Administrators/Staff Members is unacceptable.
No racist material may be posted.
No abusive material may be posted.
No pornographic material may be posted, this will lead to a permaban.
Do not post any material which infringes copyright.
Do not post any illegal content.
Do not advertise other forums unless granted permission by a moderator.
No trolling is permitted on the forums with the specific intent being to agitate or covertly target a group or person, action will be taken depending on the situation, read more petition/"'>here.
If you feel you are the victim of a cyber-bully via these forums, post in the Player Filtered Feedback forum. If it is an Admin, GM or FM who is abusing you, then you may PM Shiftnative, Mogroka, Lirinya, Robin Drake, Neko Danie, or any other admin.

Other Subforum Rules


News and Information

Only Administrators and Game Moderators will post here. You may post in response to a thread made here, provided it complies with the below rules.
Forum Moderators must have GM approval if they wish to post here.
Do not respond to any threads with trollishness.
Do not post here to disrespect the staff or community of LotC.
Do not post things completely off topic. For example, if you are posting on the Aegis Map Download Thread, then do not post irrelevant memes.
If Maintenance is going on do not try and give out information, that is for the GM’s to do.
Do not speak offensively, others may find it offensive while some will not.
Under no circumstances will you be allowed to disregard the General Rules within this section.


Whitelist Applications

Only GM's or members of the Application Team are allowed to review Applications here. Forum Moderators must apply as well.
Never post within the Application Submissions subsection unless you are making an Application.
Do not PM the member of the Application Team who reviewed your Application and flame them.
Do not copy another applicant's Application, you will be permanently banned from the forums.
Do not make a new forum account to bypass the 5 application rule.
Do not troll or flame within the Application Support & Help subsection.
All posts within this section must be taken seriously.
While making Application Guides please be mindful that you are responsible for updating that guide; outdated guides will be removed by a Moderator.
While making an Application Guide please be mindful and only give serious and helpful information.


Tutorials and Guides

All tutorials must be responsibly held by the creator.
All tutorials must be respectful.
All tutorials must be serious and true.
Do not post in the tutorials section anything not regarding help or feedback.
Remember to always try and help others by making a tutorial.
This is not the section to be asking for help. This is a section for helping others.


World History

Do not post negative or trolley comments.
Keep all posts in regards to the World History.
Try and stay on topic.
Try to keep OOC away from this section. This is a Roleplay section of the Forums, please respect that.
Only start a thread if you know the World History and if what you are posting is true.
That said, what is in this section must be taken with a pinch of salt ingame. After all, these accounts were written by those with a bias- maybe things happened differently? Maybe the author in Roleplay made a mistake when transcribing his memory?


Roleplay

The roleplay section is very important, it makes us who we are.
Keep all OOC away from this section.
Metagaming and Powergaming still applies to this section, don’t do it.
Specifically state all that you have to state before posting.
Keep all posts within a thread on topic and only for that thread.


Town and Nation Charters

Only post in this section if you are making/supporting a charter.
Do not support two charters at one time.
Try to keep all posts within RP unless it’s an OOC designated thread.
Useless and unrequired replies will be deleted.
Use the correct format for charters.
Charter Rules and Information may be found here


Screenshots and Videos

Do not post anything that could be offensive to other players.
If a screenshot or video involves another player you must have their agreement to post it.
Try to keep all screenshots hidden so it doesn’t kill others computers.
Do not double post just to get screenshots in.


Economy and War

All Metagaming trade auctions are an offence, and therefore you may be banned.
Keep the posts within RP.
Remember not to break the server rules while using this section.
All guilds must be updated every month, else they can be rendered innactive.
If your guild has become inactive please contact a Moderator.
Some guilds may need to have approval from a GM or Loremaster before being accepted.
Keep the guilds within RP.
Specific war claim rules can be found within the threads here
Only post a War Claim if you know what you’re doing.
Do not post a one-sided War Claim.
Keep War Claims serious.
Keep all War Claims constantly updated until the event has happened.
Your War Claim may be denied. If this happens, then simply correct any errors instead of raging/complaining about how unfair the system is.


Your Ideas and Lore

If you wish to quote another player's idea, use it with;

[quote name=”Their Name”]”Whatever they said”[quote]

If something has already been suggested do not make a new thread regarding the same idea.
Keep all ideas realistic. We don't want fire breathing, laser shooting mine turtles here.
While creating lore, remember the act of plagiarism is strictly forbidden and you will be punished for it.
Lore is reviewed and accepted/denied by Lore Masters. Treat this like every other application process, and don't complain if your idea is denied. It will of been denied for a reason, which can be obtained via forum PM if you are confused or want clarification which wasn't included in the denied post.


Support Feedback and Bugs

Keep all threads about Support, Feedback, or Bugs.
Use the [support], [Feedback] or [bug] tags in your titles.
Try and keep all posts on topic of the thread.


Bans and Appeals

Use the correct format while making a Ban Appeal.
Do not post in a Ban Appeal unless you had involvement with the incident.
Support in Ban Appeals does not affect the outcome of the decision.
Do not lie, own up to your mistakes. Like in a court of law, this may have a positive effect on your appeal. Some offences are unappealable, such as Cybering.


Ban Reports

Use the correct format while making a Ban Report.
Do not post within a Ban Report unless you were involved or you are giving additional information, this is your warning.
Ban Reports are not for the immature, if you act out of hand, you will be banned.
More rules can be seen here.

Advertisement Inquiries

Keep all threads about advertisement inquiries.
Keep all comments/remarks about an advertisement to yourself.
If you are not having the same issues, do not post.


Off Topic

The Off Topics Category is meant for you to stay off of the regular Role Playing environment, try and remain off topic.
Keep all threads in regard of the Forum Rules.
The General Discussion section is meant for all threads that you’re unsure of placement. If it is in the wrong section, a Moderator will spot this and move it.
Within the Introduction Sub-Section, keep the threads for introductions. An introduction would be a short synopsis of you as a person, and not your character. This forum is mainly for social purposes, and to intergrate newer members into our community.
All Computer Gaming threads should only be made for computer games specific to each forum subsection, ie Skyrim, Minecraft, Day-Z. Should you wish to make a topic about another game, post it in the main subforum.


Villain Applications

Only make a new thread if you are making a Villain Application.
Complete your application before posting it.
Use the correct format for responses.
+1's and -1's delivered via the Forum's Reputation system does not affect the decision the VAT will make upon your application; +1's and -1's delivered via the correct system, found here, will affect the decision made on your Villain Application.
Villain Applications are a privilege, and it can be taken away, much easier than you got it, most likely due to your ooc behavior and conduct .
Do not verbally assault a VAT member if they deny you, their decision goes. You may ask questions though; answers to these questions may be short- it is your application, not the VAT's. They will do their best to help you, but it may be in a limited manner.
Be sure to read the villain rules here.

[Auvreaeath 263]

Auv wipes a tear from his eyes

"It's finally posted.."

[154684321654951 73]

I like what I'm reading..

[Imperial Legion Soldier 34]

Great! This should clear things up when people talk about what is and what is not a rule.

[Areon 947]

"Making a new account to avoid being banned will result in a permanent IP Ban."

How does one appeal a Forum, Teamspeak, And Game ban?

[CTap 111]

Do not Double, Triple, or Quadruple post, posting more than those will bring even higher punishment.

This is resulted in lag. When your computer lags and you keep pressing 'Post' it posts it as many times as you press it. People do not do it purposely, its cause through lag and impenitence.

[0000 175]

"Do not link material that will/may cause harm to others computers."

Can you specify both 'may' and 'harm' in this situation. For one, I know there are certain sites to which when linked could use up a lot of bandwidth (which could be harmful), and also I know that there are many sites that might not have the software required to fight viruses or other malware on their own, which means if the person clicking on the link were to not have Virus Software could be potentially infected (which is pretty much the case on any website of the Internet).

How will harm be defined, and how will you determine if it 'may cause harm'. Is it with the intention of harming, or just a website that seems suspicious? This rule seems a bit vague.

[Song Druid 1486]

Backseat moderating is against the rules, this means doing the job of a Moderator, please let them take care of things.

*whistles, while twiddling his thumbs innocently*

[everblue2er101 906]

Brilliant. Do you think a link to this could be added in the Server Rules on the main page? Might save some headaches.

[gabriel101x1 463]

Brilliant. Do you think a link to this could be added in the Server Rules on the main page? Might save some headaches.

What I was going to say. This would indeed be helpful, as many players may not see this thread.

[Dun_Irongut 104]

Brilliant. Do you think a link to this could be added in the Server Rules on the main page? Might save some headaches.

Bingo.

[Wavejammers 328]

Fixed :D

[Danny 2232]

This is resulted in lag. When your computer lags and you keep pressing 'Post' it posts it as many times as you press it. People do not do it purposely, its cause through lag and impenitence.

It is also done purposely by some players, who do not care for the edit button.

[Blawharag 277]

This looks good, and a lot of these rules are very well written.

This is the rule that concerns me the most:

Do not behave inappropriately.

http://legal-dictionary.thefreedictionary.com/ambiguity

This rule is ambiguous. We could have some serious issues with this if inappropriate behavior is defined. I can clearly remember an incident where an FM threatened to warn a player for behavior they thought was "inappropriate" and would have too if I hadn't explained that the player was actually not doing anything wrong and simply stating an opinion in a reasonable manner.

[Samson (Derick) 123]

Do not personally target and attack a member of the community.

Hallelujah!