» About the Rules

What is Necroposting? (And do I have to worry about it?)

Necroposting is the act of posting in a topic which hasn't been posted in for quite some time and is thusly called dead. (The exact length of time varies from forum to forum, but in general it seems to be about a month for many places.)

Now on this forum we have no rule against it... But it should be understood that if the topic was from a year ago, and you're directly replying to a person's comment (and asking for a reply from them.) You may not get one if the person isn't an active member of the community anymore.

I have a sibling that wants to join the site as well, can they?

They can... But I don't really recommend it simply because in my experience I have been burned too many times by members who get banned then return claiming they are the sibling of the banned member. (It usually ends up being that the so called sibling is just the same member again trying to evade a ban.)

That being said... if your sibling really wants to join, we won't stop them. But you both have to understand that if either of you gets out of line (to the point of requiring a ban.) You will both likely end up banned. (We apologise for this, but we have to ensure that the forum is kept safe and secure for the other members of the forum.)

Though we ask that if your sibling does join... Ensure that you keep your password secret from each other and that you log out at the end of every visit.

Eep, I can't access a section of the forum anymore, what happened and what can I do?

The short answer is that you were put into a usergroup that no longer has access to it. (See this post for explanation of member groups...) Now the exact reason is likely because you broke the rules and your no long being able to access that section is a punishment.

Here's what not to do:

• Continually ask for it to be undone. (Or repeatedly ask when it will be undone. All this does is irk us and make us consider extending it because it just shows us that you haven't learned and aren't getting the message.)
• Continually ask why it was done. (We've either already told you, or it's outlined in the rules... which we expect you to know because you have to agree to them to be a member here.)
• Continually gripe about it. (We don't like it, the other members don't like it and it generally doesn't win you any sympathy.)
• Try to rally other members to campaign for you. (It just annoys the staff and the members, as well it could get the members in trouble too.)
• Try and kiss the staff's backside. (A.K.A. sucking up to the staff. We can tell why you're doing it and it only reinforces the fact to us that you haven't learned anything. )

As for what you can do... The best thing for you to do is to simply learn from your mistake and don't repeat it. (You may have to read/re-read the rules to figure out just what your mistake was... Or you may just have to check your PM/email inbox as you may have been contacted about it previously.) Then you demonstrate that you've learned your lesson and we'll consider restoring you to the regular member group. (Note the use of the word consider... This doesn't mean we necessarily will restore you, it just means we will re-evaluate the situation after a period of time.)

I joined here a while ago, but never posted and I just got back and my account is gone, what happened?

What happened is that your account was likely deleted due to inactivity. The way it works is that every member who joins starts off as a Validating member until their account is validated. If they don't validate their account by 30 days from the date of registration then we may elect to the delete the account. Once they are validated they get put into the "New Recruit" user group. From here they have 90 day to make their first post (which then puts them into the members group) otherwise we may delete the account. (This is NOT to say that we are definitely going to delete your account, but rather that we reserve the right to.) We do this for several reasons, these being:
- To keep the forum's member database clean.
- To clear out members who aren't active.
- To keep the member counts as accurate as possible.

We feel that if a member hasn't even validated their account by the 30 day mark that they don't really want to be a member here at that time. As well we feel that if they haven't made one post in 90 days, then the likelihood of them posting after that is next to nothing. However, in the off chance that your account has been deleted in such a fashion, and you wish to be a member... Feel free to make another one as it does NOT count as a duplicate.
Though we ask that if you do make an account again, please stay active this time.

Why must I be 13 (or older) to register here?

You must be 13 or older to register because this site deals with somewhat more mature subject matter. No, I don't mean language alone... but rather concepts. (As I imagine that by age 12-13 most youth have already heard most of the foul language that they're probably ever going to hear.) Instead the problem lies in that some posts may simply be too difficult for the under 13 to understand and properly weigh the significance of.

As well there is always the risk of spambots and malicious users posting things that have no place on a forum. (Because even with all the safeguards we have, spam still sometimes happens.) And should an underage user accidentially click on such a link before the staff can handle it, it may cause problems with their computer and by extension with anyone else who uses the computer. Though even if the content doesn't harm their computer, any adult who sees it may decide to prosecute us for it. (And we really don't want to have to go through that.)

As a result all members found to be underage will have their accounts deleted on the spot. Once they turn 13 we will be glad to welcome them back to the forums.

What is a troll?


At the worst, a troll is someone who joins a forum using false information and methods to hide their identity. Then proceeds to harass and bother the members. They might purposefully try to start arguments, insult members and/or their beliefs, post Terms of Service violating materials, and basically ignore the forum rules in general for the sole purpose of causing issues. (They may find this behaviour fun or for revenge for some perceived wrong or slight done to them.)
When banned they may quickly return and begin to harass the members again. Turning off registrations and/or setting them to admin activation only deters this troll for only a little while. And as soon as you restore the board so people can rejoin, they return and harass the members again.

Another, somewhat less annoying (though can be even more destructive) troll, is someone who just makes a nuisance of themselves. They may nitpick at staff's every action and/or feuding with the members for the most pointless reasons. They may exhibit excessive attitude towards others. Such as thinking they are the best at everything. As well they often have an overinflated sense of self worth. Sometimes they may even feel justified in acting the way they do. (Either because of how they were treated in the past or because they have a different opinion from others and so they feel that entitles them to act out.) They may become enraged or at least annoyed if you express a remotely different opinion from theirs. But they toe the line of the acceptable rules very closely, so they know when to back off so they don't draw the fire of staff. (Which can mean in some cases staff have a harder time dealing with them.) These trolls typically don't use techniques to hide their identities, instead they rely on not crossing the rules too much or too far.

Why can't I advertise outside my signature?

You can't advertise outside of your signature because in my 5 (plus) years experience running forums, I have found that if I allow advertising then people simply do not listen when it comes to rules about advertising. These people post their links: up as soon as they possibly can, post it in inappropriate spots, multiple times in a short span of time (less than 24 hours) and after all that they can't understand why they aren't permitted to advertise.

So to curb any problems that may arise with advertising, it simply is forbidden outright in the rules.

What is excessive swearing?

The definition of Excessive is:

Source

As for what the justifiable limit is... This is up to the discretion of the staff. Though suffice it to say caps lock and dropping the "F-bomb" 4 plus times in a row isn't going to be acceptable.
As a rule of thumb to keep things on the tolerable side, try to avoid more than a few swear words per paragraph.