Rules.

Admin Joined: 05 Dec 2006 Posts: 7

A. Registering to the Forum
When registering to the forum, your nick name must be clean and cannot be offensive to any group. You are also allowed only one name; multiple names will result in a merger of names or a ban on all names.

1. Signature Rules
Your total combined signature cannot be larger then 520*150 and 150KBs. If your signature is larger than this it will removed. Also keep in mind that signatures, like names must be free of profanity. Also, please do not put excessive advertisements into your signature for a website or forum. You are not allowed to have any type of spam, such as ‘free iPod’ links in your signature.
No noise or flash (.swf) is allowed in signatures.

2. Avatars
To save bandwidth and loading times, an avatar cannot be larger than 100*100 and/or 35KBs. Offensive or unacceptable avatars will remove. Common sense applies here: if you could show your boss your avatar, it's okay.

3. Profile Pictures
Any picture used for your profile picture must be you, if you do not wish to post a picture of yourself, do not use the profile picture option. Any picture which we determine is not you will be removed.

B. General Posting Rules

1. General topics to avoid posting about
"Reply here if you're sure you're going to get an Xbox", "Post your age, sex and location here", "post your picture here!" threads. We've all seen them before, many times. If you feel the urge to post one of these threads, please do it in the Off-Topic Lounge, please search first to make sure the post has not already been made.

2. Illegal Subjects
Subjects include, but are not limited to: drugs, pornography, and racism. If we see you posting threads promoting any of these topics you will be banned.

3. Which forum?
Make sure you are posting in the right forum. All forums are self explanatory, so please use common sense. For example, GameCube posts do not belong in the Xbox forum. If we find you posting in the wrong forum, we are going to move your post to the correct one, or delete the post.

4. Respect
Respect every forum member as you would a moderator. All forum posters are to be treated equally with respect. Repeatedly using vulgar language and calling somebody an idiot is not a good way of getting on a moderator’s good side. Furthermore, moderators treat everybody as equals. A fan of the Xbox is not to be treated differently from a GameCube or PS2 fan. This forum is open to anybody, regardless of console preference.

5. First post!
"First post!" messages aren't funny, and are the mark of a newb. You have joined the forum, that’s great. Make a real post, that is what you came here for.

C. Post Content

When posting on the forum, there are several things in which you have to pay attention to. One of the most important things is content. You must keep in mind that what you say can/will be offensive to other members. To prevent this from occurring unnecessarily, you must abide to our stricter set of rules regarding what you post. All moderators are instructed to ensure that these rules are maintained and will discipline any offenders.

1. Spam
To post irrelevant or inappropriate messages to a forum.

Spamming will ultimately get you removed from our forum/chat. This includes continuously inviting people to your website, posting tons of threads within a very **** time, or just plain out flooding. Virtual Gaming does not allow any spam or advertisement posts in our forums, and this includes advertising and recruiting for forums. However, please keep all advertisement for your forum or clan contained within the signature of your profile or a designated thread. Also, any type of "Free Stuff" threads will result in a warning and if multiple threads are posted you will be banned.

2. Swearing
We don't mind if you swear, just as long as you keep it to a minimum, you should not have more then one or two swears in a post. Excessive swearing is a mark of idiocy. In addition, there is to be no swearing in subject lines or signatures. Finding ways around the filter is also prohibited and will result in a warning or ban.

3. Honesty
Hypothetical situation: A forum member posts an Xbox screenshot, and you say it rules. The same forum member posts a PS2 screenshot, and you claim it sucks. All is right, until the original poster reveals that the Xbox screenshot was actually from a PS2, and vice versa. How do you avoid this? Be honest. If you think an Xbox screenshot sucks, say so. If you think a PS2 screenshot looks great, say so. Otherwise, your words will end up swallowing your own words.

5. Images
No pornographic, overly offensive, excessively violent, or inappropriate images are allowed. I believe I speak for a large number of our members when I say that I’d like to be able to read the Virtual Gaming forums while at university or at work. Again, common sense applies: if you could show your boss this image, it's okay. Furthermore, if you are going to have quite a number of large screenshots in a thread, it's generally a good idea to put a warning in the subject line: (56K Warning) or "(Warning - big pictures!)" is fine.

6. Flame wars
If you post a message containing a logical argument with a few scattered insults in it, we don't mind. However, if you post a message which solely contains insults directed at another forum member, your post will be deleted. People do not come to our forums to see people insult each other; they come to read arguments about consoles. Engaging in a flame wars will get you banned.

7. Private Messages
If anyone of our users sends threats, insults or ads to you via the Private Message, contact an admin to deal with the situation.

8. Subject Lines
Make your subject lines descriptive. Subject lines such as "Check this out!" or "This is so cool!" or "I can't believe this!" are not descriptive, and result in multiple postings on the same subject. Before posting, you might want to look through the current page of posts to see that someone has not already posted on the same subject. This isn’t a rule, just a suggestion.

9. What to talk about
In this forum, you can almost talk about anything, except for things that are a) Illegal (i.e. drugs, etc.) or b) Adults Only (sexual in nature, etc). This is a family forum. So use your head, if you’re not sure about something you are going to post then you probably shouldn’t.
Note: You may send a PM to an admin on topic you are unsure about.

10. Account Management
Please do not give out your account passwords to others. Any actions/posts they make will be attributed to you.

11. Forum Tampering
Any attempt to manipulate the coding of the site, or perform any actions not of normal operations of the site, will result in an immediate IP ban.

E. Moderation

The following is our basic moderator guidelines and standards. These rules apply to moderators too. Any moderator who breaches these guidelines will lose their moderator privileges. There are no double-standards in our forum.

1. Warnings
Warnings are given by mods to those who break the rules.

When you break a rule for the first time, a moderator will contact you via Private Message (PM) or email to warn you. Whether you respond to the warning or not, we will assume that you are aware of the situation.

If you continue to break a rule for the second time, a moderator may warn you again for the last time. Depending on the severity of the offense, you may be banned for the second offense without warning.

After three offenses, you will be temporarily banned for a extended time depending on the offense.

After being unbanned and you continue to break rules you will receive a permanent ban and you account will be deleted.

If you have been banned, it was not without warning or reason. Do not send in emails requesting to be un-banned.
Note: In severe cases we reserve the right to ban a user without a warning.

2. Ban Requests, Post Deletion Requests.
If you find a post which you find overly offensive, please Private Message a moderator or e-mail us and we'll determine any further course of action. Please add a link to the post in question.

3. "The Mods Deleted My Post!"
Chances are, we probably moved it to the off-topic forum. Failing that, your post most likely broke one of the above guidelines. If you're still not certain why one of your posts got deleted, send a Private Message to a moderator or email us and we'll discuss why.

4. "I wanna be a mod!"
Asking to become a moderator outside of the application forum is the fastest way of eliminating your chance of ever becoming a moderator. If we believe that you would be valued as a moderator we will contact you. If we have a larger need for a moderator we will post a ‘Moderators Needed’ in the application forums, check there to see if we need more.

5. List of Moderators and Administrators.

Administrator
TMP39