RULES & FAQ

The Rules

Post Content:

Don't be an obnoxious twit. Posting illegal content, harassment, spam, concern trolling and extremely disruptive behavior are the big things to avoid. The Thunderdome is the forum for fighting and personal attacks between posters, though heated arguments are allowed (and encouraged!) in the Crucible, so long as they're on topic instead of tiringly ad hominem.

Socks:

Amusing socks will be tolerated. Stealth socks will be ignored. Obnoxious twit socks will be dealt with. Otherwise, we really don't care and they'll be treated like any other account. However, if you're really obviously using a sock to toot your own horn we may laugh at you.

Images and Avatars:

No browser crashers. If an image involves nudity, either ensure the thread is marked with NSFW or make it a link instead of an embedded image.

Chat:

Chat is only available to users with more than five posts. If a full-blown fight breaks out in chat, you may be asked to stop. If you don't stop, you'll be banned from chat for anywhere from an hour to forever, depending on your history.

Moderator Discretion:

It's impossible to foresee, name and categorize every potential problem in the future. If there isn't a specific rule against something but it becomes a major disruption, security issue, or just general annoyance, it may be dealt with randomly and sadistically. Actually, the sadism can be considered a given.

Last edited on March 31st, 2011.

0-4: Registered Users

• No Avatar or Signatures
• No Chat
• No Titles
• Can only send a PM to 5 people max
• Cannot post Events
• Cannot start social groups

5-99: Member

• Basic capabilities
• Can delete own posts
• PM Storage is 750
• Can PM up to 10 people
• Profile Pictures allowed up to 640x480

100-499: Stegodon

• Can create tags
• PM storage 1000 and can PM up to 12 people

500-999: Elephant

• PM storage 2000 and can PM up to 15 people
• Can use Chat PMs
• Larger Profile Pic, 1024 x 768
• Allow creation of up to 10 social groups

1000+: Oliphaunt

• Can Manage own Chats
• PM storage 3000 and 20 recipients
• Can delete tags on own threads
• Allow creation of up to 15 social groups

What's with the elephant theme? Is this a Republican board?
Mellophant grew out of another community, DoMeBo, which had the nickname "Dumbo." So when we made this board we decided to keep the elephant. There isn't really sense to the elephants other than that.

So what's the point of this board then?
Games and general interests. We usually have a bunch of role-playing games going on at once, as well as some simple forum games. That isn't all we talk about, but it does seem to take up the majority of our attention.

Can I start a thread about my new kitten?
If you like. By tradition, pet show-off threads go in the Dark Room and have pictures.

What topics are off limits?
Don't use the board for illegal stuff. You'll be instantly banned, as that would violate our terms with our server's host. Expressing a sexual interest in children will get you an instant ban. If you want to discuss torrents, smoking pot, or jaywalking across the continent that's fine. Just don't use us to directly facilitate any of this. Otherwise we're pretty easy going.

Are there any words that are off limits?
Nope. If you go on a lengthy bigoted rant you'll probably find yourself confined to the Cage, but otherwise we don't worry too much about language.

What is the Cage?
That's where we put trolls, people who need to chill out for a while, or anyone whose confinement would be funny. It's an alternative to banning, but if someone has a history of causing problems they may be banned instead of getting another trip to the Cage.

If I don't like someone, can I chase them off the board?
No. Fighting in the Thunderdome is fine, but sustained harassment is not.

I saw a spambot/troll/naked lady without a NSFW tag. What do I do?
At the bottom of every post there is a little triangle with an exclamation point in it. Clicking on that will report the post so that the moderators can respond to it.

When are people in chat?
It simply depends on whenever people are going to drop in there. We cover a lot of different time zones and work schedules, so there's no guarantee when folks might show up.

I've seen people post images in threads. How can I do that?
Post [img]Image URL[/img]. When you go to post there is also an option for "insert image" along with the other post functions.

What about posting videos?
If the URL for your video is http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kf8BT3wbZSo then you'll post the string of characters after the = like so:
[youtube]kf8BT3wbZSo[/youtube]
When you go to post there is also an option for "insert video" along with the other post functions.