THE RULES & FAQ (Frequently Asked Questions) Being revised for Mellophant
The rules:
Post content:
Don't be a jerk, specifically:
No personal insults outside of the Pit of Rage.
No trolling.
No misrepresentation of other people's posts, when quoting,
Outside of the Pit of Rage, no changing other poster's names when replying.
If insulted outside of the Pit of Rage, do not respond in kind! Every post has a "report this post button" underneath it---use that and let the mods sort the problem out.
Note: after a poll of members, the ban on hate speech has been rescinded, as it was much too broad and not well defined. Outside of the Pit of Rage, you are still subject to the rules above. Within the Pit of Rage, have at it.
On Editing:
Edit history is on and all edits will show. Global Moderators can see your changes.
Editing is allowed for 15 minutes and for the Title of the Op is 30minutes as is adding a poll.
On moderation:
Rants about moderators and moderator actions go in the Pit of Rage, other comments and questions go in AM.
There is no fixed number of warnings before a user is banned, this is up to the discretion of the moderators.
Moderators will always make it clear when they are acting as moderator, and when they are not, specifically, it will be clear if you have been formally warned.
No "junior modding": that is, do not misrepresent your status as a moderator.
On Socks:
We don't care. Go nuts. If your sock attacks people, we'll 101 it. If your sock is too disruptive, we'll ban it. Make enough disruptive socks and we'll IP hunt you down, come to your house and kick your ankles.
Avatars:
Keep these safe for work.
No flashing or animated avatars,
Anybody using joke images, such as browser crashers, will be instabanned.
Chat: Chat is invisible to those with less than 5 posts.
The bar on language is relaxed in Chat, just keep it semi-relevant. If you have a personal issues with another poster, take it to the Pit of Rage. No stalking allowed of course.
If you have a problem with a post and don't know what to do, please PM the Global Moderators group.
Moderators will delete posts as needed and have access to a chat log to review problem reported that are now off the scroll.
Safe for work Images are allowed in chat. Moderators will delete any they deem questionable without consultation. NSFW and Porn will draw warnings and time in The Cage. Those in The Cage are now barred from chat.
Chat specific FAQ has been added below.
A word on Moderator Discretion...
It's impossible to foresee, name and categorize every single infraction possible, or the context of every situation requiring mod action. Likewise it's not possible to assign a standard punishment for any given (and at this point still imaginary) situation.
Moderators may choose to handle situations differently than one another, within the general provisions of the rules, based on their estimate of appropriate measures in light of the context of the infraction and (if applicable) the circumstances leading up to it.
The mods are not here to persecute posters. We are posters, and we have an excellent system of checks and balances in place - mutual respect. This includes all posters at Mellophant.
On Warnings and being placed in The Cage:
Mod Warnings, Banishment to The Cage and Banning. A long stay in The Cage will typically be the result of several Warnings. There may be occasions where it is used as the first measure if the offense is deemed extreme or as a simple and short cooling off period in a hot exchange, but in general a Mod Warning will precede The Cage. Banning is usually the last resort. Unlike in the case of banning, a The Cage restricted poster may still plead their case or interact with the board. An argument can continue in an appropriate forum. The user can and should be able to adjust and return to the board.
The Private Forum
Lastly, we are going to be using a private forum for moderator discussion. We will use this forum to discuss board issues among ourselves so that we are better able to gain consensus among the mod staff with regard to interpretation of rules, executing housekeeping and providing better service to the Mellophant community.
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Pit of Rage rules are slightly different from rules in the rest of the forum:
* Don't be a jerk, especially, no death threats. Pretty much everything else goes, in here, although take direct linking to torrents and porn to PM, to limit legal liability and stop the site becoming blacklisted by censors.
* Note: After consultation, the ban on hate speech and racism has been rescinded, as it was too broad and not well defined. Be a bigot at your own risk, though.
* Things that are expressly allowed in the Pit of Rage: calling posters liars, calling posters trolls, abuse, swearing, mentioning snarkboards, discussion of porn, discussion of torrents, discussion of drugs, etc.
* The settings have been changed so that search engine bots do not index this forum. So, flame away.
Protocol for requesting post changes for games.
The Mod team will be happy to help. Whoever is hosting the game and who is making the request needs to be as explicit as possible with their request. We need the following information:
· A direct link to the specific game thread;
· The number of the post that needs to be changed;
· And the specific action that must be taken. For example, if a post needs to be deleted, say so. A short explanation as to why the change needs to be made is also a good idea.
Ideally, the request should come from the game host. If we get a message from another player, we will PM the game host to make sure it's OK.
Arts and Entertainment Guidelines: Please see the thread in the Guggenheim.
Guidelines for QA: Please see the thread in the Questions and Answers
General guidelines for The Crucible: Please see the thread in The Crucible
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