Post by Admin on Aug 4, 2016 22:05:35 GMT
We strives to provide a wealth of useful resources and an environment of expertise. As such, every post and thread should add to knowledge rather than mislead or confuse. We provide an off-topic section for varied topics and less serious issues. Please help us keep the forums free from clutter by making use of the appropriate sections and adhering to these guidelines.
I. Before Posting
--Report Bad Posts, Don't Respond to Them (AKA Don't feed the trolls.)
We have a staff of moderators specifically tasked to deal with nonconstructive, offensive, or nonsensical posts, and any post you report will be looked at and dealt with if necessary. We will also delete any responses to that post, for the sake of keeping the conversation on track and understandable - which frequently takes longer than dealing with the original issue.
--Use the Search Feature
When you have a question on a topic, use the Search feature first, most likely your question has already been answered. Posts in which users have clearly NOT performed even a superficial search will be unilaterally deleted, in order to avoid the forum being swamped with countless threads on common topics.
--Be Aware of Sub-Forum Rules and Other Stickies
It's good practice to make sure that you read all stickies before you decide to post in any particular forum section. Your question or topic may already be covered in one of the stickies, and certain forums contain rules that pertain specifically to that section.
II. Thread & Post Content
--Do Not Abuse the English Language
This is a message board, not a chat room. DO NOT use "Leet-Speak", slang, colloquialisms, or chat lingo on the forums. Completely illegible posts are subject to moderation and we can not guarantee the accuracy of the 'translation' of the author’s original message. Additionally, when one punctuation mark works instead of 10 (example: ? instead of ?!?!), use one.
--Banned Subject Matter: Politics, Religion, Illegal Activity (Including Piracy), Sexually Themed Material (Including Pornography), Gore
Do not post about or link to the above subject matter. Also, please be mindful of your language. Message boards of this nature draw many different kinds of people, and people of different ages – observing these rules are just good common sense and etiquette when dealing with others.
--No Trolling or Flaming
Flaming is the act of posting messages that are deliberately hostile and insulting. Trolling is the act of posting messages intended to cause a disruption or provoke other members into hostility. We encourage intelligent discussion and healthy debate, and personal attacks are not warranted in either. If you cannot be respectful to others, then don’t be surprised if those in charge are not respectful of your continued privilege to post.
Side note: The posting of PM's, or other personal information, between users will result in a suspension.
--Do Not Hijack Threads
Thread hijacking is the act of trying to steer a web forum discussion thread off-topic by discussing something unrelated to the subject at hand. This is an intentional act of taking the thread off at a tangent to the original subject matter at hand. Off-topic replies will be deleted.
--No Spamming
To determine whether or not your post can be considered as spam, ask, "does this add to or advance the thread in a constructive way?" If you answer "yes," then you are probably good to go. If it's a "no" then you may want to rethink. Examples of spam posts include: "Yeah!" "lol", "/signed" "^this", or any form of repetition. Responding with images does not constitute as constructive posting, nor are posts which repeat a few words over and over. Posts deemed to be spam will be removed.
--Do not engage in "Quote Wars"
Quote Wars is defined as when a person dissects someone else's post into several quotes and responds to those individually instead of quoting and replying to the entire post as a whole. It's ugly, it's messy, and usually disintegrates into out-of-context replies and flamewars.
--Do not Double Post
Use the EDIT Button (). As the edit button will never disappear, you can always go back to edit your last post and add new thoughts. The practice of "bumping" is highly discouraged in these forums. If people wish to respond to your thread, they will add their opinions without the need of repeated spammed "bumps." Repeated "bumping" of a thread will most likely lead to the thread’s deletion instead.
--No Advertising
This rule is pretty much for the usual poster that wishes to advertise their commercial site, or someone else's. Obvious spammers will receive an immediate IP ban.
--No Petitions or Thread Titles Addressing ArenaNet or NCSoft Directly (Including CM's and Devs)
Petitions online rarely generate good discussion or results. Seeing as "/signed" posts would follow under the No Spamming rule, these are doubly discouraged and will be deleted. Your thread titles should include a brief description of the content of your post and not "@anet/NCsoft" or something similar.
III. Moderation Actions & Guidelines
--No Public Discussion Over Moderator Activity
If you have questions or concerns over moderators actions - infractions, closed threads, or comments made by our staff - please send a PM to the moderator responsible for the decision, or contact an administrator who will happily explain the situation. Our staff do not have the time to publicly justify their every move, and neither could we reasonably expect them to.
Disrespectful commentary toward our staff will not be tolerated and the public posting of PM's, or other personal information, between a user and moderator (as with anyone else) will result in a suspension.
--Warnings and Infractions
A warning or infraction may or may not be issued for violating any of these guidelines. If warnings are sent, it will be delivered through PM’s or in your Closed Thread. When a user receives an official warning or infraction, the Infractions tab will become visible to the user on their profile page. Warnings constitute as 0 points and infractions constitute as 1 point or more, depending on the severity of the rule violation. If you have a question with the warning or infraction, please contact the moderator responsible for issuing it. You may also contact an administrator if necessary.
--Bans: Temporary and Permanent
When you have accumulated a substantial amount of warnings, you will be temporarily banned for a period at the discretion of the staff. If you break the rules repeatedly you will be permanently banned, no questions, no excuses. However, depending on the severity of violations, disciplinary measures may vary. If we see any member evading a temporary or permanent ban, i.e. creating another account after being banned or posting on another member's account, this account will be permanently banned with the high possibility of affecting the main account as well.
Note: If you wish to contend your temporary or permanent ban, you can send an e-mail to any of the administrators, whose details can be found here.
We reserve the right to edit posts for format, content, or clarity, without notice. However, we will not intentionally change the substance of what anyone says, and will inform you if we make any substantial changes. Posts that do not contribute to the thread discussion will more than likely be deleted without notice.
Any post which violates civilized standards of decency or good conduct will be deleted immediately and without any further notice. Repeat offenders will be temporarily or permanently banned.
I. Before Posting
--Report Bad Posts, Don't Respond to Them (AKA Don't feed the trolls.)
We have a staff of moderators specifically tasked to deal with nonconstructive, offensive, or nonsensical posts, and any post you report will be looked at and dealt with if necessary. We will also delete any responses to that post, for the sake of keeping the conversation on track and understandable - which frequently takes longer than dealing with the original issue.
--Use the Search Feature
When you have a question on a topic, use the Search feature first, most likely your question has already been answered. Posts in which users have clearly NOT performed even a superficial search will be unilaterally deleted, in order to avoid the forum being swamped with countless threads on common topics.
--Be Aware of Sub-Forum Rules and Other Stickies
It's good practice to make sure that you read all stickies before you decide to post in any particular forum section. Your question or topic may already be covered in one of the stickies, and certain forums contain rules that pertain specifically to that section.
II. Thread & Post Content
--Do Not Abuse the English Language
This is a message board, not a chat room. DO NOT use "Leet-Speak", slang, colloquialisms, or chat lingo on the forums. Completely illegible posts are subject to moderation and we can not guarantee the accuracy of the 'translation' of the author’s original message. Additionally, when one punctuation mark works instead of 10 (example: ? instead of ?!?!), use one.
--Banned Subject Matter: Politics, Religion, Illegal Activity (Including Piracy), Sexually Themed Material (Including Pornography), Gore
Do not post about or link to the above subject matter. Also, please be mindful of your language. Message boards of this nature draw many different kinds of people, and people of different ages – observing these rules are just good common sense and etiquette when dealing with others.
--No Trolling or Flaming
Flaming is the act of posting messages that are deliberately hostile and insulting. Trolling is the act of posting messages intended to cause a disruption or provoke other members into hostility. We encourage intelligent discussion and healthy debate, and personal attacks are not warranted in either. If you cannot be respectful to others, then don’t be surprised if those in charge are not respectful of your continued privilege to post.
Side note: The posting of PM's, or other personal information, between users will result in a suspension.
--Do Not Hijack Threads
Thread hijacking is the act of trying to steer a web forum discussion thread off-topic by discussing something unrelated to the subject at hand. This is an intentional act of taking the thread off at a tangent to the original subject matter at hand. Off-topic replies will be deleted.
--No Spamming
To determine whether or not your post can be considered as spam, ask, "does this add to or advance the thread in a constructive way?" If you answer "yes," then you are probably good to go. If it's a "no" then you may want to rethink. Examples of spam posts include: "Yeah!" "lol", "/signed" "^this", or any form of repetition. Responding with images does not constitute as constructive posting, nor are posts which repeat a few words over and over. Posts deemed to be spam will be removed.
--Do not engage in "Quote Wars"
Quote Wars is defined as when a person dissects someone else's post into several quotes and responds to those individually instead of quoting and replying to the entire post as a whole. It's ugly, it's messy, and usually disintegrates into out-of-context replies and flamewars.
--Do not Double Post
Use the EDIT Button (). As the edit button will never disappear, you can always go back to edit your last post and add new thoughts. The practice of "bumping" is highly discouraged in these forums. If people wish to respond to your thread, they will add their opinions without the need of repeated spammed "bumps." Repeated "bumping" of a thread will most likely lead to the thread’s deletion instead.
--No Advertising
This rule is pretty much for the usual poster that wishes to advertise their commercial site, or someone else's. Obvious spammers will receive an immediate IP ban.
--No Petitions or Thread Titles Addressing ArenaNet or NCSoft Directly (Including CM's and Devs)
Petitions online rarely generate good discussion or results. Seeing as "/signed" posts would follow under the No Spamming rule, these are doubly discouraged and will be deleted. Your thread titles should include a brief description of the content of your post and not "@anet/NCsoft" or something similar.
III. Moderation Actions & Guidelines
--No Public Discussion Over Moderator Activity
If you have questions or concerns over moderators actions - infractions, closed threads, or comments made by our staff - please send a PM to the moderator responsible for the decision, or contact an administrator who will happily explain the situation. Our staff do not have the time to publicly justify their every move, and neither could we reasonably expect them to.
Disrespectful commentary toward our staff will not be tolerated and the public posting of PM's, or other personal information, between a user and moderator (as with anyone else) will result in a suspension.
--Warnings and Infractions
A warning or infraction may or may not be issued for violating any of these guidelines. If warnings are sent, it will be delivered through PM’s or in your Closed Thread. When a user receives an official warning or infraction, the Infractions tab will become visible to the user on their profile page. Warnings constitute as 0 points and infractions constitute as 1 point or more, depending on the severity of the rule violation. If you have a question with the warning or infraction, please contact the moderator responsible for issuing it. You may also contact an administrator if necessary.
--Bans: Temporary and Permanent
When you have accumulated a substantial amount of warnings, you will be temporarily banned for a period at the discretion of the staff. If you break the rules repeatedly you will be permanently banned, no questions, no excuses. However, depending on the severity of violations, disciplinary measures may vary. If we see any member evading a temporary or permanent ban, i.e. creating another account after being banned or posting on another member's account, this account will be permanently banned with the high possibility of affecting the main account as well.
Note: If you wish to contend your temporary or permanent ban, you can send an e-mail to any of the administrators, whose details can be found here.
We reserve the right to edit posts for format, content, or clarity, without notice. However, we will not intentionally change the substance of what anyone says, and will inform you if we make any substantial changes. Posts that do not contribute to the thread discussion will more than likely be deleted without notice.
Any post which violates civilized standards of decency or good conduct will be deleted immediately and without any further notice. Repeat offenders will be temporarily or permanently banned.