Announcements

[Myrph]

Although, up until now, we've had no formal rules, I felt it necessary to impose some guidelines on posting and forum etiquette now that we have a Community Lounge, where simply asking that all topics are kept relevant to Video Games Live has little meaning. All rules are retroactive and are subject to the discretion of the admin and moderator team.

Forum rules

• Posts are to be made in the relevant forum. Users are asked to read the forum descriptions before posting. Users consistently posting to the wrong forum may be given a warning (see below).
• Members should post in a way that is respectful of other users. Flaming or abusing users in any way will not be tolerated and will lead to a warning.
• Members are asked to not act as “back seat moderators”. If members note an issue which breaks one of these rules they are welcome to bring it to the attention of the admins and mods using the "Report Post" button () so we may act upon it. Do not respond to such topics yourself.
• Members should remember this board is aimed at a general audience. Posting pornographic or generally offensive text, images, links, etc. will not be tolerated and will lead to a warning, or if particularly unpleasant a temporary ban.
• Members are asked to respect the copyright of other users, sites, media, etc. Users linking to or asking for information on warez, crackz, etc. or re-printing material without permission will receive a warning and their post will be removed.
• Members should post in a way which is consistent with "normal writing". Specifically, users should not post excessive amounts of large, small or coloured text, etc. or large numbers of emoticons. Similarly users should not SHOUT or use excessive punctuation (e.g. ! and ?) in topic titles or posts. Users consistently abusing this will be warned.
• Members should use an appropriate, descriptive subject when posting a new topic. Equally, members should avoid deliberately de-railing subject topics, unless relevant to the topic, following which members are asked to return to subject as soon as possible. Members who regularly derail topics will receive a warning.
• Spam is not tolerated here under any circumstance. This includes selling any related or unrelated products, linking to irrelevant or inappropriate off-site material, posting the same message repeatedly and in different sub-forums, excessively short or single word replies, or any other posts merely designed to raise a person's post count. Doing so will lead to a warning.
• The admins and mods reserve the right to edit, remove or put on moderation queue any post at any time. The determination of what is construed as indecent, vulgar, spam, etc. as noted in these points is up to admins and mods and not users.
• The above forum rules where applicable also apply to private messaging. Abuse of the private messaging system may lead to warnings (as above) and/or the revocation of private messaging.
• VGL will operate a three strike policy. Users will be warned a maximum of three times for any and all offences in a reasonable period. If the need arises for a fourth warning a temporary ban will be put in place of between 1 to 7 days.
• Arguing with admins and mods after having received a warning will lead to an immediate additional warning. Should this exceed three strikes a temporary ban will be put in place as above.
• Any attempt to circumvent a temporary ban or other moderator action will lead to a permanent ban of your account(s). Circumvention includes re-registering or using an already registered account under a non-banned username. Other examples include changing IP addresses, using a new email account or other action that can be taken to evade moderator action to hide your identity as the owner of the sanctioned account.
• An exception to the three strike rule applies when users contact team members personally (via any method) and post insulting, indecent or vulgar material. Such users may be subject to an immediate permanent ban.
• Permanent bans are a last resort and thought is given before implementing them. The only time a permanent ban is issued instantly is if an account is believed to be a spam bot, in which case no warning will be given. You have been warned.

In essence, just be nice to each other, keep the forums a tidy, happy place and everything will be okay.

Thanks