The Forum Rules - READ THESE! (Updated 2020-09-29)

edited 2020-09-30 03:37:22 in Administrivia
Welcome to Heapers' Hangout! Here are some rules you should adhere to while posting:
  1. Treat your fellow members with respect. Rudeness is obviously not conducive to a friendly atmosphere.
  2. Having more than one account is allowed, but more than five is not. If you intend to create one, PM a mod/admin beforehand with the e-mail address you plan to use for it. If you are one of the people in charge, we'll know.
  3. Drama is not conducive to a friendly or inviting atmosphere, so do not start it, import it, or export it. This could be grounds for an instant, permanent ban.
  4. Do not post for the sole purpose of advertising. This is grounds for an instant, permanent ban.
  5. Do not share private conversations publicly without the permission of anyone else involved. It's not courteous.
  6. Do not use this site as a platform to express bigoted viewpoints. They are upsetting and not conducive to a friendly environment.
  7. Do not advocate for the murder of another person, or else you will be banned.
  8. No 18+ material is allowed in the fora, but it may be linked if labeled as such. Any thread deemed NSFW must go into the NSFW category, an 18-and-over category that those fitting this description may gain access to by asking a moderator or administrator for it. In that category, threads with sexual content are allowed, but certain topics are off limits (e.g. pedophilia - which includes lolicon/shotacon/cub - and zoophilia).
  9. Do not rely on this forum for your mental well-being; doing so would be a disaster waiting to happen, for you and the community.
  10. This forum is friendly to the posting of nonsense and silly things, but please, do not disrupt a thread that is trying to be serious or accomplish something. It, too, is rude.
  11. YouTube videos can be embedded simply by copying and pasting the URL of a video into a post, without turning it into a hyperlink. However, you are not allowed to embed more than one video into a post, as Flash can easily slow down the page. It is advised not to embed more than three videos on one page of a thread.
  12. Hotlinking, i.e., the embedding of images from other sites without the owner's permission, is no longer allowed. If you wish to share an image, please rehost it on an image site such as Imgur or Flickr. (Exception: hotlinking from Tumblr is ok, but please provide an attribution for artwork.)

Other things:
  • Name changes can be done here. Unfortunately, usernames may not contain a comma, as this breaks site functionality.
  • There are two levels of bans. The lower, a probation, disallows the affected user from posting or reading the Activity page, but not from commenting on profiles or using the PM system. The higher level bans the user from the forum outright. Probations are generally used in lieu of temporary bans unless such is necessary; a permanent ban can come only after egregious instances of misbehavior.
  • This forum's dates are, in announcements, presented in the MM/DD/YYYY format, as this forum is based in the U.S.; decisions involving times also may or may not revolve around GMT-7/Mountain Time, as Anonus is in this time zone.
  • If anything to do with TV Tropes comes up, it's natural; we started as an offshoot of them, but have distanced ourselves from them.
The people in charge are:
  • Central Avenue, lee4hmz (Administrators)
  • Sredni Vashtar, Crystal, MetaFour (Moderators)
  • PlutoniumFist, Haven (Moderators Emeritus)

As of April 2012, all Moderators and Administrators have ban powers.

The categories are:

Site Business:
  • Administrivia: A category only the admins can make threads in. Threads in this
    category (with the exception of the "Say hello" thread) are expected to
    be more serious than the rest of the board, and remain on-topic.
  • Announcements: The same rules apply to this board as Administrivia.
Community:
  • General: Has no set theme. All manner of threads can go here. Threads here are not expected to stay on-topic, though they can.
  • Members Only: Threads that are more sensitive in nature and, thus, only visible to registered users.
  • Chocolate: (insert SpongeBob reference here)
  • Liveblogs: For liveblogging.
  • NSFW: For NSFW content. Guests and probated users cannot view this board.
  • Personal: For threads devoted exclusively to one's own interests and thoughts. Also only visible to registered users.
  • Roleplay & Games: Extended roleplaying and games should be kept here.
  • Talk: Like General, but shitposting is off-limits here.
  • Testing Grounds: For testing out the markup.

Media:

  • Artistic Pursuits: A place to talk about your own works.
  • General Media: For discussion of media in general.
Site Discussion:
  • Site Talk: For questions and suggestions about the site. (A replacement for Meta, which caused confusion as to its purpose.)
  • Suggestions: For suggestions pertaining to new features and such.
If you have questions about the rules, ask a mod/admin via PM.

(These will continue to be amended, so check back often.)

Comments

  • edited 2020-09-30 03:36:45
    You are the end result of a “would you push the button” prompt where the prompt was “you have unlimited godlike powers but you appear to all and sundry to be an impetuous child” – Zero, 2022
  • I've learned to tolerate drama...except on the boat
    Added new rule about YouTube embeds.
  • I've learned to tolerate drama...except on the boat
    Also, amended the Tumblr rule.
  • I've learned to tolerate drama...except on the boat
    Updated to reflect the addition of Sredni Vashtar to the mod team.
  • You are the end result of a “would you push the button” prompt where the prompt was “you have unlimited godlike powers but you appear to all and sundry to be an impetuous child” – Zero, 2022
    Removed some outdated information from the IRC guidelines and added the bots' help commands.
  • You are the end result of a “would you push the button” prompt where the prompt was “you have unlimited godlike powers but you appear to all and sundry to be an impetuous child” – Zero, 2022
    Added rule #13 regarding hotlinking of images.
  • I've learned to tolerate drama...except on the boat
    Added acknowledgement of certain categories and a note about invitations.
  • I've learned to tolerate drama...except on the boat
    Added reference to invitation email address.
  • I've learned to tolerate drama...except on the boat
    The prohibition on TV Tropes policy/drama/ban discussion has been lifted.
  • I've learned to tolerate drama...except on the boat
    As has the "wacky side of Tumblr" rule.
  • I've learned to tolerate drama...except on the boat
    Updated OP to reflect glennmagusharvey no longer being a mod.
  • You are the end result of a “would you push the button” prompt where the prompt was “you have unlimited godlike powers but you appear to all and sundry to be an impetuous child” – Zero, 2022
    Added @Crystal to list of forum staff.
  • I've learned to tolerate drama...except on the boat
    Added @MetaFour to list of forum staff.
  • You are the end result of a “would you push the button” prompt where the prompt was “you have unlimited godlike powers but you appear to all and sundry to be an impetuous child” – Zero, 2022
    Some cleanup: Moved Haven from Moderator to Moderator Emeritus (someone remind me to change that back if he returns), and removed outdated reference to the invitation request email address, which nobody ever checked anyways.
  • You are the end result of a “would you push the button” prompt where the prompt was “you have unlimited godlike powers but you appear to all and sundry to be an impetuous child” – Zero, 2022
    Updated forum staff roster to remove Anonus.
  • You are the end result of a “would you push the button” prompt where the prompt was “you have unlimited godlike powers but you appear to all and sundry to be an impetuous child” – Zero, 2022
    Nothing has actually changed, but I removed the IRC info because we don't use the IRC channel anymore and none of us have op powers there anymore anyways.
This discussion has been closed.