Section 1 – Introduction:
Forumauthoriy is a user based community, focused on Socializing abd general discussion
This means that while we do have active moderators and administrators, we like to - for the most part - leave it up to the users to act the way they think is best. This way users can enjoy the community, but there is still a certain degree of control in order to prevent site rules being broken.
Therefore, while there are various set rules in place, it's generally up to the users to use their common sense to decide how they act on the site. The likelihood is that if they annoy or harass other users, it will not bode well for them in the social hierarchy of the community.
If, however, you see content that you do not agree with, if it is breaking any of the rules on this page, or if you see it as generally inappropriate; feel absolutely free to use the report button to report it to our staff, and we'll take a look.
By creating an account you understand this. You accept to the rules below.
Section 2 – Forum Rules:
A. Cross-Posting – Duplicating a topic in multiple sections of the forum is not accepted. If you are unsure what section to post in, make your best guess and ask a moderator/administrator to review it. Cross posting will entitle you to a warning.B. Double-Posting – Posting multiple times to a post without someone else’s reply in between your posts is not allowed. If you have something to add after you have replied to a post, you should use the edit function on your reply to add on any new information. Double posting will lead to a warning.C. 1-word topics/posts - When posting, try to keep your responses educated. While we will accept the occasional short, 1-word response, if you keep doing it you will be given a warning.D. General Spam - this will not be accepted. Users spamming the board will receive anything between a warning and a three day ban depending on the nature of the incident.
E. Vouch Posts and Vouch Threads are both considered general spam. You may not simply post “Vouch” without a thorough explanation of why you vouch for that user. Similarly, you may not create threads designed for others to post their vouches.F. The edit function is not in place so that you can bypass this, use the edit function to fix typos, update information, etc. Many times, over time, the content posted loses relevance (perhaps the item is fully sold, or the creator no longer wishes to share their program, etc) In these cases, feel free to edit the post to inform users that it's no longer relevant (add a message at the end saying "Sold Out," remove the download link, etc.) What I see a lot of, and what I'm not okay with, is when users edit their content to "Removed" or "Moved" so that the content of the post or thread is meaningless. Please note that you are responsible for the content of your post at the time at which a staff member sees it.This means that if your posts just says "REMOVED" or whatever, it is spam and you will be warned for it. This doesn't mean, however, that you can post whatever you want and edit it before a mod sees because the mod will only consider the post at the time they see it. That is not the case, we can and do view edit history and will consider everything that the post is and has previously been.
G. Wrong Section Posting – Users are asked to read the forum names and consider which one best suits their topic before posting. Consistently posting in the wrong forum sections will result in a warning.H. Respectful Posting – Users are required to consider the content they are posting before doing so. We accept that swearing can be useful in order to strengthen a point occasionally; and we most certainly don’t want to restrict the way you express yourself too much. Therefore, users are allowed to swear on the site within reason. What would not be accepted, is users constantly swearing and making vulgar remarks in an effort to harass other users. It’s not productive, fun to read, nor necessary. Excessive vulgarity is disallowed and will result in anything between a warning and a two day ban.In accordance with this Rule new users should be treated with kindness and respect - regardless of how foolish and/or annoying you find the user to be.
I. Pornographic Content - Posting pornographic text, images, links, etc. will not be tolerated and will lead to anything between a warning and a 7 day ban.J. English Language – Users should to post in English (or in any computer language when demonstrating code, obviously.) Our board is an English-speaking board and we do not have support for any other linguistic languages. Users are permitted to use other languages, as long as the majority of their content is in English, and they are not using any other language exclusively. However, if any other user expresses annoyance due to lack of understanding, you quite simply must stop.K. Writing Style – Members are encouraged to post in a way that is easily legible, mature and comprehensible. Posting topics that contain pointless or excessive use of different fonts, colours, sizes, punctuation and caps lock will entitle the poster to a warning.L. Topic Titles – Users are encouraged to take the time to consider an appropriate subject for their topics before submitting them, as short uninformative titles such as “hi”, “help” or “read this urgent” are prohibited and may be changed or trashed alongside a warning being given.M. Moderating - The moderating, support and other Staff 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 Staff Members and not users.N. Private Messaging - 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.O. Multi-accounting - It is not permitted for users to have multiple active accounts. Users who do have multiple active accounts may receive punishments ranging between a warning and a permanent ban. If you are found to have multiple active accounts, the account with the most posts/popularity will be banned.P. Necroposting/Dead Horse Beating - Bumping old posts that have had no replies for longer than a month is against the rules and can result in a warningQ. Filter Evasion - Any attempts to bypass the sites’ filter of specific words, such as the word “skid” are not permitted and will be deleted.R. Homophobia & Racism - Homophobia and racism are not tolerated on our site. Simple as that.S. Perverted Exploiting - Perverted exploiting is not something we support on our site. We see posting pornographic pictures for the eyes of a bunch of 6 year olds as quite simply morally wrong. Scripts, codes, and exploits posted on our site related to perverted exploiting will be removed, and offenders may be punished.T. Fraud/Carding or discussion thereof/Identity Theft - The sharing of credit card details/information is strictly forbidden and illegal. Fraudulent acts are not permitted on this website. Abuse of this rule will lead to the removal of the content in question and potentially temporary bans.U. Actual Money - The sharing of information (of users and non-users) from payment websites such as PayPal, banking information, etc is not permitted, posts in question will be removed and users in question will be warned or temporarily banned.
Section 3 – Avatars:
A. Size - Users are permitted to use an avatar image either from the supplied gallery, a link to an external site or uploaded from their own computer. Avatar images *must* be less than the size 100x100 pixels to be displayed on the website, and equal to or less than 4,77GB.
B. Display - Avatars may not contain any images portraying an official status on the website such as a fake titles or Staff member representations.
C. Etiquette – Images are subject to the same rules regarding pornography, vulgarity etc. outlined above.
D. Users abusing these rules will be warned and/or may lose their avatar privileges.
Section 4 – Offsite linking:
Links to external websites are permitted on this site. All links will be moderated carefully and will be removed should the content moderator find them to be inappropriate, malicious, or an offense to the site rules.
A. Pornography - Pornographic links, or links leading to pornographic websites or media are not permitted, in accordance to the outlined rules in Section 2 and will result in anything between a warning and a 31 day ban.
B. Gore - Gore links, or links to websites/images containing content with excessive gore which would be disturbing to other users is not permitted. It is at your discretion to determine what is or is not gore, but if there’s any question, don’t post it - as staff will remove it and punish you for it should they feel it to be inappropriate.
C. Download links - Download links are permitted, but must always be accompanied by a virus total link (https://www.virustotal.com/) showing a scan of the download. If the file size is too big for virus total to accept (Greater than 64 Mb) then it is not permitted on this site. Download links unaccompanied by a virus total scan will be removed, and pending investigation the user may receive anything between a warning and a permanent ban.
D. Evidence - When posting a download link, Images and Videos to aid show the validity of the file are recommended - but not required.
E. Malware - Download Links to malware files are (obviously) not permitted and will result in anything between a 6 months and permanent ban.
F. Trollware - Harmless files that are designed to “troll” users (most common examples would include content that promises to a program made to exploit roblox and in reality is a poorly coded little message program that says ‘ha trolled lol’) is no longer allowed, andwill be treated as malware. If your program is not what you promise it is, don’t post it.
G. Etiquette - Links to hateful, violent, gruesome, terrorist, and generally inappropriate content are also not permitted and will result in anything between a warning and a 3 month ban.
H. Embedding - Any link, such as Image and Video links, which are embedded into the site through MyBB code are still considered links and will be dealt with in accordance to the above statements.
I. Encryption/Obfuscation - Encryption and/or obfuscation of links is not permitted, and will be dealt with by anything between a warning and a permanent ban depending on the situation.
J. Piracy/Torrenting - Direct links to magnet or .torrent files are not permitted. Warnings will be given out for such offences and the content in question will be removed or edited.
K. Advertising - Advertising sites for the sake of personal or community gain is not permitted. This means that you shan’t be linking to your “supr l33t betur than forumauthority forum” and you shan’t be spamming useless referral sites at our users.
Section 5 – Signatures:
A. Content - Signatures may contain up to five lines of text (of small or normal size) and/or one image. Signatures must be less than 200 pixels in height, and of the lowest file size you can manage to ensure optimal page loading times.
B. The above statement can be ignored if your signature is placed inside a spoiler tag using the correct code during the editing process.
C. Display - Signatures may not contain any images portraying an official status on the website such as a fake titles or Staff member representations.
D. Etiquette – Images are subject to the same rules regarding pornography, vulgarity etc. outlined above.
E. Users abusing these rules will be warned and/or may lose their signature privileges.
Section 6 – Enforcement:
A. Five Strike Policy - Forumauthority operates a five strike policy. Users will be warned a maximum of five times for any and all offences in a three month period. If the need arises for a fourth warning a temporary ban will be put in place of between 1 to 7 days.
B. Disputes - Arguing with team members after having received a warning will lead to an immediate additional warning.
C. Complaints - Users who feel they have been unfairly warned are welcome to contact an Administrator. If they feel you were treated badly they will remove a warning. However, if they feel that you are being irrational, childish, and/or argumentative it will lead to an additional warning (as stated above.)
D. Circumvention - 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.
E. The staff team withholds the right to bypass the five strike policy at any point they deem necessary to establish order and maintain control.
F. Permanent bans - Permanent bans are a last resort and thought is given before implementing them. While Forumauthority may consider lifting permanent bans from time to time, this is a very rare occurrence. Furthermore, users who attempt to circumvent permanent bans will be dealt with as a direct threat to the security of the website, and dealt with in any and all ways deemed necessary to negate the threat.
Section 7 – Privacy:
Privacy is important to us, as it is to many of the members of our site. All content posted by any member of this site is to be kept on this site, unless the original poster of the content explicitly says otherwise. Additionally, Private Messages are to remain private, and without explicit permission, content that users email to you privately is to stay between those users, you, and staff members.
The sharing of any personal information of our site's users; including, but not limited to:
Names
IP addresses
Emails
Social Media Pages
Skype names
Content from Private Messages
Is prohibited and will be dealt with by the staff team with anything between a warning and a permanent ban (unless the person(s) to whom the personal information is relevant explicitly permits it ).
Section 8 – Chat Box:
A. Format - We currently use an external chat host, Chatango, as our chat box provider. When customizing one’s chat formatting (colour, size, font, etc.) users must keep their name easily legible, this means that you may not use excessively bright colours, as they go against a white background.
B. Moderation - All of the site rules apply on the chat box, and we are just as inclined to ban members on the chat if they break the rules outlined above as we are on the forum itself.
C. Bots - With the exception of passive bots, chatbox bots are not permitted. Bots may not talk or take commands unless a staff member has permitted it.