[en] Administration > Forum Rules

Forum Rules

(1/1)

MU Administration:
Welcome to the Modding Union Forums!

This thread contains the rules that are meant to ensure harmonic and constructive forum discussions. It is assumed that every user has read these rules and all pinned threads in the "Forum Rules" and "Announcements" boards. By using these forums, you agree to follow these rules at all times.

We reserve the right to change the rules at any time. Any change will come into effect immediately as it is announced. You agree to the changes by continuing to use the forums. If you don't accept the rules, you have the right to delete your account at any time.

I. Registration Conditions

1. By registering an account in this forum, you accept the following conditions.

2. Your chosen user name should not contain any racist, pornographic, insulting or otherwise distasteful or provocative words. Additionally, it should not violate copyright or any other laws.

3. We will not share any personal information you enter into your profile, nor use it to bombard you with spam mail.

4. It is every user's personal responsability to protect his profile from others gaining access to it. We strongly recommend choosing a complex password and not sharing any account information with others. We are not responsible for damages caused by use of your account by a third party.

5. It is not allowed to register more than one account per person, even if the first has been banned or deleted. Double accounts will be banned immediately and treated as a rules violation by the first account.
II. Forum Content Rules

1. Any content you share in this forum must adhere to the following rules. This includes forum posts, private messages to other users and any information in your profile, including your avatar, signature and name. These rules apply both to content in your original post as well any content on other sites that you linked to. They apply to content in any form, including but not limited to text, pictures, videos and uploaded files.

2. The responsability for any content of any post lies with its author. Any user is responsible for ensuring that his posts do not violate the forum rules, applicable laws or the rights of third parties. We can not guarantee the accuracy or integrity of any user-generated forum content. That content expresses the views of the respective user, which may not coincide with our own.

3. We are not liable for any damages that result from visiting, reading or using the Modding Union Forums. While we do our best to ensure an inclusive and peaceful forum atmosphere, any user accepts the risk of being exposed to insulting or damaging content while browsing these forums.

4. With every post, we store the IP address of the author and will give it to the lawful authorities at their request.

5. Before posting a question, we recommend using the Search function (the "Suchen" button at the top) to see whether it hasn't already been answered. This saves time for everyone involved and reduces spam.

6. Every piece of content as defined under 1. must follow the following rules:

6.1 It may not include not contain any racist, pornographic, insulting or otherwise distasteful or provocative content. Additionally, it should not violate copyright or any other laws.

6.2 As a member of our community, that you always remain fair and tolerant towards other users. Please treat others with respect and refrain from any personal insults. Threats, insults, hurtful jokes and any other disrespectful posts will not be tolerated. It is important to us that users feel comfortable and relaxed in our forums.

6.3 Similiarly, any content created to harm other users - be it through knowingly spreading false information, links to harmful sites or any other malicious acts - is forbidden.

6.4 Furthermore, content that is intentionally created to provoke negative reactions (i. e. trolling) and thus serve no function but to cause animosity will not be tolerated.

6.5 Political and religious discussions have no place in this forum, as they easily cause arguments and spiral out of control.

6.6 Any content that encourages others to violate the forum roles is itself a violation of the rules.

6.7 Instructions by a moderator or administrator must be followed.

6.8 It is not allowed to create any threads or send any messages in the name of a banned user, nor do anything at their behest that they can't do themselves due to their ban.

6.9 Furthermore, it is not allowed to spread quotes or content by banned users on this site, no matter if it's done with their knowledge or not.

6.10 Advertising commercial products is not allowed. Non-commercial projects may only be advertised in your signature, not by creating new threads for them. Of course, mods are an exception this and may freely be showcased and advertised.

6.11 Any post should fit the topic of the thread it appears in. Avoid off-topic posting and spam.

6.12 Replying to your own posts, that is posting several times in a row in the same thread while nobody else has posted anything, is not allowed. If you want to add something to your previous post, use the edit button to expand it. Once 24 hours have passed since your last post, however, this rule no longer applies.

6.13 Similiarly, don't repeat the same message several times to force others to answer.

6.14 Refrain from reviving old threads that have lost their relevance due to their age.

6.15 Try to keep your posts easily readable. Avoid excessive abbreviations or leet speek, overly small or large fonts, too many smileys and other factors that might make your post difficult to understand.

6.16 The spoiler command is only meant to be used to hide information that others might not want to know (i. e the ending of a new movie that not everyone has seen yet) or to divide a very long post into smaller, expandable sections.

7. As we can't patrol the forums around the clock, the button "report to moderator" beneath every post allows you help us in keeping the forum clean by bringing a possible rules violation to our attention. However, it is not a user's job to moderate the forum themselves by telling others how to behave. If you believe someone has violated the rules, please the ultimate judgment to the administration.

8. Content that does not fall under any of these categories may still be deemed harmful or detrimental to the smooth running of the forum and sanctioned as the administrators see fit. 
III. Administrators and Moderators

1. As of 30 December 2014, the Modding Union Administrators are Simbyte, Ealendril, Turin Turumbar and Lord of Mordor. In addition, the account "MU Administration" speaks in the name of all four administrators. As they run the site, the administrators are the highest authorities in this forum.

2. As of 28 March 2015, the global moderators in this forum are FG15, Gnomi and Chu'unthor. Additionally, some users may have moderation rights in specific forum areas, such as modder in his own mod's forum.

3. Orders by an administrator or moderator must always be followed.

4. We reserve the right to delete any post we deem unsuitable without comment.

5. We reserve the right to sanction any violation of the forum rules or otherwise inappriopriate behaviour in any way we see fit. Possible consequences include, but are not limited to, light or severe warnings (see below), deletion of content and temporary or permanent loss of any or all forum priviliges.

6. Administrators don't have to justify their decisions. Moderators only need to justify themselves to the administrators.

7. It is not allowed to publicly discuss or comment on an administrator's oder moderator's decision.

8. If you disagree with a moderator's decision and can conclusively demonstrate why you don't find it sensible, you can send a private message to an administrator, who will then look into it. However, an administrator's decisions are always final.

9. Private discussions between an administrator or moderator and other users, be they forum messages, mails or chat, only concern the involved parties and are not to be shared without explicit consent by all involved administrators and moderators.
IV. Violations and Warnings

Rule violations are sanctioned through warnings depending on their severity. These warnings are delivered through the joint administration account. They have always been agreed upon by the entire administration and are thus final.

Light Warnings

These are given, among other things, for:

* Posts that are excessively difficult to read
* Negative attitude, i. e frequent use of swear words
* Double Posts
* Off-topic posts
* Inappropriately reviving outdated threads
* Advertisements
* Political and/or religious posts
* Overly large pictures in signatures
* Admonishing other users as though one were a moderator (alert the moderators instead)

The first light warning has no consequences. The second will be sanctioned with one week of limited forum use. The third will be treated like a severe warning. The fourth will be sanctioned with four weeks of limited forum use. The fifth will finally lead to a permanent ban from the forums.

Limited forum use includes:

* Cannot create new threads, only post in existing ones
* Cannot send private messages, only read them
* Cannot change one's profile (including name, avatar and signature)
* Cannot edit or delete posts
* Cannot delete profile
* Cannot vote in polls
* Any further violation during this time may lead to a permanent ban

These restrictions are meant to ensure that the sanctioned user does not use his account to take "revenge" on the forums.

Severe Warnings

These are given, among other things, for:
* Racist, pornographic, insulting or otherwise distasteful or provocative content
* Disrespectful behavior towards other users and/or the administration
* Ignoring the authority of a moderator or administrator
* Spreading content by users that were banned from the site
* Encouraging or provoking others into violating the rules
* Copyright violations
* Extreme spamming

The first severe warning will lead to a temporary four-week ban from the forums. The second will immediately lead to a permanent ban. Note that the third light warning will always be treated like a severe warning, so three light warnings and one severe warning in any order will also lead to a permanent ban.

Public disclosure

Through a community poll, it has been determined that all warnings except the first light warning will be publicly disclosed. After a year however, they will be deleted from the public list. This does not mean they have expired, rather we prefer that users should not be permanently branded publicly with a long past mistake.

Revision

12 months after a user has been banned, he can apply via email to an administrator to have his ban revoked. That message should describe clearly and earnestly why that user wants to return to this forums and demonstrate willingness to change his behavior. If accepted, that user will be on probation for three months, during which the ban can be reinstated at any time if he violates the rules again. After that, all previous bans and warnings are revoked, allowing a new start with a clean slate.
V. Profile

1. All contents of your profile are subject to the same rules as any other content, as outlined under paragraph II.

2. Avatars and signatures should not stick out through excessively bright or blinking imagery.

3. Avatars may be 120x150 (width x height) in size and 50 kb large at the most.

4. A signature may contain two pictures at most, which together should not exceed 600x200 pixels and 300 kb in size. That means, for example, that you may have one banner in 600x150 and one in 600x50, or two at 600x100 each, or any other combination that does not exceed the limit. In addition, the signature may contain text, but that should not be used to lengthen it to extreme proportions.

5. Should an avatar or signature not conform to those rules, an administrator may ask the user to change them or, in extreme cases, remove them himself.
VI In Closing

In case of forum misuse such as spreading spam messages or hacking, we reserve the right to contact the appropriate authorities (service providers, law enforcement) and take countermeasures. This may include demanding damage payments from the offender.

These rules may seem long and daunting, but they can be summed up in one sentence: Just be excellent to one another :) Have fun on the Modding Union Forums!

The Modding Union Team

Navigation

[0] Themen-Index