Forum rules (updated 06/2012)

Syrobe · Founder Joined: 23 Aug 2003 Posts: 596

Please read this post before posting and become familiar with it, its terms are retroactive. It clarifies the various responsibilities of community members here at Silver Dragon Breath dragon forums

General

A post should be placed in the relevant forum so please read the forum descriptions before posting. Users consistently posting to the wrong forum may be given a warning (see policing below).
A post should contain text that is respectful of other users so no flaming or abusing users. The user will be warned.
Any posts are to be made in English, since this is the official board language.
These forums are aimed at a general audience, including children. Because of that, posting pornographic, sexually oriented, obscene, vulgar, slanderous hateful, discriminating, indecent or generally offensive text, images, links, etc. will not be tolerated. Such text, images, links, etc. will be removed, the user’s account will be deleted and the user will be permanently banned.
These forums aren't advertisement boards so posts that can be seen as pure advertisement will be removed and the user will be warned, unless those posts are placed in the Members site show off forum. The general rules and the site show off rules are applicable (one show off for active members only).
Posts may contain a single image. Advised is an image of no more then 500px wide, 500px high and 200KiB in size. Larger or heavier images in posts can be removed if they slow down the forum to much. The user will be notified and will be asked to re-size the image if such is the case. If the user refuses to cooperate, the image will be removed and user will be warned.
Images that can be seen as pure advertisement will be removed, the user will be warned.The judgment is up to the Administrator or the Moderator.
The copyright of other users, sites, media, artists etc. must be respected. Posts, signatures, images or avatars containing copyright infringement will be removed. The user will be warned.
Direct linking or hot-linking to an image on someone else's server without permission of the owner to do so is not allowed. It's called theft of bandwidth. If such is found out, the link will be removed. The user will be warned.
Links or referrals to other sites in posts are allowed if needed to illustrate the post or the topic. Non-illustrative links or links that can be seen as pure advertisement, will be removed without further notice. Links to commercial, political, religious or offensive sites will be removed without further notice.The judgment is up to the Administrator or the moderator. The user can be warned.
Spam is not tolerated here. Posts like "yeah”, “you’re right”, me too" etc. also constitute spam if no reasonable arguments are given. Such posts will be seen as pointless actions, only to increase one’s post count and will be deleted without further notice. Same policy will be used on bumping one’s own topic (replying to your own post when no other member has replied yet). If no other member has replied to your topic, the topic obviously isn’t (yet) interesting enough for other members and bumping won’t make it any more interesting. It would be a better idea to simply remove your topic or edit it to make it more interesting to other members. Chat-speak is not allowed here. It is spam. The poster has to use proper punctuation, correct words and correct grammar/spelling. The spam post will be removed and the user can receive a warning.
Non dragon-related topics can only be posted in "General discussions" or in "Debate" in case of a statement. Such topics will be moved without further notice if placed elsewhere.
The Administrator reserves the right to edit or remove any post at any time. The determination of what is construed as indecent, vulgar, spam, etc. as noted in these points is up to the Administrator.

Username

A username must start with a letter from the alphabet and cannot contain any other characters.
The username must be a decent name, suitable for a general audience (obscene, vulgar, slanderous, hateful, sexually-oriented, discriminating etc. names are not allowed).
The account of a user offending these username-rules will be deleted without further notice.

Signatures

Signatures may contain up to four lines (one line being that displayed on a browser opened to 400px width) of text (of small or normal size).
Text sizes should be between 9 and 12 (small and normal). Text in signatures is subject to the same conditions as posts with respect decency, warez, emoticons, etc.
While the board language is English, foreign languages are allowed in signatures after the SDB-Staff has given his approval. Ask any of the moderators by PM and wait until approval has been given
Links to non-commercial dragon related or fantasy sites are permitted in signatures. Links are allowed within the text limits as mentioned above. Links to political, religious or offensive sites will removed without further notice. The judgment is up to the administrator.
A small image (32 pixels square (32x32 px) is allowed. Banners (small or large) to other sites aren't allowed.
Users abusing these signature rules will be warned.

Avatars

Registered users can use an avatar from the gallery or link to one legally hosted by another server. Theft of bandwidth will lead to a warning.
The avatar has to be no larger than 100 pixels square (100x100 px), may contain no animation, and may not exceed 75KiB filesize.
Avatars are subject to the same conditions as posts (respect, etc).
It is not allowed to mimic or copy one of Silver Dragon Breath's images by an avatar, nor is it allowed to mimic or copy an Administrator's or Moderators' avatar.
The dragon avatars in the dragon gallery are made by © Sylvia R.B. Walther and can be used here on Silver Dragon Breath forums or on other forums. Usage on other forums requires saving the images to your own computer, because hot or direct linking to images from this site to other sites is forbidden - it would be theft of bandwidth - and finding your own host to host the image for you. It is not allowed to remove the copyright notion, altering the image in any other way also is not allowed.
Registered users abusing the avatar rules will be warned and/or may lose their avatar privileges.

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.

Policy

The Administrator of the forums is Namhias, the global moderators are DarkDragon, QueenoftheShadows and Ragnarok, the moderators are Jaden, albvan, Serenity and Shiari (see the forum index to find out what forum they moderate).
We encourage new registered users to participate to this community in an active and contributing way, inactive accounts or zero-posters can be deleted without further notice. If the user of an newly activated account does not log in at least once during the first ten days after activation has been given, the account will be seen as inactive and it will be deleted.
Posting obscene, vulgar, slanderous, hateful, sexually-oriented, discriminating, pornographic, indecent or generally offensive text/links or signatures will lead to a delete of the account and a permanent ban without further notice. The judgment is up to the Administrator.
Registered users will be warned by the Administrator or Moderator a maximum of three times for any of the other offenses. The user will be temporary banned for a maximum period of three months without further notice.
Arguing with the Administrator or with one of the Moderators on the forums after having received a warning will lead to an immediate additional warning. Should this exceed three strikes, the user will be temporary banned without further notice.
Re-registration with an other username while being temporarily banned will result in a permanent ban.
Users who feel they have been unfairly warned are welcome to contact the Administrator or the moderator who gave the warning via Private Messaging. The Administrator’s decision made after that will be final. The user will be contacted via Private Messaging.

Story Telling rules

This is a Story Telling site, not a role playing site, roleplaying is not allowed. If you want roleplaying, go somewhere else.
Before you start a story, make you sure you have created a character profile (a description of your character) in the character description forum.
Post only for your own characters. Do not post any reactions or attitudes of other members' character(s).
Stay with your character's character and history. Do not decide to "surprise" everyone with a mystery event in the character's past. If you want to do something out-of-the-ordinary, contact the moderator for permission. Be aware: You can edit your Character's profiles, or you can ask the moderator to do so for you.
It is not allowed to join a thread/story and then turn it to your own devices. The thread/story is group activity, meaning the whole group guides where the thread goes, especially the author. If the others don't like what you are doing, you may be asked to leave or change your ways. If you do not leave or change your ways after the others and especially the author have asked you to do so, you will be banned for three months without further warning.
Arrange your posts to be readable. If your character is speaking, use quotation marks. Space between paragraphs. Also try to make all posts so that any another reader would be able to reply (no spam, or motions that cannot be replied to, or added to in any way).
Your post should be a dialogue, and be readable as a story afterwards (so no conversation, but dialogue).
For out of character posts place OOC before writing input. Format is as follows: (OOC:Message)
Do not pick or gang up on others characters, you will be given a warning. If two characters don't get along well, they might have one or two words to say about it, but try to keep it clean and don't have post after post filled with argumentation.
Do not power-play your characters. You will be given a warning. Power play will annoy other users and may result in you being asked to leave. If you do not leave after being asked to do so, a second warning will be given. We bring in mind our three strikes policy on these forums (three warnings is an automatic ban of three months).

Disclaimer

The Administrator and the moderators disclaim any obligation or responsibility for the content of posts or links made by users.
The owner of an image or a site of whom the copyright is being infringed or of whom bandwidth is being stolen is asked to warn the Administrator. The Administrator will end the copyright infringement and/or the theft of bandwidth on Silver Dragon Breath dragon forums by removing the image and the link at once if the warning contains a valid accusation. The poster will be warned. The Administrator and the moderators disclaim responsibility for further actions.

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- power is gained through wisdom -