Forum, IRC & Discord Rules

Rules and Guidelines for the Community Section

We are a small, relaxed community; however, there are a few rules and guidelines available for the community section here on this site.

1. Please use common sense

If it doesn't seem like you should do it, then don't do it! If you are unsure about something, ask either Sephiroth, WindStrike or Orithan.

2. Do not harass other members

If you have a problem with another member, please debate it with tact. We don't need insults, derogatory comments and/or discrimination here on this site. If you have a personal issue with someone else that you just need to get resolved, then feel free to contact Sephiroth, WindStrike or Orithan about it instead.

3. Spam tastes awful

Spam, also known as Stupid Pointless Annoying Messages. While the Spam in a can tastes good on sandwiches, its not nice to post it on this site. That said, if a reply to a thread can actually mean something, then by all means, post it up. However, one-liners and image-macros and video posts fall under this category.

4. One account per member

This is a definite; Only one account per member is allowed. If you register additional accounts, those accounts will be banned and/or deleted and the original account holder will be held responsible. If you were already banned and you are doing a ban-evasion, expect your ban to be extended (Possibly indefinitely.)

5. Respect the staff

Do NOT Rent-a-Mod. If you are not a staff member, do not pretend that you are. If there is a problem with a thread, please use the Report function built into our site to report it to us, and we will deal with it.

If we need moderators, we will contact you. If you bug us about being one, we will not consider you.

Also, if we, (Sephiroth, WindStrike or Orithan) tell you to do something, you better listen!

6. Keep things safe for work

Please keep content safe for viewing in a work environment. If you wouldn't want your parents, boss and/or teachers to see it on your screen, then it doesn't belong on ZURPG. This includes M-rated material, excessive profanity, excessive blood and gore, and overly sexual content. This applies for all areas of the site, especially avatars, profiles and posts.

7. Keep things at least vaguely on topic

If a discussion evolves naturally to a different topic, it is an acceptable thing to discuss as long as you remember what the topic was originally intended for and the thread creator doesn't object. However, if you just wildly switch to something completely off-the-wall without a thread of logic to go with it, you will probably be told to get back on topic.

8. Do not evade bans

When the staff ban a member, they mean it. Because of this, any means of getting around it is against the rules. If you are banned and register another account, expect your ban time to be increased. If you wish to discuss this, you can hop onto IRC and discuss it with a staff member. Please be courteous. Yelling at us will only make us probably ban you off IRC as well.

9. Do not post copyrighted material, illegal material or pornography

Do not post links to copyrighted or illegal material such as music (Youtube videos are okay.), games, ROMs, etc. Also, do NOT post pornography. Please don't ask where to find any of these things either.

10. Embedded Media

Due to the site protocol change on June 5th, 2016; the following applies to any and all "embedded media" on the site. Any avatars, any images posted inline, any videos posted must be hosted on a hosting provider that provides https:// capabilities. Youtube and Imgur both provide https:// capabilities, so those would be recommended the most. That said, if you really need to show off an image you found but it isn't on any https:// capable webservers, please use the [url] tag instead of embedding via [img] tag. Embedded "non-secure" content causes the browser to freak out about mixed content on a SSL-protected page.

11. IRC and Discord Rules

All of the above rules apply to both IRC & Discord. Additionally, you can use whatever name you want, but if we're not familiar with it (your forum & character names are automatically good), let us know who you are, especially on Discord, as we'd very much prefer not to deal with unknown people. You can find more information about Discord below.

Warning System

Note: Only you and the staff can see your warning levels. To view your warning level and the reasons behind your percentage increases, click on the percentage in your profile or on one of your posts.

Minor offenses

These offenses will net you a 10% increase in your warning level. While these offenses are minor, please heed what a moderator or the staff tells you.

Major offenses

These offenses will net you at least a 30% to 50% increase in your warning level, depending on the severity of the actions you have committed.

Warning System Breakdown

• At 30%, your posts will require moderator approval before showing up for a length of 1 week.
  
• At 60%, your posting privileges will be suspended for 1 week.
  
• At 90%, your posting privileges will be suspended for 2 weeks.
  
• At 100%, the forum software will automatically ban you for 1 month.
  

Do note that the staff reserves the right to alter the actions taken at any time.

Discord is a special software that allows user text chat and voice chat like TeamSpeak and Skype. It even has the ability to create servers, multiple channels, and has moderation options. What separates Discord from the others is that all the features in Discord are free to use. It even has customizable things like individual volume control and notifications. Discord also has browser support, meaning you can connect from just about anywhere with just a username.

Keep in mind that Discord is still in its early phase, so there may be some things going wonky or new features to be added in the future. You can find more information about Discord on its website here. It's probably not going to replace IRC anytime soon, but it is a pretty nice program if you ask me.

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Enough about Discord itself, Sephiroth has created an Official ZURPG Discord Server™, which you can join here. When you first join, you'll be in the #zurpg-general text channel, it is where we just talk about nonsense and have some fun. There is also a zurpg general voice channel for people who prefer to talk or something. Channels for session teams are also available, two for voice. That should be enough channels unless we somehow grow so big we need more session channels. An AFK voice channel is also available because some of us can't be bothered to disconnect from any of them and want to have a nice place where things are quiet.

That's all the information you will ever need, really. We shouldn't need more general chat channels, but they will be made if a poll allows it. Keep in mind that all rules on the site and IRC also apply here. Have fun and enjoy your stay!
Someone sticky this or something.