As follows is the section dedicated to outline the guidelines that you, ˜The Members" (aka registered forum members) are expected to follow as part of your contract of registration and Terms of use. If you choose to go against the Rules, you are the one expected to bear the responsibility and accept the consequences of your actions. This is both for the sake of the GOP Community and the Legal Obligations of the Web Masters.


ARTICLE I: PUNISHMENTS

There are different levels of Rule Infraction, particularly based on how many times an offense has been committed and the severity of the infraction.

Section A: Warning
Self explanatory

Section B: Probation
If a member infracts a rule enough times, their posting ability can be temporarily disabled. This will range from 4 to 12 days.

Section C: Suspension
If a member infracts a rule after having been on probation recently, they are suspended entirely from seeing the Board. This can go from 7 to 28 days.

Section D: Ban
Going even beyond that, if a member does so much that he/she is no longer trustworthy to partake in the Board activities, they will be totally banned. This includes your User Name, IP Address, and E-Mail Address.

Section E: ISP/Server Ban
If a member Ban evades or does something of great harm to the Board, their ISP will be contacted to deal with them and the GOP server will permanently ban them.


ARTICLE II: THE BOARD RULES

The Punishments revolve around the rule infractions, and as such, the following are the rule infractions that can be committed.

Section A: No Spamming (Outside of the SPAM Forum)
Spam is an acronym for ˜Stupid Pointless Annoying Messages". This can entail a number of things and is the lowest level of rule infraction. Spam includes: Posts with less than four words, double posting, off topic posts, posting for the sake of increasing Post Count, starting misleading and or out of place threads, and promotion and/or advertising. Infraction of any of these merits a Warning Elevation. 3 or 4 infractions will result in Probation.

Section B: No Explicit Material/Content
As this board has members below the age of 18, it is illegal to post any form of Hentai, Pornography, or anything adult-rated in nature. Avoid heavy use of vulgar language and overly sexual content. You can maturely discuss some things but nothing in physical detail. Adult Images merit immediate Suspension while sexually detailed and vulgar posts will result in Probation on the second offense. Also, Censor evading will be punished.

Section C: No Flaming or Trolling
Flaming is the act of posting a personal attack on another member. Trolling is posting in a way that invites others to flame you. Do not do either of these; probation will be enacted on the second offense.

Section D: No Warez/Illegal Software
Posting about and discussing illegal Warez is a big offense. This includes but is not limited to emulators, ROM's, ISO's, and game cracks. As this activity is illegal, it will result in suspension on the first infraction. However, discussing ROM's for systems that are out of production (NES, SNES, Sega Genesis, etc.) will be allowed, but this is only a small exception.

Section E: No Insubordination
Do not go against the decisions of the Moderators. If you have a dispute or problem with a staff member action, PM an Admin with your concerns. Do not Flame Staff, do not make whine threads, and don't rally members against the Staff. Do not restart, re-post, or continue the arguments from threads which the staff has previously locked. This is considered an offense that allows probation on first infraction.

Section F: No Mod/Admin Begging
If proven dependable and trustworthy, normal members will be put on staff. However, if you choose to ask or beg for a Moderator Position, you will be warned and be listed to never receive any sort of power on the Board. This applies to PM's, e-mails, or Instant Messenger. Staff Members are to be chosen by the Administrators; it is not a job that you apply for.

Section G: No Bumping
If you find a thread that has not been posted in for over a month, do not post solely to bump it to the top of a Forum index. You must make a productive, intelligent post otherwise you will receive a warning.

Section H: No Aiding and Abetting
If someone you know, member or otherwise, has plans to commit an attack or serious rule violation on the board, you are expected to inform the staff before it happens. If we find out you knew beforehand and did not attempt to help, you will receive an 18-day Suspension.

Section I: No Ban Evasion
If, after receiving a Ban, you register a new account or come back under any manner, you will immediately be re-banned and higher levels of punishment will be enacted (ISP Alert/Server Ban). You do have permission to E-mail an Admin about your being banned, as we respect you enough to give reason.

Section J: No E-Mail or Private Message Abuse
It is totally intolerable for members to sign up and use other Members E-Mail addresses for Junk Mail, send them threats, or advertise to them. This merits suspension on the first offense. Also, do not abuse PMs. Sending too many PMs to a single person each day (without cause) is poor etiquette.

Section K: No Mod Playing
When a rule is broken, members are discouraged from making a big fuss over it. Do not say things such as "You're Breaking the Rules!" and "OMG I'm getting a Mod!" because such behavior only encourages more rules to be broken. Please PM a Mod when you see a Rule Violation, do not post about it.

Section L: Fan-art and Fan-Fictions
Regarding both of these, members are expected to give intelligent and constructive criticism when replying to Fan-art and Fan-fictions. Respect the authors and respect the board, do not be degrading or shameful of others.

Section M: Cussing
Keep the use of swear words to a bare minimum.


Article III: MEMBER AGREEMENT

Signing up for this forum enters you into a legally binding contract in which you agree to abide by these Rules and Policies for the good of the Board as a whole. You also acknowledge that Rules and Policies can and frequently will be changed or added to fit the changing times, and that you are expected to abide by those as well. You understand that a message board is not a democratic entity; the members do not vote people into power positions, and they have little recourse in light of moderation. If all of this is correct and you have read the Rules and Policies above, then we welcome you to the GOP.

Here is an overview if you didn't feel like reading all of the above.

1. No offensive posts.
2. No flaming or ranting.
3. No posting just to get points for rank. Avoid very short posts (SPAM).
4. If you forget to say something in a post, then please edit your previous post rather than creating a new one.
5. No misleading topic titles.
6. All posts must stay on-subject. If in doubt, start a new topic. Make sure topics are related to the forum you're posting in.
7. All topics must be related to the forum they're posted in. If you're unsure, then use the Miscellaneous / General forum.
8. Do not include very large images in your posts, especially in your signatures. Many of our users connect over dial-up.
9. No advertising or blatant product promotion.
10. Cussing should be kept to a bare minimum.
11. Discussion of illegal activities such as Warez, Downloading Full Episodes/Movies etc. is forbidden and will be deleted without notice.
12. Requests for banned members to be un-banned will be ignored and topics regarding them will be deleted.