Rules!, READ, READ, READ!

Rules Key

Rules are in this format:

About the difference between "a forum" and "the forums"
In these rules, "the forums" refers to the Cave of Dragonflies forums as a whole. Meanwhile, "a forum" refers to a specific section within the forums, such as the Coughing Cupboard or General Pokémon Discussion.


Forum Rules

Rule #1: Concerning off-topic posts
1.1: When posting a new thread, place it in the appropriate forum. Guidelines about what belongs in each forum are located at the top of each forum, and those are to be read carefully before starting a new thread or replying to a previous one.
1.2: When replying to a thread, all replies should relate to the topic specified by the starter of the thread. The discussion should never develop to be completely unrelated to what the topic was originally about. However, as long as every post does contribute to the original topic of the thread, members may add slightly unrelated comments to their posts, even replying to other posts' slightly unrelated comments - it is nonetheless requested that if a whole subdiscussion about another subject is developing within a thread, somebody should simply start a new thread about it and perhaps notify other participants in the subdiscussion of it.
1.3: Moderators and administrators are excluded from this rule when noting a rule-breaking previously in the thread.
Severity: Low
Moderator response: Verbal warning to get back on topic

Rule #2: Concerning bumping
2.1: Bumping is defined as any posting in an outdated thread.
2.2: An outdated thread is a thread discussing a long-past event about which there is nothing further to talk about.
2.3: This rule does not apply to polls, threads that ask a simple question to everybody who replies to it or other threads where replies generally address the thread starter rather than other members who have replied to the thread.
Severity: Low
Moderator response: Lock thread

Rule #3: Concerning advertising
3.1: Linking to other websites and forums is permitted only if the link is either the focus of the topic or contributes to it.
3.2: Starting a thread specifically for advertising your own website is only permitted in the Advertising forum.
3.3: Sending Private Messages for the sole purpose of advertising your website or forum is not allowed.
Severity: Low
Moderator response: Deletion of post or thread

Rule #4: Concerning flaming
4.1: Flaming includes all direct, hurtful comments about members, slandering, and excessive bashing of a Pokémon, character, TV show, celebrity, etc.
Severity: High
Moderator response: Deletion of post or thread

Rule #5: Concerning swearing
5.1: Swearing is allowed, but must not be excessive. As a way of emphasis, it is allowed, but the automatic censoring should not be evaded except in the Fan Fiction forum, where an appropriate rating must be included with the story or chapter. If used in a hurtful manner towards a person or thing, it counts as flaming and will be dealt with as such.
Severity: Low
Moderator response: Editing out the offensive language

Rule #6: Concerning spam
6.1: Any post which comes immediately after another one of your posts, referred to as a double post, counts as spam. This is due to the fact that members are able to edit their post if they want to add something.
6.2: An exception to 6.1 is made in threads which were started by you and will be updated and maintained by you; then, in the case of no response from your last post in the thread, you may post again in it. This includes all fan fiction and fan art posted in its respective forum.
6.3: A post is spam if it is of no real value to the thread; if a member asks a simple question and it is already answered, do not post unless you feel the need to clarify the answer further or correct it. Note that in a thread asking for opinions on a subject, the thread starter is generally looking for all opinions, and therefore your post will not be spam even if it simply agrees with another poster in the thread.
6.4: A thread is spam if it contains no actual topic of discussion for other members.
6.5: A post is spam if it is exclusively directed at one member and contains nothing of interest for others. Such a discussion should be taken to private messages.
Severity: Medium
Moderator response: Deletion of post or thread

Rule #7: Concerning page-stretching
7.1: Do not excessively lengthen a word (e.g. "NOOOOOOOOO...") so that some resolutions will show a horizontal scrollbar when viewing the page.
7.2: Do not post long rows of images with no space in between them. To make the images stack and thus not stretch the page, simply insert a space between them.
Severity: Low
Moderator response: Edit post

Rule #8: Concerning adult material
8.1: No adult material may be posted. This includes pornographic images, strongly sexual or suggestive artwork, and NC-17 rated fiction.
Severity: Strict
Moderator response: Deletion of post or thread

Rule #9: Concerning emoticons
9.1: Emoticon abuse includes posting many of the same emoticon in a row where one would do and posting emoticons that do not relate to the post.
Severity: Low
Moderator response: Edit post if excessive

Rule #10: Concerning plagiarism
10.1: Do not post anybody else's fanwork, or anything edited from anybody else's fanwork, without appropriate credit to the original creator, or, if the creator has specific terms of use, abiding by them.
10.2: This rule includes the edited sprites in the forum emoticons, which are bound by the Sprite Terms of Use.
Severity: High
Moderator response: Draw attention to theft and demand compliance with terms of use

Rule #11: Concerning member polls
11.1: Do not make polls, contests, awards or other threads of any sort that involve positive or negative opinions about specific members. This includes yourself.
11.2: The Administrators may approve of such a thread if they see fit.
Severity: Not Punished
Moderator response: Lock thread

Rule #12: Concerning spoilers
12.1: Do not spoil endings or plot details of books, games, movies or anything of the sort without an appropriate warning.
12.2: This includes spoiling how to get around any sorts of games or twists of The Cave of Dragonflies and the Cave of Dragonflies forums.
Severity: Low
Moderator response: Remove spoiler

Rule #13: Concerning signatures
13.1: Do not place music or anything else that will disrupt other members' forum browsing in your signature.
13.2: Do not use excessive unnecessary image stacking. Place small images side by side with spaces between them rather than putting one in each line.
13.3: 300 pixels of stacked images in your sig are enough. That means that horizontally, your signature's images should not be taller than this image:
(Posted Image)
Additionally, if your signature's images are over 200 pixels tall, you are not allowed to place any text below or above it; only beside it.
13.4: Do not place excessively horizontally large images in your signature. Keep them under roughly 550 pixels wide so they will not stretch the page on 800x600 resolution.
13.5: Do not put Flash animations or very large images filesize-wise in your signature. This includes most .bmp images.
13.6: The textual part of a signature should be no larger than the following placeholder text if the signature does not contain any images of over 100 pixels in height:

Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetuer adipiscing elit. Vestibulum ultrices, odio ut dignissim tempor, est urna rhoncus arcu, nec scelerisque risus nibh congue risus. Donec a eros eget ipsum hendrerit posuere. Nunc odio libero, congue in, vehicula nec, eleifend sed, lacus. Donec commodo tincidunt elit. Vivamus mattis ultrices magna. Suspendisse potenti. In congue orci at dui. Phasellus augue dolor, feugiat vel, suscipit ac, nonummy sed, mauris. Mauris venenatis, lectus et vestibulum sagittis, nisl lorem elementum lacus, eu dictum nulla metus ut diam. Phasellus rutrum mattis nunc. Aliquam erat volutpat. Mauris sodales molestie leo. Vivamus eget dolor. Vestibulum eu augue facilisis sem scelerisque vulputate. Class aptent taciti sociosqu ad litora torquent per conubia nostra, per inceptos hymenaeos. Integer urna arcu, molestie eu, pharetra facilisis, mattis quis, turpis. Pellentesque lectus. Praesent ac urna. Cum sociis natoque penatibus et magnis dis parturient montes, nascetur ridiculus mus. Ut pellentesque, nibh quis euismod iaculis, sapien lectus mollis nulla, vitae vestibulum sapien risus sit amet arcu.

If the signature's images are between 100 and 200 pixels tall, it may only be as tall as the following paragraph:

In volutpat risus nec erat. Ut turpis tellus, mollis ac, cursus non, facilisis a, lectus. Pellentesque pede nunc, lacinia sit amet, pulvinar ut, ullamcorper ac, leo. Etiam id justo et urna feugiat dapibus. Nunc lectus est, vestibulum vel, venenatis vel, pretium vitae, nisl. Integer sed tellus. Sed vitae velit a turpis scelerisque laoreet. Curabitur euismod. Etiam semper ultrices nisi. Donec dignissim ornare pede. Morbi ut libero sed purus porttitor blandit. Nulla elit. Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetuer adipiscing elit.

Severity: Keep track
Moderator response: Complete deletion of signature; in the case of first offense, a copy of the signature will be PMed to the offender prior to deletion, but not for further offenses


Forum Guidelines

The following will help you to become a respected member of the community. Breaking them might render you unpopular among both members, moderators and administrators.
a) At least halfway-decent spelling, grammar and punctuation are expected from all members. Chatspeak (u, 2, b and various other shorthand commonly used in internet chatrooms) is frowned upon.
b) Follow the rules and remember them. If in doubt about whether what you are going to post is legitimate, ask a moderator or administrator.
c) Do not ask or imply that you want to be a moderator. You will be a moderator only if you show the maturity and ability to, and if anything, asking for it will decrease your chances.
d) Listen to what the moderators and administrators say, whether you choose to agree with it or not.
e) After being warned, consider yourself warned and be more careful.
f) Do not attempt to get moderators and administrators biased towards you by "sucking up" (i.e. blindly supporting or admiring them in order to cause them to like you).
g) Do not repeat what somebody else has already said.
h) Generally, posts should be longer than one sentence. Short posts are technically allowed, but of course they must all be valid contributions to the topic, and with no long posts to weigh against them, you might be warned for spam simply out of arousing suspicions that you're posting to increase your post count.
i) Despite being provided with the option of changing your name in the Name Changing Thread located in Forum Help, please do not change your name unless you are sure that this is what you wish for your name to be.
j) If you do not thoroughly know a subject, do not pretend to.
k) Do not claim to be your brother, cousin or friend, or tell the moderators or administrators after breaking a rule that your brother, cousin or friend got into your account and was the one who broke the rule rather than you. You will not be believed and generally the philosophy here is that if your account is not safe from troublemaking relatives or acquintances, we will be forced to ban it if they get into your account three times. We therefore recommend that you make sure to log out of your account and have a secure password before your brother, cousin or friend gets you in trouble.
l) If you have a problem with a thread of yours that is locked or anything else concerning the forums directly, you should post in "The Forums", a subforum located under "The Cave of Dragonflies", to complain rather than personally bother a moderator or administrator outside of the forums.



The Warning System

Here, the warning system will be explained.

The Different Severities

Not Punished
This means that you will never be punished for breaking this rule, but it is a rule nonetheless.

Keep Track
This means that you will be given a one-week warning, more for the sake of being able to keep track of offenses than to make you possibly get banned for it.

Low
For breaking a rule with Low severity once, you won't get in trouble; just a verbal warning. For repeatedly breaking the same one, you will get a two-week warning.

Medium
For breaking a rule with Medium severity, you will get a month's warning.

High
For breaking a rule with High severity, you will get a three months' warning.

Strict
For breaking a rule with Strict severity, you will be banned on sight.

Warnings

The system here is "Three strikes, you're out". Upon receiving your third warning, you will be banned unless you have a warning that should have been removed already but wasn't. When the set time has passed after you receive a warning without you breaking any rules during that period at all, you may PM a moderator or administrator to have it removed.

Ban

Once you are banned, it is generally permanent. If we consider ourselves to have solid evidence that you have matured and will not cause more trouble, however, you may be let back, but this has no chance of happening unless we've been able to watch you for quite a while.

The moderators and administrators may decide to ban a member who seems to subtract from the community more than add to it, even if said member has not actually broken any rules. If a member repeatedly turns out as the cause of flame wars and other disruptions even after being warned to try to change whatever is causing this, we will have no choice but to ban said member.

Validation

After reading and fully understanding these forum rules, go to the Validation Requests forum and make a new topic. There you should politely request to have your account validated and state that you have read and understood the rules. Your account will then be validated and you will gain access to the rest of the forums. You will NOT get an e-mail to validate your account.

Happy posting, and enjoy your stay at the Cave of Dragonflies forums! ^_^