1)Harassment
Flaming:
Definition: A hostile and insulting interaction with another member.
Elaboration: Flaming by our definition will come under: Insulting another member, Insulting another members opinion, Profanity and insults during an argument and possibly more.
Punishment:
A typical situation will result in a formal warning within the thread or via PM.
If the warning is ignored, and the behavior persists, a ban from the website will be issued to the offending member. The length of the ban will be determined by the severity of the infraction with that member’s history taken into account.
Trolling:
Definition: A member attempting to provoke another member or De-rail a threads original purpose.
Elaboration: A troll is someone who posts inflammatory, extraneous, or off-topic messages with the primary intent of provoking other users into a desired emotional response or of otherwise disrupting normal on-topic discussion.
Punishment:
When dealing with trolls a moderator will use warn or punish the member trolling, whilst advising other members to ignore their posts and presence.
If the warning is ignored and the member continues to troll, the member will be banned for a length of time in accordance with the severity of the offense.
Bullying:
Definition: The actions or attempts to make another member feel threatened, unwelcome, unsafe and unhappy.
Elaboration: Bullying can be considered a lot of different ways, from VMing constantly, posting harsh things about them around the forum and much more. Any kind of act specifically targeting another member in a hostile manner will be considered through this.
Punishment:
If the bullied member expresses to us concern or fear we will take immediate action on the bully, sometimes from a written warning or from a straight up ban., if a warning has been issued and ignored a ban will be immediately issued of at least 30 days.
Spamming
Definition: Creating of messages that are advertisements, abusive, or otherwise unwanted on Internet forums.
Elaboration: Spam has many definitions and shall be treated very differently on a case by case basis. In its basic form spamming comes under the following definitions -
1. Advertising links
2. Nonsense words that don't contribute in anyway
3. Posting off topic in threads. This is particularly true of posting in OOC threads you DON'T BELONG TO and will be enforced.
4. Multiple posts in a row
5. Posts with the sole reason to gain post count
6. Emote Spam
As it works on a case by case basis there will be different enforcements of this rule per section which is explained below.
Punishment:
Usually a moderator will warn in the thread being spammed, if the spammers are of course members and not bots.
If the warning is ignored, or if the case is fairly severe some or all parties involved will be issued temporary bans
Some of the more severe cases of spamming will be issued instant bans, these usually entail advertising or neglecting warnings from moderators.
Details:
Spamming is a subject that comes up a little bit which needs clarification on do's or do nots. It's a very broad rule and can be strictly enforced or very lax in some areas, hopefully this will help in understanding.
Spamming as a definition is unwanted messages on a internet forum, you can generally think of some examples of this, however there are different types of this and will be further explained here:
Spamming numbers, letters, nonsense words such as "post" or "spam" to increase post count is forbidden most everywhere on RP Bastion
Advertisements to other sites is also considered spamming, we're not preventing our members from posting any links at all, but we discourage and may even punish advertising links such as "AdF.ly" and sometimes links to websites to where you can purchase products and services. This of course does not prevent you from posting a link to Amazon or eBay for example, but punishments could follow if we find those kind of links too often, or if the sole intent appears to be solicitation.
Advertising another RP site or forum is of course another matter and we discourage posting them.
Emote spam is another form of spamming that generally follows the rules of the first explanation. The use of emote spamming is filling your post with one or more of our smilies. We usually consider one or two posts like this to be fine, but more can results in warnings or punishments.
Bot spam is an automated function to spam advertisements and messages in their own threads and posts although this probably won't apply to any of our members, we do however encourage reports of these bots as they are dealt with much quicker.
3) Adult Material
Sexual Media:
Definition: Sexually explicit pictures, writing, videos or links.
Elaboration: RP bastion is a site which is supposed to be used for fun an engaging RPs and story telling. And we are aware that sometimes romantic or sexually charged situations may result from characters interactions. However we are not a porn or erotica site. Images and content of an overt sexual nature are not tolerated or supported by this site.
If a moderator deems something to be too sexual for RP Bastion it the image may be prone to removal and the member punishment.
Sexual Conversations:
Definition: Sexual conversation with another member, role-playing sexual interactions.
Elaboration: Taking flirting too far by role-playing a sexual interaction with another member or discussing sexual topics with inappropriate language and conversation content. This includes discussions of genitalia, sexual encounters, masturbation and anything else sexually explicit.
Note: This is not to say adult content or situations are forbidden in the individual RP’s but to keep in mind this is not an erotica site.
Punishment:
If these types of conversations are caught early the parties involved are usually issued a warning and told to change topic.
If the conversations have already transpired then the member(s) involved will be punished according to severity.
In the worst situations of these conversations some members can be issued instant bans with a varying time limit per case.
Drinking and Drug Usage:
Definition: Conversing on the forum while under the influence of alcohol or drugs, or speaking about such usage.
Elaboration: RPB is a clean site and does not approve of discussions about unhealthy alcohol usage or the use of drugs. If people want to do that in their private life, they are entitled to, but it does not belong on this site. Even more importantly, posting and chatting on the forum while under the influence of such substances is not conducive to the environment we wish to produce
Punishment:
If these types of conversations are caught early the parties involved are usually issued a warning. Further breaking of the rules will result in a ban.
4) No Linking to Other RP Sites
Definition: Posting the link or name of competing websites to RP Bastion.
Elaboration: Although mentioned in the "Spamming" rule, this is a rule we strictly enforce and could use some detail. We forbid the links and names of competing RP sites for the intent of taking members away from RP Bastion.
Punishment:
A first offense will be met with a warning either in the thread of through PM. If this behavior continues a ban will be issued, whose length of time is determined by the severity of the offense and the members prior history.
5) Spoilers
Definition: Posting major plot details or story elements which gives away the upcoming story.
Elaboration: Posting spoilers is a somewhat difficult subject to moderate and control, I will break down the use of specific types of spoilers for proper usage around the forum.
Punishment:
Usually when mistakenly posting spoilers, your post will be edited for others. If this happens too often you can receive warnings.
Infractions for spoilers are usually given when the thread is clearly spoiler free, a repeated offense or posting spoilers with malicious intent, will result in punishment
When posting spoilers with malicious intent you're usually subjected to a straight ban. If it is spammed enough it will be a permanent ban.
6) Profanity, Censor Bypassing and Foreign Languages
Profanity and Censor Bypassing:
Definition: The use of offensive words and profanity is forbidden in most cases, these are generally racial slurs and swearing.
Elaboration: As it is now, we forbid the use of any and all racial slurs/insults and even jokes. For the use of swear words, most are censored and are remaining that way, bypassing the censor is forbidden (Bypassing is the use of BBCode or elongating censored words to express profanity, advertisement and racial slurs). In some situations we allow the use of swearing, but only through our censors and without insult or offending any other members. If you are reported after the use of profanity you can be subjected to punishment so be warned.
Punishment:
If there is an excess in profanity, any kind of racism or the censor is bypassed in anyway you could be given a formal warning or possible more.
Usually when this rule is broken the party or parties involved will be issued a warning, if this warning is ignored a ban will result.
In some cases the member(s) involved can be subjected to instant bans, the length of the ban will vary from case to case.
7) Respecting Fellow Members
Respecting Members:
Definition: Every member of our forum deserves to be treated with the same level of respect as everyone else.
Elaboration: This means from admins to guests you do not treat anyone differently. You may of course have friends of your own, you don't have to reply to everyone in threads or VM's, but we wish for you to treat everyone equally, don't scorn new members or revel moderators, we're all people and members and should be treated with the same level of respect.
Punishment:
If you disrespect another member you could still be subjected to some punishments, we will usually warn parties involved, but if it transpires into bullying or trolling we can and will enlist harsher punishments.
If the disrespect has transpired into more or has gone on for too long you could be issued an a ban. The worst situations can result in being banned, we won't be giving special treatment to older or more "elite" members, if we find you are in violation of this rule the ban range can be vary per situation.
Respecting Staff:
Definition: Respecting the decisions and punishments of the forum staff.
Elaboration: Although the staff of our forum wish to be treated the same as members, this rule is mainly enforcing our decisions and punishments. We ask that you do not fight or complain about the decisions we make about the forums and punishments of yourself and other members. If you would like to protest them, talk about them or otherwise discuss them, please pm us in a cordial manner.
Punishment:
If you are being too aggressive towards a staff members decision on anything you can be subjected to a warning or a more severe punishment.
Usually if you're being punished from this rule you've already been punished and are challenging it too aggressively, if the punishment was a warning it could escalate into a ban.
If you continue to pester a staff member of a previous punishment or a decision they've made for the forum/site, the punishment can be increased further to a potential permanent ban.
8)Multiple/Alternate Accounts
Definition: Making another account without good reason from your main account.
Elaboration: Alternate accounts are not allowed. It's really not necessary to have more than one.
Punishments: The extra account will be banned. Further use of alt accounts will result in your main account being banned.
9) Reporting
Definition: The clarification on multiple reports and reporting bots.
Elaboration: When reporting a certain individual we encourage you to report to us once as it is easier to search our report section, we tend to read the whole conversations of a single report so don't worry about us missing anything. We also truly appreciate members that report bots and ad spam on our site. We ask for our members to report per bot (Only one of that bots posts, not each post.) as to not clutter our searches to removing everything.
24) Moderating
The staff of RP Bastion wish for you to have an enjoyable experience around the forums. Many of our mods have a specific section they moderate, it is best to go to those mods if you have a problem or issue within a specific section. If you are having an issue with a moderator or staff you should contact an administrator.
Thu Jul 11, 2013 4:25 pm
