Aqua-Soft ForumsHi all, after lots of arduous work playing with the minutiae of the new rules, I present to you what we consider to be the final draft.
These rules are not being officially enforced yet, but some of the more sensible ideas may be referenced/used at staff members' discretion.
We'd appreciate any comments and suggestions regarding the rules, but please be aware that this isn't just some garbage that we've thrown together - I've been working on these, revising them once every week or so, for about the last 2-3 months.
We're especially interested in things you feel we may have left out, or areas you feel that the rules are too vague.
Without further ado, the proposed new rules:
Board Policies and Frequently Asked QuestionsAll email account information is masked on this board and all information is kept confidential.
Your IP is logged when you register and is stored for future reference (see later).
You also acknowledge that Aqua-Soft may delete your account from our systems if it has not been used within three months, and has less than ten posts, at our own discretion.
N.B.: If you find any post or topic in which any rules here are being broken, please report the offending content to a member of staff as soon as possible.
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Posting Images in the forum:
- If your image is larger than 500x375 please make a thumbnail or text linking to your image. These sizes are not interchangeable, i.e. all inline images must be less than 500 pixels wide, and less than 375 pixels high.
- The thumbnail must not be larger than 500x375, if your thumbnail is larger, your post will be edited (or deleted, if it's in the desktop thread).
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Posting:
General Etiquette:
- Search the forums before you post your topic. Your question or comment may have already been discussed, answered, or resolved.
- Tag your threads such that users may understand what type of topic you have posted. More details regarding thread tagging are available here. Tags, however, need not be used in the "General Discussion" and "Site and Forum Issues" forums.
- Create a concise subject that adequately summarizes your topic. For example "[request]Mac OSX 'Tiger' Visual Style" is much more informative than "Help me find this".
- Double-posting (or cross-posting) the same post (or similar posts) in different forums will cause confusion and most likely reduce chances or receiving a valid resolution for the topic.
- "Bumping" or replying to your own posts or older topics is frowned upon - only post in old topics or reply to your own posts if it furthers the topic of discussion, and the post's content warrants the topic being revived. For example, reviving a month-old topic to inform the author of your appreciation is frowned upon - send them a private message; reviving a month-old topic to inform other members that you have found a solution to the problem being discussed, however, is acceptable.
- Be patient. All the users of this forum are using the forum and participating in discussions in their own time.
- Help others. This forum is a community, and works best when people share information and assist one another to the best of their abilities.
- Use coherent English, where possible. Whilst it is understandable that English is not the first language of many of our users, Aqua-Soft requests that users try, wherever possible, to use English, such that all other users may be able to understand the discussion. Further to this, "leet speak" is very much frowned upon.
- Be constructive. If you don't have anything good to say then don't say anything at all. Constructive criticism is welcome, derogatory comments are not.
NOTE: If there is a pinned topic in a forum, read it - it contains important information pertaining to that particular forum.
Important:
Also, posts deemed "pointless" by staff will be removed at their own discretion. This may include, but is not limited to:
- posts consisting only of emoticons or smilies
- posts requesting a release
- posts with minimal content (for example, posting "thanks" is frowned upon, unless accompanied with further detail - if you wish to thank someone, please send them a personal message, or use the "thank" feature of the board).
- Posts whose content is not within the remit of Aqua-Soft, is expressly forbidden, or is deemed unnecessary or "junk"
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Signatures:
Forum signature sizes should remain decent sized and be thoughtful of other members; a maximum size for signatures should be 450x100px. Large signatures slow forum load times for modem users. These sizes are not interchangeable, i.e. all signatures must be less than 450 pixels wide, and less than 100 pixels high, including all text and images. Further to this, the combined size of all images in signatures may be no more than 50KiB. If any signature is found to impinge on these rules, we will remove said signature and replace it with a message regarding it's removal.
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Board Policies and Disclaimer:
This BBS welcomes all people. The main purpose of this BBS is to provide a place for computer users, artists, and developers to gather, discuss and help each other. Few things will get your posts deleted or get yourself banned so please read the rules below.
All action taken is at the discretion of the staff of Aqua-Soft. If it is felt that the case is especially bad, staff may, at their own discretion, increase the resultant level of action against involved parties.
Action: Pirated software, pornography of any kind or copyrighted content will NOT be allowed.
Result: Post will be deleted or have the offending content removed.
Action: Trolling. Don´t make posts that are inflammatory just to upset people, receive attention, or cause controversy.
Result: Post will either be locked or deleted depending on the severity.
Action: Flaming is not welcome here. Criticize ideas, not people. No members or moderators are allowed to engage in public personal attacks on any other member or Moderator. Personal attacks are defined as Personal, Racial, Ethnic, and/or Gender based insults, slurs, or derisive comments or actions. Using vulgarity just for the shock factor is frowned upon.
Result: Post will be deleted or have the offending content removed.
Action: Political and Religious Topics. There are many other forums specifically for political and religious debates, this is not one of them. Aqua-Soft is an emulation and skinning community and, as such, because these types of posts usually result in heated debates and flaming, they should be avoided.
Result: Threads are closed and/or removed.
Action: Spam. Aqua-Soft does not allow commercial-oriented posts, links in signatures for commercial purposes, or flooding with useless content.
Result: Offending content removed.
Action: Distribution of copyright material without permission.
Result: Offending content removed.
Action: "Bumping" threads without good reason. People do not want to see a four-month old thread, just because you think it's important. If they want to read an old thread, they will find it themselves. Only post to old topics if you have something which directly contributes to the topic of discussion, or furthers the commentary.
Result: Offending post(s) removed.
Action: Disputing decisions made by Admins or moderators publicly.
Result: Threads are closed and/or removed.
General Rules: Sexually offensive, sexually explicit, or objectifying art (different from above). Simple rule. Moderator's judgment applies here. Sexually suggestive images will be heavily scrutinized. We´d like for our readers to be able to read the forums at work and share with friends without fear of retribution. If your work is questionable, please preface your post with a statement to that effect.
Respect the privacy of others. Do not post other´s phone numbers, addresses, pictures, etc., without their permission.
Blatant advertising is not tolerated.
Further to the above, the following action will be taken on any infringement of the rules, depending on the severity of the action, and is at the discretion of the staff:
First offense: Official warning
Second offense: Three day suspension
Third offense: Permanent ban
If any user is found to have more than one Aqua-Soft account without the express permission of the admins, that user will receive a lifetime ban from Aqua-Soft, and have their accounts (and, at the admins' discretion, their posts) removed. Actions of this nature are considered tantamount to spam and, as such, are expressly forbidden at Aqua-Soft.
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Monthly Desktop Screenshot Threads:
Aqua-Soft allows members to post screenshots of their desktops to a common area, such that members may easily compare desktops and swap suggestions. As this thread is typically one of the most active areas of the forum, and because of the highly personal nature of potential content that may appear on one's desktop, the following rules and suggestions are put in place not only to ensure consistency within the thread, but also to allow users to browse the desktop screenshot threads on slower internet connections, and in public/work environments.
At the beginning of every month, a new desktop screenshots thread will be created by a moderator or administrator in the Aqua Discussion forum, and the previous month's thread closed.
If any member creates a desktop screenshot thread of their own, creates a thread whose sole or primary purpose is to show off their screenshots, or attempts to start the new month's desktop screenshot thread, said thread will be deleted, along with all posts within it.
Whilst some members may be anxious to post their screenshots as early as possible within the month, we ask that members wait until a member of staff has created and pinned the month's desktop screenshot thread before posting their screenshots, such that the staff may reiterate the rules for desktop screenshots.
Remember: Ignorance is no defense.
NOTE: Three inflections of any of the rules stated below will result in a warning, with severity of the action taken increasing with each offence.
Desktop Screenshot Guidelines:
- Use a thumbnail of your desktop no larger than 640x480 pixels. Any images larger than 640 pixels wide or 480 pixels high will be removed.
- You are allowed to ask questions and make requests related to users' desktops (and, of course, reply to said questions and requests) within the thread, but any other discussion deemed off-topic by staff will be removed and, at the discretion of the staff, warant a warning of the member in question.
- When quoting a member's post, ensure that any images in their post are removed from your quote.
- Staff may edit or remove any posts, images, or content from this thread at their discretion.
Desktop Screenshot Policies
Action: Posting "explicit" content in the desktop screenshot thread.
Result: Any content deemed "explicit" (or outside of the PG-13 rating of Aqua-Soft) by staff may be removed at their discretion.
Reason: Aqua-Soft is an international community, with many members viewing these boards in public places. As such, any content deemed unsafe for viewing in a public environment (whether it be an internet café or a place of work) cannot be allowed, as this means that members cannot browse the thread comfortably in public environments. Aqua-Soft aims for a PG-13 rating - please help us keep it that way.
Screenshots may contain "spicy" content (for example, women in "skimpy" cloting) so long as:
- It is tasteful - would you be happy to show the image to your mother?
- It is not shown as a thumbnail, and ample warning is offered to other members that the linked images are "not safe for office viewing".
Action: Posting comments in the desktop screenshot thread, and quoting large images.
Result: Replies will be removed without notice, at the discretion of the staff.
Reason: This makes load times on pages substantially larger, which means that our users still using 56K connections may experience vastly lengthened loading times for the pages they wish to view. Further to this, quoting of images makes the thread visually unpleasant to browse for many members.
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Rules for Developers/News Posters:
Whilst members in these "privileged" groups have the ability to "moderate" on topics they started, on their own posts, and on topics in their own areas (in the case of developers, in particular), it is not recommended that moderation is carried out by these members, other than closing and re-opening threads to stop unnecessary "bumping". If you require further moderation to be carried out (dealing with inflammatory posts, for example), please contact a member of staff as soon as possible.
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Disputes with staff members:
Administrators' and moderators' decisions are absolute and final. Do not dispute a decision publicly with members of staff. Any posts found to be disputing decisions made by staff members will be closed and/or removed.
If you feel, however, that a decision is unjust or unfair, please contact an Administrator directly.
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Forum Disclaimer:
Considering the real-time nature of this forum, it is impossible for us to review every message or confirm the validity of information posted. Please remember that we at Aqua-Soft do not actively monitor the contents of and are not responsible for any messages posted. We do not vouch for or warrant the accuracy, completeness or usefulness of any message, and are not responsible for the contents of any message. The messages express the views of the author of the message, not necessarily the views of Aqua-Soft or any entity associated with Aqua-Soft nor the Staff of Aqua-Soft. Any user who feels that a posted message is objectionable is encouraged to contact us immediately by email or private message. We have the ability to remove objectionable messages and we will make every effort to do so, within a reasonable time frame, if we determine that removal is necessary. This is a manual process, however, so please realize that we may not be able to remove or edit particular messages immediately.
You agree, through your use of this service, that you will not use the Aqua-Soft forum to post any material which is knowingly false and/or defamatory, inaccurate, abusive, vulgar, hateful, harassing, obscene, profane, sexually oriented, threatening, invasive of a person´s privacy, or otherwise violative of any law. You agree not to post any copyrighted material unless the copyright is owned by you.
Although Aqua-Soft does not and cannot review every message posted and is not responsible for the content of any of these messages, we at Aqua-Soft reserve the right to delete any message for any or no reason whatsoever. You remain solely responsible for the content of your messages, and you agree to indemnify and hold harmless Aqua-Soft, Invisionboard (the makers of the bulletin board software), and their agents with respect to any claim based upon transmission of your message(s).
We at Aqua-Soft also reserve the right to reveal your identity (or whatever information we know about you) in the event of a complaint or legal action arising from any message posted by you.
Please note that advertisements, chain letters, pyramid schemes, and solicitations are inappropriate on the Posting Board and Forum, and violators are dealt with according to Forum Policies.
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Support Disclaimer:
The information and support provided on this site/forum is a courtesy of Aqua-Soft. While we try to keep the information on our site as accurate as possible, we disclaim any implied warranty or representation about its accuracy, completeness, or appropriateness for a particular purpose. You assume full responsibility for using the information on this site, and you understand and agree that Aqua-Soft and the Staff is neither responsible nor liable for any claim, loss, or damage resulting from its use. References to specific products, processes, or services do not constitute or imply a recommendation or endorsement by Aqua-Soft of such products, processes or services unless otherwise expressly stated.
Topic Pinned.
I forgot, when I first posted this.
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Stevie BM
. Please let us know your thoughts on them.
