The following rules and guidelines comprise the rules and guidelines that ICE expects all members to abide by. Let´s look at each one briefly:
Keep it civil: Don´t engage in personal attacks, name-calling, or blanket generalizations in your discussions. Do not belittle others,their opinions, or ideas. Say how you feel or what you think, but also be careful about ascribing motives to the actions of others or telling others how they "should" think or act.
People seeking to engage and discuss will find themselves asking questions, seeking clarifications, and describing their own opinion. People seeking to "
win an argument" sometimes end up taking cheap shots, calling people names, and generally trying to intimidate others.
Keep it clean: Don´t use obscenities, don´t use clever tricks to run around the profanity filters, and don´t link to sites with inappropriate content. The "acid test" we use is the "Grandmother Rule" -- if it would be inappropriate to say to or show to our grandmothers, don´t do it. We want a typical 13 year old kid to be able to come here and participate if they want to without feeling uncomfortable. This should be a minor-friendly place. Think about it this way: how do you act around strangers or work acquaintances? You watch your language and you´re on your best behavior. That´s the ideal we´re shooting for here.
Keep it on topic: Ok, so it´s not that we actually forbid off-topic conversation. But keep in mind that this is a site dedicated to ICE´s games, with many sub-forums on lots of related topics. Try to put your posts in the right forums (it helps people find stuff, for one thing); off-topic posts go in the Off Topic forum.
No Trolling: Trolling is defined as attempting to start arguments or break forum rules; or inciting others to do so through posting something that will undoubtedly cause a negative reaction or post in response. Trolling posts can be overt, but they could just as well be worded
very subtly. We have seen both types on the ICE Forums in the past, and only person has ever had to be banned of this. We would like to keep it from happening more often, but ICE will not tolerate any sort of trolling, be it on purpose or accident.
I´d also like to quickly address the issue of what to do if you feel uncomfortable because of another person on these boards. I´d hate to see someone stewing over something for weeks or months, and then leaving because they feel that the moderators don´t care about their problem. It is important for you to realize that we admins and mods can´t know about everything that goes on. If you feel that there is a problem, or that someone is being mean to you or anyone else, please let a moderator know. Every post has a "Report to Moderator" link that you can use. However, please don´t be offended if, in a given instance, the moderator doesn´t agree with you. I can assure you that all of the moderators here do their best to be fair and frequently talk issues over. With that in mind, we do have a couple of rules when it comes to moderators, and we ask you to abide by them:
- We appreciate that sometimes you will disagree with a moderator´s decision, or feel that a request from a moderator is unfair or unjustified. We´re not going to be able to keep everyone happy all of the time, so we settle for trying to keep most people happy most of the time. Whether or not you agree with a moderator´s stance, we do expect you to abide by their decisions and requests.
- If you really, really disagree with a moderator´s position on a [moderating] issue, please don´t argue about it on the boards. That means no calling out of moderators, no challenging their decisions in the thread, and certainly no attempts to go over a moderator´s head. The moderators all discuss such things amongst themselves, and no moderator or admin is ever going to override another. If you honestly feel that you have been treated unfairly, please contact the moderator in question privately and discuss it with them. The end result may not be the one you were seeking, but we will do our our best to be fair.
What happens if I break the rules?
It depends. We may just email you, gently reminding you about the standard of conduct we expect here; we may post in the thread or topic if we feel it will help; alternatively, we may suspend your account, either temporarily or permanently.
The more posts you have accumulated, the less lenient we are likely to be. This is because we expect that any long-time member of ICE Forums should know better.
Finally -- if you break a rule and admit to knowing it at the same time, we won´t bother asking questions. Posts which include phrases like "this will probably get me warned or banned" show you´re pretty much sticking your fingers up at the rules and the moderators, and will quite likely result in a banning. We probably won´t even bother emailing you to let you know in these situations.
The moderators and their decisions (or "Rule 0")
This was touched on above, but deserves reiterating.
First of all,
publicly challenging or arguing with a moderator over a moderation issue is not acceptable. They are human beings, just like you, trying to do the impossible. They don´t get paid for moderating the ICE Forums, and it is important that their job be as easy as possible. What this means is that you don´t get to argue with a moderator publicly; by all means contact them by email or Private Message if you feel it is necessary. Breaking this rule will result in an immediate 3 day ban without any warnings.
Secondly, there is a very low tolerance for people who try to skirt the rules or seek loopholes. This is where "Rule 0" comes in - all of the above rules are really just guidelines to help you fit in at the ICE Forums. When it comes down to it, though, what we want you to do is use common sense, and moderators have the authority to do and say whatever is necessary to keep the ICE Forums the sort of place we want it to be. Think of them like the GM in an RPG - yes, there are rules in the book, but the GM is the sole arbiter of what happens; if you don´t like his GM-ing, you don´t have to play in his game.
And just to refresh your memories, here is the text of the Registration Agreement that you had to agree to when you registered on the ICE Forums.
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You agree, through your use of this forum, that you will not post any material which is false, defamatory, inaccurate, abusive, vulgar, hateful, harassing, obscene, profane, sexually oriented, threatening, invasive of a person´s privacy, adult material, or otherwise in violation of any International or United States Federal law. You also agree not to post any copyrighted material unless you own the copyright or you have written consent from the owner of the copyrighted material. Spam, flooding, advertisements, chain letters, pyramid schemes, and solicitations are also forbidden on this forum.
Note that it is impossible for the staff or the owners of this forum to confirm the validity of posts. Please remember that we do not actively monitor the posted messages, and as such, are not responsible for the content contained within. We do not warrant the accuracy, completeness, or usefulness of any information presented. The posted messages express the views of the author, and not necessarily the views of this forum, its staff, its subsidiaries, or this forum´s owner. Anyone who feels that a posted message is objectionable is encouraged to notify an administrator or moderator of this forum immediately. The staff and the owner of this forum reserve the right to remove objectionable content, within a reasonable time frame, if they determine that removal is necessary. This is a manual process, however, please realize that they may not be able to remove or edit particular messages immediately. This policy applies to member profile information as well.
You remain solely responsible for the content of your posted messages. Furthermore, you agree to indemnify and hold harmless the owners of this forum, any related websites to this forum, its staff, and its subsidiaries. The owners of this forum also reserve the right to reveal your identity (or any other related information collected on this service) in the event of a formal complaint or legal action arising from any situation caused by your use of this forum.
You have the ability, as you register, to choose your username. We advise that you keep the name appropriate. With this user account you are about to register, you agree to never give your password out to another person except an administrator, for your protection and for validity reasons. You also agree to NEVER use another person´s account for any reason. We also HIGHLY recommend you use a complex and unique password for your account, to prevent account theft.
After you register and login to this forum, you will be able to fill out a detailed profile. It is your responsibility to present clean and accurate information. Any information the forum owner or staff determines to be inaccurate or vulgar in nature will be removed, with or without prior notice. Appropriate sanctions may be applicable.
Please note that with each post, your IP address is recorded, in the event that you need to be banned from this forum or your ISP contacted. This will only happen in the event of a major violation of this agreement.
Also note that the software places a cookie, a text file containing bits of information (such as your username and password), in your browser´s cache. This is ONLY used to keep you logged in/out. The software does not collect or send any other form of information to your computer.
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