Forum Rules - Updated October 27, 2008

[sysadmin]

Welcome to the FanimeCon forums.

This is a growing but experimental community, kind of like that talking plant in Little Shop of Horrors.

We have all types of people, from active posters, to quiet lurkers, to master debaters.  Most of time we get along.

Because we have lots of people, there are some general rules and guidelines:

• Be cool
• Be awesome
• Don't be hating

If you're in doubt whether to make a post or make a thread, check to make sure that it meets all three standards.

That's it. Have fun, and go wild.

[sysadmin]

Now, obviously there are some people who will try to bend rules or take advantage of the situation.  Accordingly, we need to lay out some ground rules.

Your account

• Ensure that the email address on your account is accurate.
• Accounts with invalid email addresses are subject to deactivation.

• Forums Signatures are limited to 600x125 pixels.
• This includes text and images.
• Signatures that are too large may be deleted.
• As this is a new rule, this will be enforced starting September 28.

• Avatars are limited to 100x125 pixels.
• Avatars that are too large may be deleted.
• This will be enforced starting September 28.

• One account per person
• You may not create side accounts or shell accounts.
• People who are found to have multiple accounts may have all their accounts deleted.
• Using a side account to circumvent a ban or other punishment is strictly forbidden! It makes the admins very angry.

Your posts

• Please keep the overall tone of your posts to no worse that a PG-13 rating.
• This means no swear words.
• This also means to keep the violence/sex/nudity of your posts to a minimum.
• I can't believe I have to write this out.

• Keep your tone civil with each other.
• Yes, you can disagree with people.
• You can even nitpick a situation to its level minimum.
• However, if you cross that line from "civil discourse" to "being an asshole", that's too much.
• If someone has crossed that line, you may report it.  See the "Moderators" section below.

This is not a full list of rules.  If there is a borderline or questionable situation, the mods and admins have the right to take any action they deem necessary.  That's how it works.

[sysadmin]

There are several levels of privileged users on these boards.

Adminstrators.
There are two active Administrators, sysadmin and Tony.
They have full control over the board, its software, the posts, and the accounts.
Essentially, they have unlimited power over everything forum related.
If they hand out official warnings or judgments, you should take them very seriously.

Moderators
Moderators are "in charge" of a specific forum or forums; they have the actual day-to-day powers.
They have the power to lock threads, delete posts, or move threads to other forums.

Because they are in charge of specific forums, they are also responsible for "setting the tone" of what is acceptable, what is on-topic, etc.  They can also make up additional rules as needed.

In addition, they have the power to step into a dispute and hand out whatever warnings are needed.

If specific punishments are needed (bannings, suspensions, time outs, etc.), they work with the admins to implement it.

The boards recognize three classes of moderators:

Staff Moderators
For the "FanimeCon" section of the boards, the respective department or division heads have the ability to moderate the forums that correspond to their division or department.  This is by virtue of their staff role.

Fanime Super-Moderators
Fanime Super-Moderators are trusted Staff Moderators, whose powers extend to all "FanimeCon" forums.
The current Fanime Super-Moderators are: ewu and MPLe.

Forum Moderators
These are non-staff members who are in charge of one of the community forums.  They function exactly as regular moderators for their respective forum.

Reporting to the Moderators

• OMG, some post pissed me off!  GRR!
• Posts can do that.  Something it is a matter of interpretation.  Or they might just be a jerk.
• You're probably better off just ignoring it, or posting a one-sentence reply.
• Posting a one-sentence reply to avoid escalating a situation is completely encouraged.
• If someone disagrees with you, this is not a reportable offense.
• If someone is just stupid, this is not a report offense, although logic may not work in these situations.
• If it is egregious, you may use the 'report' button.  This will forward it to a moderator.

Each report is read and taken seriously; those in charge have the option to privately warn, publicly warn, punish, or do nothing.  Again, that is the basic process.

Note: Moderators who post in a forum where they are not in charge are merely regular forum members.  Their moderator status does not "carry over" to the other boards.  (Of course, Fanime Super-Moderators are, by definition, moderators of all FanimeCon-themed forums).

Flaming a moderator or administrator is strictly against the rules.  Again, I have no idea why I have to make this explicit, but there you go.

[sysadmin]

There are a number of forums on the FanimeCon boards.  Loosely, there are two types.

FanimeCon Discussionmentarianism

These are the forums that directly pertain to the actual FanimeCon event that is scheduled for Memorial Day weekend 2009.
The individual forums exist for some of the different areas in the convention structure.

All threads in these forums should be directly related to FanimeCon itself.
Threads that do not involve the convention itself should be in one of the other forums.

These forums are mostly moderated by Staff Moderators and Fanime Super-Moderators.
If you need an official answer on something Fanime related, it can either go here or via email.

These threads are planned to have a longer retention time, likely 90 days.


Community Forums

These include all the forums under "Anime Video Game Cosplay Geek Clearing House", "Serious Business" and "Everything else".

These forums can touch on many more topics.  There is also a lot of other experimentation that is planned.
Accordingly, the retention time is planned to be somewhat less, perhaps 45 days.

These forums are planned to be moderated by regular Forum Moderators, although the official forum rules will apply.

Summary

FanimeCon category = for FanimeCon things
other category = for other things.

Simple and Clean?  I hope so.

[sysadmin]

Some of you have noticed.

There is an ignore feature on the boards.   Each post has a button; you can ignore a user's post if you so choose.


If someone is getting on your case, use it.  It might just be the best way to defuse a situation.
Use it.  It's easy to undo if you think there's a problem.


If a situation is really bad, there is also the "Report to moderator" option.  Just make sure that your reports are above reproach when you use it.