Forum Rules - Updated January 21, 2013

[sysadmin]

Welcome to the FanimeCon forums.

This is a growing community, allowing our fans to ask questions, and participate at greater levels.

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

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

New for 2013

• Don't be a dick
• Don't be that guy

If you're in doubt whether to make a post or make a thread, check to make sure that it meets these 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.
• This will be enforced starting February 21, 2013.
• Avatars are limited to 100x125 pixels.

• 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.

Administrators.
I am one of the active Administrators.  There are others with reserved powers.
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.
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.
Typically, when a question is answers on the forums, the thread is locked.  This is for your own good.

Community Forums

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

Each Forum has specific rules.  You are expected to follow them, as well as the official forum rules.

Summary

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

Simple and Clean?  I hope so.

[sysadmin]

SMF 2.0 supports an Ignore List.
If someone is getting on your case, use it.  It might just be the best way to defuse a situation.

Each post has a "Report This User" option.  Click it, and they are added to your ignore list.
It's easy to undo if you think there's a problem.
You can add anyone you want by ignore list, and their posts and private messages will become hidden by default.

You can also modify this list in your profile.  One of the choices is "Modify Profile".  There is a link for "Buddies/Ignore Lists"


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.