Forum rules

Forum rules. The following is a list of the rules of these forums. In order to maintain consistency in rule enforcement, anyone who breaks a rule will get a certain amount of points, and when you get 30 points, you get banned. (See the bottom of the list for more info.)
The points listed to the right are a typical penalty under normal circumstances, but in extreme cases, the penalty may be increased or decreased by 1 point from the number/range displayed here.
You cannot view your point total, but you will receive notifications when you reach certain point totals.
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POST IN THE RIGHT SECTION 0-1 pt
All sections of the forum are clearly labeled as to their purpose. Although you will not (usually) be punished for screwing this up, please be courteous and try to get your topics in the right place. As long as it is clear that you were trying to post in the correct section, then you won't be penalized.
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READ THE STICKY TOPICS 1 pt
Most forum sections have sticky topics at the top of the topic list to answer frequently asked questions. People will be annoyed if you ask something that's already answered in a sticky. You save everyone's time, including your own if you just read the sticky instead of making yet another stupid topic asking the same thing a million other newbies have asked.
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DON'T MAKE STUPID POINTLESS POSTS (aka SPAM) 0-1 pt
DON'T MAKE STUPID POINTLESS TOPICS (aka SPAM) 1-2 pt
Don't post just to say "Ok!" or an emoticon or something. Also, don't quote if you're not going to add anything; just saying "quoted for truth," for example, is not contributing. Your post needs to have some actual content of its own. If you're not going to contribute to the discussion at all, you might as well just be quiet. If you're a new user, you'll usually only be punished for this after given a warning about it. This applies to topics as well; there is no need to make a topic if it has no purpose.
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DON'T DOUBLE-POST 1 pt
There's usually no need for posting twice in a row. If you realize you forgot to say something, you can just edit your last post (with this button in the corner of your post ).. If your computer messes up and creates a duplicate post, you won't be punished, but should delete the second (with this button in the corner of your post ).
Double-posting is justifiable whenever bumping is:
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DON'T REVIVE OLD TOPICS WITHOUT GOOD REASON 2 pt per month since last post
Reviving an old topic is also known as "bumping" a topic. The only reason you should do it is if you have something to continue the discussion (a question or new info which you're fairly sure hasn't already been posted somewhere) and to get it going again. In other words, you probably won't be penalized as long as your post isn't spam.
Bumping an old topic is preferable to creating a new topic on the same subject.
(Note: You're not required to do so, but if you're bumping an old topic, it'd be nice if you say so at the beginning of your post. This'll help keep people from getting confused if the rest of the conversation seems out-dated. Yeah, they could just check the dates, but no one does.)
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OFF-TOPIC BACKSEAT MODDING IS BAD 1 pt
Helpfully pointing errant newbies in the right direction is nice of you, but if you're posting ONLY for that purpose and not contributing to the discussion, you're probably only making the problem worse.
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DON'T POST UNMARKED SPOILERS 0-1 or 10 pt
Posting a spoiler means to reveal part of plot of a game/book/movie/etc, which will ruin the story for people who haven't gotten that far yet.
You can hide spoilers by either changing the color of the text to indigo (change to white when quoting) or putting a spoiler warning in the topic title. (The second is a better choice if the whole discussion is going to have spoilers.) Never put a spoiler in the topic title itself. TIP: If you don't want to mess with that, avoid using spoilers when you don't have to. For example, if you're having trouble with the last boss, you can say "I need help beating the last boss," and everyone who's gotten to the last boss will know who you mean without you revealing the boss's name. NOTE: If you are only coloring out one word, the indigo doesn't work well enough. You either have to use #173466 or #26406D for the color or change the color of a whole phrase.
If you put a warning in the topic title, you usually don't need to use indigo text in the discussion. The exception is when the topic creator is commenting on or asking for help on something that makes it clear they haven't beaten the game yet, so you should color out spoilers for any spoilers that come after where s/he is in the game.
About the points: It's normally 1 pt per unmarked spoilers, but if you post some huge spoiler just for the purpose of ticking people of, it's 10 points. If there's room for doubt about whether what you posted was a spoiler or if the discussion slowly/accidentally became spoilery, no points.
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SIGNATURE/AVATAR GUIDELINES
 No spoilers in images or text 2 pt or 10 pt
 (See above)
 Avatar image size limit: 100x100 pixels 1+ pt
 Sig image size limit: 637x150 pixels 1+ pt
 Don't use others' fan art without permission 0-1 pt
 (Extreme avatar abuse will result in the removal of your avatar
 privileges)
That limit for sig sizes applies to all of your images combined.
If you are found using fan art without permission, we will request that you remove it. No penalty will be given as long as you remove it.
Avatars that exceed the size limit in either dimensions (100x100 max) or filesize will be removed without warning and replaced with a reminder image.
We don't currently have a file size limit for sigs or avatars, though we used to for avatars. If everyone keeps their images sane, we shouldn't need to limit you for that, but if too many people do stupid stuff like try to cram a bunch of anime into 100x100 pixels to use as an avatar, we may have to put the rule back in place, which is bad for everyone.
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NO ADVERTISING SPAM 3 pt
Nobody wants the forums to be flooded with "Omg go 2 mai sight lol" topics, so please try to limit the plugging of websites to discussions in which they're relevant. You can advertise in your sig. If you want comments/help/advice with your web design, post in the applicable art section.
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DON'T REQUEST OR PROVIDE ILLEGAL MATERIAL 5-10 pt
Chances are, if some commercial company made it, it's illegal for you to get it for free. :P Don't ask for how to download or pirate anime episodes, games, computer software, etc.
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DON'T DERAIL THREADS 5 pt
Derailing a topic is defined as a deliberate attempt to disrupt the direction a thread is heading or intends to head. This is not to say that going a little off-topic will get you penalized; this is mainly for posts with the sole intent of disrupting the flow of a topic. For example, posting irrelevant or mocking information in a thread that requests help; or in a discussion about a certain game on XGamestation, you mention that GameXstation is better.
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DON'T ABUSE EMOTICONS (SMILIES) 1 pt per emoticon
You don't need a big long row of them to get your point across. You're not limited to a certain number of emoticons per post, but using a whole bunch of image emoticons together with nothing else of note between them is pointless. In other words, you will not be punished for having over 10 emoticons in your post if they're actually be used, but if you have a row of 20 smiling faces, then you will be penalized.
The point penalty applies to 10+ emoticons.
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DON'T SWEAR 5 pt per word
If it has to be misspelled to get around the auto-censor, you can't say it here (can't misspell it either). Though it's not in the censor, slang definitions of "dick" are subject to this rule as well. Other words that aren't blocked by the censor should be fine.
Should be self-explanatory. Not appropriate here.
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TREAT OTHER USERS WITH RESPECT; DON'T DO THE FOLLOWING:
 Not-quite-a-flame disrespect 3-8 pt
 Name-calling 8-15 pt
 Sexual name-calling 10-20 pt
 Racial slur 5 pt per word
 Gay, etc, as an insult 5 pt per word
 Threaten bodily harm on another user Instant Ban
General disrespect that doesn't fall into the other categories will fall under the first. Note that this punishment is only if you clearly intend to be disrespectful; just playing around or being sarcastic won't get you penalized.
Name-calling has a rather high penalty, but that is because there isn't really any question as to it being an offense. Calling someone a name that's also a swear word has both penalties combined, by the way.
Note that the instant ban for threats of bodily harm only applies to serious threats. Just playing around by saying things such as *kick* or *bite* aren't going to get you punished.
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DON'T TROLL 5-10 pt
Trolling is defined as posting with the intent of ticking everyone else off or trying to cause an argument. It's fine if you disagree or debate with someone on some matter, but if you post in an antagonizing manner, it could be considered trolling.
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DON'T RESPOND TO FLAMERS/TROLLS 5 pt per flame war
If they're obviously just trying to cause trouble, anything you say to them only causes more trouble. Contact a moderator rather than try to deal with it yourself.
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DON'T POST EXPLICIT SEXUAL MATERIAL
 Reference to body parts related to sex 5 pt
 References to sexual acts 8 pt
 Sexually suggestive emoticon 5 pt each
 Arguably artistic but inappropriate anyway 1-8 pt
Though artistic nudity isn't bad, it's not something Namco would want on their website, sorry. The only reason there's any point penalty for it is to make sure someone who really is misbehaving can't get out of trouble by claiming, "But it's ART!"
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ONLY HAVE ONE ACCOUNT 5 pt
There's no need for more than one. If you want to switch to a new account, we'll deactivate the old one for you if you ask. If you misbehave on multiple accounts, the points collected by each account are added together.
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GOOD BEHAVIOR -1 pt
This isn't actually a penalty; it's just the opposite. Once you have received points, you will lose 1 point for every 30 days you go without getting another offense.
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ACTUAL PUNISHMENTS:
 How to get temporarily banned:
 --Get 20+ points total
 How to get banned:
 --Get 30+ points total
 --Get 5+ points in your first post upon joining
 --Get 10+ points when you first join
 --Threaten bodily harm on another user
If you get to 20 points, you'll get a seven-day deactivation of your account. Any attempt to circumvent this deactivation will result in a penalty of 10 points.
== See also ==
* Point system
* Warning rule
== External links ==
* Original rules topic on the Tales forums