Forum Rules and Guidelines

**The rules of the forum (updated 09-06-2021)**

This forum is to be fun and to have a certain kind of atmosphere. You can visit and join and talk about what you want if you go to the right spot, but it's a nice and decent forum and you'll be banned if you're an asshole.

Here are some rules on how you should behave on this forum and how the forum operates:

Rule I: Provide a civil environment for talking about what is written by members of the forum or alternate history in general, so be civil, that does not mean you have to be "nice" or "polite" which is different from being civil, otherwise do not insult other members, flame them, treat them with contempt, or treat them in any other offensive way as that is total not civil and you might get a responds from the administrator ore a moderator.

Rule II: In the Chat forum, you're allowed to talk about anything except for a list of subjects that are described in the immediate banning list who are banned to prevent the board from being overrun by notorious arguments.

Rule III: Respect somebody view on religion and politics but do it in a respectful manner, that means not accusing somebody of being a liar, a racist, an antisemite, and so on simply because s/he has a different view on life, politics or religion.

Rule IV: No preference for regular members, that means that if you have been on the forum for a long time it does not excuse bad behavior. Everyone is held to the same standard, and long-time regulars should know that standard better than everyone else. If someone who has been on the board for years commits an instant banning offense, they are instantly banned. Period. People who are well-known off the board are held to the same standard - whoever your favorite person in the world is, they will be treated the same as any random poster.

Rule V: All warnings, temporary banning and permanent banning are posted on the forum.

Rule VI: Do not pass off the work of others as your own (plagiarism). If you include the work of others in your posts, say so and include a link to the original, or if that's not possible mention the source.

Rule VII: It is okay to respond to old threads that are 90 days old, but be aware that threads older than 180 days (labeled as Very Old threads) and 365 days (labelled as Extreme Old thread) might raise the mod attention if there is no substantial new contribution made in that thread, such as to extend a timeline, otherwise make a new thread under the same name but add a "II" or next available Roman Numeral to the thread title.

Rule VIII: This is an English language forum. You may post in a any language, however provide an English translation for your post and any links posted.

Rule IX: Removing a post ore thread can only be done after having contacted the Administrator (Lordroel) or a moderator (Inspector General) and having made you case in why you want a post of thread to be removed, please be aware that Administrator (Lordroel) or a moderator (Inspector General) can decline this if they feel it will damage the thread (regarding a post) ore removing a thread if other people also have posted in it.

Rule X: No Backseat Moderating. Let the Administrator (Lordroel) or a moderator (Inspector General) do the moderating. Backseat Moderating is when people who are not Moderators try to enforce the forum rules. Whenever you see a person breaking the rules, take advantage of the "Report this post to a moderator" link. Or simply IGNORE the offensive post(s) or thread.

Rule XI: Avatars and signatures - because they are visible everywhere on the forum on every post - are held to a standard higher than regular posts. Nothing in your avatar or signature should be anything that might plausibly be offensive to, or inappropriate for, any age of audience, if you violate Rule XI then the Administrator (Lordroel) or a moderator (Inspector General) can respond to this by first issuing a WARNING in which they tell you to change a avatar ore signature, if you fail to respond to that WARNING then we can give you a 30 day ban on having a avatar ore signature on the forum, do not post a avatars ore signature in a 30 period as that might result in a 7 day temporary banning.

Rule XII: posting images ore videos of young children in post ore threads is not tolerated on the forum unless approve by the Administrator (Lordroel) or a moderator (Inspector General), this rule is to prevent unwanted attention to the forum.

Content of Posts

- Posting any images, videos, or links containing nudity or sex is strictly prohibited. You will get an immediate ban depending on the material posted if it was on purpose and a warning if it was not.

- Posting grotesque material, or links to such (shock sites) is strictly prohibited. You will get an immediate ban depending on the material posted if it was on purpose and a warning if it was not.

- Posting anything containing viruses, malware, or anything to harm a person's computer, device, or network results in an immediate ban if it was on purpose and a warning if it was not.

Immediate Banning Offence

People can be banned for various reasons, some are a lot more common than others, some are things which are decided on a case by case basis, and violating the below immediate banning list always result in immediate banning.

- Support of Nazism.

- Holocaust denial.

- Advocating genocide or other mass murder.

- Threats to inflict "real life" harm, including lawsuits, on other members.

- Getting around being kicked or banned by posting from another account (a "sockpuppet").

- "Spam" trolling (posting many deliberate trolls all over the place).

- Trolling immediately after signing up.

- Signing up with a disposable email address like those provided by the Fake Mail Generator

Standard Punishments

The Administrator (Lordroel) or a moderator (Inspector General) can respond to problems in three ways - warnings, temporary bans and permanent bans.

Warnings may be a casual "don't do this" message in a thread. The administrator ore a moderator usually will not threaten that you will be temporary banned/permanent banned if you ignore the warning. Don't ignore the warning.

Temporary banning is for 7 days, do not try to get temporary ban to often to as it might be your last as you probably will not learn at all. If you have received a temporary ban you will see the message, "You have been banned" when trying to access this forum which will last only for the duration of your temporary banning.

Permanent banning are permanent, and your account is totally deactivated.

All warnings, temporary bans, permanent bans and Rule XI violations will be posted in The Kick & Ban Thread located in General Chat so that everyone gets to see exactly what the Administrator (Lordroel) or a moderator (Inspector General) is doing. The idea is that it's not enough for justice to be done, justice must be seen to be done. This also allows members to criticize mod decisions, because everybody knows exactly what is going on and the people participating in a thread will almost automatically see any disciplinary action that happened in that thread.