Forum Rules

[Darkel]

Welcome to Ruthless Galaxy

Welcome to Ruthless Galaxy, the online community dedicated to science-fiction writing, art, and Roleplaying and all other topics concerning these.  The Administration of this forum would like to provide the best writing experience for all members, and to allow you to enjoy your visits and have fun while you are here.  Before we give you an overview of the rules, we will answer the following questions:

What do I need to join RG?
Nothing at all! Just an interest in science fiction. That's all we ask. We used to made all new members create alien races and participate in RPs. That doesn't work so much anymore. Now RPing is completely optional. We just ask that the minimum that you do is come and chat with us about various science fiction topics!

What is a Role-play?
A role-play, sometimes written as 'roleplay' or 'RP', is in essence a story that is written by two or more authors. Participants in these RP's create and control characters that take part in the main plot-line, which is generally controlled by a single Game Master (GM).  A Game Master is the leading writer of a story, often responsible for ensuring balance among the participants and their characters, and triggering events that progress the story.  They are typically the creator of the RP and its concepts, and set the standards that all members joining it must follow.

Now that we have that answered, we will now go over some general rules of the forum.

Ruthless Galaxy Rules

Behavior
1. You will not under any circumstances attempt to enrage another user via means of trolling, spamming, flaming/flame-baiting, or any other form of harassment.  You will not discriminate against other members for any reason.  You will not insult other users, and will keep a respectful attitude at all times.

2. If harassed, you will not under any circumstances attempt to reply to a trolling or flaming attempt.  Report the posts immediately to a Moderator or Administrator.  If you reply and engage in an argument, you will be treated as an equally guilty party in disrupting the thread where it takes place, and will be issued a ban as punishment.

3. If you are threatened by another user, report the threat immediately to a Moderator or Administrator.  This is to ensure your safety.

4. You will not used large amounts of profanity or discuss particularly profane subjects in the forum. Much more leniency and freedom is given in the chatbox, but the forum must be mostly clean of this kind of behavior.

5. You will not post profane images or links under any circumstances.

6. You will not under any circumstances post links to malicious sites that may harm another person's computer, phone, or any other device.  You will not post links to websites containing sound files or 'screamers'.  Any malicious activity will result in an immediate permanent ban.

7. Hacking and phishing are both malicious acts, and are strictly forbidden.  Any malicious activity will immediately result in a permanent ban.

8. You will not discuss any illegal activities or topics in this forum.

9. You will not attempt to advertise or sell any products on this forum, regardless of their nature or origin.

10. You will not by any means attempt to disclose personal information about other members.  This is to ensure the safety of you and all of our members.  Disclosure of personal information will result in an immediate permanent ban.

11. When giving criticism or advice, be constructive.  You will not use criticism as an excuse or as means of insulting, humiliating, and degrading another member.  The Administration of this forum does not care how much a person perceives their own writing to be above another member's.  If you insult other people and embarrass them because of supposed 'superiority', you are not being constructive, and you will be punished.

12. Respect all members, including staff.

13. Moderators and Administrators, when not actively performing their duties, may behave in a fashion similar to regular members.  This means that we may start RP's, join ones made by our members, and take part in regular conversations with our community.  This in mind, however, you will not demand or ask for positions in the moderation or administration staff.  You will not receive any special privileges because of friendships, and if you break rules, you will be punished accordingly.

14. Moderators and Administrators will not disclose the identity or username of our members if they report posts, and will respect their privacy.  People who are banned will not know the identity of the Moderator or Administrator who banned them, as the person delivering the punishment reserves the right to remain anonymous.  Decisions will be made accordingly to these rules, and are therefore final.  Members are not permitted to argue with any Moderator or Administrator decisions. Members are permitted to submit their views as feedback, but never further than that.

Signatures

15. You will not place sound files or 'screamers' in your signatures.

16. You will not place links in your signature that tamper with the site's forums, such as links that when clicked automatically post a new thread.

17. You will not place excessively bright, fast-moving, or flashing GIF files in your signature.  These things may aggravate conditions such as migraines or photosensitive or pattern-sensitive epilepsy.  If complaints are made by members in response to a GIF that looking at it causes dizziness, blurred vision, nausea, confusion, or a headache, then you will be asked to immediately remove it.

Role-plays

18. You must first gain approval from forum administrators before creating a role-play.  Submit a detailed description of the role-play to an administrator and wait for it to be accepted.

19. You must abide by all of the rules that the Game Master has set for their story. They serve as moderators for their own threads, and should be viewed as having a position of authority.  However, Game Masters must additionally ensure that their threads adhere to the rules of the forum.  The rules of the RG forums surpass that of any individual thread.

20. If a Game Master does poorly in running their RP, or more specifically, does not abide by the forum's rules in their RP, their threads will be removed.

21. Role-plays designed for a Mature Audience are allowed, however; the GM making the role-play must inform a moderator of this concept during the approval process.  Mature RPs are allowed to possess concepts such as: cursing, drugs, sex, etc.  However, if these concepts become too extensive, the role-play will be shut down immediately.  Any RPs that may be portrayed as pornography, or are filled with what we perceive to be an excessive amount of profanity, will be taken away.  It is heavily encouraged that writers find more creative ways for their characters to insult each other, rather than utilizing foul language.  The ability to make RP's like this is not a right, but a privilege that we allow our members to have, as long as they are behaving responsibly.  Abuse of this privilege will result in it being taken away.

22. Any role-play that is repeatedly reported will be inspected by the Moderation or Administration staff.

Post-Banning

20. Creating an alternative account after being banned is strictly prohibited.  All alternative accounts will be banned and the original account will be given a ban extension.

The Ban System

1st Suspension = 1 to 3 Day Ban

2nd Suspension = 3 to 5 Day Ban

3rd Suspension = 1 to 2 Week Ban

4th Suspension = 3 to 4 Week Ban

5th Suspension = 1 Month Ban

6th Suspension = 45 Day Ban

7th Suspension = 2 Month Ban

8th Suspension = 3 Month Ban

9th Suspension = Permanent Ban

- The disclosure of personal information is an immediate Permanent Ban.

- The posting of links that lead to malicious sites is an immediate Permanent Ban.

- Hacking, phishing, or other malicious techniques is an immediate Permanent Ban.

- Large quantities of spam (five threads or more) will result in a 2 Week Ban.

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[Update: 2/18/15]

[Darkel]

Update bump.