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Heresy Online Rules - 04-02-09

66K views 123 replies 53 participants last post by  HUMYN HYBRID 
#1 · (Edited by Moderator)
This document is designed to clarify the various responsibilities of community members here at Heresy-Online. Please abide by these guidelines to the best of your ability.

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Updates are posted in Green.

These rules are designed to make Heresy the best possible forum for everyone. They aren't here for us to bully and bitch people, they're a necessity to keep the forums free of trolling assholes and provide the safest and most enjoyable experience possible. Thank you in advance for obeying the rules and for expressing your thoughts and opinions.

Accounts

Multiple accounts are not permitted. If you share your computer with another user please inform me, we have automated systems in place that flag and warn us of identical IP logins. There isn't a problem at all sharing site usage with a family member or friend on the same PC, just let us know.

Also, because of the nature of our contests and competitions, please refrain for voting for anyone whose IP address/connection/computer you share and vice versa.

Posting

You alone are responsible for the material you post. You will not knowingly post content or links to content that violates the copyright, trademark, patent or other intellectual property right of any third party and that you will remove the same should you discover that you have violated this provision. Likewise, you may not post content or links to content that is libellous, defamatory, offensive, obscene, racist, abusive, that violates a third party's right to privacy, that otherwise violates any applicable local, state, national or international law, or that is otherwise inappropriate.

Mild and moderate use of profanity is allowed, but keep it relatively tasteful and at a minimum. No slurs or derogatory phrases against groups of people will be tolerated. We're all being treated as adults here, but just because it's not filtered doesn't mean you have free license to spew fourth a font of obscenities that would make a Slaaneshi blush.

Do not posts links to illegal PDF downloads anywhere on Heresy. On the same note do not send them via PM or request them anywhere. Similarly, while discussion of mould-making and casting are not strictly against the rules, any discussion regarding the duplication and/or counterfeiting of GW (or other companies) miniatures or parts is forbidden.

Be aware of thread dates. While bringing old, inactive threads back to life (sometimes called "Treadomancy") is not against the rules, it can be frustrating to see new threads bumped off the first page because someone felt the need to post "Yeah, me too!" on a year old debate that was long-since settled and forgotten. Likewise, adding your two cents to a rumours thread or rules question that was posted before the most recent codex was released only ends up making you look silly.

By all means, use the search function. Read old threads. Even dust them off and bring them back, but only if you feel you can contribute something new and beneficial to the discussion.

No spamming. Spamming is characterized by the initiation of threads or posts that contribute nothing to a forum, be it off topic or on topic. Examples include: empty bodies, bodies with few words that have no relation to the current thread or discussion and those posts that state they are spam, either to annoy, advertise or increase a member's post count.

Charity.Please get permission from Admin before posting any threads for charity auctions, donation requests and such.
Yes this does seem a bit uncharitable, but whilst charity is a great thing it's also open to abuse via the internet.
Any Charity threads started without the approval of an Admin will be deleted on sight.

Thread hi-jacking will not be tolerated. All posters must respect the rights of other members to post questions, comments and ideas that do not agree with their own. Please keep your posts "on topic" i.e. relevant to the subject(s) of the thread.

Only default text colour is allowed. The majority of every post text colour should be default. Using colour to highlight important points or titles isn't a problem. Anyone that continues to post in non default text will have their post colour altered to bright pink. This applies to fonts, default font should be used for the vast majority of your posts. Posting in Red Text in whole or in part is expressly forbidden. Red is reserved for official moderator statements.

Do not post porn or adult content. This also includes sites promoting drug abuse, gambling and links to sites containing such content. Non-pornographic adult related material (such as lingerie) is allowed, as long as you provide a warning in your post. However, if you feel the need to post scantily clad females ask yourself “am I on the right forum?"

Trolling and/or attempting to bait others into a flame war will not be tolerated. This include political commentary. Any posts we deem to fall in this category will be deleted.

Personal attacks will NOT be tolerated! If you lash out personally against another user you will receive our full attention, and trust me, you don't want that. Attacks against people outside of Heresy are also discouraged, though aren't as serious as attacks against other users. Disagree with people, attack their ideas, counter their statements, but name-calling and open attacks have no place here.

Likewise, no pointless bashing of a person's favourite game, army choice, play-style, etc. is allowed. "Eldar are gay." "WFB is retarded." "Marines are for noobs." "Power-gamers are scum." "Fluff-gamers are ****." etc. contribute nothing to the forum but drama and negativity. If you dislike something then start an intelligent, well-thought out thread and debate the subject with those whose opinions differ. Pointless, inflammatory statements, however will be looked upon as trolling and dealt with accordingly.

It should be made clear, however, that friendly banter and joking ARE allowed, just so long as it is clear that what you say is meant as a joke and not a personal insult or an act of anger. Just remember that not everyone has the same sense of humour about the same subjects. If someone makes it clear that your joke overstepped the bounds then drop it and back off of the subject.

Political and Religious topics are to be discussed in the World News & Current Events and Endgame forums only. You need at least 50 posts before you can post in WNCE, reputation has been disabled there, and personal attacks are NOT tolerated. Anyone who posts a personal attack in the World News & Current Events forum will be banned. No warning or infraction. Any topics or posts outside of this forum will be deleted immediately by the Moderators.

Nobody is to talk about the fucking Nazis! Seriously...it never ends well. We're not an historical or political forum by nature. We talk about little plastic space men. We don't care if you have a perfectly valid reason for modeling your IG commander after Hitler, or think it's clever social commentary to paint little red armbands on your brown-shirted space marines. We don't want to hear about it. No thread involving Nazis, in the history of the internet, has gone unflamed. Unneeded drama does not belong on our boards.

The World News and Current Events and Endgame forums are, as in most cases, an exception...but goose-step cautiously, the mods watch things a lot closer there and carry much heavier sticks.

Please post coherently! We at Heresy-Online have a minimum (and relatively lax) standard for spelling and grammar, and you will observe it to the best of your abilities. Nobody expects textbook perfection, and we know that typos happen. We understand that English may not be your first language, or that you may have disabilities or impairments, and we sympathize...but we still ask that you take the time and put your best effort into your posts.

This is not just a courtesy to your fellow posters, who may have to decipher a rich tapestry of netspeak and grammatical torment just to find out what you're saying, it's also doing yourself a favour in the long run. Unintelligible posts filled with chatroom shorthand and linguistic atrocities do NOT attract favourable attention. By the time a poster unearths what you're trying to say, they're usually so annoyed that they're not going to give you a helpful reply.

If you want us to read your posts, answer your questions and be our friendly, supportive selves then you have to meet us halfway and make posts that are worth reading.

Here are some examples of what to avoid:-
  • Leet-speak like "lol u got pwned n00b"
  • chatroom/txt abbreviations, such as "hw r u? wil u b my bff?"
  • Excessive and gratuitous use of profanity. ie "Fuck that fucking bullshit your a cunt your mums a cunt and i'm getting the fuck out of this shit forum - wankers!1!"
  • long posts without punctuation or line breaks
Remember, you have all the time in the world, a full keyboard, and we're not charging by the letter. Be considerate and put the reader's ease and comfort above your own. Just because it's easy for you to write doesn't mean it's easy for others to read. We're not here to force you into grammatical perfection, just don't be lazy and selfish and put your ease of writing above someone else's ease of reading. It'll only make your life harder in the end.

Please post only in English. We understand that we have users from all over the world, but English is the official language of Heresy-Online. The majority of our posters only understand English, so posting in a different language is not only counter-productive, but conversing with someone else in a different language in front of those who don't understand is generally considered to be rude. If the moderators can't understand the language you're posting in then we can't tell if you're following the rules of the forum...and since posting in other languages is now against the rules, we'll assume you aren't and act accordingly.

Use a title that describes the content of your post.
Don't use all caps or special characters to draw extra attention to your post. This includes using the thread rating system to call attention to your own post. Rate posts that you think are helpful and well-written, but do not use it as your own neon sign.

Please use accurate and descriptive titles.
When you make a thread, it needs to have a title that lets people know what to expect. "I was..." is not an acceptable army list title, for example. Vague titles are bad for you, the site and potential readers. Why? Think about it. If you post a thread with a vague, non-descriptive title, it might not be noticed by people in a position to help and give feedback. Bad for you. Likewise, bad thread titles mess with google and other search engine results. People searching for "Conscripts in assaults" on google aren't likely to find a Heresy thread entitled "unusual situation". That means new people aren't finding Heresy. Bad for the site. Finally, let's say you're cruising the boards and see something with an interesting, vague or misleading title. You click on it and it turns out to be absolutely nothing you're interested in. Now you've wasted time and energy, and you think the guy who posted the thread is a brainless twat. Bad for potential readers.

Mods can and will change poor thread titles whenever they encounter them (including fixing typos in titles. Again, it's a google thing, nobody searches for 'Spice Mereen Taktix'). If you've got a history of shoddy or misleading thread titles you may end up with a note from us in your inbox.
Heresy requires that members respect the decision of moderators.
Threads and posts questioning the actions or decisions of forum moderations will be deleted on sight, and the appropriate action taken (up to and including forum bans) against the thread starter and/or participants. However, as a member you reserve the right to PM any moderator or administrator regarding action taken.

Do not post your email address in a public post. Hundreds of people visit these forums daily, it's not worth the spam, or scams, that are possible. If you must share your email, please do it with a private message. Email addresses will be removed by the moderating staff in public posts.
Jump point
Do not solicit our members. Under no circumstances are you permitted to solicit Heresy members for any purpose. This includes, but is not limited to referrals, subscriptions, registrations, surveys and signatures (electronic or otherwise). In general this means:
  • You must not post links that contain referrer tracking ids
  • You should not post links to sites where remuneration is offered for referrals
  • You should not post links where our members are asked to register for something
  • You should not post petitions of any kind
Do not advertise your products, services or events. You are not permitted to post the URL of, or information about any website, product, service or event with which you are affiliated inside a post unless it forms an important part of an on-topic reply to a previous post, where providing the URL or information would be of specific interest to the topic. All advertising must be authorised by Jezlad via PM. In almost all cases Wargaming events, tournaments and such will be approved.

Threads About Gold Farming/Selling, Power Levelling or other shady Bullshit Regarding Warhammer Online or any other online game Will NOT Be Tolerated!

These sites always violate the terms of use of your chosen video game and more often than not are fronts for scammers, hackers and account thieves. Heresy Online is not responsible for any damage to your computer, game account or bank accounts resulting from someone being stupid, lazy and greedy enough to click a link to one of those sites.

If you see anyone posting an ad for such a site, asking about specific ones or linking to them in any way, shape or form, report them immediately. I don't care if it looks like an innocent newbie asking if I-Steal-Your-Credit-Cards.com is a legit site or not. If you see a link to or name of a site offering shady services for online games, report the fuckers.

Anyone caught intentionally shilling for these sites will be banned, permanently. No warning.

Dramatic Goodbye Threads and Posts will not be tolerated. Anyone that attempts to kick up a fuss with a childish throw the teddy in the corner leaving thread will be immediately banned from the site. If you want to leave do so - with our blessings. Don't advertise the fact you're doing the off. If the time comes jog on quietly - posting a thread about it will be the last thing you do on the site.

Titles, Avatars, and Signatures

Lengthy signatures are not allowed. Limit signatures to 8 lines or less. One small image as long as it falls within the 450x150 size limit and a single userbar is permitted. Animated images are not allowed except for a single rolling animated userbar. 350 x 19 pixels.

The Moderators will edit and/or remove signatures that are too long or break forum policy. Should the mods decide that your signature is too big or distracting, you will be informed and given 3 days to change it. Failure to do so will result in deletion of the full signature. Although harsh this is usually a necessity to stop signatures detracting from the content of a thread.

The new Subscriber and Donor sig bars are allowed in addition to the normal restrictions on number of images, but donors are limited to one, not both. These are a special treat for those who've helped out heresy, so it won't be taken kindly if anyone is seen sporting them without having donated to the cause.



Those 'Can you read this' signatures are officially banned
Have you seen this bullshit sig floating around?
an idiot said:
Cna yuo raed tihs?
The phaonmneal pweor of the hmuan mnid, it dseno't mtaetr in waht oerdr the ltteres in a wrod are, the olny iproamtnt tihng is taht the frsit and lsat ltteer be in the rghit pclae. The rset can be a taotl mses and you can sitll raed it whotuit a pboerlm. Tihs is bcuseae the huamn mnid deos not raed ervey lteter by istlef, but the wrod as a wlohe. Azanmig huh?
fi yuo cna raed tihs, palce it in yuor porfiel.
Not only is the idea behind it utter crap, but it also both breaks our rules on posting quality and encourages others to do the same. There's been a spate of this crap lately, and we're putting our collective foot down. Anyone with this garbage in their sig is getting a talking to and their sig is getting deleted.

Please refrain from unnecessary profanity in signatures. While occasional and moderate use of profanity is allowed, it doesn't need to be automatically included in every post you make.

Limited Advertising Permitted. Signatures are excluded from the advertising restrictions found in the Posting Rules; provided the site, product, service or event being advertised and the content of the advertisement complies with the rest of The Rules. If you are not sure please ask a member of staff.

Users are permitted to utilize a gallery avatar or to link to one of their own. User defined avatars are to be no larger than 100 pixels square and mustn't contain any image (this applies to Signatures also) which attempts to portray the user as having an official status here (e.g. mimicking ranks or copying avatars of team members). Avatars are subject to the same conditions as posts with respect to decency, and so forth. Any offensive material will be removed.

Some users may have custom user titles. Supporters are allowed to replace their normal 'Junior/Senior Member' title with a custom title of their own creation. Bear in mind that just because someone's name is in a different color (supporter names appear in blue) and they have an unusual title, does NOT necessarily mean that they are a moderator. Likewise, supporters are expressly prohibited from taking a user title that in any way implies that they are a moderator or mimics one of the moderation team's custom titles.

Two Daemon Adoptables Permitted Per Sig. You are permitted to include two Daemon Adoptables per signature. For a guide on how to display images to the left or right of text see here.

No Adoptables From Other Sites. This includes dragoncave dragons and other annoying sig-dwelling monsters begging for clicks. No links to said sites either. You may display adoptables from other sites in the Gathering Area only.

Moderator discretion is used in most cases. The Heresy moderators will consider every signature, title and avatar. Should they deem it excessive or inappropriate, you'll be informed and asked to make adjustments within 3 days. Failure to do so will result in the staff taking action to delete or change the offending item.


Reputation Rules

Any reputation awards that violate these rules will either be edited or deleted. Members found breaking the Reputation Rules will be given a warning and have their reputation degraded to prevent further abuse.

Please remember that all General Rules apply to the Reputation System.

Awarding reputation. Deliberate, targeted and excessive awarding of reputation in an attempt to significantly alter another member's reputation is considered abusive, both when awarding positive or negative reputation. The reputation system is to be used for feedback and fun not for belittling or discrediting other members. This does not mean that you cannot award negative feedback; just that common sense and restraint should be observed.

Do not include images or links.
You are not permitted to post images or links through the Reputation System. The Reputation System is designed to allow members to provide constructive feedback on posts, not to distribute images and links.

Please do not post about reputations. If you feel you have received an unfair or unjust reputation award please contact a member of staff. Please do not make posts or comments in The Forum complaining about such events. In addition, please do not request or "beg" for reputation points as this will be considered a violation of The Rules.

No Rep Whoring! Do not ask for reputation. Do not give out positive reputation with the expectation of getting a 'tag-back'. If your kindness is rewarded, then so be it, but do not harass, complain or post about users who do not give you rep in return. Posters are neither required nor expected to repay rep for rep. If I see any specifically asking for rep after making a post I'll give you negative myself. Rep Whore.

Please Note: If you do not like the Reputation System, the reputation awards you receive or these rules, then please do not complain about them in The Forum. Simply hide your reputation level via your User Control Panel and do not participate.

[-]Chatroom Rules

Members that wish to make use of the Chat Rooms must acknowledge, accept and abide by the following rules.

No flooding or unnecessary repetition.
Flooding is the repeated posting of the same message or text. It also includes posting of nonsense text that disrupts the chat. This makes it hard for other chatters to continue their conversation and will not be tolerated in the chat room.

No fighting or Name Calling
You are welcome to disagree with a member, but calling them names or flaming their character is not allowed. If you have a personal issue to discuss with a member, please take it private and discuss via Private Message. Jokes are allowed, so long as it's understood that it was meant as a joke. Should someone ask you to back off of them or a particular subject then respect their wishes. If you press it past a joke then you're asking for trouble.

Do not ask for replies to your posts.
Please refrain from consistently asking for replies to your posts. Once is ok, twice is spam. Give the forum and members time to discover your posts and reply on their own accord.

Do not type in ALL CAPITAL LETTERS.
This is seen as yelling and when done repeatedly is very annoying and very rude. Excessive use of punctuation marks like ! and ? (more than 3) also falls under this rule.

No posting of private contact details.
Private contact details are not to be posted publicly within the rooms or other services of this site. This rule is in place to protect the innocent from personal risk by others. This does not include messenger addys.

Politics and Religion should not to be discussed
Do us all a favour and don't bring up politics and religion in any shape or form. This includes the fucking Nazis! Seriously.

Do not advertise
Advertisng of any kind is forbidden. Chatters who consistently spam advertisements will be removed from the chat.

Copyright
Do not post content or links to content that violates the copyright, trademark, patent or other intellectual property right of any third party.

Language and Obscenity
Do not post content or links to content that is libellous, defamatory, offensive, obscene, racist or abusive.

Moderators and the Forum
Do not link problem posts or discuss forum issues with moderators in the chat. If there's a problem post report it with the correct button or send them a private message. Bitching about other members in the chatroom to provoke moderator action will earn you a permenant chat ban.

Leetspeak - or whatever the fuck you call it.
As per the forum rules, anyone typing pathetic 1337 will be removed. Yes this is harsh, but its necessary to protect the English language from the pricks that seek to ruin it.[/-]



The administrators reserve the right to add, modify, or remove any of these rules at any time. Rule changes apply to past, current and future posts.
 
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#2 ·
It should be mentioned that listing things like full statlines and itemized points costs are no-nos according to GW (Mainly the points thing. They do have downloadable reference sheets with statlines on them for free as I recall)

Good: "You should give that squad a vet with powerfist, it;s only another 30 points and having 3 S8 attacks is good for tank hunting, and the extra point of Ld will come in handy for target priority and moralle checks."

Bad: "Vet Sarge: WSx BSx Sx Tx Wx Ix Ax LDx SVx, equipped with Frags (x Points), Powerfist (x Points), Plasma Pistol (x Points), Purity Seals (x Points)" etc

There's a difference between fair use and making it so people don't have to buy a codex ;-)

Also, discussion of pirating/trading of illegal PDF copies of the books, and discussing making moulds of citadel miniatures are legal no-nos.

Most of this fals under the basic "don't post illegal/copyright infringing stuff" but it never hurts to spell out a few speciffics
 
#4 ·
Understandably. Considering that you can buy one box of say Cadians for the regular price and then mass produce your own for far cheaper if you have the right tool, you would be seriously cutting into their profits. I can't think of any company that would be cool with the idea.
 
#5 ·
Just a reminder for folks:

8] Please refrain from the use of Leet speak. Be curteous and take the time to write a legible coherant reply. The majority of our posters will simply refuse to read a post containing examples such as:-

-lol u got pwned n00b
-you are the suxxor


While I know it is amusing on occasion...avoid it.
I'm also aware that everyone thinks THEIR force is the most uber-badass force out there...posts going back and forth over "My force is better than yours because X" is somewhat juvenile.

Adult conversation and debate is very welcome and encouraged!
Kiddie "My Space Marines are better than Ultramarines cause they are TeH Best and Roxx0rz!" etc...not encouraged.
 
#7 ·
PDF Codecies and breach of Copyright.

I would just like to remind all members that it is illegal to have a copy of the pre-release Codecies unless you are an appropriate member of GW staff of course.

Please refrain from posting about them on the forum or the Mod Stick will have to brought to bear.


Thankyou for your future cooperation in this matter.

Vash
 
#8 ·
Something I've been meaning to ask about but haven't til now...

Is it safe to assume that since it's neither filtered nor prohibited in the rules, that swearing (as long as it's kept reasonable) is allowed? I ask mainly because I tend to use mild profanity a fair bit in everyday relaxed conversation with friends and I've let it slip here a time or two.

Naturally, using it on people or in a gratuitous and excessive manner is bad, but is it alright to talk like everyone in the room is an adult?

Also, though it probably falls under trolling (not to mention common sense), I think a rule against personal attacks should be explicitly spelled out, just to cover bases.

And maybe extended to cover pointless bashing of someone's chosen game, army, playstyle, etc. "Ultramarines are for idiots, only queers play Eldar, Tau are retarded, power-gamers are scum, fluff-gamers are gay" etc. should be no-nos since they don;t really contribute anything and only serve to piss people off.
 
#11 ·
Also, though it probably falls under trolling (not to mention common sense), I think a rule against personal attacks should be explicitly spelled out, just to cover bases.

And maybe extended to cover pointless bashing of someone's chosen game, army, playstyle, etc. "Ultramarines are for idiots, only queers play Eldar, Tau are retarded, power-gamers are scum, fluff-gamers are gay" etc. should be no-nos since they don;t really contribute anything and only serve to piss people off.
Excellent point!
Well said Galahad
 
#10 ·
Cool.
Or should I say, 'Fuck yeah!'? ;-)
 
#13 ·
I have actually pm'd quite a few people about it lately Katie so you should start to see some improvement sooner or later.
 
#15 · (Edited by Moderator)
Don't forget, you can do your part too.

I've PMed a few people myself just offering a friendly word in their ear to let them know that they'll have an easier time getting their posts answered and having their opinions taken seriously if they put more effort into making their posts readable. It seems to be working.

Just be polite and tactful and helpful and they tend to listen.

Back on the subject of profanity for a moment...

Perhaps we should have a rule that officially codifies the profanity policy to avoid people from making posts that;re nothing but pointless cursing.

Something like:
"Please keep profanity to a minimum. Though not strictly against the rules, we like to enforce a policy of mild and moderate use of adult language. We're grown-ups here, but nobody wants to read a post that's nothing but gratuitous cursing. If you habitually abuse our language policy, you will be subject to disciplinary action."

That way we know it's alright to let slip a grown-up word now and then, but we also know that it's not alright to talk like a 12 year old who just watched Clerks and wants to try out his new vocabulary.

Maybe (if it's technologically possible) implement some user-side filter, where if you don't want to see the naughty words you can opt to have them filtered on your end without forcing everyone else to see 'bleep!' or '<DELETED BY THE INQUISITION>' in the middle of their posts.

Any chance we can have the 'spelling and grammar' announcement, and my rule about personal attacks and army/playstyle bashing included in the official rule post?

I;d do it myself but <looks behind me> No cape.

Ah, cool the revision got posted. I'm bumping a sticky :biggrin:
Everyone cruise back to Page 1 Post 1 and check out all the pretty green bits.
 
#20 ·
Swearing is still fine, just so long as your posts don;t become an excuse to flex your vocabulary.
 
#28 ·
We've also got a shiny new rule:
Nobody talk about the fucking Nazis!

Seriously.
It never turns out well, and honestly it's starting to get annoying.

It's unoriginal as fuck too. Doesn't matter the context, if it involves men in brown shirts and a man with a funny little tash, it's been done already and someone got banned for it, starting with Hitler himself and continued to this day in pretty much every internet forum ever.

You're not the first bloke to think the Imperium (or the Tau, or Chaos, or any other freaking army in the game) have some common themes with the Third Reich, you're not the first to think it's cute and cheeky to do a 40k army up in historical colors, and you're not the first person who thought clever and intelligent to slather on a swastika just so you can get all haughty when people fail to recognize its ancient, non-Arian roots and meanings to the symbol. It's not cute or smart, it's just stupid and unoriginal.

If you have some burning need to discuss the pros and cons of the universally recognized Bad Guys of WW2, go and find a nice Historical/Political forum to post it on. Even if it;s somehow 40k related, we just don't want to hear it.
 
#34 ·
No offense Galahad but I must reply, Im guessing this is directed towards me, if not I am pretty sure that I am at least the catalyst. I try to avoid all discussion about the swastikas. One thing I have to say though, in my defense, I never tried to tell people it was about it "ancient roots" and I never got haughty about them if someone got offended, in fact I tried to preemptively stop any conflict before it started (we see how well that worked:biggrin:). I am hoping this doesn't mean I can't post pics of my models any longer. The Gallery is one of the main attractions to the site for me.
 
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