RULES: Required Reading for All Forum Members

[lightdarkness]

By posting on these forums, you agree to abide by and follow all the rules, and you agree to be subject to any penalties incurred by violation of the rules. If you have a problem with any of the following rules, please contact a forum moderator or administrator.

FORUM ETIQUETTE. These aren't violations of the rules, but it's still nice to read this and follow it so you don't look stupid and get your topic locked. You won't be punished for breaking any of these rules (unless you make a habit of it despite everyone telling you to stop, then it becomes a respect issue.) But please be courteous enough to follow them. And forum members - be courteous to people who break the rules. Don't be all "YOU SUCK CAN'T YOU READ." That's not cool.
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• Avatars and Signatures. Please keep your signature to a maximum width of 500 pixels, and a maximum height of 250 pixels. Avatars must be no more than 200 pixels in height, and no more than 175 pixels in width.
  
  Wrong forum. If you are new to the site, please take the time to read the description of each forum so you know where to post topics. Also, it's a good idea to use the Search feature to see if your question is a common one before making a new topic about it.
  
  Double Posting. Please refrain from double posting. Double posting is when you make a post right after a post you made. Just edit into the previous post. If for some reason, your post was posted twice, edit into one of the posts "Double Post", and a mod will delete it. The database is slow sometimes, so only click the submit button once. Otherwise you might accidentally double post.
  
  Offtopic posting. All conversations in a thread should be related to the first post in the thread. If you wish to take the conversation in another direction, create another thread. Intentionally changing the subject is known as "topic hijacking" and is a violation of the rules.

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RULE VIOLATIONS. Disobeying any of the following rules will get you in trouble. And this isn't the U.S. Constitution so don't try to engage the staff in word battles about what means what. In the end, it's the decision of the staff how to interpret these rules. Use common sense, too. If you aren't doing anything you see as wrong, you probably won't get in trouble for it.

This is how things go down around here.
Offense #1: PM warning, possible deleted or edited post
Offense #2: Public and PM warning, possible deleted or edited post
Offense #3: AIM conversation with a moderator/administrator to solve the problem and make sure it won't happen again.
Offense #4: Temporary username ban from the forums.
Offense #5: Permanent IP ban.

If you attempt to return after Offense #5 we will contact your ISP and inform them that you are using your internet service to abuse our forums.

That being said, here are the rule violations:
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• Postwhoring. This is defined as making a largely content-free post for the primary reason of upping your post count, or just trying to increase your presence on the forums by making people look at what you've written. Some examples of postwhoring include, but are not limited to: blank posts, posts of one line or less, one-word-posts, nonsense posts, posts of a picture and nothing else, posts of a quote of someone else and nothing else, etc. It is also considered postwhoring to tersely offer an opinion without backing it up. Posting simply "the 2nd and 3rd matrix movies sucked" is postwhoring. The Garbage Bin is the only forum where postwhoring is tolerated.
  
  Flame wars. There is a difference between civilized arguments and flaming. Arguments are usually targeted at someone's ideas, flames are usually targeted at a person themselves. Though light flaming is allowed, verbally abusing a person is not tolerated on these forums. Most flame wars continue simply because other people take sides and jump in on the flaming, and if this happens, the topic will definitely be locked. If you have personal issues with someone else, please take it to PM/AIM.
  
  Disrespect. Disrespect of any member will not be tolerated. This includes, but is not limited to, racial remarks, excessively making fun of a member, starting flame wars, etc.
  
  Posting offensive content. This includes pornography of any kind, disturbing images (if it makes you want to look away, it's disturbing), really gory stuff, very offensive language, goatse, tubgirl, harlequin fetus, etc. Use common sense and decide if it's something that other people would honestly want to see without going out of their way to find it.
  
  Excessively bypassing the swear filter. We have a word filter here that cancels out swear words, and while it's easy to get around it every once in a while, do not make a habit of it (especially if you're doing it as part of a flame war.) Remember that 13-year-olds view this site. Also note that using non-offensive terms such as "gay", "homo", "black", "Jew", etc. as derogatory remarks is against the rules. We have members of FFR who are offended by such behavior, as it is disrespectful to members of those groups.
  
  Brag Board rules. In the brag board, you are forbidden to post Stepmania/DWI/other simulator scores for songs that are FFR Exclusives. The ONLY song on FFR that you may post simulator scores for is 4F73R M3. Do not ask for simfiles for songs that are on FFR. Also, be nice to newbies, and be encouraging when newbies post newbie scores. They're proud of them, and when we encourage them they stick with the game.
  
  Advertising. Do not create a topic simply to advertise your own website, or another set of forums. Doing so will get your link removed and the topic locked. You are encouraged to place any links to sites you own or frequent in your signature. Do not post your outwar link (or link to a similar site.)
  
  Impersonating Staff. Impersonation of staff is not tolerated. Examples of this are creating names similar to those of staff members (e.g. Synthdark), or creating accounts with avatars/signatures meant to look like that of a staff member. Remember that we are part of the Bemani community. Impersonating staff or prominent members of other Bemani forums or the Bemani community in general (djparanoia, JDogg, Phrekwenci, etc.) is also forbidden. Similarly, impersonating members of this site's staff on other forums is forbidden.
  
  Arguing with the judgment of staff. The staff is allowed to lock, edit, or delete any post for any reason at their discretion. If you have an issue or complaint with how the staff does their job, please contact the staff member you have a problem with before going to other staff about it. Do not create topics lambasting any staff member.
  
  Bumping topics. If a topic has not been posted in for over 2 weeks, OR it is no longer on page 1 of whatever forum it's in, OR both, it is considered a "dead topic." Posting in it unnecessarily brings it to the top of the topic list and is forbidden.
  
  Illegal Content. Illegal content will not be tolerated on FFR. This includes, but is not limited to, roms/warez/illegal Mp3s/illegal torrents, etc. Extreme actions will be taken on those who post illegal content, depending on its severity.

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Have fun on the forums.

Cheers,

FFR Forum Staff

~Special thanks to Chardish for typing this up