Haven Rebirth Guidelines

Welcome, [#username], to the Haven Rebirth forums.  If you are wondering what we are, the Haven Rebirth is the revamped community forum of Roleplay Haven, a forum dedicated to numerous amounts of roleplay topics. Due to some issues on the old forum, they have been made into an archive and the site has been revamped and reconstructed on a new forum.

We would like to welcome you to our boards, but first there are a few things you need to know. Well, more than a few, but overall it is something worth noting and reading. These guidelines are very important to follow and understand, so please take the time to read them.

Introduction:

The Haven Rebirth is a community based on the roleplay of various themes and the discussion of fandoms. However, as with all communities we must have rules and regulations regarding the discussion that goes on during our existance as a web community. There are some very simple rules, and they will be outlined here. After this section, there are several explainations that go more in depth on how things work here. These rules have been refined and reforumuled to provide the most respectible and open community, but keeping things safe for our forum members.

Basic Forum Rules:

1. Be kind and respectful to all members. If you have differing viewpoints, feelings, or opinion, please refrain from being rude or brash about them. We respect that everyone is entitled to an opinion, but we do not tolerate disrespect and childish behavior.

2.Please stay on topic and keep threads in their correct boards. If you do not know where you should post a thread, please ask a staff member for their opinion.

3. There is no cursing filter, however we do expect a level of maturity when it comes to swearing. Failure to keep a clean mouth will result in consequences. We have more mature members here with expanded vocabulary, but we are trying to keep a G to PG-13 rated community in general. Respect your younglings.

4. Please use as correct of grammar as possible when posting.

5. If there is something to be reported, do not be a back-seat moderator. Report any site offenses to a staff member for review. Also, when reporting a post or issue, please consider only reporting something that is a legitamate issue, and not something trivial.

6. Do not create duplicate accounts. If you are having an issue with your account, please contact one of the staff members and we will try to help you resolve your issue.

7. Be civil minded. If you cannot get along with somebody, then deal with it and do it anyway. We all meet somebody we don't like, but instead of fighting or causing havoc, things can be settled on a civil manner. Staff members will deal with anything that might cause issues on the boards.

8. Do not harrass the staff team. If you do not agree with staff decisions, that is not for you to say. Members are welcome to leave suggestions and feedback to the forum staff in the Suggestions/Feedback board, but it is expected to respect all staff decisions and judgements.

9. The Chatbox is not a spambox. Please respect all forum members inside the active Chatbox, and make sure to keep it clean. Everything has a place to go on the forums, and the Chatbox is strictly for daily chat only.

10. Have fun, and enjoy yourself and others. This is a community forum, and we welcome all people from all walks of life. Just makes sure to follow the above rules!

Having the basic rules down pat, we'll move on to more advanced rules and guidelines involving the forums.

Minor Offenses:

These are actions that are considered Minor Offenses. Enacting them might not result in higher consequence, but can result in a buildup of smaller consequences. Continued offenses will stack.

• Multiple Posts: A very common error made on
internet forums. Multiple posts are when you post a message right next to one
you already made. This is frowned upon because there’s a ‘modify’ button on the
top right corner of your posts. Click this to add any extra information you’d
like to mention. However, if you suddenly start posting multiple times
repeatedly very rapidly, it is considered spam. Spam is a major offense on this
forum.
(For more information about spamming, scroll down to the Major
Offense section).
• Necroposting: Necroposting is a term specifically
used for posting a a message in a thread that stopped receiving replies a long
time ago. Leave these threads alone. If you really want to post on the same
topic as an old thread, create a new one. This is sometimes referred to as
‘grave digging’.
• Backseat Moderators: A backseat moderator is
someone who does not have any status as an authority staff member and tries to
handle bad behaviour like they do have the authority. On this forum, your only
job to do when someone is clearly breaking the rules is to report them to one of
our moderators or administrators. We’ll take care of that stuff for you.
•
Advertisement: Do not advertise anything outside of the advertisement
board. If you are really serious about affiliating something here, post a thread
about it in the advertisement board and we’ll decide whether or not we’ll let
you affiliate what you’re advertising. Repeatedly advertising something outside
of the appropriate boards is counted as spam. Also, this is obvious, but don’t
advertise anything that’s offensive.
• Improper Reporting: It should
be noted that when reporting a post of a member, please take into consideration
that the post you are reporting has a legitimate reason for being reported.
Please also take into consideration that people do have a harsh sense of humour
on the internet, and that some posts are just jokes (however rude they may seem)
and that the person making them might not be intending to create any offense. If
you are unsure of what to make of a post, do not hesitate to ask an
administrator or moderator to personally look at the post. Administrators and
moderators will take responsibility in looking at all reported posts, and retain
the right to make decisions and change their decisions about reported posts.

Major Forum Offenses:

These are some of the major offenses that will cause you to earn a stronger, higher leveled consequence on the boards. Some stack, others are immediate account suspensions or result in immediate banning.

• Spam: Like the spam you find commonly in your emails,
spamming the forums is very annoying and is not tolerated. It’s when you post a
bunch of nonsensical gibberish or advertisements over and over again rapidly.
There’s an acronym that sums up basically what spam is. Stupid Pointless
Annoying Messages. If you spam the boards or chat box, you will be warned not to
do it again, and if you persist on spamming, your account will be suspended from
the forum.
• Flaming: Flaming is basically the cybernetic form of
going up to someone and insulting them, yelling at them and overall just being a
total jerk to them. In other words, it involves violently swearing at, name
calling, and threatening a person on the internet. Your account will be warned
if you are spotted flaming another member on the forum, and after multiple
offenses, your account will be suspended until further notice. Another term for
flaming, most often used by people not as familiar with the ways of the internet
is cyber bullying. Finally, sometimes what you might call flaming is merely a
heated debate. Try to distinguish it from flaming if you can.
•
Trolling: Probably the most infamous form of offensive behaviour is the
phenomena known as trolling. Trolling is when a person intentionally posts
extraneous, inflammatory messages in order to get a desired emotional response.
In other words, saying something that aims to cause a big commotion usually
involving annoyance or anger for your own enjoyment. Trolling can sometimes hard
to spot, and sometimes very obvious. If someone is trolling on the forums,
report it to our staff and we’ll handle it from there.
•
Pornography/Inappropriate Images and Videos: This is the internet. There
is a ton of media that most of us do not want to see or hear about. Posting
something that is considered insanely inappropriate is probably the worst
offense you could make on this forum. If a member is spotted posting porn or
anything that most people would find strongly offensive, your account will be
banned on the spot.

Consequences for Rulebreaking:
Breaking rules on the forums and Chatbox (as they are universal) will, obviously, result in consequences. These consquences are up to the staff to decide upon, and judgements will not be questioned. If you do not feel you deserve the consequence you were given in the event of rulebreaking, you are welcome to contact the forum staff by other means and inquire on the reasons for you consequence. Consequences include, but are not limited to:

Warning
Account Suspension
Account Banning
Privilege Prohibitation
Chatbox Suspension
Chatbox Banning

Mature Discussion Board:
This does not mean Adult Material Board. The Mature Discussion board is a dignified discussion board that deals with topics that require more mature behavior to discuss. These topics are not limited to politics, theology, spirituality, and world issues. This does not mean you can go into this board and start a rant or a flame war. Any topics in this discussion board and its sub-boards must be discussed on a civil and professional manner. Debates are welcome, but arguments are not. Refusal to act mature in these boards will result in strict forum consequences, and possible banning.

Fandom Discussion Board:
The purpose of this board is for the discussion of fandoms. Due to recent issues with fandom obsession and Chatbox flooding, let alone frustration caused by said events, the fandom discussion has been strictly limited to this board. If you want to talk about a fandom you like, please do so in these boards. Do not place them elsewhere, and do not discuss them in the Chatbox unless it is for a short amount of time. We're doing this for a reason, so please forgive us if this rule seems a bit harsh. You are welcome to discuss any fandom here though.


Affiliation:
If you would like to affiliate to us, please notify one of the current staff members and make sure to submit your affiliate in the Affiliaton board. All affiliations must be site appropriate and will be reviewed by staff members. Do not affiliate a site without permission from the site owners and giving credit to them if the affiliated site does not belong to you. Do not affiliate adult material. Do not steal affiliations. I'm sure you get the idea.

Chatbox Guidelines:
All forum guidelines also apply to the Chatbox. However, we would like to note that the Chatbox is not a toy. Please refrain from abusing the Chatbox, or it privilages will be taken away. The chatbox is a community tool used to communicate with other forum members on a active level. Also, please use proper grammar in the Chatbox. That means no leet speak or shortcut internet slang. In english, use proper english!

Name Change Policy:
Please refrain from changing your account name unless given permission by a staff member. This is to prevent confusion. If you wish to change your account name, please contact a site administrator and inform them so that they can help you. Also, place your former screen-name in your signature so that people are capable of recognizing your account.

Conclusion:
Thank you very much for taking the time to read and consider our site Rules and Guidelines. We hope you enjoy your time on the Haven Rebirth forums. If there are any further questions of site protocol, please contact our forum staff, which you can find located on our Forum Staff List in the Rules/Guidelines board.

Again, thank you very much;

Suomi

Dr. Ivo Robotnik

~Site Administrators