New rules? Hmmm... I will check and edit.
EDIT:
Don't Be a Jerk
This rule trumps any other. Any loophole you think you've found in any other rule is covered by this one. If you make our forums a less pleasant place to be, we don't want you here and we have no problem revoking your account. Here are a couple of the things you should stay away from:
Flaming
Calling people names (or groups who may visit The Escapist), this includes calling others a troll
Trolling
Posting inflammatory, extraneous or off-topic messages with the primary intent of provoking readers into an emotional response or otherwise disrupting normal on-topic discussion
Offensive Posts
Please read what you wrote before you post it and think if anyone else could find it offensive
Rants
You can disagree with whatever you like but using large amounts of obscene language and CAPS is against our policies. We are sure you can find another way to voice your opinion without being aggressive, regardless of whom it is directed at.
Ban Jumping
If you create another account after being permanently banned, suspended or on probation, both of your accounts will be automatically banned.
This is fair enough.
Constructive criticism is welcomed; negativity for its own sake is not.
Which is why I've noticed anyone saying anything bad about Lisa Foiles is warned/banned/suspended. Even if it's well thought out. I dont mind her myself, but that seems fishy.
Further, discussions instructing or otherwise advocating the circumvention of The Escapist's advertisements, site sponsors, security mechanisms, media protections or similar facilities will not be tolerated.
Oh, so if we do anything to disrupt your money flow, you ban us? Nice priorities.
If we find you being slanderous with regard to any part of The Escapist, you will be penalized. This includes, but is not limited to communication of a statement that makes a claim, expressly stated or implied to be factual, that may give The Escapist, an individual creator, advertiser, site sponsor, product, group, government or nation a negative image. In short, if you say something you better be able to back it up with fact.
Uhm, alright. Thats fair, if a little excessive.
Regardless of what some of our content creators may say, do or provoke within their videos or articles, this does not give members the ability to act in the same way. They are entertainers and if they brought their language or flaming into the forums, they would be held accountable, just as any other forum member of The Escapist would be.
Right, so this site has double standards but has done their best to hide it.
Put Some Effort Into Your Communication
A well-made thread or a well-written comment engages its audience and facilitates discussion. We do ask that posters take just a little time to make their posts as readable as possible and keep their responses on topic. We also ask that you take a moment to check your spelling and grammar. Here are a couple things to avoid:
Low Content Posts
This could be anything from answering a question to posting LOL. These forums are used for discussion and low content posts halts discussion.
Pictures, Links and Videos
These will all be considered low content posts if not accompanied by a well thought out opinion, debate or reasoning. Pics, links and videos should help to strengthen your stance or opinion, not the other way around.
Topicless Thread Creation
Posting a thread without any discussion value, or with a deliberately misleading title, will get you penalized and your thread locked. This includes creating a poll without an accompanying discussion.
This is fair and sort of goes without saying.
Use Our Forums Appropriately
Our forums are a place to talk with like-minded people, not a place to advertise your blog, webpage, YouTube channel or commercial enterprise. Your profile has a place for such things, and that is where it should stay. If you fail to do this, you will automatically get a 1 month suspension.
Or you guys could make a section of the forums for people to post their own stuff. That might work too. Would make finding talent easier for you guys too.
Similarly, posts including, advocating, or linking to illegal or adult material are a very quick way to end your time as part of The Escapist community. An example of these are:
Well duh.
Piracy
Ad Blockers[/b]
What? Seriously? Just because we dont feel like sitting through the same ad a 30th time we get banned? Sweet.
Illegal Drugs in the United States
Illegal Acts in the United States
Pedophilia
Pornography
Sexist, Racist or Perverted Remarks
Uhm. All fair I guess, curious as to why Ad Blockers are on the same level as these things, seems like a greed/money thing to me. (I'm probs getting banned for this, I accepted that before I started writing.)
Posting Pics or Videos
Any pictures or videos that are vulgar, racist, hateful, spam or contain advertisements or nudity will be taken down immediately. When posting pictures or video, we request that you use spoiler tags:
Please see the section on "Put Some Effort Into Your Communication" for more information.
Fair enough.
Penalties
The Escapist forums are different from other forums on the internet. We try to maintain a system that balances intelligent discussion, debate and fun. The penalty system is meant to provide guidance to users - it allows users to better understand the rules and adjust to the differences from other Internet forums. The Escapist uses a strike system that grants you a maximum amount of 8 penalties to learn how to adhere to forum policies. Once a threshold has been broken, there is no way to gain strikes back. Here is the breakdown of all 8 stages:
Up to 4 Warnings (Green)
Warnings do not negatively impact your account but will stack against you for penalties.
Probation (Yellow)
This is your final warning. Once you receive probation, you are always on probation. All penalties after this will be suspensions, and all badges for good behavior will be negated.
3-day Suspension (Red)
You will be unable to post in the forums for three days, and all badges for good behavior will be negated.
2-week Suspension (Red)
You will be unable to post in the forums for two weeks, and all badges for good behavior will be negated.
Permanent Ban (Red)
Your posting rights on the site, as well as other methods of community participation, will be revoked permanently.
We do not enjoy banning people,
Well, you sure made it easy to do something you dont like doing. I'm also not clear on if you can get rid of warnings? If you can, then the system is strict but it can be dealt with. If not, then I don't like this. If someone made a stupid post three years ago, that should not affect them today, as they have changed, exactly like the site rules change.
but we will not hesitate to do so if we think that a person's removal will have an overall positive effect on the community. We also reserve the right to increase the punishment as we see fit, and any punishment above a warning will put the user at a minimum of the probation level. For example, advertisers get an automatic one month suspension, which means that any future infractions (once the suspension has ended) will result in a minimum of a suspension.
Fair enough, though it seems pretty stiff to crack down so hard on advertising when this site shoves it down our throats and then threatens us with bans if we circumvent it, which I'm willing to bet 85% of the site does.
You will be able to see your Forum Health Meter in your profile as a colored bar progression, using the colors listed in the penalties list above. Ban Histories, which the health meter loosely represents, are also taken into account when moderating.
Well, as you can see by the obscene amount of good behaviour badges I have, I'm not a trouble maker. So I should be in the green. (More likely yellow after this post. Even though this is constructive criticism and it's laid out in the rules on this very post that such criticism is ok.)
Appeal System
Moderators and staff are human and sometimes make mistakes. For this reason, we have an appeal system that members can utilize to plead their case in hopes of a reversal of a penalty. Once you have received a penalty, a message will be sent to you via private message. At this time, there is also a link to the appeal process. Please note, the appeal process works with your email account, not the private message system on The Escapist. If you choose to use the appeal system, please make sure to check your spam folder for an email.
This might as well not exist, I have a feeling people are going to complain that their appeals never get answered/are wrongfully denied, but what can you do.
Welp, yea, rules seem alright except for the obvious "Cut off our money or allow others to cut off our money and you''ll be reprimanded." intent and Ad Blockers being compared to raping children.
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