Forum Rules (READ FIRST)

The Forum Rules are intended for friendly discussion in order to allow all The Engineering Guild users to enjoy their time here. As such please abide by the following rules.

So lets abide by them together and create a better forum.

The Forum's Code of Conduct

1. Be respectful of others at all times.

The purpose of the forum is to provide a platform for the exchange of ideas. Occasionally, there will be conflicts that arise when people voice opinions. Be courteous when disagreeing with others. It is possible to disagree without being insulting.

2. Ranting is prohibited

A rant is a post which is long-winded, redundant and filled with angry, non-constructive comments. A free exchange of ideas is essential to building a strong sense of community and helpful in the development of the forum, but rants are disruptive and incite flaming and trolling. Please post your thoughts in a concise, clear manner and avoid going off on rambling tangents.

3. Personal attacks are prohibited.

Commonly known as flaming, personal attacks are posts which are designed to personally berate or insult another. Text of this nature is not beneficial to the community spirit and will not be tolerated.

4. Trolling is prohibited.

Trolling is the word used to describe a post that is deliberately designed for the purpose of angering and insulting the members of the forum community. Posts of this nature are disruptive and do not convey a friendly attitude.

5. No posting of personal information

Please respect the privacy of other users and do not give out information such as phone numbers and addresses.

6. Private communication between the Staff and the forum users is not to be made public on these forums or by any other venue.

You are not permitted to publicize any private correspondence (including petitions) received from any of the aforementioned.

7. Warnings and bans are not to be discussed on the forum.

Such matters shall remain private. Questions or comments concerning warnings and bans will be conveyed through e-mail or private messaging. Likewise, discussions regarding moderator actions are not permitted on the forum. If you have questions regarding a post or thread, please contact an Administrator via PM.

8. Immediate banning from the forum can result from any of the following:

The posting of pornography; discriminatory remarks which are sexually explicit, harmful, threatening, abusive, defamatory, obscene, hateful, racially or ethnically offensive; excessive obscene or vulgar language; posts which discuss or illustrate illegal activity; providing links to sites that contain any of the aforementioned.

9. Spamming and bumping are prohibited.

Spam is considered to be repetitive posting of the same text again and again or nonsensical posts that have no substance and are often designed to annoy other forum users. Bumping posts in order to keep them near the top of the list is also prohibited. Posts of this nature are not conducive to community spirit and are unwelcome.

10. Impersonating another forum user, moderator, volunteer, administrator of the forum is strictly prohibited.

You are expressly forbidden from impersonating anyone else, including those named above, on the forum or in the game, even in jest. This may be grounds for permanent loss of your forum account and a permanent ban from the forums.

11. "Newbie" bashing will not be tolerated.

All flames will be automatically deleted and the poster may be warned or permanently barred from future forum use. New players are the lifeblood of the forum and should be treated as equals at all times. A helpful link to a related topic is a proper way to help someone asking a question that has been asked a thousand times.

12. Signature graphics are permitted, please consider these to be guidelines when making your sig or Avatar.

Signature graphics must follow the guidelines in #8 and should always be in good taste.

The size limits for signature graphics are as follows:

* Maximum height: 120 pixels
* Maximum width: 400 pixels

Up to five (5) signature images are allowed to be used in the signature. Images other than the signature image are not allowed to be posted on the forums.

13. Avatar graphics are permitted, please consider these to be guidelines when making your sig or Avatar.

* Maximum height: 90 pixels
* Maximum width: 90 pixels

14. You may not post advertisements.

Posts discussing or linking to online auction sites or services for real money are strictly prohibited unless a user has previously asked for such information from other forum users and you are providing it for them or the information is helpful in the current thread.

15. Avoid using profanity.

Using partial masking (such as asterisks or punctuation marks) to bypass the profanity filter is prohibited and will result in the same action as if the actual word had been typed.

16. Post constructively.

Negative feedback can be very useful, provided that it is presented in a civil, factual manner. Tell us what you don't like and why and how you feel it could be improved. Posts that are insulting and rude may be deleted, no matter how valid the ideas behind them may be.

17. Disputes which cannot be resolved between forum users and moderators may be arbitrated by the forum administrators.

To discuss problems or concerns, please send an PM to any Administrator.

18. Negative destructive arguments from other communities.

Negative destructive arguments from other websites are not welcome here, asking about them or wanting to hear a side of the story is strictly prohibited. I know users bring problems others have to this forum all the time and expect the people here to respond to what others are saying else where in order to make their problem in to our problem. Those attempting to do this here will be considered in breach of "Rule 4. Trolling is prohibited".

19. Abusive PMs will not be tolerated.

This website does not tolerate users that send Abusive PMs, those who receive one should provide proof and PM an Administrator. See Providing Proof at the bottom of these rules.

20. We do not allow users hiding behind proxies.

We will ban the proxy but the user account will not be, any user that has not broken any of the other rules that would result in a ban will be welcome here, just without the use of a proxy.

21. The rules are not open for debate.

Please help us keep our community a positive and enjoyable place for all users. If you have a concern about a user in violation of the rules please send an PM to an Administrator with the URL of the post in question and all relevant details. Thanks!

Punishment and Warnings

The following system will be used to deal with those who break the rules. The Offending posts will be deleted as standard after its contents are recorded as proof.

1. Gathering Proof

The offenders post will be recorded using a screen shot and a cut and paste of the full text if the screen shot does not capture the whole message. This information will be kept safe in case an Administrator or Moderator requests it. See Providing Proof at the bottom of these rules.

2. Punishment and Warnings.

This website punishes people in these ways.

A) Warnings


A warning for minor offences is given privately via PM.

Bans.

A ban will be given to the user who commits more serious offences, ignoring a warning would qualify as a serious offence and earn a ban for the user. Users that are banned may return after a week under a different name providing they abide by the rules fully. Users that do this must keep their new account a secret from existing forum users to avoid any old arguments flaring back up due to their past actions. That user may ask the Administrator to restore their old account (if it still exists) after a month if they have not broken any rules and no existing problems remain that might lead to more trouble.

C) IP Bans

A user who is banned and returns to cause more trouble will be IP Banned. Once the Administrator has to resort to IP Banning users, the punishment system on the website and forum will be considered ineffective against that user and more serious action will be taken against them should they return. Evidence collected previously will at this point be used against the user if they return as outlined under D below.

D) Working around IP Bans.

Users that work around an IP Ban will be reported to all Services they use as standard and any evidence collected will be passed on to those services. At this point the user will no longer be treated as an abusive forum user but as a threat to the website.

E) Threat to the website.

All threats to this website will be reported to the police in the country that hosts the website and any evidence gathered will be passed on to the local authorities at this time so that any treaties or laws that apply can be considered and acted upon.

Providing Proof

Proof of a breach of these rules can be provided by selecting the browser window, scrolling to the offending text and holding down ALT and pressing Print Screen. This will make a copy of the window in the Cut and Paste Buffer. Next open up any paint package and paste it in and save the image as a Jpeg file. If your a windows user, go to the start menu/program files/accessories and select paint and then press control V to paste in the proof and save it as a jpg file. In the event the screen shot does not capture all the evidence, include multiple screen shots and a copy of the text.

Finally PM an Administrator to find out how he/she would like the picture sent.