Last Updated: July 24th, 2015
[table="width: 200, class: outer_border, align: left"] |
Table of Contents |
| [jumpto=content]1. Post Content[/jumpto] |
| [jumpto=sigs]2. Signature Specific[/jumpto] |
| [jumpto=conduct]3. Your Conduct[/jumpto] |
| [jumpto=glossary]4. Glossary[/jumpto] |
| [jumpto=reporting]5. Reporting[/jumpto] |
If you break any of these rules, you will receive an infraction letting you know. Don't worry too much about these, infractions let our staff keep track of user's history to weed out trouble makers, but are mainly to serve as a friendly reminder of the rule you broke. If you aren't constantly breaking rules, infractions wont be a problem for you!
With these rules, it is important to remember that the Forums and IRC are not separate entities. How you behave on IRC can lead to punishment on the forums and vice versa. Similarly, though it may seem unfair to some, you are a representative of SP outside of these forums, and may be punished for your actions elsewhere. IE, if you spam a forum not related to SP, we may end up banning you as we do not want someone who has shown they will do that kind of thing in our community.
[/table]Post Content
- Do not spam([jumpto=definespam]?[/jumpto]) or otherwise create nonsensical posts
- Do not make one-word([jumpto=defineow]?[/jumpto]) or short posts that do little or nothing to contribute to a thread
- Do not abuse memes or make image-only posts that do little or nothing to contribute to a thread
- Multimedia content such as images found in posts and signatures cannot negatively impact the performance of the site or the experience of other users, please ensure such content is a reasonable file size and hosted from a fast and reliable image host
- Make sure your post content is relevant to the section or thread you're posting in
- Make sure to put excessively long content into a spoiler, especially when replying to a thread
- Posts cannot contain any audible content that plays without explicit interaction from a person[[jumpto=content1]1[/jumpto]]
- Do not advertise or post any links for your own gain, unless otherwise approved by staff[[jumpto=content2]2[/jumpto]]
- Do not post anything considered illegal by United States law
- Do not share warez, torrents, or otherwise use the forums as a vessel for piracy
- Do not post any pornographic content[[jumpto=content3]3[/jumpto]]
- Be respectful to your peers and do not flame or attack them; refrain from posting if you cannot disagree in a civil manner
[anchorhighlight=content1]1. This includes roll-over button sounds or auto-playing music.[/anchorhighlight]
[anchorhighlight=content2]2. Examples of linking for your own gain would be websites that require you to give a link to other people in order to progress on that site (like DragCave), or referring users to a website using your name so that you get points[/anchorhighlight]
[anchorhighlight=content3]3. Non-sexualized nudity for the purposes of art or education may be allowed only if accompanied by a NSFW (Not Safe For Work) warning. If you're not sure if your content is allowed, contact a moderator or administrator.[/anchorhighlight]
[anchorhighlight=content2]2. Examples of linking for your own gain would be websites that require you to give a link to other people in order to progress on that site (like DragCave), or referring users to a website using your name so that you get points[/anchorhighlight]
[anchorhighlight=content3]3. Non-sexualized nudity for the purposes of art or education may be allowed only if accompanied by a NSFW (Not Safe For Work) warning. If you're not sure if your content is allowed, contact a moderator or administrator.[/anchorhighlight]
Signature Specific
- Signatures must not contain spam or be disruptive or malicious
- Keep image and SWF file sizes under 2 MB
- Do not use a SWF file that hides the cursor - this causes the cursor to vanish entirely for some people
Your Conduct
- You must be at least 13 years of age or older to use the forums
- You must at least provide an English translation when posting in another language, as StickPage is primarily an English website
- Do not bump([jumpto=definebump]?[/jumpto]) a topic that is more than 7 days old[[jumpto=conduct1]1[/jumpto]]
- Do not make multiple posts in a row, edit your post instead[[jumpto=conduct2]2[/jumpto]]
- Do not publicly complain about disciplinary actions[[jumpto=conduct3]3[/jumpto]]
- Do not disrespect, threaten, insult or otherwise harass staff members[[jumpto=conduct3]3[/jumpto]]
- You may only have one account, having any more is considered a form of abuse[[jumpto=conduct4]4[/jumpto]]
- Do not reply to spam or other forms of forum abuse and disruption, this makes it harder for the staff to clean up the mess
- Do not backseat moderate([jumpto=definebm]?[/jumpto]) or otherwise act as a staff member of StickPage when you are not[[jumpto=conduct5]5[/jumpto]]
- If a user is banned, then they are no longer allowed to participate in the StickPage community at all including IRC, RHG, and RHG Clans
- Do not act as a proxy for a banned user by posting content or contributing on their behalf
- Do not plagiarize other people's works[[jumpto=conduct6]6[/jumpto]]
- No social engineering, or manipulating others into doing something they wouldn't have done without influence
[anchorhighlight=conduct1]1. Exceptions to this rule are made if the topic you're posting in doesn't need to constantly be remade, or if you are contributing intellectually to the thread. Additionally, this rule does not apply to to the Official Games & Animations section.[/anchorhighlight]
[anchorhighlight=conduct2]2. There are reasonable exceptions to this rule, such as adding a significant update to your thread or separating the thread premise from the content. If you are unsure about your double post, contact a staff member to clarify. Infractions for this rule are given at the discretion of our moderators on an individual basis, be prepared to defend yourself if you feel your multiple posts are justified.[/anchorhighlight]
[anchorhighlight=conduct3]3. If you are having a problem with a staff member or our policies, a more reasonable course of action would be to quietly and calmly discuss the issue in private with another staff member or admin. The staff are here to keep the forum clean and make it a better experience for everyone, and making their lives harder by causing problems is unnecessary.[/anchorhighlight]
[anchorhighlight=conduct4]4. An exception to this rule is made if you wish to discuss a ban on your account and have no other means to do so. You may not do anything with this account except for Private Message a staff member to discuss the ban. If you post under this account or otherwise use it as you would your regular account, both accounts may be permanently banned.[/anchorhighlight]
[anchorhighlight=conduct5]5. If you see someone breaking the rules, you should be reporting them rather than telling them off or alerting them to what they did. That is not your job. If you don't want to report someone, that's fine, but it is considered off topic spam to make a post specifically telling them about their rule breaking.[/anchorhighlight]
[anchorhighlight=conduct6]6. This includes tracing and rotoscoping([jumpto=defineroto]?[/jumpto]) existing works without attribution.[/anchorhighlight]
[anchorhighlight=conduct2]2. There are reasonable exceptions to this rule, such as adding a significant update to your thread or separating the thread premise from the content. If you are unsure about your double post, contact a staff member to clarify. Infractions for this rule are given at the discretion of our moderators on an individual basis, be prepared to defend yourself if you feel your multiple posts are justified.[/anchorhighlight]
[anchorhighlight=conduct3]3. If you are having a problem with a staff member or our policies, a more reasonable course of action would be to quietly and calmly discuss the issue in private with another staff member or admin. The staff are here to keep the forum clean and make it a better experience for everyone, and making their lives harder by causing problems is unnecessary.[/anchorhighlight]
[anchorhighlight=conduct4]4. An exception to this rule is made if you wish to discuss a ban on your account and have no other means to do so. You may not do anything with this account except for Private Message a staff member to discuss the ban. If you post under this account or otherwise use it as you would your regular account, both accounts may be permanently banned.[/anchorhighlight]
[anchorhighlight=conduct5]5. If you see someone breaking the rules, you should be reporting them rather than telling them off or alerting them to what they did. That is not your job. If you don't want to report someone, that's fine, but it is considered off topic spam to make a post specifically telling them about their rule breaking.[/anchorhighlight]
[anchorhighlight=conduct6]6. This includes tracing and rotoscoping([jumpto=defineroto]?[/jumpto]) existing works without attribution.[/anchorhighlight]
Glossary
[anchorhighlight=definebm]Backseat Moderate[/anchorhighlight] - A backseat moderator is a user who, despite not being assigned the position of moderator or other staff member, behaves in a manner that impresses that they are. That can be something as simple as reprimanding another user for breaking a rule, or something more complex like telling a moderator how they should be handling something. Backseat moderating is more often annoying than helpful, and is usually only done out of some misguided sense of duty or sometimes elitism. This forum has a feature that lets you report content like posts and visitor messages, so using that feature is the best way to help the mods out. If you have a problem with how a moderator is handling something, a private discussion with the moderator or an admin is a better course of action. There's no reason to be publicly condemning other users or criticizing a staff member, and most who do look foolish.
[anchorhighlight=definebump]Bump[/anchorhighlight] - The the context of an internet forum, a bump refers to moving a thread to the top of a forum's thread listings by making any kind of post in it. Typically after 7 days with no reply a thread can be considered dead and unless you have a good reason to post in it you should refrain from doing so, so that thread isn't bumped to the top.
[anchorhighlight=defineow]One-Word Post[/anchorhighlight] - Fairly self-explanatory. In a nutshell, one-word posts are an incredibly low effort type of post, and usually people will post one-word posts if they have nothing significant to say. Often times, you shouldn't say anything if you have nothing significant to say.
[anchorhighlight=defineroto]Rotoscoping[/anchorhighlight] - Rotoscoping can refer to two thing. In the context of animation, it's a technique that involves tracing over live-action footage frame by frame. This technique can be used to create a unique style (a la A Scanner Darkly), or as a tool to help with various aspects of an animation such as motion or perspective. There's nothing wrong with this technique when used properly, however there is sometimes confusion over whether or not this constitutes as plagiarism. The biggest thing to keep in mind when rotoscoping is attribution. If you didn't film all of the source material yourself before rotoscoping over it, that source content is not your own intellectual property and can be considered plagiarism by this community. This includes tracing over other animated content or existing live-action movies and TV Shows.
However, often times it is excused for the purpose of education if you properly attribute and cite the content you rotoscoped. Letting other users know that you did this shows a good moral compass and a fair understanding of how this community operates. It's unfair to conveniently exclude your use of rotoscoping in the creation of your content, even if you did create the source material, as otherwise it leaves the impression that you animated it by hand, which often takes considerably more skill to do. In this community, we all work and strive to better ourselves, so by cheating and pretending you hand-animated something you just rotoscoped you're really only cheating yourself of valuable experience.
[anchorhighlight=definespam]Spam[/anchorhighlight] - There are 3 different levels of spam you should worry about on this forum. They are Minor Spam, Spam and Spambot.
Minor spam is for instances where a user isn't contributing, but isn't causing a disruption. For example, one-word posts that do nothing to contribute to a thread like 'LOL', or 'FAG' would be considered minor spam. If there is no adequate justification for a post, or if a post seems out of place like it has nothing to do with what's going on (IE "Someone like my sig?" in a topic about religious debates), chances are it's minor spam.
Spam in the context of an internet forum usually refers to attempting to cause a disruption by posting worthless content (IE "ASDSDGFKSJFKSDJFSDF"). StickPage has a zero tolerance policy against this kind of spam and it carries a harsher punishment than minor spam.
Spambots are automated programs that target internet forums specifically to spam advertisements. These advertisements are considered a disruption because they are not only against the rules of the forum but also have nothing to do with the community, these accounts are literally just there to spam as much as they can. The thing to remember with spambots is that there are usually no humans behind them, so responding to or even acknowledging them is pointless. Usually they're easy to identify, so you should avoid them when you can, but sometimes they're sophisticated enough to pretend to be regular users before slamming the forum with links, in which case you will not be faulted for being tricked.
Examples
"That's a dumb reason to ban someone, why is that person a mod?"
"This thread is stupid. Lock it, now!"
"That's a dumb reason to ban someone, why is that person a mod?"
"This thread is stupid. Lock it, now!"
[anchorhighlight=definebump]Bump[/anchorhighlight] - The the context of an internet forum, a bump refers to moving a thread to the top of a forum's thread listings by making any kind of post in it. Typically after 7 days with no reply a thread can be considered dead and unless you have a good reason to post in it you should refrain from doing so, so that thread isn't bumped to the top.
[anchorhighlight=defineow]One-Word Post[/anchorhighlight] - Fairly self-explanatory. In a nutshell, one-word posts are an incredibly low effort type of post, and usually people will post one-word posts if they have nothing significant to say. Often times, you shouldn't say anything if you have nothing significant to say.
[anchorhighlight=defineroto]Rotoscoping[/anchorhighlight] - Rotoscoping can refer to two thing. In the context of animation, it's a technique that involves tracing over live-action footage frame by frame. This technique can be used to create a unique style (a la A Scanner Darkly), or as a tool to help with various aspects of an animation such as motion or perspective. There's nothing wrong with this technique when used properly, however there is sometimes confusion over whether or not this constitutes as plagiarism. The biggest thing to keep in mind when rotoscoping is attribution. If you didn't film all of the source material yourself before rotoscoping over it, that source content is not your own intellectual property and can be considered plagiarism by this community. This includes tracing over other animated content or existing live-action movies and TV Shows.
However, often times it is excused for the purpose of education if you properly attribute and cite the content you rotoscoped. Letting other users know that you did this shows a good moral compass and a fair understanding of how this community operates. It's unfair to conveniently exclude your use of rotoscoping in the creation of your content, even if you did create the source material, as otherwise it leaves the impression that you animated it by hand, which often takes considerably more skill to do. In this community, we all work and strive to better ourselves, so by cheating and pretending you hand-animated something you just rotoscoped you're really only cheating yourself of valuable experience.
[anchorhighlight=definespam]Spam[/anchorhighlight] - There are 3 different levels of spam you should worry about on this forum. They are Minor Spam, Spam and Spambot.
Minor spam is for instances where a user isn't contributing, but isn't causing a disruption. For example, one-word posts that do nothing to contribute to a thread like 'LOL', or 'FAG' would be considered minor spam. If there is no adequate justification for a post, or if a post seems out of place like it has nothing to do with what's going on (IE "Someone like my sig?" in a topic about religious debates), chances are it's minor spam.
Spam in the context of an internet forum usually refers to attempting to cause a disruption by posting worthless content (IE "ASDSDGFKSJFKSDJFSDF"). StickPage has a zero tolerance policy against this kind of spam and it carries a harsher punishment than minor spam.
Spambots are automated programs that target internet forums specifically to spam advertisements. These advertisements are considered a disruption because they are not only against the rules of the forum but also have nothing to do with the community, these accounts are literally just there to spam as much as they can. The thing to remember with spambots is that there are usually no humans behind them, so responding to or even acknowledging them is pointless. Usually they're easy to identify, so you should avoid them when you can, but sometimes they're sophisticated enough to pretend to be regular users before slamming the forum with links, in which case you will not be faulted for being tricked.
Reporting
If you see another user violating any of these rules, you can do the entire staff team a favour by reporting the offending content. Reports are private so only staff can see the report, and reports are dealt with one by one as soon as we can get to them. Reporting should only be used if a rule is actually broken, if you abuse the reporting feature to harass another member you will be punished. Most of the time if your report isn't a valid one, it's just discarded and no harm is done, so don't be afraid to help out!
To make a report, simply click the warning symbol
in the lower left corner of the post you wish to report. Typically you can find it under the user's avatar and information, to the left of their signature. This button works for other content as well, pretty much any where you see this symbol you can use it to report content.
To make a report, simply click the warning symbol
in the lower left corner of the post you wish to report. Typically you can find it under the user's avatar and information, to the left of their signature. This button works for other content as well, pretty much any where you see this symbol you can use it to report content.