Forum Rules

[Nero]

These rules apply to the entirety of the site, including the Wiki.

 

Be Respectful

 

• Be respectful of your fellow posters and roleplayers. Offensive commentary of any kind is not permitted. This includes but is not limited to: personal attacks, discriminatory language, flaming, and harassment.
  
• Discussions of personal conflict, call-outs of specific individuals, groups, or Free Companies are not permitted.
  
• Wiki vandalism is not permitted.

 

Be Constructive

 

• Adhere to the "Discussion" tag (explained here). Keep posts relevant to the thread. Do not spam. Attempts to derail, troll, or otherwise disrupt threads are not permitted.
  
• Do not post bait threads, "I'm leaving" threads, or threads intended to call out specific individuals.

 

Search before posting

If your post or thread is asking a question, particularly about topics like lore, please use the search function before posting a new thread.

 

No NSFW or R18 Content

 

All content on the site must adhere to a relative PG-13 standard. No NSFW or R18 content of any kind is permitted. Suggestive content should be appropriately hidden with spoiler tags and labelled.

 

Commercial advertisements must be relevant to Final Fantasy XIV or the RPC.

 

Advertisements for commissions, artwork, or any other user-created content are permissible in the Artisan House forum. All other commercial advertisements must be approved by the staff before posting.

 

Sockpuppetry is not permitted.

 

Using and/or creating additional accounts is only permitted if additional accounts are clearly linked to a "main" account. The use of open proxy servers, disposable/cloaked e-mail addresses, and Tor are not permitted. Creating additional accounts to circumvent bans, suspensions, or posting limitations is not permitted.

 

The administration and moderators reserves the right at all times to change, add, or delete rules.

 

Failing to adhere to the rules will result in a warning on first infraction. Further infractions may incur temporary suspensions and permanent bans.

 

These forums are governed by the laws of the United States of America, North Virginia, and Tennessee. Legal notices, including but not limited to DMCA notifications, should be sent to the administrator. This site asserts rights under DMCA Title II (17 USC 512 c); the designated agent is FreelanceWizard.

 

By accessing this site, you agree to accept first-party cookies for the purposes of single sign-on, login, and first-party analytics; we do not use third-party analytics or advertising services, and cookies are not used to track your activity. You consent to reasonable monitoring of activities through server logs, including but not limited to tracking and behavioral analysis by IP address.

 

You must provide a valid e-mail address that is not associated with an e-mail anonymizer, disposable e-mail service, or cloaked e-mail service to register for this site. You may not access this site via Tor or open proxy.

 

We take your privacy seriously and will not disclose any information about you to third parties, except when required by law or to coordinate response with other sites to security issues. While you are required to provide a valid, non-anonymized e-mail address to register, we will never send e-mails to that address except through automated processes with your consent. You opt into certain notifications, such as those for private messages, upon registration. You can change your e-mail settings in your User Control Panel, and you can disable all e-mail notifications except password reset notifications, if you so choose. We will never send advertisements to your e-mail address or sell it to a third party.

 

This is a private computer system as defined by the ECPA and SCA.

 

Unless a different licensing regime is specified in a section of the site, you retain full copyright to anything you post here (your Content). However, you grant this site and its administration a non-exclusive, perpetual, non-revocable license to store and redistribute Content in the course of its normal operation as a forum and wiki.

 

[Nero]

The following section contains meticulous detail as to the forum rules and how they are enforced.

 

Reading it is optional; it is available for users who wish, for whatever reason, to have an in-depth understanding of the site rules.

 

The RPC aims to be a pleasant, enjoyable environment for role-players of all stripes on FINAL FANTASY XIV. To support that objective, and to clarify and standardize the means by which we get there, the following moderation policies apply to all activity on this site with the sole expection of "The Void" opt-in board, where only Severe Violations are enforced.

 

These policies only describe how we intend to enforce the general rules in the post above. Nothing in these policies should be construed to countermand any of those general rules. If you have not encountered problems for breaking the rules in the past, these policies should not and will not affect how you post.

 

Unacceptable Behaviors

While it's not possible for a moderator team to enforce a specific tone for a forum, we can address particular behaviors that we've identified as not conducive to that tone and that are, therefore, unacceptable. Each behavior is color-coded according to its severity:

• Minor violations are in black text.
  
• Severe violations are in bold red text and will result in immediate, permanent banning, potentially with an IP range block and referral to law enforcement.
  

 

At a moderator's option, the first offense of a user in any category can be addressed with a PM warning to that user, cc'ed to all moderators and the admin. This option is only to be employed when there is no evidence of ill intent (as determined by reviewing the user's post and warning history, length of membership, and other factors) and it's deemed likely there's a misunderstanding about the rules.

 

Exceptions to any of these rules may be made by the admin on a case-by-case basis, and these exceptions will be publicly noted. Examples include granting permission to take a topic off a locked thread into a new thread and excepting particular forums from the blanket prohibition on advertising.

 

Section 1 - Posting & Topics

• Excessive spamming, defined as an extremely high post rate, particularly if those posts contain little or no content.
  
• Excessive off-topic posting.
  
• Spurious off-topic posts, including meme images and patent nonsense.
  
• Re-creating locked or deleted topics.
  
• Creating topics for only one person's attention.
  
• Creating posts and/or topics whose purpose/title is sarcastic, belittling, or intentionally provocative in a negative manner (i.e., "baiting").
  
• Posting links/images to graphic and unsuitable material (e.g., gore, mutilation, pornography).
  
• Selectively editing or deleting the content of posts to your benefit.
  

The point of this section is to keep the "signal to noise" ratio of the forum high by punishing posts that don't add content or that "troll" the forums. For example, meme image or video posts that have no other associated content simply clutter up a thread and don't add any value.

 

"Off-topic posting" refers particularly to off-topic posts within a thread; threads that are simply posted into the wrong forum will be moved by a mod without a warning (though a user who repeatedly and intentionally posts into incorrect forums can violate this rule). While relevant tangential topics that add to the discussion are fine, clearly off-topic posts should be taken to another thread or private messages. Naturally, the rules on off-topic posts are somewhat more lenient on the main Off-Topic board, as that's its intended purpose, but intentionally derailing a thread even there isn't acceptable.

 

"Graphic and unsuitable material" refers to that material that would not be acceptable in a work or school environment. As many of our members read the site in such locations, and because our site is large enough to be monitored by web filtering systems, we enforce that content be kept to a PG-13 level.

 

"Selectively editing or deleting the content of posts to your benefit" refers to either deleting parts or entire posts that you don't like or that you feel show you in a poor light, or editing or deleting parts of posts to your benefit in an argument. This doesn't refer to normal post editing, editing that's intended to self-moderate, or in general editing that's done without a clear negative impact. Examples of unacceptable editing that'd run afoul of this policy are deleting all of your post content in a thread where other people have posted, or altering your post after it's been quoted, then claiming you never said what was in the quote.

 

 

Section 2 - Signatures and Avatars

• Material or links to material that are graphic and unsuitable.
  
• Any links in your signature in which can be interpreted as commercial advertising.
  
• Signatures of an excessive size, defined as those that exceed 700x400 pixels or 2Mb, unless the signature image is enclosed in a spoiler tag.
  
• Signature or avatar text that violates any of the other policies.
  

The point of this section is to extend the rules of the rest of the forum to signatures and avatars. In the past, we've had members attempt to use them to insult other members, which is certainly unacceptable behavior.

 

The excessive size rule exists to prevent large signatures from disrupting the display of the forums on phones, tablets, and other small screen devices. You may have signatures larger than that, so long as the image is enclosed in a spoiler tag.

 

The advertising rule explicitly does not refer to advertisements for free companies, linkshells, commissions, your artwork, other fan sites, or your own character. It's intended to deal with commercial advertising only.

 

 

Section 3 - Discussion & Prejudiced Comments

• Discussion of a sexual nature which isn't tasteful.
  
• Attacks on, or promotion of, specific religions.
  
• Posting racist comments.
  
• Posting comments that attack another's sexual/gender identity (including but not limited to sexist and homophobic comments).
  
• Attempting to undermine moderator actions/decisions.
  

The RPC doesn't aim to be a "safe space." However, we do value diversity and want role-players of all faiths, races, genders, and backgrounds to feel comfortable. To that end, these policies impose severe penalties on those who engage in hate speech.

 

"Discussion of a sexual nature which isn't tasteful" refers particularly to graphic or explicit discussions of sex acts. We recognize that sexuality is important to characters and role-players, and don't want to eliminate such discussions. However, because many of our members read the site in work or school environments, discussions of sexuality need to take an academic or professional tone.

 

 

Section 4 - Attitude and Tone

• Petty insults/name calling.
  
• Posting negative comments about a member's topic(s).
  
• Personal attacks and callouts
  
• Posting offensive comments about anyone's family, including threats or "doxxing."
  
• Threats of physical harm or abuse.
  
• Creating a thread for the specific purpose of highlighting an action or post by a specific user.
  

The staff of the RPC cannot and will not attempt to enforce a specific tone on the forum; achieving the desired tone requires primarily the action of members, with mods to deal with the most egregious violations. To that end, these rules deal primarily with clear-cut cases of personal attacks, abuse, and bullying.

 

"Posting negative comments about a member's topic(s)" refers specifically to posts that belittle or insult a topic itself, not necessarily the content of an argument. For example, a post of "this topic is shit," "shut up and stop bitching," or "quit whining about this" would be unacceptable. If you disagree with an argument someone has made, feel free to rebut it (respectfully and without personal attacks, of course). However, if you disagree with the existence of the topic itself, simply mark it read and move on.

 

 

Section 5 - Illegal Activities

• Posting or linking to downloads to pirated material.
  
• Posting or linking to software cracks & keygens.
  
• Posting or linking to explanations of how to commit an illegal activity.
  
• Posting or linking to any form of malware.
  
• Posting or linking to any material that violates SQUARE ENIX's Terms of Service or Materials Use License for FINAL FANTASY XIV.
  
• Engaging in any activity that disrupts or attempts to disrupt the technical operations of the site's software.
  

The RPC is governed by four sets of laws -- the laws of the United States, the laws of Virginia, the laws of California, and the laws of Tennessee -- and bound by the Terms of Service and Materials Use License provided by SQUARE ENIX. These policies specifically address violations of these laws and agreements.

 

All attempts to engage in illegal activity will be reported to appropriate law enforcement authorities.

 

 

Section 6 - Member Profiles

• Changing your member title, avatar and/or signature to pose as a member of site staff.
  
• Abuse of forum features to harass other users, including the buddy list.
  
• Any use of profile features to mock or insult another user.
  

All of these behaviors are attempts to evade normal moderation by, frankly, abusing the forum software in a passive-aggressive way. We take a dim view of such behaviors.

 

We're aware of a bug in the forum software that causes adding a person to your Ignore List to notify them that they were added to your Buddy List. So, "abuse of the buddy list" refers to behaviors such as repeatedly adding, then removing someone from your Buddy List to generate excessive notifications.

 

 

Section 7 - Advertising

• Advertising your product/service on the site without prior permission of the admin.
  
• Making an account only to advertise your product/service.
  
• Posting links which you profit from "Referrals".
  

The RPC is a non-commercial site that doesn't and will never accept advertising. We do permit advertising in certain areas, such as the Artisan House (for commissions) and the Linkshell Hall (for linkshells and free companies), as well as in signatures according to their rules. Commercial advertisements are strictly forbidden without the express written consent of the administrator to provide an exception.

 

Referral links are generally not permitted as they interfere with our search engine rankings.

 

 

Section 8 - Your Account

• Making an alternative account to break the rules/avoid suspension.
  
• Making an account with a "throw away" E-Mail account.
  
• Using a proxy to access the site.
  

We take an extremely dim view of "sockpuppetry" and other attempts to avoid consequences by using anonymization tools. We take the privacy of our members very seriously, and we expect you to return that respect by not attempting to further anonymize yourself in a way that makes it impossible for us to link pseudonyms to individuals for the purpose of enforcing the rules.

 

"Using a proxy to access the site" refers specifically to using anonymizing proxies. It doesn't refer to access through a corporate or private proxy server designed for securing a network, such as Cisco Web Security.

 

"Throw away e-mail accounts" refers specifically to services such as 10 Minute Mail that generate single-use, anonymous e-mail addresses. It doesn't refer to e-mail addresses provided by Gmail, Outlook.com, or other free e-mail service providers that require registration.

 

 

 

Consequences

 

Moderators are at liberty to pass judgment on disruptions and to take appropriate action befitting the severity of the offense through post moderation / silencing. If they deem it necessary, they are also at liberty to issue temporary bans / kick users from RPC Chat. Permanent bans will be reserved for repeat offenders and require a consensus from the majority of the moderation team before issuance. For the sake of transparency, moderators and chat moderators are required, after issuing punitive measures, to give a public explanation of both the nature of the offense and a description of the relevant moderator actions taken.

 

Appeals for temporary bans and other minor punitive measures may be made directly to the administrator either through Private Messaging or e-mail. Should the administrator deem the case worthy of review, the appeal will be taken to the site staff for consideration. Permanent bans will NOT be up for discussion or appeal.

 

 

Moderation Tools

Members of the moderation staff have a variety of tools and a wide leeway in how they moderate the forums. The primary objectives of moderators are to preserve the thread of discussion, to maintain a positive tone, and to ensure that the forum rules are followed. To that end, the moderators use post removal as a last resort, in the event of truly egregious violations of the rules or if no other option works. We don't believe in censorship, and we believe users should stand behind their words.

 

All moderator actions short of post deletion will be publicly noted in a post on the thread. Moderators are not to act in secret except when removing advertising spam, patent nonsense, or posts from a banned user on a new account.

• Mod Edits: If the contents of a user’s posts are deemed in violation of the above rules (e.g. pornography, etc.), then a moderator is capable of and at liberty to take action by editing the post to excise said content. Moderators are also required to leave “mod notes” on any post(s) which they edit or otherwise take action on unless they themselves post to provide an explanation.

• Thread Locks: If a thread begins to derail significantly to the point where further violations seem inevitable, the mods will note this and lock the thread. If some discussion seems salvageable, the mods will note that a new thread can be created on the topic.

• Thread Splitting and Joining: If a thread branches into two major lines of discussion that are both valuable, a mod can split the thread. Likewise, if two threads cover the same topic, a mod can join the threads. Because these are delicate operations, mods are to use these only in clear-cut cases and with extreme care.

• Silencing: A chat moderation tool. Users who are silenced will find themselves unable to communicate in RPC Chat until the silencing expires. Duration of silencing is variable and may be set by the chat moderator.

• Kicking: A chat moderation tool. Users who are kicked will find themselves booted and excluded from RPC Chat until the kick expires.. Duration of silencing is variable and may be set by the chat moderator.

• Post Removal: A mod can remove posts in response to severe violations, which includes both those violations marked as severe as well as repeated and egregious lesser violations (such as a group of people ganging up on another with personal attacks, or two people having an off-topic flame war in an otherwise active thread). Post removal is a last resort and will be used when no other options are viable and the situation is extremely clear-cut. If a post is removed, other posts that quote or reference it may also be removed or edited at the moderator's discretion. Post removal takes two forms: post archival, in which a post is committed for the purposes of review to an archival “graveyard” board visible only to staff, and post deletion, in which a post is permanently deleted. Moderators will typically archive posts; deletion is reserved for such things as double posts, accidental posts in the incorrect thread, etc.

• Post Moderation: Should a moderator deem a user disruptive to a discussion or in violation of forum rules, they may take action by placing the user under “post moderation” for a duration of time. What this means is that all posts made by said user must be approved by a moderator or admin before they become visible to other users and guests. Duration of post moderation is variable and may be set by the moderator.

• Temporary Ban: Should a moderator deem a user to be exhibiting toxic behavior and/or in frequent violation of forum rules, they may take action by issuing a temporary ban to the user. Temporarily banned users cannot access the large majority of site features and are effectively barred from the site until their ban has expired. Duration of a temporary ban is variable and may be set by the moderator.

• Permanent Ban: Should a user continue to show disruptive, toxic, or otherwise inappropriate behavior in frequent violation of forum rules, a moderator may petition the moderation team for issuance of a permanent ban. Permanently banned users cannot access any site features and are effectively barred from the site indefinitely. A consensus from the moderation team is required before a permanent ban can be issued to a user.