| Rules: ==== Table of Contents: Section 1 – Forum Guidelines Section 2 – Shout box Guidelines Section 3 – Guild Guidelines Section 4 – Game Guidelines Section 5 – User Guidelines Section 6 – Copyright Guidelines Section 1 Forum Guidelines Double Posting Double posting is defined by posting another post in a topic where the last post was by you. This is not permitted except during specific circumstances. You are permitted to double post in the Trade Plaza, Research Exchange, the Art Discussion and Gallery and Art Malls. Double posting otherwise can only be done within 24 hours of your last post, if the topic has had no one else post since. Within the 24 hour limit on other boards, you will be penalised for not editing a post. Emoticons In general, emoticons are to be used sparingly. The use of two or more emoticons in a row is prohibited due to this being considered as spam. Off-topic posting Off-topic posting is defined by, but not limited to, posting a comment in a topic that is not in direct relation to the topic itself. This includes personal comments to other users as well as general, unrelated remarks. Some areas, such as the Guilds board, permit off-topic posting to an extent, but in general, you should check with the specific board guidelines if you are in doubt. Moderators are permitted to use their judgment to define off-topic posting as they see justified. Comments to other users In general, if you have a comment that is directed towards a specific user instead of at the topic being discussed, it is better that you send that user a Private Message (PM) instead of posting a comment in any thread or topic. Failure to do so will result in action being taken for off-topic posting. Harassment Harassment to other users and forum staff is strictly prohibited. This includes but is not limited to: Begging for adoptables or items, excessive PMing to a single user when asked to stop, rude or offensive behaviour to any user(s), and any comments directed to a user which may be interrupted as offensive. The interpretation of this rule is left up to the discretion of the moderators and staff of the forum. Post Content DNAdopts is a PG-13 site. This means that anything that would be considered above PG-13 is not permitted. This includes but is not limited to: excessive profanity, hateful or obscene remarks, discussion of graphic or mature material, and hate speech. Avatars, signatures, and adoptables names are also required to follow these guidelines. Signatures and avatars Signatures and avatars are required to follow the same rules as posting. Excessively flashy signatures or avatars are not permitted. Avatars are limited to being 100px by 100px in size and signatures are required to be less than 200px tall and 700px wide. Posting Legibility Your post need to be readable. This is defined as being readable on a 4th grade English level. This means you need basic punctuation and grammar in your posts. Posts written in all lower case, without punctuation, or posts that contain an excessive amount of abbreviations are not permitted. In addition, the use of “leet” or “chat speak” is not permitted. DNAdopts is also an English forum, so your posts should be in English. In terms of chat speak, statements like “I c u l8r” or “can u lvl my petz plz” are not permitted. Comments that have ‘u’ in it as a shortening for ‘you’, no matter if it is convenient and the comment is wrote out otherwise in legible English, can be considered by staff to be verbal or warn worthy, due to the use of chat speak being used. L33t or leet, is the inclusion of numbers to mean letters. “1 8 73m0ns” or similar comments will also be verbal or warn worthy. There is zero-tolerance for this type of language. Punctuation abuse, such as: “Where do I get a Atra????” is un-needed. One will do. Spam Spam is not permitted and is defined by posts that serve no purpose or are distracting to other users. Advertising is considered spam and is not permitted. In addition, one word posts are not allowed, in general. The enforcement of the exact definition of spam is left up to moderators to interrupt. Areas where one word posting is acceptable is in the Forum Games and Research Exchange boards on the forum. Advertising You are prohibited and will be penalised for advertising. You cannot post, but this rule is not limited to, pornographic or sexually explicit, graphically violent, inappropriate or obscenely hateful websites that show either images, text or videos, sites that advertise a product (such as Amazon or eBay), other forums and DNAdopts topics. You may have off-site adoptables in your signature, as well as ‘self-advertise’ your DeviantArt page, Photobucket pages and YouTube videos, to name a few. You may also post links, as long as appropriate, to other sites to show someone something, as long as you do not state “hey, go here and join it its cool” or any other variant of this comment. People will join it if they wish to. You may also talk about other websites, such as creating topics asking if someone plays DragonAdopters or PokeFarm. Mini-modding We like how members that read the rules stick to them, and it can be flattering knowing that you as a member want to help out. However, mini-modding isn’t your job to do. We employ moderators to moderate the forums to deal with rule breakers, and mini-modding can get you a telling off. If someone has broken the rules, then use the report button and a moderator will deal with the member. Reporting a member is discreet, and you will not be named if you report a person. E-drama Don’t make it. Just because you and a friend fell out, doesn’t mean that the entire community needs to know. Just because Luffyizgr8 from ThatWebsite.com didn’t like your artwork, doesn’t mean that you should be rude to them here. Keep all arguments with people you don’t like off the forums, as it is not anyone else’s business. Creating drama on the forums should either be dealt with over PM, or just do not talk to each other. Section 2 The Shout box Language Like the forum, all English must be written at a 4th grade level or higher. Chat speak and leet are not considered to be a proper use of language, and again like the forum, zero tolerance is taken to it. Writing “u know that i like u” is not grounds to loophole this rule, because you have written out the other words in the statement fine, you can write out ‘you’ fine as well. Even if English is your second language, you would learn proper English, not chat speak at school. Due to this, you have no excuse to use chat speak on the shout box or the forum. Age is also not a viable excuse for using chat speak. You may use words like “lol”, “IMHO” (in my honest opinion) and other abbreviations sparingly, although you cannot use them to make a statement like: “IMHO IDK lol”. It’s awkward to read, and highly annoying. In terms of swearing, do not swear, even if the shout box stars it out. This is because, even if you normally star out words, staff can take it as a swear that has been starred out by the shout box filter and you will be warned. The English language is huge and expansive; you can find other words to say very easily by using a thesaurus or a dictionary. Advertising Advertising anything from pornographic websites to just simple DNA trade topics is prohibited in the shout box. This is because people have over-excessively advertised threads beforehand, and it has become a nuisance. You may link topics to the shout box if someone is looking for them, or show off pictures or videos, as long as they are below PG 13, but that is it. You can discuss other websites if you wish, but placing them in the shout box and saying ‘”join it” counts as advertising. Begging All forms of begging are prohibited. The things you cannot beg for, but not limited to, are as follows. Adoptable begging of any form. Do not ask for adoptables for a trade, to be put into the shelter, for a friend/sibling, for yourself, for free, for old adoptables to be re-released, for glitched adoptables or ambiguous phrases such as: “I wish I could have a Kiwaki...” Trade talk. Trade talk of any kind should either be kept to the trade forum, or done over private messaging. You may ask for someone to check their thread, or direct people to your trade thread, but that is all. You will be warned for breaching this either verbally or a warning % added to your account. This was added due to people over-using the shout box to discuss trades, or begging for trades. Staff members. Do not beg the staff members to become a staff member, ambiguously wish that you were a staff member when a member of staff is present, ask for your idea or suggestion to be looked at right now, design your adoptable idea or ask to help out with new features, asking for a new event or when they will be out over-excessively. Level begging. Posting your adoptables level link, leveling someone’s lab, and then demanding they level yours in return or ambiguously asking “I wish someone would level my pets” is considered level begging. Harassment Just like forum harassment, do not harass members of staff or members in a sexual, offensive or in a trolling manner. Harassment, although not limited to, can also be seen as: over-excessive asking to check a trade thread, over-excessive asking, nagging or complaining because someone hasn’t sent you their part of the trade when you sent yours right away, persistently asking a member of staff when a new feature is out and constant questions to a user or staff member who has already stated they are not answering. For example, asking for hints on how to find the McPuff page, or asking to be told directly. Spam There are two areas of spam that I wish to address. Firstly, the use of Caps Lock, or writing an entire post in capital letters. If you accidentally left caps lock on, but then realise this, then you will not be penalised. However, if you write an entire post out in caps lock, then you may be penalised for spam. Examples are: “I HAVE A COOKIE!!!”, “MY ENIGMA IS AWESOME”, “I LIKE CHEESE”, “LEVEL MY PETS” and so on. You may write in capital letters sparingly, such as: “OHMYGOD! I got an Enigma!” or “LOL, that was hilarious!”, which is deemed suitable. We know that when people panic, or are very excited, you may wish to shout how happy or worried you are. However, please think before you write in caps lock. The second area is more obvious. Posts such as “hdfjhfkskjrk” is spam. It serves no purpose, and is meaningless on the shout box. You will be warned for making comments like this. Comments however, like: “asdf D< I missed an Angel Fuzwen” is considered acceptable, as you have said something which is considered meaningful. Role Playing After consideration, script role-playing has been banned from the Shout Box. This is directed at posts that are solely script role playing. Below are examples of what we do not accept on the Shout Box. It is not limited to these examples: -turns into a wolf and attacks- ROAR -hugs- its ok -licks face and wags tail- OMG I KILL U –grans shotgun and shoots at Xs face- you died –does victory dance while sitting on a dragon- Script-writing in the Shout Box is being banned because people have been abusing it. It makes wanting to talk in the Shout Box awkward. Below is what we consider acceptable uses of script role playing. These are examples, but not limited exclusively to them: I need to go –runs- Ah, my husband’s going to be home soon –runs off to cook dinner- bye, guys! I’ll start on that drawing right away! –opens Sai and grabs tablet pen- Awww, that’s really sad –hugs- Although some of the above are longer, they are not considered to be spam, as they are related to the post, and probably the conversation that they were used in. If your posts are just full of script role play lines, then you will be warned. It is also considered a type of spam. Just be moderate in what you use for script-role playing on the Shout Box. All DNAdopts forum rules are in effect in the Guilds. This means that ‘Leet’ and ‘Chatspeak’ are not acceptable forms of writing in guilds. Please use proper English. As an English-speaking forum, we also ask that people reframe from writing in different languages, as to avoid confusion. Section 3 Guild Guidelines General DNAdopts Forum Rules Freedom of Speech and Anti-Guilds Freedom of speech. As we all know, freedom of speech is considered a human right by acts or legislations. On the internet, freedom of speech is everywhere. We do not wish to squash the rights of freedom of speech, but due to young members, there will be certain rules placed upon what type of guild you may create. Firstly, truly offensive hate speech including, but not limited to, race, age, sex, sexual preference and religious background will not be tolerated, and your guild will be terminated and the user will receive a warning, or even a ban depending on severity. This is in accordance with the DNAdopts rules on offensive comments either directed at users, or groups of people. However, it is not limited to just this areas, and can change depending on the member of staff viewing a guild in question. Secondly, freedom of speech can be considered as a responsibility. You as a user, if you were to make an anti-fandom club, should be respectful of firstly, not offending other users, and secondly, should be civil and well mannered if you are to make an anti-fandom guild. Clearly offensive comments that just insult something rather than offer explanation as to why you dislike it can be considered as hate speech, for its only purpose is to attack. Reasons such as “I hate it because I do” or other variants are not considered to be civilised. An anti-fandom or whatever guild will be considered as acceptable as long as it is not: profane, sexually explicit or obscenely hateful. Guilds such as an Anti-Protips guild would be acceptable as long as it does not purely insult Protips, can clearly been seen as mindless fun and generally not serious. Civilised discussions about dislikes are fine. As the internet is a large place, if you honestly feel that you have to vent a hatred for something out, please go somewhere else and relive your hatred. We at DNAdopts do not want to hear how much you may hate certain groups, ideals, or people. User Specific Guilds Please do not make “Member is Awesome” guilds or anything like this, because elitism and arrogance is something that is not befitting for people. Everyone is equal. Insular Guild Rules Guilds may have their own insular rules, although they must conform within the main site rules. If a member breaks any of your guild rules, then you have the right to kick them out of your guild if you wish. However, please do not PM a member of staff if someone broke an insular rule. If a member breaks a site rule however, then please PM a Guild Moderator or another member of staff for the appropriate action to be taken. Role Playing in Guilds Role Playing clans are acceptable, although remember that none can go over PG-13 in language and content. You can have Guilds that are like role plays, as in your application is similar to a role play application, or a general role play. However, you can also use the Role Playing board on the forum to keep your role plays, if you wish. Artwork in Guilds Artwork is acceptable in guilds, but please do not claim others art as your own, otherwise art theft rule breach punishments will be given. You may post your art in Guilds, if you wish. Guild Limits You may only make up to five guilds at once. Any more than five guilds will be considered guild spamming. You may close a guild and edit it, if you wish to change your guild. This saves on your own money, and keeps within the rules. If you make more than 5 guilds, then the newest guilds will be closed. If you make more guilds after this, then you may be warned. Asking to join an invitation only Guild If you have not been issued an invitation for a guild, then please do not harass the Guild Master to join it. The Guild Master decides whom they wish to have in their guild. Guild Masters may PM a member of staff if they are feeling harassed by a member, and Harassment warnings will be issued. We ask that they screenshot PMs if contacting a staff member, to help with clarity. Section 4 Game Guidelines Cheating There is a zero tolerance for cheating or any other action that disrupts the balance of the game. This includes but is not limited to: abuse of a glitch or other coding flaw, the use of proxies to raise adoptable levels, the use of iframes, or the use of automated programs to level or click for you. Please note that while level exchanges are permitted on DNAdopts, anything that we feel violates the balance of the game will be banned. If you are caught cheating or abusing any game feature, your account will be instantly terminated and your IP address banned from the site. Click Exchanges External click exchange sites are defined as an outside site in which a user can post a link to their adoptable and earn credits for it by clicking other user's links. In general, this is permitted on DNAdopts within reason. However, we ask that you show discretion in the site you choose. In addition, DNAdopts is by no means responsible for anything damage or problems such sites may cause to you or your properties. Snap Links Snap links are defined as a program that allows you to open numerous links at once and load them all quickly. The “snap linking” of adoptables is permitted on DNAdopts, but is limited to 20 links per click. This ensures better server performance for all users. Mass Adopting Mass adoption is defined as adopting over twenty (20) of a single type of adoptable to your account. Generally, this rule is limited to adoptables from the Thrift Store. You may only have a collective amount of 20 un-hatched Thrift Store adoptables at any one time. A collective amount means, for example, that you can have: three Gears, two Computer Parts, ten Kiting and five Ostawk. Again, this is an example. The word ‘collective’ means: “collected together to form a whole or added up to form a total from different sources or groups.” This DOES NOT mean that you can have, for example, 20 Gears, Ostawks, Kitings and Computer Parts. Un-hatched Thrift Store adoptables are counted as Kiting under level 150, and all other current Thrift Store adoptables under level 100. When a Thrift Store adoptable retires, you cannot get as many of the un-hatched forms as you wish until they are REMOVED from the store. Anyone caught massing them until they are removed will be under the mass-adoption rule breach. The rule does not apply to retired Thrifts, by which I mean if you collect 30 Aquatine since they are retirement, for example, they are not counted towards your Thrift limit. Grown Thrifts do not count, nor do frozen un-hatched Thrifts. This rule is not limited to Thrift Store epsilons. However, if any do come out that require an adopting limit, it will be stated on their announcement. If you are caught mass-adopting, please send all your mass-adopted epsilons to Frank. He is a NPC. If you Abandon your pets to the shelter, you will be warned. You also cannot trade them off to get rid of them. They must be sent straight away. Currency Anything on DNAdopts.com, whether it be your account, adoptables, or others accounts and adoptables, is NOT permitted to be exchanged for real currency or materials. You are also not allowed to engage in "off site" trades. Off-site trades are considered trades that include, but not limited to: Trading your DNAdoptables/account for another websites adoptables/account. Trading your DNAdoptables/account for a paid for account or Custom on another site. Trading DNAdoptables/account for Pokemon, or other video games that allow the use of WiFi transfers. Trading your DNAdoptables/account for sibling favours, such as having them do your chores/use your personal items/consoles/money. Hacking into new features If a new feature is in development, do not change the URL to try and find it. In hacking URLs to find the new features, you set back the release of the feature, especially if it is still being coded. If beta testers are required for the feature, then applications will be opened. However, if you are found to have hacked into the developing feature, then you will be warned. Section 5 User Guidelines Account guidelines You are permitted only one account per person. If you have another person in your family who uses DNAdopts, please post this in the “shared IP thread”. However, creating an account in the name of someone else in your household for the use of yourself is strictly prohibited and the misuse of this will result in an IP ban. All cases will be looked at in relation to trade logs and adoptables sent between accounts. Usernames Inappropriate or vulgar usernames are not permitted. If your username violates the rules, your account will be deleted. Name Changes You are permitted ONE username change. If you decide to change your username, you may PM a site admin and ask them to change it. Please note that whatever you change your new name to, it should resemble your old username to a degree. Once you change your username once, you may not ask to have it changed again, so be sure you want your new name. Private Messaging PMing a user is a good way to get to know someone, although we all know through internet safety to be aware of what information we give. However, there are also rules to PMing people. These are, but not limited to: PMing for trades: we ask that you do not PM someone for a trade, unless a user has stated otherwise that they don’t mind PM trading. It can be considered harassment, or as trade begging. You can just reply and say no. If you constantly get PM trades, then we advise you to contact a staff membe please show them a screenshot ot the message, to avoid "he said, she said" arguements. PMing for adoptables. Just like adoptable begging, it will be treated in the same way. Just like trade begging, please contact a member of staff. Posing as a staff member. This will result in a warning or a ban, depending on severity. If someone PMs you saying they are a special undercover staff member, or that they are really a site administrator but pretending to be a member, and searching a glitch/need adoptables or your account details, PM a member of staff immediately. At DNAdopts, we do not take on undercover staff members, and these people may be trying to hack your account, or take your adoptables. We remind you not to give out any of your details. General harassment. Harassing a member or being rude to them is not tolerated. If you are being bullied, then please contact a staff member. It will be treated discreetly and we deal with the abusive member swiftly. Internet bullying is wrong, and not tolerated. Advertising. This falls in line with the forum and shout box rules on advertising. If you receive PMs, then do not hesitate to tell a member of staff. Loaning Accounts You may loan your account details to someone if you plan to go away for a while, such as on holiday or groundings, and still want your dailes and game money. However, we ask that you find someone trustworthy. If upon returning, DNAdopts will not be held responsable if the user has commited offenses on your account, or has taken your adoptables. By loaning your account in the first place, you should be aware of the risks that entail doing so. However, you may PM a member of staff to keep an eye on your account, if you have loaned it to a friend, but please state in case adoptables do go missing, whether you wished to trade them in the first place. Your account, when loaned, can be treated as if it is one person. We advise that a user taking care of the account does not post with it. Sharing accounts You may share an account with a sibling or friend. However, by doing this you are aware of the risks, such as: warns against your account if one of the shared owners breaks a rule. By sharing the account, you waver the right to argue a warn if you or your friend has broken a rule, if an adoptable one of you wished to keep is traded away by the other, you lose the right to ask for it back (either by trade or if you cash in an EC Depot adoptable) and you cannot submit two designs (or more) if a contest only permits you to submit one design, as you only have one account and therefore only one chance. It is not limited to these examples. You account will be treated as though one person owns it, but we insist that you inform a staff member as to how many people use the account. Account Rules and Multi-accounting. You are permitted only ONE account per person. You cannot make an account for your split personality, imaginary friend, dog, fridge and so on. If you have someone in your immediate family, such as brother, sister, mother, father, fiancée, husband or wife, then they can make their own, individual account. You do not make it for them. Making accounts for friends or cousins that do NOT live with you is NOT accepted. If for whatever reason you feel like you need a special exception to this rule, PM Agent KC or Fumera and they will work with you. Each household is only allowed FOUR ACCCOUNTS. We can judge this by the IP you use. If more than four accounts are made, you will be permanently banned from DNAdopts, as well as IP banned. If you use a computer that is public, like internet cafes, libraries or school computers, as an example, then please post in the Shared IP thread. If you have friends that made an account on their home computer, but you or they use your computer to check things on DNAdopts, then please state this in the Shared IP thread. If you do not, you will look suspicious and make yourself look guilty of multi-accounting. If you were banned prior to the 5th of August, 2010, then you may make ONE new account and PM an Admin (Agent KC or Fumera) and tell us who you were. If you do not comply, and make more multiple accounts, then you will be banned again for good, with no way of coming back. If you fess up to having multi-accounts, they will be banned but your main account spared. If you fess up, but lie about other accounts, you will be banned accordingly. If you do not fess up to making a multi and try to say hidden away, then you will be banned if you are caught, with no exceptions. Section 6 Copyright Guidelines Pirated Games/Software/Intellectual Property The discussion of pirated games, video, software, or any other form of intellectual property is strictly prohibited. Specifically, telling another user where to obtain these things, whether by post or PM, is strictly prohibited. Engaging in this behavior will result in termination of your account. Art Theft Art theft is defined by the use of an image without explicit authorization of the original copyright holder. This includes, but is not limited to, claiming a work to be your own, using an image as your avatar or in your signature, or any other misuse of copyrighted material. Derivative Works Derivative works are defined by any non-official work involving DNAdopts copyright. This includes, but is not limited to, fan art, use of official images, or the use of any other intellectual property of DNAdopts. While fan art and some derivative works are perfectly acceptable, credit to DNAdopts.com must be cited in an obvious manner. In addition, the use of DNAdopts characters is strictly prohibitive for any use, other than fan art or fan fiction. Enforcement The enforcement of all rules is up to interpretation by the DNAdopts staff. These rules are subject to change without notice. Also, you agree to these terms by using the DNAdopts forums. Ignorance of these rules is no excuse for breaking them. |
