[New] User's Agreement And Rules Of Conduct

[bishop]

This wasn't going to be posted until tomorrow, but I thought a day in advance might be a good thing. These are a supplemental to the already established policies.

USER'S AGREEMENT AND RULES OF CONDUCT​

FOR EMPYRE GROUP, INC. MESSAGE BOARDS​

Use of and participation in any Empyre Group, Inc message board ("interactive community") is contingent upon your acceptance of the following terms and rules. By participating in the interactive community, you acknowledge your acceptance of these terms. For purposes of this agreement, "Participant" refers to you.

1. RULES OF CONDUCT
These forums are for discussing gaming activities and the events associated with such activities. These guidelines are posted only to bring clarification on some issues where there have been questions in the past. Empyre Group, Inc could not be any happier with the quality of posts provided by its participants and it is our desire to provide an environment that is conducive to discussions about gaming activities. In general what we're describing here is a code of conduct and if all of our participants will subscribe to this code of conduct most of these rules will be easily observed.

A. Show respect at all times.

B. Help build the Community.

The success of our forums depends upon the quality posts of our participants. We are proud of the success of our forums and give our thanks to those who have chosen to make our forums their home. To ensure continued success we are posting these guidelines so that all participants of the interactive community understand what is considered unacceptable behavior in the forums and can result in a temporary suspension or a permanent ban.

C. Personal attacks are prohibited. This specifically means any text/post that is blatantly attacking another person on or off the forum, especially in a personal way.

D. Trolling is prohibited. Trolling is whenever someone is clearly, deliberately posting in a manner for the purpose of angering and/or insulting the other participants of the Community. Trolling DOES NOT encourage further discussion in the long run; it only encourages personal attacks (if left unchecked).

E. Private Messages received on these forums are to be considered private and are not to be posted publicly unless the sender of the private message agrees.

F. Participant shall not post messages containing personal phone numbers or addresses.

G. Posting of racist or otherwise discriminating remarks, threats to cause physical or mental harm, extreme offensive language, material that breaks any law or otherwise totally unacceptable posts or links to pages that contain the aforementioned material may result in an immediate ban from the forums.

H. Posting of large portions of posts from other forums or mailing lists is not permitted (unless you are the author of the original post) without a clear and noticeable link to the original article. It is recommended that you post only a portion of an article and place the link to the original for the whole article.

I. Deliberately circumventing the censor filter is prohibited.

J. Spamming the Community is prohibited.

K. Chain letters, pyramid schemes, SPAM, virus warnings and solicitations are not permitted. If you are a representative of a company making a product or offering a service being discussed in the forums, please feel free to participate in the discussion, as long as your response is solely designed to respond to a question about that product or service in the interactive community. Do not post announcements about you or your company's products, or other services, or otherwise use the interactive community to bring attention to your product, business or other service, in a manner that could be even loosely construed as promotion or advertising.

Exceptions to this will be made on an individual basis and only in writing through Empyre Group, Inc. For permission to advertise in any manner in the interactive community, please contact sales@empyregroup.net.

L. Please adhere to the following restriction for images – including signature images – that are not directly related to the topic of the thread under discussion:
—Maximum size of image file(s): 35k (35,840) bytes
—Maximum height of image(s): 150 pixels
—Maximum width of image(s): 300 pixels

M. Images that are not gaming related may be posted on the forum only in the appropriate galleries. They are not to be posted in the main forums of the Community. Content Ratings are to be followed precisely or risk of deletion is likely. Members are also to be aware that there are galleries of mature images and should show restraint and maturity or avoid those galleries.

N. All forums have a main topic. When starting a new thread, make sure you do so in the proper forum.

O. Off Topic (OT) threads are not prohibited, but should be posted in the appropriate forums. There are some topics that are not appropriate for the Community. All posts are subject to these rules.

P. Not responding to or ignoring moderator warnings can lead to suspension.

Q. Bans and warnings are not to be discussed on the forums. Any inquiries or comments or bans are to be sent in private messages or via email. A moderator may choose to publicly inform the participants of a forum about bans and warnings if this is in the interest of the forum.

R. Unsolvable problems (including bannings) a participant has with a moderator are to be discussed with the Council of Trustees (council@cogonline.net).

Thank you for being a part of the City of Gamers Online Community! If you have any comments or questions, feel free to send us a private message or an e-mail at cogonline@empyregroup.net.

2. OWNERSHIP OF MESSAGES
Empyre Group, Inc encourages the submission of material such as guides, articles, story's, editorials, and other creative "Submissions" that might be found useful by the gaming community. Authors of such material will retain their full rights to the work.

Participant authorizes Empyre Group, Inc to utilize, in any manner it sees fit and for eternity, the Submissions posted on the site. Participant releases Empyre Group, Inc from any and all claims or liability (now known or hereafter arising) in connection therewith, and agrees to indemnify Empyre Group, Inc in connection therewith. Participant agrees and acknowledges that participation in the Empyre Group, Inc site shall not give rise to any confidential, fiduciary, implied-in-fact, implied-in-law, contractual or other special relationship between Participant and Empyre Group, Inc (other than the contractual relationship between Empyre Group, Inc and Participant entered into by virtue of Participant's agreement to these Rules of Conduct.)

3. SCREEN NAMES
Whenever you post a message in the interactive community, your screen name will automatically appear with your message. You may choose a name to use in connection with your messages in the interactive community. However, you may not use a user name (or e-mail address) that attempts to impersonate another person; that belongs to another person, without his or her prior consent; that violates the intellectual property rights of any person or company; or that Empyre Group, Inc deems to be offensive.

4. RIGHTS OF EMPYRE GROUP, INC / DISCLAIMER OF LIABILITY
A. Empyre Group, Inc is a distributor only (and not a publisher) of its interactive community. The content is supplied by Participant with occasional responses from Empyre Group, Inc. Empyre Group, Inc shall not be responsible for policing, monitoring, or editing such content, exercises no more editorial control over such content than would a public library, bookstore, newsstand, or other distributor of content, and accordingly, shall not be responsible for exercising editorial control over such content. Notwithstanding the foregoing, Empyre Group, Inc shall have the right, but not the obligation, to monitor such content in order to respond to or comment upon communications by Participants and in order to determine compliance with the foregoing Rules of Conduct. Empyre Group, Inc shall have the right and sole discretion to edit or to remove any content whatsoever which it finds to be in violation of the provisions hereof or which it finds in its sole discretion to be otherwise objectionable for any reason.

The opinions expressed in the message boards are not necessarily (and in some cases not at all) those of Empyre Group, Inc. Empyre Group, Inc is not responsible for any materials provided by users which are deemed harmful or offensive to others. Empyre Group, Inc is not responsible in any way for any injury, loss, or damage which occurs as a result of an opinion expressed or information provided in these sections of the site. Empyre Group, Inc is not responsible for the content of any sites linked to an Empyre Group, Inc site.

B. Empyre Group, Inc makes no warranties, express or implied, as to the content in the Empyre Group, Inc site or the accuracy or reliability of any information or statements contained therein. All statements, advice and opinions made by Participants in Empyre Group, Inc message boards are those of such Participants only, and Empyre Group, Inc neither endorses nor shall be held responsible for the reliability or accuracy of same.

C. Empyre Group, Inc will use any information obtained from the user as a part of our own private database, which may be used at any time by Empyre Group, Inc in order to gather or provide information specifically pertaining to the topics provided within our set of message forums.

5. PARTICIPANT'S INDEMNIFICATION / OBLIGATIONS
Participant agrees to defend, indemnify and hold harmless Empyre Group, Inc, its subsidiary and affiliated companies and their respective directors, officers, employees and agents from and against all claims, losses, costs, and expenses (including attorneys fees) arising out of Participant's use of Empyre Group, Inc sites, or arising out of any violation of these Rules of Conduct by Participant including, without limitation, any communication by Participant which is claimed to be defamatory, obscene or otherwise unlawful, which is claimed to violate the copyright, trademark, proprietary or other rights of third parties, or which constitutes a submission of materials.

6. TERMINATION
Empyre Group, Inc shall have the right to immediately terminate any Participant's use of the interactive community if Empyre Group, Inc determines in its sole discretion that Participant has violated the Rules of Conduct set forth herein or otherwise breached this agreement, or has engaged in conduct which Empyre Group, Inc determines in its sole discretion to be unacceptable.

 

[bishop]

Moderator Guidelines

So that you know what guidelines the moderators (Council of Heroes) are using and what they are capable of doing around here, this is their 'rules' as well as information on how you can deal with a moderator if such a case arises that you need to discuss it. I have highlighted that particular clause for you.

Moderator Guidelines

The moderators are the people who make sure that users are following the Community Rules. They are here to help members and to protect members and the Community itself, from those few, who do not want to act as adults. Their job is not an easy one, so I have to thank them all for offering to help run this site.

The guidelines below are established in order to make their life and members’ life easier.

1. The moderator's role is to enforce the Community Rules among the Community members. This is an administrative task, not a law enforcement task and should be treated as such, both by the moderators and the members.
2. The moderator acts as a role model for the rest of the members. The moderator's behavior has to set an example to how other members should behave in the forum.
3. The moderator does not have friends and enemies, all members should be treated the same by every moderator. A moderator should not allow his personal feelings to influence his judgment about the content of this forum, or the behavior of the members. These are defined by the Community rules and the moderator's personal feelings have nothing to do with them.
4. The moderator has the right to edit or delete members’ threads or posts, if he thinks that these are not according to the Community Rules. He is not allowed to edit or delete a thread or a post, simply because he does not agree with its content or the member who submitted it. Typically a thread or a post will be edited or deleted, if it contains vulgar or foul language or comments which can be insulting for other members of the Community (flames), keeping in mind the international characteristics of the Internet.
5. A moderator has the right to move a thread to another forum if he thinks that this would be a more appropriate area for that thread. A relocation message should be left behind, so that people can follow up the thread.
6. A moderator does not have the right to ban a user from the Community. This will be done only after consultation with the Council of Heroes and followed up by approval from the Council of Trustees. However if a moderator suggests banning a user to the Council of Trustees you can rest assured that the suggestion will be taken very seriously.
7. When a moderator participates in a discussion, he should do it in accordance with rules (#2) and (#3) above. In no case, should a moderator use his administrative role, as a weighting factor in such a discussion. When participating in a discussion, the moderator is treated as just any other member, and is subjected to the same rules that apply for the members, only he is judged more strictly, since he has to set the example for the members.
8. Every member who has a specific and documented complaint about a moderator should directly discuss the problem with the moderator himself. If he is not satisfied with the outcome, the member can notify the Chairperson of the Council of Heroes (edit: currently John Danker), with his complaint, while concurrently cc-ing the particular moderator. We expect both members and moderators to act as responsible adults.
9. Moderators should always keep in mind that this Community is a place that people will come to discuss gaming as well as other subjects that might be outside the realm of gaming. They deserve the utmost respect, and that is what they should get. Their actions should be well justified and the member against whom they are taking actions, should be aware of the reasons which caused their actions. Under no circumstances should a moderator edit/remove a thread or post, without explaining his actions to the offending member.
10. If a moderator faces a severe problem with a member, and he is not sure how to handle it, it is best to bring the problem to the "Council of Heroes only forum" for discussion. Many of our procedures require this anyway. The same is true for the members of course, according to (#8) above.

Practically speaking, if:

1. A moderator notices a new thread which is not in accordance with the Community rules: He moves the thread to a specified forum, where it remains for dispute reasons. That forum is accessible only to moderators and admin. He also has to warn the member who posted the offended thread about his actions, either by e-mail or PM while concurrently cc-ing the the Chairperson of the Council of Heroes.
2. A moderator notices a post in an existing thread which is not in accordance with the Community rules. The post is edited or deleted and the reasons are stated where the post was, in the thread.
3. A moderator notices a thread which does not fit in the forum it was posted. The thread is moved to the proper forum, leaving a redirection link in the original forum.
4. A moderator has a significant problem with one member and wishes that this member be banned from the forum. He posts a message in the appropriate forum (Council of Heroes' only) explaining the reasons for which he wants the user banned. Other moderators provide their opinions. Decision is reached. If the member is banned a message is send to the offending member explaining the reasons he/she was banned by the Chairperson of the Council of Heroes.