Forum rules

1. General Rules:
   1. Posting to this board is a privilege.  It is a privilege which can be revoked at any time.
   2. The Guild site exists to provide a comfortable and welcoming atmosphere for violet wand discussion.
   3. Anything that undermines that comfortable atmosphere is unwelcome.

2. Posting

   1. Posts are to be made in the relevant forum. Users are asked to read the forum descriptions before posting. Users consistently posting to the wrong forum may be given a warning (see policing below).

   2. Members should post in a way that is respectful of other users. 

   3. The Guild will maintain a comfortable and welcoming atmosphere.  Flaming will not be tolerated, and includes any harassing, accusatory, argumentative or insulting content. Instigators with a repeated need to present personal grudges or personal issues will also not be tolerated. 

   4. Members are asked to not act as “back seat moderators”. If members note an issue which contravenes something in this policy document they are welcome to bring it to the attention of a Moderator.  Please use the “report” feature to report posts. 

   5. Members will respect the copyright of other users, sites, media, etc. Members re-printing items without the right to do so will be removed.

   6. Members should respect the bandwidth of other users and sites. The use of inline ([IMG][/IMG]) image tags pointing to data stored on third party systems for which the user has not received permission to link to may be removed. 

   7. Members should post in a way which is consistent with "normal writing". Please, no LEET speak or texting shorthand.

   8. Please use an appropriate, descriptive subject when posting a new topic. Examples of bad subjects include; "Help me!", "I'm stuck!", etc. Examples of good subjects include; "Wand makes buzzing noise.  Is this normal?", "Sputtering from contact pad", etc. 

   9. Members are welcome to use the lobby for general "test purposes". These may include checking signatures, testing a link or image, etc. (subject to previous points on decency, warez, etc.).

   10. Spam is not tolerated here under any circumstance. Users posting spam will be removed.

   11. The moderating, support, owners, and other staff reserve the right to edit, remove or put on moderation queue any post at any time. The determination of what is construed as appropriate as noted in these points is up to Moderators.

   12. The above forum rules where applicable also apply to private messaging. Abuse of the private messaging system may lead to warnings (as above) and/or the revocation of private messaging.

1. Moderators
   

   1. Moderators 'grow up' in the guild by being active and earning medal member status (bronze, silver, gold) PLUS demonstrating that they have a good understanding of guild philosophy, a willingness to be active on the boards, and that they understand forum rules.  Moderators are volunteers entrusted to keep the forums running smoothly. Do not give them a hard time.

2. Signatures

   1. Signatures may contain up to five lines of text (of small or normal size) and/or one image, valid combinations include; a single image of no more than 60px high, 468px wide and 6KiB (6144 Bytes) in size. Signatures containing an image this large may also include one line of small size text. Signatures containing an image of 30px high may include up to three lines of small size text or two lines of normal size text. Images of 15px height or less may allow up to three lines of normal size text or four lines of small size text. Animated images are not allowed.

   2. Text sizes should be between 75% and 100% (small and normal). Text in signatures is subject to the same conditions as posts . 

   3. Links in signatures are permitted to a maximum of four unique pages or sites. Links are included in signature size limits. 

   4. Users abusing these rules will be warned. 

3. Avatars

   1. Users are permitted to utilise a gallery avatar or to link to one of their own (subject to previous points on misuse of bandwidth). User defined avatars are to be no larger than 80 pixels square, contain no animation, contain no image which attempts to portray the user as having an official status here (e.g. mimicking ranks or copying avatars of team members), may not exceed 12KiB (12288 Bytes) in filesize and have a consistently high availability (i.e. links to images on slow servers or those prone to failure may be removed).

   2. Avatars are subject to the same conditions as posts. 

   3. Users abusing these rules will be warned and/or may lose their avatar privileges.

4. Support

   1. All persons using the International Violet Wand Guild website, members, officers, staff, moderators, educators, demonstrators etc are volunteers.  They provide of their time and experience in a community-wide effort.  Demanding replies to posts, demanding swift replies, repeating posts, or otherwise haranguing volunteers for not 'doing enough' will result in appropriate action.  Post, then be patient for another community member to respond.

5. Linking offsite

   1. Members may include or post links to 3rd party sites in an effort to render support in response to a support request .  Members are not permitted to post links to commerical material or sites unless in response to specific requests for support. 

   2. Members are not permitted to post affiliate links.

   3. General linking (within posts) to other sites is generally not permitted. Exceptions may be made where links are being offered in a "support context" or for related questions.

   4. We do not provide a general forum or other solution for users to promote or show off their sites. Consistent with Rules above users may not promote or show off their sites through their own posts. Such posting constitutes spam and may lead to a warning. Users or other persons wishing to advertise at www.violetwands.org should read our advertisement information.

   5. Links to 3rd party sites intended to review may be placed in our review areas only.

   6. Links to 3rd party sites intended to promote or share the links may be placed in our links areas only.

   7. Members are not permitted to post affiliate links.

6. Enforcement and Appeal

1. In general, this site operates a three strike policy for lesser infractions. This is at the discretion of the site administrators.
2. Arguing with team members after having received a warning will lead to an immediate additional warning. Should this exceed three strikes a ban will be put in place. 
3. Users who feel they have been unfairly warned are welcome to contact another Moderator. If they feel you were treated unfairly they MAY refer the matter for review at the convenience of the administrators.
4. Any attempt to circumvent a temporary ban or other moderator action will lead to a permanent ban of your account(s). Circumvention includes re-registering or using an already registered account under a non-banned username. Other examples include changing IP addresses, using a new email account or other action that can be taken to evade moderator action to hide your identity as the owner of the sanctioned account. 
5. Major infractions receive immediate ban as determined by the site owners and administrators.
   1. Contacting members personally (via any method) to communicate insulting, indecent, harassing, threatening or vulgar material
   2. Posting of any material that the site owners deem may put this site at risk of criminal or civil liability
   3. Posting of any potentially libelous materials, including personal opinion or experience, without the accompanying legal documentation proving the verity of the material
   4. Posting of any intellectual property infringement, or illegal materials, warez, cracks, or protected content
   5. Posting of content of ANY kind of minors or persons appearing to be minors, or fictional text material referencing minor