[Viper Daimao]

I. General Rules

* You should read through this document at least once -- preferably right now, before you sign up. This way you can decide whether or not these forums are really for you, and you'll also have a good idea of what kind of behavior is expected of you as a poster. Remember -- if you sign up, this means to us that you've read the rules and agreed to abide by them, and we'll
expect you to behave accordingly.

"That sucks, yo."

Sorry. If you don't like the way we're running things here, feel free to start up a forum of your very own. EZBoard offers free message boards for anyone who wants them; they're as good a
place to start as any. We wish you the best of luck and will be watching your future career with interest.

"What if I can't read all of this in one sitting?"

This document will be kept up on the site where you can easily find it -- you can read through it anytime you need to. For right now, the most important parts for you to read are the General Rules and the parts about the Moderators and Forum Behavior. Like we said already, though, it's a good idea to read through all of this at least once, so you know what's the what. We want you
to have a good time here, after all.

"But dude, like, I don't wanna read stuff. It, like, really hurts my tiny, tiny little dino brain."

Then you have no right to complain when you get busted for breaking the rules too many times. Stupidity and laziness will only hurt you, not the rest of us.

"What happens if the rules get changed?"

You'll be the first to know when this happens. Well, okay, we're the ones figuring them out, so really we're the first to know, and you're the second -- but trust us, you'll be told about it as soon as the changes go into effect. Notices about updates or changes to the rules will be posted in the Announcements at the top of the page of every forum, so it'll be a good idea to check them every now and then to see what's up.

"What if I think your rules are stupid because I broke one and got in trouble for it? I should be allowed to do whatever I want to. My mommy said I can because I'm her special little angel."

Like we said -- sorry. Go find your own sandbox to play in if you don't like the way we play. If you really feel you've been treated unfairly, then please send one of us a polite mail about it -- ONCE -- and we'll try and work something out. Be aware, though, that just because you think you've been hard done by doesn't necessarily mean that you really have.

* There will be a "three strikes" policy regarding board discipline. The three strikes are:

First Strike: a warning from a moderator, including a citation of which rule was broken
Second Strike: banning from the boards for a day, or other length of time as set by a moderator and approved of by the head moderator
Third Strike: permanent banning

The first strike is a slap on the wrist, but it lets you know that we'll be keeping an eye on you. The second strike is to show you that we're serious about not letting bad behavior overrun our boards, and to give you time to reconsider the way you've been acting. By the third strike we're tired of dealing with you and your nonsense, and you're out of here.

There's a catch, though -- especially bad behavior will take you straight to the third strike,no questions asked. This is not something that will be done lightly: if you get insta-banned, you'll have really done something to earn it.

Also, instead of receiving a warning, or as a preliminary to getting temp-banned, you may be put on probation. This blocks you from creating new threads, although you can still post in existing ones.

"You can't ban me! Free speech! I have the right to say whatever I want, it's a free country, and you can't stop me!"

But we can and we will, if you act like a jackass. This is a privately-owned message board, not the floor of the House of Representatives -- your "freedom of speech" ends where the rights of your fellow posters (and the moderators' stupidity tolerance) begins. Again, if you don't like it, feel free to start your own Very Special Gold Stars All About Me, Me, ME Super Cool
Message Board Only ME Allowed where you can exercise your right to be vulgar and idiotic all the day long.

"I'll just sign up again under a different name, neener neener!"

Chances are that if you're enough of a jackass to get banned once, you're enough of a jackass to get banned again and again, especially if you're stupid enough to brag about it (as most jackasses are). If you get banned and come back under a different name, bearing a new and improved disposition, you'll be more than welcome to participate again...but we're not holding our breath on that one.

"What if I get banned unfairly?"

Again, this isn't too likely -- banning is a last resort in most cases, after all. If you feel you have a legitimate complaint, please send one of us a polite message about it, ONCE, and we'll see what can be done. Bear in mind that spamming us with 500 "u suck adn ur mom does to!!!!!!!!!1111111" messages probably isn't going to get you your posting privileges back (although it will get your address reported to your mailhost's TOS team).

If you've been banned and you really, *really* don't know why, it may be that you share an IP with someone who got rightfully banned. If this happens, please mail one of the mods about it, and we'll see what can be done about it.

"Can I warn someone if they're screwing up? If I do, does that count as the first strike?"

Sure, you can give someone a friendly tip, but it won't count as their first strike -- only a moderator's warning counts. This means less work for the mods and makes the first official warning a bit more serious -- if everyone's telling someone to knock it off and they keep doing it, they're obviously someone the mods need to keep an eye on.

"I have a super gigantic mega sig with Flash and Midi and 2megs worth of animated gifs. Your life is hell now."

Please limit your sigs to a few lines of text and or links. Images, much less flash or midis are no longer allowed now that we have our own message board hosted by Fuitad(Pierre-Luc).