EvThreads Rules - Revised 07/01/08

[Tracie]

EvThreads Rules and FAQ's:

User Agreements:

The following rules also apply to your use of the message boards contained on this site. Your use of the message boards signifies your consent to these Message Board Rules. If you do not agree to all of these rules, you are not permitted to use the message boards. It is every member’s responsibility to read, understand and comply with all posted rules, including the fact that changes to the rules may be made at any point in time. Ignorance of the rules is not a defense. You may contact any moderator with any questions you may have regarding these rules.


Frequently Asked Questions:


vBulletin FAQ's

User Maintenance
General Forum Usage
Reading and Posting Messages


Everything Evanescence Related:

The Evanescence Reference

• The Evanescence Reference is a project of the on-line Evanescence fan community. It is hoped to create a single, comprehensive database of all things Evanescence for the fan community to use, maintain, and continually update as an authoritative reference.

General Rules:

• Advertising, "spamming (unrelated and harassing advertising, especially posts simply for the purpose of advertising) and "trolling" (general harassment and inflammatory comments or actions, also including spamming) is prohibited. Having a URL in your username is considered spamming and grounds for immediate banning of said account. Members are to report such activity immediately and are not encouraged to respond to spam threads/posts [please use the report button instead -> ].

• Threats of any level, but most severely, threat or encouragement of physical harm are prohibited.

• Suicide Posts and/or threads: Please do not make posts or threads in which you are discussing self harm of any sort. This is not the place for that, if you need help call a suicide hotline or look up a professional counselor/therapist in your area. We do care and that's why we want you to get help from the right sources; a forum for a rock band is not one of them.

• Hacking, including, but not limited to, hacking into or disabling other member or moderator accounts is prohibited.

• Impersonation of a band member in any form is prohibited.

• Any member who PM's or contacts a mod inquiring about another members ban or asking for another members ban to be lifted will automatically received a 3 day temp ban. The banning is between the member and the moderating team as we are not at liberty to discuss the situation with any outside parties.
  
  If the banned member would like to contact the mods, they can email us at evthreadsmods@gmail.com.

• Use of another member’s photo, or any modified version thereof, without the member’s consent is prohibited.

• Please do not ask to become a moderator. EvThreads staff will inform members once there is a need for new moderators. The quality of your posts on the board will represent you best when the staff is looking for new moderators.

• Management of this board reserves the right to amend and/or implement new rules at anytime. Your continued access to or use of the message boards after any such change to these rules shall constitute your consent to such change.

• Please keep cursing or crude language to a PG-13 level to help maintain forums that are suitable for all ages.

• It is every member’s responsibility to read, understand and comply with all posted rules.

Account, Profile, and Username Rules:

• You must be 13 years of age or older to register on EvThreads.com. If you reveal yourself to be under 13 years of age, your account will be banned.

• Each member is allowed one login account. Registering with multiple accounts is prohibited. If it is discovered that you knowingly made a new account after a previous account was banned, the new username will be banned as well.

• If it is discovered that a banned member made a post using your account, you will be automatically banned as well.

• Usernames that are deemed patently creepy or offensive will be prohibited. Usernames that contain any band member's actual name or forum username will be will be closely scrutinized.

• Usernames are limited to 15 characters. If you joined before this rule went into effect, there is a chance that at some point you may be asked to change your name due to the fact that longer names stretch the screen. If this is the case, please respond to the mod the contacted you with your new username of choice.

• The word "stalker" or any of its derivatives shall not be permitted in any part of a user's profile. Regardless of whether or not the user intends the term to be "funny" or "as a joke," it will be removed when discovered.

• Youtube videos are not permitted in signatures, only links of said video, if a youtube video is direly desired by user.

• To cut down on spam posts, new member posts will be put into the moderation queue. Once 5 posts have cleared the queue successfully, they will no longer be moderated.

Avatar, Signature & Profile Picture Guidelines:

Please make sure your avatar, signature and profile picture follow these guidelines, otherwise they may be resized or removed by a moderator.

Avatars:


Profile Pictures:


Signatures:

You are permitted a line of two of text after your signature pictures, but a rule of thumb is if you're signature is larger that the size of the posts you are making, there's too much in it.

Creating a New Thread Rules:

• If you would like to start a new thread, please take the time to see if there is already a thread started for that topic by checking related forums and using the forum's search utility and entering related search terms to the thread you wish to create. Duplicate threads will be locked and the original will remain.

• Please refrain from posting meaningless threads.

• Please ensure that your thread title properly describes your post. The moderators do not have time to read every thread and may move something based on the thread title. If a moderator comes across a thread and the purpose of it is unclear, based on the thread title, the moderator has the right to delete it without any prior warning.

• Please make every attempt to post new topics in the correct forum. The moderators will move threads not posted in the proper area.

• Do not use another member’s name in your thread title unless it is a positive post.

• If you start a thread and then regret your decision, within a reasonable time, you may ask to have the thread deleted. If the deletion of the thread will not adversely affect another member, the moderators will delete the thread provided the request is not unreasonable.

• There is a one thread per member limit in the Paper Flowers area.

Posting Rules:

• We recommend that all members watch this short video entitled "Posting and You," we hope that you will get a chuckle out of it and that you will find it to be worthwhile at the same time.
  
  Posting and You

• The moderating team would like all EvThreads members to know that if threads/posts are edited, deleted, moved or otherwise that it has been done so for a reason and you may contact a mod if you would like an explanation for any action taken.

• EvThreads members are advised not to go bashing moderators and/or creating threads on boards and/or communities on the EvThreads moderators in order to bash them in any way, shape or form. If it is discovered that any members who are currently part of EvThreads are found to be participating in such activities, they will be permanently banned.

• We would also like to ask all EvThreads members not to publicly announce band members' appearances in a thread. If they want to make us aware of their appearance, then they'll make a post to make it known. Along with that, EvThreads members should refrain from making posts that are asking band members to post aka "omgz, [insert band members name here] please post something!!! we can see you!!!].

• Please post in English only. The moderators for this board can only moderate in English and will delete any posts that are in any language other than English. The phrase 'any language other than English' includes 1337.

• Please take the time to read the main post of each thread and browse through it before you post.

• Make an attempt to create posts of substance. Meaning, make sure that there is something worthwhile to what you are posting, if not, then there's a good chance that your post should not be made at all.

• Please refrain from posting meaningless threads, one to three word (extremely short) nonsense posts, or the such.

• The forum is not a chat room so please do not use it for smalltalk. However, You are encouraged to use the chat [yaplet].

• Internet etiquette states that UPPER CASE letters are shouting. Unless it is something urgent, please use lower case letters when adding new discussions. Please do not post like this either: YoU gUyS wIlL nEvEr bEliEve tHis!

• Multiple or repeated posting [aka post-whoring] in order to increase your post count is not allowed.

• Please do not double post, you can use the button if your post appears last in a thread and you forgot to add something to it.

• Please wait a reasonable amount of time before bumping posts.

• Acts of knowingly causing drama within threads whether it be based on the topic itself or other matters will not be tolerated.

• Flaming, which includes, but is not limited to, use of racial, religious or ethnic slurs, sexually discriminative or homophobic language, cussing, and derogatory labeling is prohibited.

• While we do encourage debating and discussion, we will not tolerate rudeness, insulting posts, personal attacks or purposeless inflammatory posts. Please use intelligence and respect in all of your posts and towards all other members. Disrespectfulness should be reported to moderators.

• Blatant bashing of other boards and/or the act of bringing matters that are happening on other boards to our community is prohibited. Also, if it is discovered that any of our members are starting drama on other boards in regards to EvThreads matters, disciplinary action may be taken immediately.

• We reserve the right to remove offensive posts without notice. We also reserve the right to edit posts and remove unsuitable material, including offensive material.

• Always provide the proper link when posting articles so that credit is given to the proper source.

• Please refrain from spreading rumors, particularly about the band. If you did not receive the information you are posting from a credible source, please do not post it. Moderators reserve the right to delete any posts they believe to contain false information.

• Posting of pornographic or otherwise inappropriate, offensive or obscene images is prohibited.

• Posting of anyone’s private information, member or not, is prohibited.

• You are cautioned not to post your own personal information in the interest of safety. You should not post your address, telephone number, or anything that might put you at risk. Sparkart LLC. is not responsible for monitoring this information, nor liable for any consequences that may result from the exchange of this information.

• Discussion of, or links to, voting bots for contests will not be allowed. Blatant cheating casts a negative light on the band and all the fans.

• Discussion of and/or illegal acts of software and music piracy [file sharing] as well as other property violations are prohibited. First offense will receive a 5 day ban. Any time you are caught after that, you will be permanently banned.

• Posting of subscription service exclusive content, including media, news, links, etc. is prohibited. This includes EvClub content, such as posts by band members, pictures, or such. Note: This also includes using EvClub content in your avatars and signatures.

• Sparkart LLC. does not police copyright violations. If any member is reported to have violated copyrighted material, Sparkart LLC. is not liable for any damages resulting from such violation. Additionally, the violating member is subject to ban as a result of posting copyrighted material.

• Make sure to contact a moderator [or use the report button -> ] if you think any of these rules have been broken or a topic should be locked. Do not make posts saying "omgz, this thread should be locked." Such posting is also a violation of forum rules.

Duration of Disciplinary Actions:

The length of a ban will be determined in the sole discretion of the moderators and management.
The level of severity and degree of disruption caused by the offense will be considered.
If a banned member returns to the board with a new account, that account will also be banned.
Other members posting for banned members will result in disciplinary action on the posting member.

Moderator Rights and Responsibilities:

Moderators of this message board reserve the right to remove any content posted by members, or to suspend or ban any member at anytime or for any reason in accordance with these rules and in their sole discretion. They also reserve the right to handle all moderator issues privately.
Please remember that moderators are also members and are dedicating their free time to preserving the integrity of the site for every member’s enjoyment. Please make sure you treat them with the respect they deserve.
All correspondence with board moderators should include your username, email address, and detailed explanation of the problem encountered.
Moderators are not employees of Sparkart LLC.; they work as volunteers to help ensure the success of the on-line community.
Please send any complaint you have to one of the moderators.
If they are unable to rectify the situation, they will contact site management.


Member Decorum and Standard of Care:

This site has members of all ages and all are expected to conduct themselves in a mature and responsible manner.
Members are to respect the opinions of others and refrain from attacking another person for expressing their opinions. Name-calling, personal attacks and harassment of any kind will not be tolerated. As previously stated, moderators of this message board reserve the right to remove any content posted by members, or to suspend or ban any member at anytime or for any reason in accordance with these rules and in their sole discretion.
If you feel you, or any other member, has been attacked or harassed, please contact a moderator immediately.

Please Note: We reserve the right to ban anyone who knowingly violates these forum rules.

[ErgoProxy]

09/22/07 Rule addition:

Attention all EvThreads members, as you know, it is your responsibility to keep up to date with the EvThreads rules, so please take note of the following addition:

• Suicide Posts and/or threads: Please do not make posts or threads in which you are discussing self harm of any sort. This is not the place for that, if you need help call a suicide hotline or look up a professional counselor/therapist in your area. We do care and that's why we want you to get help from the right sources; a forum for a rock band is not one of them.

[ErgoProxy]

11/11/07 Rule adjustment:

We would like all EvThreads members to take note of this change being made to the EvClub content rule. As you know, we do not wish for EvClub content to be posted on EvThreads due to the fact that there are people who are paying for it, thus it is not fair to them when the content is being shared freely on this site. As of today, this rule is being extended to avatars and signatures as well.

• Posting of subscription service exclusive content, including media, news, links, etc. is prohibited. This includes EvClub content, such as posts by band members, pictures, or such. Note: This also includes using EvClub content in your avatars and signatures.

[Tracie]

Because of the high amount of threads with incorrect titles, the following rule was amended.

• Please ensure that your thread title properly describes your post. The moderators do not have time to read every thread and may move something based on the thread title. If a moderator comes across a thread that has an unclear title and does not reflect what is contained within the post accurately, the moderator has the right to delete it without any prior warning.

This really shouldn't have had to be amended, but so many of you are making vague thread titles that we have no idea what they're actually about. As long as your title reflects what the post is about, you'll have no problems

[Tracie]

New rules added 3/5/08

• To cut down on spam posts, new member posts will be put into the moderation queue. Once 5 posts have cleared the queue successfully, they will no longer be moderated.

• Usernames are limited to 15 characters. If you joined before this rule went into effect, there is a chance that at some point you may be asked to change your name due to the fact that longer names stretch the screen. If this is the case, please respond to the mod the contacted you with your new username of choice.

[Tracie]

Since I noticed that there were no clear cut guidelines for this, I added them to the Rules:

Avatar, Signature & Profile Picture Guidelines:

Please make sure your avatar, signature and profile picture follow these guidelines, otherwise they may be resized or removed by a moderator.

Avatars:


Profile Pictures:


Signatures:

You are permitted a line of two of text after your signature pictures, but a rule of thumb is if you're signature is larger that the size of the posts you are making, there's too much in it.

[Tracie]

Please take note of the new amendments made to the rules as of July 1, 2008.

• Any member who PM's or contacts a mod inquiring about another members ban or asking for another members ban to be lifted will automatically received a 3 day temp ban. The banning is between the member and the moderating team as we are not at liberty to discuss the situation with any outside parties.
  
  If the banned member would like to contact the mods, they can email us at evthreadsmods@gmail.com.

• If it is discovered that a banned member made a post using your account, you will be automatically banned as well.