Forums Social Guidelines
Purpose
The Mech Wars bulletin board is a place for players to exchange knowledge about the game, give suggestions and constructive feedback, and in return get information from the administration about the game. In order to maintain the boards and be able to provide feedback in this private forum, we must reserve the right to enforce certain standards and rules at our discretion.
The bulletin board also has forums for role-playing and clan matters, as well as discussions about the game. An off-topic forum is provided for primarily social threads.
Please understand that this bulletin board is owned and operated by the Mech Wars administration. This is a privately run message board, and all rules are enforced at our discretion.
Signature
Keep your signature to an absolute maximum of 5 lines, normal text size, and do not overdo the colors and smileys. This is to prevent signatures from taking the focus away from the posts / threads. Extreme signatures will be deleted.
Posting
A relevant and good subject for a thread is something most people appreciate.
Use mixed case and proper punctuation, as though you were typing a letter or sending an e-mail.
As a rule, use symbols for emphasis rather than UPPERCASE.
One exclamation mark (!) or question mark (?) is enough.
Staying on topic
Check the name and description of the forum before posting. Please post in the forum most relevant to what you are writing. Your thread may be moved or deleted should you post a new thread in a forum where it is not relevant. If there does not seem to be a forum for your post, it is very likely that the issue is not intended to be on the bulletin board. Contact us to check.
When replying to postings, please check the subject and read through the other postings in the thread to be sure what you are writing is relevant to the discussion. A posting that is irrelevant to the thread could be deleted or moved.
The general topic of the bulletin board is Mech Wars. The Mech Wars administration is not a topic. Customer Service issues should be taken to the Mech Wars administration by e-mail, not on the bulletin board.
Also, do not start "private" or non sequitur conversations in someone else's thread.
Staying constructive
Always back up your statements, and stay constructive. Unconstructive posts might be deleted.
Spamming
Spamming will be deleted from the board. Examples of spamming include posting the same information repeatedly, and posting commercial offerings. Bumping is considered spamming, but allowed to a very small extent (once per thread).
Official Language
All posts are to be made in English.
Please remember that not everyone is a native English speaker. Having that said, make your posts as clear and intelligible as possible. If English is your native language then please use punctuation and well structured sentences to whatever extent possible. It is easier to read and understand your post if it is… well, if it is easier to read. If English is not your native language, then just do the best you can. We will figure it out.
Avoid "chat lingo" and shorthand for the same reason as above. Some of us find it easier to read actual words and sentences than to try to figure out what SMS/IM abbreviations stand for.
Language
You may not use any sexually explicit, harmful, threatening, abusive, defamatory, obscene, hateful, racially or ethnically offensive language. Posts containing this will be deleted. This is at the moderator's discretion.
Refrain from sending statements that could be perceived as offensive or hurtful against anybody, including people, web sites, countries, and companies and their employees. Postings like this will be deleted.
Impersonation
All attempts of impersonating anyone, especially for harmful means, will lead to a ban from the bulletin board. This includes known persons in the community, Mech Wars administrators, moderators, press, etc. Don't misrepresent the messages from moderators through edited quotes.
Exploit information
Threads and postings with information about exploits will be deleted, and the poster banned from the bulletin board. Players admitting to using exploits risk getting their game account suspended and put under investigation. Please report exploits to the exploits team.
Moderation and posting privileges
Not abiding by these guidelines might result in a suspension or a permanent ban from the bulletin board, depending on the severity of the offence, and whether it is a repeated offence. You may also lose access to specific forums on the bulletin board. This is at moderator's discretion. In extreme cases, your behaviour on the bulletin board can affect your game account(s).
We reserve the right to remove any post or thread, and remove posting privileges for any player, including other accounts belonging to the player, for any reason, and without warning.
Posts arguing with decisions of the moderators will not be tolerated. To complain about a removal contact the Mech Wars administration.
The boards are not the appropriate forum to address concerns regarding Mech Wars administration. Please mail such concerns to Mech Wars Customer Service.
Please report any violations to a moderator by using the “Report this post to a moderator” link on the post in question.
Reminders
Do not automatically trust that people are telling you the truth. A person you feel acquainted with may not be who you think they are. Think twice before giving away personal information!
We encourage role-playing in the game and on the Role-Playing forum, but remember that role-playing is no excuse for harassment or breaking the guidelines. If you want to play an obnoxious role, you have a great responsibility to avoid hurting other people's feelings. These guidelines take precedence over role-playing in a conflict.
Let newcomers become acquainted with the environment. Allow them to make their beginners' mistakes without patronising them. An online game on the Internet can attract all kinds of people from countries and communities all over the world. Please respect that people may have a different political, religious, philosophical and cultural background than you.
Be nice, play fair, and have fun! Remember that new players also come here for information. Please give them help and advice so our community can continue to grow.
For more knowledge on how to interact on the Internet, we encourage you to get acquainted with standards for netiquette such as RFC 1855.
(Last updated October 19th, 2005.)