Rules & Guidelines

The rules and guidelines are here to keep the community alive and well - the one thing we have managed to achieve over the years is the prevention of the community falling into the hands of flames, spam and abuse like so many other sites. The moderating team asks you to read the rules and guidelines and stick to them, we are reasonably leniant but will come down hard on persistant offenders. If you are new to the community always lurk for a day or two before you become active. This will give you a good idea of what is acceptable and unacceptable posting practice.

The rules and guidelines try to cover as much as possible however it is unlikely they will cover every single possible event that will unfold on the website. Common sense must always be applied and just because something you did is not explicitly outlawed if it is seen to hurt the community experience or abuse the site's features it will be dealt with.

Specialised features such as the Games section are for RPG Toolkit projects only and any other content will be deleted on sight. The term "post" means adding content to any part of the site, not just on the forums.

1. Questionable Content

The following rules are vital to the community sprit and good nature of the forum. Breaking these rules can be seen as an automatic ban where no warning is issued

1(a) Never post pornographic or any "questionable" images; a rule of thumb is if you would be uncomfortable or get into trouble for viewing it at work or at school, do not post it here. Posting hand-drawn art on the forum which you fear may fall into this category will be down to the discretion of the moderator. If you are unsure, contact a mod first.

1(b) No hateful or provoking remarks about race, sex, religion, sexual orientation and the like; this includes use of the word 'gay' as a negative word.

1(c) No discussions which directly or indirectly encourage illegal activity. This includes but not limited to; linking to or requesting pirated files, sharing piracy information and trading warez links.

1(d) No images or text that are deemed, by moderators, to have great potential to cause personal offense to other users and/or promote prejudice about nationality, race, religion or sexuality.

2. Forum Specific Guidelines

The following are guidelines yet are still viewed as rules and should be followed when posting, persistant neglect of these rules will result in a ban.

2(a) Before making a topic, make sure you are going to be posting in the correct forum. It should be pretty clear where to post as each forum has a description.

2(b) Give your topic a relevant subject! This one is often overlooked, and it's amazing how many more replies you'll get with a relevant title to what your post is about. Do not use caps or an excessive number of exclamation points to attract attention - it only serves to annoy users.

2(c) Before posting a topic, please ask yourself the following question: "Am I making a post which is either funny, informative, or interesting to other users?". If the answer is no, do not post it as it will be considered spam.

2(d) Before replying, please ask yourself the following question: "Does my reply offer any significant advice or help contribute to the conversation?". If the answer is no, do not post it as it will be considered spam.

3. General Content Guidelines

3(a) Don't reply to your own post/comment if you forget to add something, ie: post two consecutive posts. Instead, edit the initial message. In such cases, the second post/comment may be deleted.

3(b) Gimmick users, someone who posts the same kind of irrelevant jokes and comments across the site, will not be tolerated over time.

3(c) Sometimes flame wars are "fun" to watch, but within reason - try to keep fighting to a minimum. Don't follow another user around from place to place saying "you suck" and other lame remarks.

3(d) Do not repeatedly post the same forum topic within a short time frame. If TKZ users didn't respond the first time, chances are they'll like it even less the second time around in new topic that is posted a day or two later. If you have something new and worthwhile to say then reply to your original topic. However, if the topic in question has been "dead" for a long while, say a few weeks, then feel free to start a new topic.

3(e) Don't attempt to circumvent any ruling made by a moderators in relation to the forums, these will be treated harshly.

3(f) Do not post forum games, such as word games or image games, without getting prior permission from a moderator, at some times of the year (when demand is reasonably high) we have a dedicated games forum for such topics. This is to reduce constant posting of such topics which often degrade into spam or flaming and push down legitimate discussion topics.

3(g) Using the site to advertise another forum in a bid to garner traffic is considered spam unless it's linking to information that directly helps or aids another user with their question/problem.

3(h) Do not create multiple accounts on the site, you only need one account and you can request a nickname change should you want one (see 6).

3(i) Do not post the same topic or similiar topic on multiple boards across the forums, most if not all will be deleted. If you posted a topic in the wrong forum, contact a moderator to have it moved.

4. Reporting

We encourage users to report any item on the site for breaking the above rules, but we ask you to make sure you follow the following pointers.

4(a) If you feel something is spam, do not reply to it stating so. Simply report it. By replying, you only help keep the spam active.

4(b) Do not flame or in any way insult those who you feel have acted outside of the rules, as you only stoop to their level. Again, ignore the content and inform a moderator.

5. Other

5(a) We do not mind users messaging us about our decisions as moderators, however we will not tolerate questioning on the forums. If you complain about what you feel are shortcomings of the current moderation team, the topic will most likely be deleted as it will create a topic which is a target for spam and abuse.

5(b) If you wish to change your nickname, request such action by sending a PM to the webmaster. You can only change your nickname once every three months, this is to prevent constant changing and use of "joke" names. You can request for your old nickname to be protected from other people taking it as well.  If you change your nickname, you cannot do so again for three months.

5(c) Signature height is restricted to 200 pixels, if your signature breaks this limit a dark blue bar appear in the signature to inform both you and moderators that is exceeds the upper limit. It is your responsibility to ensure your signature does not break the limit, upon discovering it a moderator will delete your signature.

5(d) Creating multiple accounts is strictly forbidden, especially if they're both used actively or used to deceive fellow users as to your identity. Upon detecting such accounts complete deletion or bans will be handed out.

Extra: Moderator Actions

Moderators have the ability to stop you doing just about any activity on the site, such as posting comments, or replying to topics by a certain user. If such a block is placed on your account you will recieve an automatic private message providing you with the details and the reason. Of course, the ultimate punishment is a full site ban.