NSIDER2 FORUMS CODE OF CONDUCT
Revised: 10/12/08

1.) NO FLAMING. Under no circumstances are you to directly or indirectly insult another forum member on any basis (race, religion, sex, age, ect.). This includes trolling and/or making comments intended to start a flame war. We kindly ask you to respect the posting rights and views of others, the same way you want others to respect your views and opinions.

When caught, violators will be warned. After multiple violations (10 max), and after clearly showing no signs of a positive change, the result is a temporary forum ban (or a temporary posting ban) for a maximum of 30 days. Flaming a moderator is grounds for an immediate removal of posting rights for a maximum of 30 days. The administration and moderation teams are here to help you - if you have a problem with one of them, please follow the PROBLEM RESOLUTION protocol listed below.

Please note that negative comments and opinions about staff members are allowed to be posted - bans will only be put into effect if you flame a moderator for no valid reason, or simply flaming them through the use of excessive swearing (bypassed or otherwise).

2.) NO SPAMMING. Don't post just for the sake of posting. Members that spam the forum with useless posts will be warned, or depending on the severity of the violation (refer to code 1 above), may be banned from the forums at the discretion of the administration. Most importantly, keep your posts interesting and rich in content.

A comprehensive list of what we consider spam:

• Any one-word post. Unless the question/statement is in the title, in which case the staff will judge the post based on the following rules.
  • NOTE: This does NOT mean that we encourage posting the question/statement in the title.
• Any post containing just a video or picture and nothing else. These will usually be let go, as they let the community come together. Just don't be surprised if one of these is deleted/locked.
• Any thread that turns into a flame-war. In other words, regardless of the original post's content, some threads will only get replies such as "you fail" and ":|".
• Any thread directed only at one user. We do have PMs for a reason, after all. Take note that if a thread is meant to inform a select group of people about another user (as would be the case for Brawl clans), it's mainly encouraged to use PMs instead. If you require a large amount of PMs to be sent, and are unable to do so, ask a moderator.
• Any indecipherable gibberish. This would include random letters, symbols, writing upside down or backwards, etc. Foreign languages are discouraged, and will be locked, regardless of whether moderators are aware it translates into something entirely harmless.
• Totally pointless threads. Examples of this:
  • "My name is olol ill never tell u."
  • "What color is the green grass?"
  • "olol pancakes. discuss"
• Fad threads. This would be classified as a group of 4+ threads on the same, usually pointless, topic or joke.
• Any thread that's repeated more than once within the first two or three pages of the board.
• Bumping threads. This will mainly be considered spam if you only post some one-word response like "Bump", or only posting an image or a video. If you don't want this to happen to you, make sure your post brings up some interesting point related to the topic being discussed, especially if it's fairly old. Moderators have the right to determine whether a bump is justified or not, and will handle such incidents on a case-by-case basis.

NOTE: Adding "discuss" to the end of a post doesn't mean anything. Moderators will judge post content on the rest of the post.

3.) DON'T POST PORNOGRAPHIC/RACIAL/CONTROVERSIAL MATERIAL. This site is viewed by a wide age-range of users, and more importantly, this is a site mainly for discussion on Nintendo games (and video games in general). Should any member post a link, image, or video to/of material considered inappropriate, that member will be banned with no questions asked. Inappropriate material is defined as any material that may be generally offensive and racial/religious/sex comments/jokes. This also includes attempts to get around the swear filter, excessive swearing in general, and the content in videos embedded or linked in posts.

Discussion pertaining to political, religious, or other hot-button issues is strictly forbidden on this forum, besides the Serious Discussion board, because of the known problems that are bound to arise from these topics' discussion.

We reserve the right to lock, delete, change, or otherwise remove any content that we agree may cause problems in the community.

4.) ONE ACCOUNT PER MEMBER. This is an advanced piece of software and the moderators doesn't need to do a lot of work to find out that two accounts belong to the same member.
Code exception: two siblings that use the same computer to connect to the internet with the same ISP/IP address. Two accounts with the same IP will be investigated and possibly questioned. If asked, siblings will need to show reasonable proof to qualify for two accounts via a sibling picture, and their profiles will be placed under a robot logger to monitor usage to determine authenticity.

Users suspected to have one to two alternatives will have the alt(s) banned, their main account suspended and warning level raised. If a user has three or more, his or her alternatives will be suspended and their main account banned. One's main account will be determined by whichever account holds the most posts.

For those who have alternative accounts, you may contact either Kodiack or Matt via PM through your alternatives to have your accounts taken care of. If you cannot contact us through your alternative account or you have a family member who accesses the site through the same computer as you, please send us a PM from your main account regarding this.
(NOTE: If you willingly turn in one of your alternative accounts, you are not affected by the above, and the alternative will be banned without any consequences to the main).

5.) PERSONAL INFORMATION IS ALLOWED TO BE SHARED. Before you share any private information on the Internet, please review our Privacy Statement. With the profile features of the forum, the sharing of personal information such as age, name, and other such fields are allowed, as long as all of the other rules herein are followed. Use reason and be careful when posting this information; we're not responsible for any problems caused from the sharing of personal information. However, if any problems arise, please follow the steps given in the PROBLEM RESOLUTION protocol listed below.

Also note that friend-codes are allowed to be shared, as indicated in the given fields found in your profile.

6.) READ BEFORE YOU POST.

a) Check the Bulletin Board. Not only does it have a thread specifically for new users and a link to the help files, it also has a lot of information regarding what's expected of you as a member of our community.

b) Check the floated threads in each forum. Many of our boards have their own
special set of rules, in addition to the rules listed here, so it's required that you read these rules before posting.

c) Check previous posts about a certain topic before asking a question, and be
sure to check at least three (3) pages back (That means to page Four (4)) in any forum. We don't want to have a whole bunch of spam pertaining to the release date of the next Mario or Zelda game. We also suggest being as specific as possible when creating a thread, as it'll help you get an answer faster if people can quickly identify what you need help with.

7.) KEEP SIGNATURES AND AVATARS REASONABLE.

When creating a signature or avatar, the following rules must be followed:

Signature size limit is 500 KB. Avatar size limit is 50 KB.
Signature and avatar format: .jpeg, .jpg, .gif, .png and .php (dynamic signatures)
Signature dimensions limits: 500 pixels in width, 250 pixels in height.
Avatar dimensions limits: 150 pixels in width, 150 pixels in height.
If you are not going to use a signature picture, 6 lines of plain text may be used with a maximum font size of 4.
Picture signatures should not contain any quick flashing. These signatures can cause problems for other users.
Signatures are not to be aimed at staff members to mock them in any way. Doing so will result in the removal of the signature.
All content in signatures, regardless of format, must follow every rule listed herein.

Suggested picture hosting sites:

Photobucket
Village Photos
ImageShack

NOTE: We're not associates or affiliates of these sites in any way; therefore, you must agree to and abide by their terms of service before use.

a) Under no condition are audio files of any kind allowed to be played directly in any posted thread. Links to audio files are fine, as long as the audio follows all of the forum rules.

8.) FEEDBACK AND DOING YOUR PART.

a) You must post any questions or suggestions in the NSider Newcomers forum, or make use of the UserVoice system, which can be accessed by clicking the sub-forum directly below the Nintendo NSider2 Forums Help board.

b) Please take note of the report button at the lower left hand corner of a post. Clicking this button will send a report to the report server for moderators to see (or it will be sent directly to their Inboxes), containing a link to the reported post, the name of the person who reported it, and any additional notes that were included. If you find something objectionable on the forum, please use this so we can handle it as quickly as possible.

c) If you feel you have been treated unfairly by an administrator or moderator, send a PM (Private Message) to a moderator or administrator you have trust in, or make a mature post on the appropriate NSider Newcomers forum. Again, administrators and moderators are here to help you, and are just as human as you are. Please try to be assertive and calm when making such threads.

9.) ROMs / EMULATION DEVICES Discussion regarding emulation is allowed, however, a ban for one week will be given to any member found giving a "source" to where ROMs or emulators may be found or anything related.

10.) GAME SYSTEM EXPLOITS AND HOMEBREW Any threads or posts of such discussion will be allowed, but along with ROMs & emulation, no sources are to be given whatsoever. This also applies to tutorials on how to install such code(s). Bans may be given for up to one week for violation.

11.) FORUM RAIDS The organization of raids on this site and carrying them out from this site is strictly prohibited. The same goes for the discussion of any raids. Punishments may be harsh depending on the situation.

12.) BANNING Temporary banning will be NSider2's last resort for rehabilitation. Moderators will not permanently ban anyone, unless it's a clear case of pure forum exploitation, pornography, copyright infringement or illegal activity. If questions exist about why a user was banned, a PM should be sent to an administrator or moderator who will explain what he/she feels is necessary. As mentioned previously, we reserve the right to lock, delete, or otherwise remove topics asking for this information, as well as the right to ban users with no questions asked.

If you receive a ban (in addition to an increase in your warn level), you'll most likely receive a PM from the moderator who warned you if you're getting a posting suspension, or you'll be sent an e-mail if you receive a forum suspension. Please note that it'll be sent to the e-mail account you originally registered with, and should you have any questions, you're welcome to respond to the PM or e-mail in a calm manner. In rare cases, users may have been banned unfairly, but if you don't communicate, we won't be able to fix the situation.

Also be aware that all moderators are capable of giving topic bans. If you receive one, you can either view the topic but be unable to post in it, or you won't be able to view and post in the topic altogether (this will mainly be used in general discussion threads, RP threads, The Pool (NSider2's official chat thread on Power On), clan threads, contests, and other related things. A moderator will also PM you why you've gotten a topic ban, and will usually give you a warning as well. The topic ban isn't linked to your warn system, so moderators are only able to remove the topic ban when they fairly believe you don't deserve it anymore, even after your suspension ends. Please be patient in waiting for your ban to be removed.

13.) NSIDER2 DOWNLOADABLE CONTENT The downloadable content available on NSider2 is only allowed by the courtesy of the submitters, and to respect their wishes, NSider2 will not tolerate redistribution of such content on the site and asks that users don't distribute it elsewhere. Violation of such will result in a ban.

14.) RECOMMENDED INTERNET BROWSER Users have reported that they are encountering problems when coming to this website using the AOL Internet Browser. We recommend that you use Mozilla Firefox, a cross-platform free, standards compliant internet browser. It has shown no signs of problems with rendering this site and its contents. Microsoft's Internet Explorer and Apple's Safari browser also have been working smoothly with this website.

15.) LIVE CHAT (#NS2)

-Anything listed above also applies to the forum's IRC channel.
-Anything that occurs on an external IRC channel posted by NS2 users isn't the responsibility of NSider2, and it's expected that the guidelines of that particular channel are followed.
-Users that are currently suspended (posting or otherwise) are not automatically banned from using #NS2. It provides them with an additional way to contact a moderator if they were warned unfairly, however, should their behavior go against the rules, they'll be kicked and/or banned with no questions.
-Don't flood the chatroom
-Don't ask repeatedly to be a half-operator or above (in other words, a channel moderator). Half-operator and above are only given to the moderating staff.
-Don't post messages like
T
H
I
S
-Don't use Macros

16.) PROBLEM RESOLUTION

a) PM the member that allegedly offended you, and ask for an explanation. Please be mature and use proper language - don't insult or accuse anyone unless you have proper evidence. Also, please make sure you save the PMs (both sent and received) for future reference, just in case.

b) Please wait 24 hours for a reply from the user. After the 24 hour expiration, please contact a moderator via PM and they will do their best to resolve the issue.

c) If you have a problem with the way a moderator treated you, contact another moderator you have trust in, or an administrator.

17.) SPREAD THE WORD

a) Post a link to these forums in your signature at other forums. This let's many people know about our forums, please do so.

b) Tell your friends!

Please remember that we're not responsible for any messages posted. We don't vouch for or warrant the accuracy, completeness, or usefulness of any message, and are not responsible for the contents of any message. The messages express the views of the author of the message, not necessarily the views of this conduct code. Any user who feels that a posted message is objectionable is encouraged to contact us immediately by email. We have the ability to remove objectionable messages and we will make every effort to do so, within a reasonable time frame, if we determine that removal is necessary. You agree, through your use of this service and the registering of your account, that you will not use this forum to post any material which is knowingly false and/or defamatory, inaccurate, abusive, vulgar, hateful, harassing, obscene, profane, sexually oriented, threatening, invasive of a person's privacy, or otherwise violating any law. You agree not to post any copyrighted material unless the copyright is owned by you or by this bulletin board.

THE BOTTOM LINE

Respect others as you would like to be respected, act like a decent human being and post productive threads that provoke fun and intelligent discussion.

Happy Posting!

Sincerely,

The NSider2 Forums Staff