Code of Conduct

[Imaginalex]

So this is the section where we post to say "read and approved" ? hehe, at least, from seeing the activity here, it's read.

And i agree.

And i kind of agree on B.A.K.'s proposal too.

[Bakpfeife]

I made a rework cause this one really need reworking:

Code of Conduct (quick rework by B.A.K.)

In order to maintain a pleasant and civil environment, there is a Code of Conduct we invite users to follow:

Stay On Topic - Refrain from intentionally derailing threads, spamming or trolling.

Do Not Attack - Disagreeing with a user is fine, but attacking them is not. Avoid aiming insults at people and keep it civil.

Do Not Post People's Personal Details - At no point is the posting of people's personal detailed relevant or allowed.

Do Not Post Porn - There's plenty of it online, there's no need to post it here.

Do Not Share Cheats/Cracks - Please refrain from publicly posting cracks and cheats for video games as this can get us in legal trouble.

Do Not Overuse Vulgar Language - Swearing is fine, but don't fill your post with it for the sake of it.

Keep Political/Religious/Gender/Sexuality Discussions Games Related - please do not post anything non-gaming related about these topics. As the name of the site suggests, Exclusively Game.

Do Not Post Phishing Sites, Spyware or Malware - There are sites like hackforums.net for those topics

Refrain From Posting Social Media Handles With A View To Dogpile - Please do not post people's social media handles with a view to harass them. Discuss the post (if it stays in line with our Code of Conduct) but do not incentivize people to chase after their social media accounts. We aim to keep Exclusively Games civil both on and off site.




How Do We Moderate?



Each situation will be judged on equal merit.

If a user breaks a rule by mistake, they will be informed of which rule they failed to follow and a moderator will step in the edit/delete the post. There will be no bans for rule breaks that were wholeheartedly unintentional.

If a user breaks a rule (for example attacking another user), they will be reminded to keep discussions civil. If a user fails to change their interactions, they will be issued a 3-day ban.
In case of a major infraction e.g. death threats, they will be issued a much longer ban.

Users can report threads/posts that break the rules by PM'ing a mod who will then move to assist and inspect the reported case.

We prefer social enforcement of guidelines over top-down enforcement thus the rules are lax and we rely on YOU to keep the spirit of the website alive. Most bad interactions happen due to incompetence and misunderstandings rather than due to malice so try to deescalate situations before you PM the moderators.

If a user accumulates 3 bans within a short period of time, they will have their account deleted.

In case of doubt we rule in favor of the accused due to the principle of "innocent until proven guilty". Criticism of the moderation is not only allowed but incentivized and I hope all of you have fun on this website without ruining the fun of others ^.^ .

This one is not perfect but it seems less authoritarian for a start.

[Bakpfeife]

(YES I copied most of it from him but I replaced some things and put some more responsibility and rights in the hands of the users instead of the moderators. What would be nice to be put in place is a good appeal system in order to give the users more of a due process. I hope the reworked CoC gains a bit of traction and that the moderators are fine with it or a reworked version of it ^.^)

[Knowbody]

Just so I'm clear regarding *Do Not Share Cheats/Cracks* please validate the following scenarios:
- *Bad*: I post CheatEngine data or game trainers or whatever.
- *Good*: I post how to enter the debug menu in Sonic Mania.
I understand well why CheatEngine cheats are a problem, but (back in my day) the Sonic Mania debug menu would have also been called a cheat, or a code. Anyway, I want to know if this is in the spirit of what you're going for here, because I'd hate to not be able to share a discovery here.

[Linko64]

I agree. I've been modded on gamefaqs for saying that someone's post was stupid because the mod thought I was calling the guy stupid... Hopefully we can avoid that level of bullshit here.

You can reflect you feel a post is silly, as long as you don't go overboard. Do not worry about that.

[Ridley]

Do Not Attack - Disagreeing with a user is fine, but attacking them is not. Avoid aiming insults at people.
Do Not Overuse Vulgar Language - Swearing is fine, but don't fill your post with it.
These should go away, there are plenty of safe forums for children out there already.

No Political/Religious/Gender/Sexuality Discussions - Please do not post anything relating to these topics. As the name of the site suggests, Exclusively Game.
Good luck with that when you have government regulations popping up everywhere. It will lead to a lot of missed news and discussion. The regulation of loot boxes and the amusement tax for example. Maybe this rule should be more refined to allow discussions that are clearly vidya related.

Am I banned yet?

[Astraea]

I agree with the CoC. I especially like the vulgar language one, not too strict is a good thing which we don't see that often anymore. Most forums outright auto-censor swearing, it's not good because ridiculous as it may sound, sometimes it's the only way to properly convey a message, part of human interaction. And yes, let's not go overboard with it.

[kalin]

i think some of the topics are pretty clearly in the scope of _that game_, so i dont think anyone would have much problem with that, just keeping the non-game stuff out is really the goal right?

(edit: oops, was reading wrong page, looks like this is clarified now)

[Linko64]

Slight changes in the rules have been made to reflect the feedback from you guys.

''No Political/Religious/Gender/Sexuality Discussions - While purely political topics are banned, discussions on a game's content that has political elements (E.g. Metal Gear's anti-war/weapons trade stance, Elves being an oppressed race in Dragon Age) are permitted. However, this is not to be used as a platform to purely express your political view. The same applies to sexuality, gender and religious topics. ''

[Morteus]

I think it's safe to assume (to some extent - there's always gonna be those who need to 'test the fences') that given the agenda that is the driving ideal behind establishing this forum in the first place both moderators and posters should have a pretty good feel for what's expected. There's bound to be a bit of feeling out for a while, but it's my hope the players who come here will respect and be guided by the foundation ethic.

[Anthony]

Does letting a user know they misspelled the name of a board count as an attack if they feel insulted by it? *wink, wink*

[MadBro]

I get what you mean. Looking through a lot of the intro threads, most of us here are people who have been burned by communities and boards where politicized rules lawyering was used to silence them and ultimately push them out. So your concerns are definitely valid!

On the other I think that Jeremy as the founder is going to pick people he trusts to implement rules and enforcement that are in line with his vision for the site. The text of the rules is probably going to change but I think it's the spirit that we need to pay attention to.

Trust but verify!

On ThumperTalk, we have a section of the forums dedicated to everything else. It comes with a disclaimer and is fairly unmoderated. Most people don't take it too personal. The results are pretty fun.

[ad_victoriam]

On ThumperTalk, we have a section of the forums dedicated to everything else. It comes with a disclaimer and is fairly unmoderated. Most people don't take it too personal. The results are pretty fun.

A general board and/or shitposting subforum to blow off steam would be a good idea.

[Teran]

Seems fair to me.

[Onideus]

I'm touching myself... lewdly... is that permissible conduct?

[Forge]

Rulez.
That's fine.
Everyone should be allowed to post their experiences and views, within reasonable boundaries.
Whether they like certain historically inaccurate depictions in their video games, or not.

As long as there's some consistency with enforcement.

[Marikroyals]

Seems fair but some of the definitions seem vague and should be nailed down to prevent future abuse, so you should include clear wording and a few clear examples for each rule to set a baseline to follow. After all, some people see constructive criticism or someone saying they don't like a thing as an attack.