Code Of Conduct

Revision as of 09:45, 15 September 2010

Trainz Forum and Chat (IRC) Code of Conduct

Our goal is to ensure that N3V's online forums and chat channels are welcoming environments where people can come together and discuss relevant subjects and topics in a friendly and non-aggressive environment. The purpose of this code of conduct is to ensure that users can participate in the forums and chats without being "flamed", personally attacked, harassed or be exposed to inappropriate materials. N3V values freedom of expression on the site, but not at the expense of offending others. We want all members to have an enjoyable and fun experience. With this in mind we have established the Code of Conduct to help us achieve that goal. Please assist us by ensuring your contributions are consistent with the Code of Conduct. In short, we aim to maintain forums and chats with appropriate standards of civil behaviour and where members respect the rights of others. This Code of Conduct is subject to the Planet Auran member rules.

N3V appoints moderators to help us ensure that forum post content and chat messages comply with the vision and goals of the N3V website forums and chat areas.

You agree, through your use of the forum and chat services, that you will abide by this Code of Conduct.

Please take some time to carefully read and understand the Code of Conduct, and the penalties for violations. Non-compliance will result in forfeiture of your privilege to access the forums and chat channels, and may result in a permanent ban. The following actions constitute a violation of the Code of Conduct:

1. Non-adherence or violation of the Planet Auran membership rules.
2. Using an invalid email address for your user account.
3. Submitting messages that display or link to content that contains inappropriate or vulgar language, pornographic or sexually offensive material.
4. Submitting messages that in any way breach or violate the terms and conditions of a Non-Disclosure Agreement (NDA).
5. Any attempts to breach forum, chat room or website security, or gain unauthorized access into user accounts. This includes the action of guessing passwords, successful or not. Assisting others with such attempts or actions also constitutes a violation.
6. Exploiting, or attempting to exploit, forum and chat room bugs, vulnerabilities, or loopholes.
7. Flooding the forum and chat with repeat or similar meaning messages. What constitutes flooding behaviour is at the discretion of N3V staff and N3V appointed moderators.
8. Registering multiple accounts with intent to disrupt the community.
9. Giving, discussing, requesting, or linking to information that is either directly or indirectly related to obtaining pirated or unauthorized copyrighted materials, serial numbers, serial number generators and No-CD patches may result in an immediate ban.
10. Registering accounts with usernames or using screen names that are offensive or created with intent to cause disruption to the forums.
11. Impersonating N3V staff or N3V appointed moderators on the forums, in the chat or N3V web site areas generally.
12. Flooding the forums and chat with redundant messages, empty messages, advertisements, clearly irrelevant "+1 Post Count" messages, and/or nonsensical messages.
13. Submitting messages that are inflammatory and made simply with the intent to provoke disruption to the forum or chat room and encourage, incite or continue "flame" messages. "Trolling" and baiting will not be tolerated. Messages that are disruptive and destructive in character will not be tolerated. Flaming is deemed to include insulting, personally directed criticisms and/or messages that include comments aimed to incite anger. Trolling is deemed to include messages aimed to incite disruption or stir up trouble. For example, posting to a thread or starting a thread without the intent to contribute positive suggestions or comments. Instead, the aim is negative and disruptive comments.
14. The discussion of race, religion and politics; using expressions or language in messages that are considered foul, vulgar, hateful, bigoted, sexually harassing, racially offensive, or are in any way discriminatory. Whether the discussion or expression falls within this definition will be determined at the discretion of N3V staff and/or N3V appointed forum moderators.
15. Submitting messages that are not within the designated forum areas identified subject, scope or defined topic. Please note that all posts made to any forum area must comply in all respects with all other standards and requirements as stipulated in this Code of Conduct.
16. Submitting messages that personally attack, insult, threaten, harass or are clearly disrespectful of the opinions of other participants. This means, if you are engaging in debates that involve challenging, questioning and disputing the opinions and views of others, you are required to do so in a civil manner and ensure that your messages are relevant and on-topic. This rule does not exclude messages that are critical or questioning. It does, however, require that you carefully consider the tone of language in such messages to ensure that they are civil.
17. Non-adherence or violation of the Trainz Community Appropriate Content Guidelines. Uploading Content, Screen Shots, Forum Avatars and Banners are subject to the Appropriate Content Guidelines available in the Content Creation forums and on the TRS2006 website.
18. Posting of images, signature banners and avatars are subject to the Appropriate Content Guidelines and the following conditions:
    1. Screen shots posted to the Trainz Community Discussion Forums should be in .jpg format and not exceed a maximum resolution of 800 pixels wide x 600 pixels high*. Any screen shots that exceed this limit will be modified to links or removed from the post altogether.

    *The only exception to this is within the Screenshot forum. Screen shots posted to the Screenshot forum should be in .jpg format and not exceed a maximum resolution of 1600 pixels wide x 1200 pixels high, however, if your screen shot exceeds 800x600 you are required to include the maximum resolution used in the title of the thread.

    2. Signature banners may not cover an area greater than 800 pixels in width, 100 pixels in height and may not have a total file size greater than 30kb.
    3. Forum avatars submitted for inclusion to the selection pool must not exceed 204 pixels in width, 30 pixels in height and may not have a total file size greater than 3kb.

    When posting screenshots, signatures and banners please give consideration to those users with slower internet connection speeds. Content which falls outside these guidelines may be removed at the sole discretion of N3V and its appointed moderators and representatives.

19. Interfering with, criticising and / or publicly commenting about moderation decisions. Messages commenting on or criticizing forum administrative actions will be removed without warning. Any complaints or disagreements regarding forum or chat room moderation should be made by contacting Helpdesk.

Violations and Penalties

Violation or infringement of any of the rules in this Code of Conduct may result in the immediate revocation, suspension or termination of the privilege to post on N3V's forums or participate in the chat channels. N3V reserves the right to vary the severity and suddenness of the penalty based on the nature of the violation. N3V reserves the right to refuse to post or remove any posts, material or links that we deem unacceptable, offensive or in violation of the rules without further notice. We also reserve the right to suspend, prohibit or terminate the registration of any user who violates the rules from using the site or site related services without warning.

N3V staff and N3V appointed forum moderators are the sole arbiters as to what constitutes a violation of the Code of Conduct.

Penalties will be applied in N3V's discretion as follows:

1. Subject to the severity of any breach, generally, a first violation will result in a warning. A second violation will result in a temporary two week ban. Further violations will result in a one month ban. Repeated and severe violations may attract a longer or permanent ban at N3V's discretion.
2. Severe and/or repeat violations may attract a permanent ban without warning.

Note 1: If possible, warning(s) will be sent to the infringing user's email account. If email warnings are bounced, N3V will apply a temporary ban on that account until the user contacts us.

Note 2: Account bans may be applied to multiple accounts if the other accounts originate from the same computer and are believed to be aliases of the account being banned. Using other members accounts to circumvent bans will result in bans being imposed on those accounts too.

All administrative actions taken by the moderators and administrators of these forums and chat channels are final. These actions may include but are not limited to: delete/close/move thread/message, banning, kicking, & account reset. The posting of any personal attacks or criticisms directed at the N3V staff and appointed forum and chat room moderators will not be tolerated.

Should you have any questions or comments on N3V's Trainz Forum and Chat (IRC) Code of Conduct please contact Helpdesk at http://www.auran.com/helpdesk