Forum Support » Code of ConductLast updated 05/02/2013 Principle Guidelines | Unauthorized Access | Usernames | Ad Hominem | Spamming | Advertising | Pirated Materials | Forgery or Impersonation | Profanities | Harassment | Derogatory Terms | Porn | Offensive Images | Illegal Use | Non-Disclosure Agreements | Privacy | Signatures | Official Language | Email Addresses | Moderation & Bans | Miscellaneous PreambleUse of our forums constitutes acceptance and agreement to our Forum Code of Conduct and Forum user Agreement. If you violate the Code of Conduct or User Agreement, we reserve the right to terminate all accounts belonging to you without prior notice. We prefer to advise users of inappropriate behavior, however, flagrant and repeated violations of our CoC will result in an immediate ban. Our failure to enforce this policy, for whatever reason, shall not be construed as a waiver of our right to do so at any time. Principle GuidelinesWe created the Code of Conduct to provide a basic understanding of what's allowed and not allowed in our forums. The following are the principle guidelines for the establishment and enforcement of our CoC:
What about free-speech?While we are committed to the principles of free speech, certain activities may be damaging to the resources of both ATVUtah and our communities and cannot be permitted under the guise of free speech. The resources of ATVUtah are limited, and abuse of these resources by one user has a negative impact on the entire community. As a member of our vast forum community, you must participate responsibly. If you have any questions regarding our CoC, please contact any of our forum moderators via email. Violations of the Code of ConductIt is extremely important for you to understand that this section of our Code of Conduct isn’t designed to cover everything. We may take action — issue a warning, ban your account(s) and/or IP addresses, lower your post count, delete/edit your post(s)/thread(s), etc. — if your conduct at ATVUtah is counterproductive to the Code of Conduct’s principle guidelines. Unauthorized access / Forum SecurityThe following actions are strictly prohibited:
All intrusions will subject all your forum accounts to immediate termination, regardless of whether or not the intrusion results in the corruption, loss, or theft of data. Users are responsible for the security of their ATVUtah accounts. Users may not share their passwords or transfer – via any means – their accounts to others without the express permission of the ATVUtah Forum Management Team. In addition, users are responsible for all activity made by him/her or anyone the user allows to use his/her account. UsernamesUsernames must not be in violation of this Code of Conduct. We reserve the right to terminate accounts whose associated usernames are in violation of this Code of Conduct, or are otherwise deemed inappropriate and/or potentially offensive. Users may be invited to register under a new name at our discretion. Ad HominemAd Hominem comments/personal attacks towards anyone - staff, forum member, or a visitor who is likely to view it on the forums - is subject to the message being deleted and action taken against the user, regardless of how pertinent or thoughtful the rest of the message might be. SpammingUnless a thread or forum is designated as an area ok for spamming, you may not spam. Spam includes, but is not limited to, the following:
AdvertisingWe want to avoid spam generated by promotion teams, public-relations campaigns or any other traffic-hungry webmasters. So please note that our forums aren’t the place to advertise your own site or forums or sites with similar content to ours. ATVUtah staff don’t visit your site and spam it with adverts, so we expect the same courtesy in return. You are welcome to link your site in your signature without a slogan. If you are part of a gaming site and you want to link it as a relevant part of a discussion, please contact a moderator first and be honest if it’s your own site. If you are part of a clan or design team, you will normally be able to make one thread about it, after consultation with a moderator. Other clan/design team information should be sent to one of the site staff for inclusion in the news. (We are hoping to have a better solution to this in the near future). If you wish to advertise at ATVUtah, please contact us with our feedback form. Any forumer who seems to have created their account solely to promote another site will be permanently banned. Pirated Materials, Cracks, Multiplayer Hacks, Keys, and Key-Generators“Piracy” is the illegal copying and/or distribution of copyrighted content including, but not limited to, games, software, music, movies, pictures, ROMs, abandon-ware, and leaked software. “Cracks” are programs that disable copy-protection technology; “Multiplayer Hacks” are any programs, patches, files, modifications or information exposure cheats that allow a player to gain an unfair advantage over other human opponents in a multiplayer game; a “Key” is a combination of numbers and letters that is required for software installation and sometimes used to validate users for online play; and “Key-Generators” are programs that generate valid Keys. You may not encourage, post in support of, link to, or discuss activities, methods, and/or techniques involving piracy, cracks, multiplayer hacks, keys and key-generators. In addition, the following are grounds for moderator action on your post and/or account:
Generally breaking this rule will result in an instant permanent ban. However you may be given a warning for a first offence if, in our opinion, you are a new forumer who doesn’t understand why this is such a strict rule – this will be explained to you; any subsequent offences will result in a permanent ban. Forgery or impersonationAttempting to impersonate any person, including staff, using forged headers, instant messenger names, similar usernames (i.e. “GiIIB”, “Gi11B”, “Angel GillB”) in an effort to deceive or mislead is prohibited. ProfanitiesYou may not use profanity or bypass the software-based censor. In addition to words included in the censor list, sexual remarks and slang may be considered profane when used in certain contexts. A word about what is considered to be bypassing the software-based censor: Anything done to avoid the default *'s provided by the censor is considered to be a bypass of the censor. For example, if the word “angle” was in the censor (it is not), then all of the following are considered a bypass of the censor and thus in violation of the CoC:
The list of words automatically censored by our filter is available upon request. HarassmentYou may not use terms or audio/visual materials referring to ethnic/national origin, ideological/religious beliefs, gender, or sexual preference in a demeaning context. We have no tolerance for discrimination. You are in violation of this rule if the nature of your post discriminates, promotes hate, promotes violence or advocates hatred or discrimination against individuals, groups, races, cultures or organizations because of their ethnic/national origin, skin color or culture. Derogatory TermsIf you use any terms in an offensive context against a person, race, culture, group or organization, as determined by our moderators, you are in violation of this rule. Please note that words carry different meanings in different cultures, and that while a word may be acceptable use in one part of the world, it may not be in another. In addition, any one can invent their own derogatory terms, unfortunately. Because of those factors, we will evaluate the context in which the term was used to determine whether a violation has occurred. Porn/Sexually Offensive MaterialsYou may not post or link to pornography or sexually offensive materials. If you are unsure whether what you wish to post may be in violation of this rule, please consult a moderator first before posting. Offensive Images / Shock SitesYou may not post or link to shock sites, or any such excessively obscene material. If you are unsure whether what you wish to post may be in violation of this rule, please consult a moderator first before posting. Blatant violations of this rule will result in a permanent ban on your account. Illegal UseYou may not use our forums for illegal purposes, in support of illegal activities, or encourage conduct that would constitute a criminal offense, as determined by the laws of the United States of America and the State of Illinois. Such activities will guarantee a ban. We reserve the right to cooperate with legal authorities and/or injured third parties in the investigation of any suspected crime or civil wrongdoing. Non-Disclosure AgreementsWe will delete posts containing materials in breach of active Non-Disclosure Agreements. We reserve the right to cooperate with the companies in the investigation of any NDA breach. Privacy
SignaturesSignatures, whether facilitated by the forum software or by the user, may not exceed the following restrictions:
Official LanguageEnglish is the official language of our forums because it is the common language
between our moderators and users. Because we can not moderate conversations in a
foreign language, you may not hold a conversation in the forums in language other
than English. Email Addresses
Moderation & Bans
Miscellaneous
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