Forum Guidelines (Read me before posting)

[Deleted]

MMO-Champion Forum Guidelines

Welcome to the MMO-Champion discussion forums! This community and it's forums are a place where you can discuss subjects, ask questions, post guides,... related to World of Warcraft with your fellow players. Community forums are at their best when participants treat their fellow posters with respect and courtesy. Therefore, we ask that you conduct yourself in a civilized manner when participating in these forums.

The rules and guidelines stated below are to be read and understood by everyone who actively takes part of the community. Everyone is expected to respect these guidelines and act according to them. Note that these guidelines are not exhaustive and may not address all manner of offensive behavior. The forum moderators have full discretion to address any behavior that they feel is inappropriate.

Your access to these forums is a "privilege", and not a "right". MMO-Champion reserves the right to suspend your access to these forums at any time for reasons that include, but are not necessarily limited to, your failure to abide by these guidelines.

These rules aren't here to annoy you, nor do they target anyone in specific. These rules are here to ensure MMO-Champion remains a community that can be enjoyed by everyone.


These guidelines are effective today and do not apply to posts made before today. If your post/thread is in violation of these guidelines, action will be taken with or without prior warning. We reserve the right to evaluate each incident on a case by case basis. The action we take may be more lenient or more severe depending on the violation or prior history of violation(s).



1. Respect your fellow community member
Keep in mind that even though you are sitting behind your computer, you are still having a conversation with a human being.

We do not want to see: Racism, hatred, violent language, threats, real-life threats, insults, extreme vulgar language, flaming, otherwise inappropriate or hurtful language, harassment.

Do not flame anyone. Do not provoke a flame.

Do not call people "dumb fuck", "idiot", "retard",...

Do not correct other people's posts when they make a grammatical or spelling mistake. Not everyone's native language is English. If yours is you should be glad everyone else is doing an effort. Respect that.



2. Subjects/content not allowed on MMO-Champion
The following subjects are not allowed on MMO-Champion:

• Gold-selling/Account selling or trading websites
• Buying or selling of items in-game or in real life
• Keyloggers
• Hoaxes/phishing websites
• Activities considered illegal by Blizzard Entertainment (botting, hacking, cheating, exploiting,...)
• Politics
• Religion
• Nationalism (Example: US vs. EU threads)
• Pornography
• Content that is considered illegal by law

Posting any of the above will result in your post being deleted and your account suspended. Repeated abuse of our forums will result in us reporting you to your service provider.



3. MMO-Champion is a World of Warcraft community
Keep in mind that MMO-Champion is a World of Warcraft related community, ensure that your posts/threads in the World of Warcraft sections are World of Warcraft related. Off-topic posts are only allowed in their respective forums:

• General Topics (news, other non-WoW general interest topics)
• Fun (forum games, etc.)
• Computers
• Video games
• Sports
• Music / Cinema / TV / Books

Please see the rules threads in each off-topic forum for posting guidelines.



4. Naming and shaming
We don't want to see one sided accusations or any other form of naming and shaming. Armory links to characters that are not your own will be deleted, as will character names and servers.

Example to clarify: A thread about the worst geared character(s) with links to armory pages or character names and/or realm names.



5. Posting real-life information/account information
Real life personal information about yourself or anyone else should also not be posted on MMO-Champion.
We strongly suggest to never post your e-mail address on the forums, even if you deform it well enough to be picked up by bots. If you want people to contact you, we suggest you use the private message system.

This also includes account information of your own or anyone else's World of Warcraft account.



6. Impersonating another person/spreading false information
When quoting someone else or when releasing information, always include a verifiable source.

Information, statements or quotes posted without source will be removed as it is impossible for us to verify them for validity. Hear-say is not a valid source.



7. Spamming and Trolling
This includes but is not necessarily limited to the following:

* Excessively communicating the same phrase, similar phrases, or pure gibberish
* Creating threads for the sole purpose of causing unrest on the forums
* Causing disturbances in forum threads, such as picking fights, making off topic posts that ruin the thread, insulting other posters
* Making non-constructive posts
* Abusing the Reported Post feature by sending false alarms or nonsensical messages
* Numbering a thread, IBTL, TLDR, or any other fad statements
* Thread-necro: Reviving an old thread for no reason other than bumping it to the first page
* Replying to a thread simply to call the author a troll (regardless of whether the post is actually trolling)
* Don't abuse or misquote Blizzquotes.


8. Hijacking threads
Do not steer threads off-topic. Posting for the sake of posting is heavily frowned upon. If you have nothing to contribute to the topic that is being discussed in a thread, do not post a reply in it.

Settling personal vendettas with other forum members is also not what we're looking to see in here. If you have a problem with another forum member, settle the score in private through the private message system or report the person to a moderator.

Keep in mind that personal messages can also be reported to a moderator and that all guidelines apply to messages sent to another forum member. Even though we cannot read private messages, reported private messages can be read, and action will be taken if a reported message is in violation with these guidelines.



9. Advertising
Advertisements for non-beneficial and/or non-World of Warcraft related websites, businesses and/or organisations are not allowed on MMO-Champion.

If you wish to advertise your personal website that has a World of Warcraft theme, or a website of someone else that you wish to share with the community, we would appreciate it if you ran this through with us first.

Send a private message to any of our moderators or website admins before making a thread. Also, we do not allow more than one thread per advertisement.

We reserve the right to refuse advertisements for any reason whatsoever.

Repeated posting (spam) or re-posting of a deleted advertisement will result in the website being permanently blacklisted on our word-filter.



10. Circumventing the word-filter
We at MMO-Champion use a word-filter to blacklist specific words or urls. This is being used for your own protection and the protection of the other community members.

If you wish to discuss a blacklisted word or URL, please do so by sending a private message to one of our moderators of website admins.

Do not in any case circumvent the word filter by intentionally misspelling or using accents, numbers instead of letters, or any other means. Circumventing the word-filter will result in immediate suspension from the forums.



11. Discussing disciplinary actions, moderators or Moderator actions
Actions taken against a member of the community are not to be discussed in public on the forums. Opinions about specific moderators or moderator actions (locking, deleting threads, etc) are also not to be discussed in posts or threads.

If you have questions, remarks, suggestions or complaints about moderating in general or specific moderators, please contact our website admin through a private message.

If you have questions, remarks, suggestions or complaints about a moderation action, such as a ban, deletion or lock, feel free to contact the moderator in question, or any moderator on our team.



12. Circumventing a suspension or ban
Posting on another account or having someone else post in your behalf when your account has been suspended or banned is not allowed. As a result, a new suspension or ban will be issued.



13. Posting guidelines
This section involves all posting related guidelines.

13.1. Making duplicate threads/posts, cross linking threads/posts
Do not create duplicate posts or threads in order to attract more attention to your post or thread. This also includes cross linking threads or posts. Cross linking means making a new post or thread in which you link to another post or thread.


13.2. Bumping threads
With exception of the guild recruitment forums, we do not allow you to bump threads.


13.3. Use the search function before creating a new thread
On an active community such as MMO-Champion, a lot of new threads are made every day. So before you start making your own thread about a topic, first use the forum search function to ensure that nobody else has already recently created a thread about the topic you wish to post about.

Quite often, a similar thread already exists, and there really is no point in restarting a discussion in a separate thread when a subject can be discussed in one thread.


13.4. Choosing a suitable subject line for your thread
Not "I have a question" - This is just too vague. Your topic's subject will decide whether people read it or not.
Not "Spell Pushback" - Again, be more specific: "Spell Pushback - How will it affect XYZ"
Not "The new mounts..." - Specify! "The new mounts, how do I get them?"

Your topic's subject should attract readers, not frustrate them. Be clear, be descriptive, be specific but keep it short. Using appropriate titles will also help people when they are looking for a thread about a specific topic.


13.5. Usage of CAPS (capital letters), color, ASCII/Unicode symbols, or non-standard font
The content of a thread or a post should be the only thing that draws readers and/or posters to a discussion.

There is no need to use CAPS, color or ASCII/Unicode symbols in a post or subject line to draw extra attention.

Colours and non-standard fonts in posts are meant to be used to emphasise specific parts or words of the post, and not meant to be used as a template for every post of a specific user. Imagine what this board would look like if everyone picked their specific font and colour to always post in...

13.6. Contribute in a constructive way
When replying to anything, we expect you to have something to say about the topic at hand. Don't just post "QFT" when you could post "I agree because this and that." or "lollolol" when you could have spared us of that post.

13.6.1. Unnecessary quoting
Quoting a post is fine just as long as it serves as purpose. If you are replying to the last post in a thread, it has no purpose whatsoever to quote that post. It's quite obvious you are responding to that post.

When quoting someone, please make sure you actually have something to say about it. Here are some examples of how NOT to quote:

_________________________________________________

To be or not to be, that is the question.

^ THIS
_________________________________________________

To be or not to be, that is the question.

QFT!
_________________________________________________

To be or not to be, that is the question.

LOL
_________________________________________________

To be or not to be, that is the question.

I agree
_________________________________________________

Finally, ask yourself if a quote of the entire post is really necessary. I know it's a lot of work to edit a quoted post into only displaying the part of it you wish to respond on, but trust me, it will make the thread as a whole a lot easier to read.


13.6.2. Pointless threads
"Which class should I roll?" is a frequently reoccurring thread.

There is no real discussion to be had about which class any individual should play. This is a very personal decision and all anyone can really do is post their personal favourites over and over again.

If you wish to find out more information about specific classes, feel free to browse our Class Forums. You can also try to use the forum's search function if you have a specific question about a class.

Other examples of pointless threads include, but are not limited to:

• Which race should I roll?
• Which faction is better for me?
• Which is the best PvE/PvP/... realm?
• Looking for RAF partner

13.7. Not everything belongs under "General Discussion"
Make sure you are posting in the correct section of the forums. For example:
- A question about a Paladin spell belongs in the Paladin section.
- A recruitment post for your guild belongs in the recruitment section.
- A tactic for a raid boss belongs in the Raids & Dungeons section.
- A discussion about PvP belongs in the PvP section.

Not everything should be posted in the general section. It's like trying to have a conversation in a crowded room.


13.8. Only post in English
The only allowed language on MMO-Champion is English. This does not include the guild recruitment section of the forums.

MMO-Champion is a website visited by people from all over the world. Imagine how chaotic things would become if everyone wrote in their native language.

Therefore, English is the preferred language in our community. Make your post in English. If you're not good at English, ask a friend to help, or write your post in the best English you've got. No one is going to make fun of you. Bing Translator is also helpful.

On a related note: Do not correct other people's posts unless you are asked to. Do not quote dictionary entries for the sake of arguing.


13.9. Intentional poor writing, spelling or 1337sp33k
Not having English for your primary language is no excuse to talk like an idiot. Leetspeek, unexisting abbreviations, intentional spelling disasters, etc will only get your post/topic deleted.

Keep in mind that we can see your posting history...


13.10. Formatting your post (aka no "Wall of text")
Paragraphs make reading a big post a lot easier. It's a small effort on your side as the poster to use your [ENTER] key to add spacing between paragraphs.


13.11. Posting images
Posting images is fine, as long as they don't consume the entire screen and take too long to load. Almost all image hosting websites offer you a series of links when you've uploaded your image. One of these links is specifically to post thumbnails on a forum. It will look like this:

[URL="http://www.mmo-champion.com/mypic.jpg"][IMG]http://www.mmo-champion.com/thumb_mypic.jpg[/IMG][/URL]

Please only post pictures in their thumbnail size. If readers wish to see the larger versions, they will click the link themselves.

Images posted full-size will either be reduced to a link or simply deleted.



14. Signature and avatar guidelines
Please read http://www.mmo-champion.com/threads/678155-Signatures-Avatars



15. FIRST!
Posting "First" or "Second" to indicate that you are a fast poster (Congratulations to you), will result in an Infraction. Do not do it, nobody likes you more if you post the first, nobody will like you less if you post with a useful Comment.



16. Posting about "Blizzard" Emails will earn you an Infraction!
We know they are 99.99% scams, you don't need to warn people, you don't need to ask if it is a scam. Stop posting about them. Read this and don't ask questions answered by following the steps.

http://eu.blizzard.com/support/artic...rticleId=38550
http://eu.battle.net/en/security/checklist




These guidelines are subject to change. Notification of changes will be communicated in the Forum Guidelines topic(s).

Last update: Sunday, January 9, 2011

[Deleted]

Released a new version of the forum guidelines.

[Deleted]

Added a list of examples to the "13.6.2. Pointless threads" section.

[Deleted]

Added "Thread-necro: Reviving an old thread for no reason other than bumping it to the first page" under the "Spamming and Trolling" section of the rules.

[Lysah]

Added

Replying to a thread simply to call the author a troll (regardless of whether the post is actually trolling)

To rule 7 (spamming/trolling).

[bahumut5]

Added

Buying or selling of items in-game or in real life

To Rule #2:
2. Subjects/content not allowed on MMO-Champion

[Simca]

Added non-standard fonts to section 13.5 at the request of the admins.