EvaGeeks Forum Rules and Guidelines

Here you will find a rundown of the rules and regulations of the EvaGeeks Forum. Know them, and know them well. Observation of the classic work Posting and You is also considered a prerequisite to posting.

Purpose

The purpose of the EvaGeeks Forum is to provide Evangelion fans with a pleasant, mature, and productive atmosphere for the discussion of the show and related topics. The forum also serves as an extension of the EvaGeek site's content and services.

Members

All members should be fully acquainted with and adhere to the rules and guidelines set by the board staff. Failure to comply will result in warnings; failure to heed warnings will result in a temporary or permanent banning depending on the severity of the offense(s).

Courtesy towards other members and the staff is expected. If you have an issue with another forum member, do not send them snide or abusive PMs -- if you cannot resolve things calmly, then ask a mod or an admin. "Sassing" the administration is also not permitted under any circumstances and will produce repercussions.

New members should not "introduce" themselves in their first posts. Please use the Welcome Thread for this purpose.

Staff

The board staff are in charge of the forum's upkeep, establishing the rules and regulations, and making other administrative decisions. Administrators and moderators maintain order in the forum and ensure that the members observe the rules of conduct. If you are not an admin or mod, do not pretend to be one.

A list of the current staff may be found at Memberlists.

Posting

A. Language:

Posts shall be composed in English. Non-English languages, slang, abbreviations, acronyms, 1337, AIMspeak, chanspeak/"talking in memes", etc., are heavily frowned upon if they are habitual style. (Occasional uses e.g. for humorous effect in the proper context are fine.) There will be limited tolerance for "Bad English": Users are expected to employ sentences, punctuation, grammar, and so forth. Make sure that your posts are coherent and understandable; others should not be required to perform "translation" when reading. The use of spell-checking is encouraged (this function is automatically furnished by Firefox).

B. Formatting:

Avoid using altered font (color, style, size) unless it serves a purpose. Formatted text shall not be permitted to serve as one’s "default" (e.g., making the text of every post blue). Red text may only be used by the moderation staff.

Additionally, broken bbcode tags are an eyesore. Make sure you employ them properly. Preview your posts before hitting Submit!

C. Quoting:

• DO NOT QUOTE ENTIRE POSTS. Edit them down to the part(s) you are actually replying to.
• Nested quotes (quotes within quotes within...) are only to be used if required to provide context for a reply.
• Embedded image(s) from the original post must be edited out or modified to text links unless there is a reason to re-embed the image(s).
• Use the quote tags properly. Broken [quote] tags get ugly even faster than broken formatting tags. Again, use the Preview function to ensure that everything looks as it should!
• Make sure quotes are ascribed to the right person(s).

D. Double-Posting:

DON'T. The Edit button is your friend. Create a new post to bump the thread if you must, but then copy the text of the previous post into the new one, and use the little "X" button to delete the old one.

Double-posts are, however, okay if you're bumping a thread after a sizable time gap and you just so happened to be the last person to post in it.

E1. Off-Topic Posts:

While some amount of off-topic posting is expected, it should be kept to the bare minimum. The staff should not have to constantly remind members to "Stay on topic, bitches." Members should take communications to PM, etc., as appropriate (for example, if they want to "talk to each other" instead of discuss the topic). See also Tangents in the Threads section.

E2. Spam:

A post that doesn't advance the topic of discussion or contribute in some way is spam. That is to say, junk. Noise. Pointless filler. This should also be avoided as much as possible, and will result in warnings in extreme cases.

Corollary 1. The forum is not a chat room.

Corollary 2. The forum is not 4chan.

Off-topic posts and spam are not necessarily the same thing, although there is a large area of overlap.

F. Swearing:

Don't use pervasive language. We're not going to tell you it’s inappropriate to say, for example, "fuck" — but please, use it sensibly. If you always put the word "fucking" in front of an adjective, that is not sensible use.

G. Flaming:

Flaming should not be done gratuitously. You are permitted to poke fun at someone provided that it is made obvious that the comment is in good fun. Participation in a flame thread/war will not be tolerated and will result in consequences, regardless of who started it.

While the occasional kneejerk reaction is expected, unnecessary flaming can usually be avoided by heeding the adage, "Stick to the points, not the people." That is to say, in "heated debates" or elsewhere, the ideas presented by someone are to be addressed, as opposed to, e.g., the person's reasons or motivations for having or advocating such ideas in the first place. ("You're only saying that because...")

Those in possession of a chronic bad attitude and the inability to distinguish adversarial behavior from proper conduct will be dealt with as needed.

H. Trolling:

Attempting to provoke a reaction from any member anywhere on the forum is not allowed. Since the staff only have users' posts to go by, anything that reads as trolling will be automatically taken as trolling, regardless of intention. Users should exhibit care accordingly. Those who engage in the behavior will be handled on a case by case basis.

I. Spoilers:

The website treats the original anime as the "default" and assumes that all visitors have viewed it in its entirety. Anyone who has not is considered at "open risk" of having the whole show ruined for them. Spoilers for other versions of Evangelion (the manga, Rebuild, etc.) must be confined to the various dedicated subfora. Given Rebuild's status as a current and "hot" development, "spoilers" is extended beyond critical plot points to the gratuitous mention of any details someone may want to reserve for their initial viewing (e.g., on the various design overhauls or the new character / Evas).

There is no official spoilers policy for the discussion of non-Eva media. Members are encouraged to use common sense in making judgments. For example, spoilers would be expected in a thread discussing impressions of a specific movie, but not in one devoted to recommending anime series.

Threads

A. Location:

Threads are to be created in the appropriate subfora. Those placed inappropriately will be relocated by the mods. If a thread is considered inappropriate for whatever reason, it will be closed and placed in the graveyard.

B. Naming:

Please be sure to title threads appropriately. Titles should be descriptive and convey the subject of the thread as often as possible.

C. Necromancy:

Before creating a new thread, check to see if a preexisting thread satisfies the specifications. (This means familiarizing yourself with the Search tool.) Old threads should be bumped in such instances. However, gratuitous necromancy -- bumping old threads for no constructive reason -- is inappropriate.

D. Tangents:

"Strings" of off-topic posts that break off from the original conversation should be avoided as much as possible. Instigating or contributing to the derailment of a thread is to be minimized. Members are encouraged to take initiative and divert off-topic conversation into a preexisting thread of the appropriate topic, a new thread, or, when appropriate, PMs or off-forum communication. This keeps the forum environment more organized and makes less work for the staff.

There is no set fate for tangents: They may be split off into new threads, pruned into the graveyard, deleted outright (namely in instances of spam), or result in the thread getting locked, as the staff sees fit.

E. Locks:

If a thread is locked, do not create a new thread attempting to "reprise" it. In instances where an initially "valid" topic went irretrievably off-topic, a new thread may be created after an adequate "cool down" period. Use common sense when attempting to resurrect discussions that have "suffered the mods’ wrath".

F. Polls:

They have been disabled on this forum. Do not request them.

Signatures

These are intended to be a compact and concise way of relating information about yourself and adding a "personal touch" to your forum presence.

A. Images are not permitted in signatures.

B. They should be as small as possible and never exceed 104 pixels in height (the equivalent of six lines of default-size text).

C. Unnecessary empty

    lines should be avoided.

D. Quote tags may not be used.

E. Colored text is permitted, with the exception of red, which is reserved for moderators and admins.

F. Signatures may be modified without warning for failing to comply with the guidelines.

Images

A. Images may be posted when relevant to a thread.

B. Posting replies in the form of an image (e.g., image macros) is discouraged, and may constitute a warning. Silly images may be posted "for their own sake" in this thread.

C. Large images (whether in size or dimensions) should be text linked rather than posted with the [img] tag (i.e., embedded).

D. Do not post direct links (using either the [img] tag or text links) to images hosted on other websites. This is called "hotlinking" and is, as a general rule, frowned upon. Upload images to your own webspace or to a free image-hosting service such as ImageShack or Photobucket before posting them. Hotlinking to images hosted on evageeks.org and evacommentary.org is, however, permitted on the forum.

Avatars

These shall be no larger than 125x125 pixels and 30kb. Use common sense when selecting your avatar, e.g., no graphic imagery of any kind or obnoxious animations. Avoid using an avatar in use by another member if possible.

Other

A. Copywrited Media

Do not ask for, or provide links to, sites illegally hosting copyrighted media. If you want to download the entire show, its soundtracks, and scans of the entire manga, fine -- but do it without involving the forum.

Exceptions are made for the sharing of "fair use" content such as (most) images, articles, translations, etc. Administrators also reserve the right to permit links to other copyrighted materials (such as media unavailable domestically) on a case-by-case basis.

As a corollary of this policy, do not link to sites that sell bootlegs or that plagiarize materials from other sites.

B. Illicit Material

This is obviously not an appropriate venue for, e.g., exchanging pornography or recommending good places to find it. However, since this is an open Evangelion forum, "illicit" material -- namely involving nudity, sex, and excessive violence -- does not fall into "forbidden" territory. The matter should be approached with common sense and maturity (if not the occasional good humor). Ask a staff member before posting something if you're unsure as to its status. As a general rule, any officially sanctioned Evangelion material does not require approval (although you probably don't want to post images from Stripping Instrumentality Project unless there's a concrete reason for doing so...).