PSO Board Rules/FAQs (Updated Jan. 15th)

[PSOXtreme]

These rules were posted by the approval of big_the_admin. It is respectfully requested you follow these rules when posting on this or any other forum. Please read the following rules before posting on the PSO forums:

The PSO Boards are open to all and we encourage the exchange of ideas and information. In order to keep our community thriving, we ask that you follow these few basic rules of conduct.

Please respect our community members and refrain from posting any of the following content:

Personal Attacks
Hate posts and personal attacks will not be tolerated on the Sega.com boards. If you talk trash about another member or post inciting topics specifically to provoke a negative response, you will be banned from the service.

Spam
Please don't jam up the boards with senseless, empty messages. The Sega.com message boards are not to be used for surveys, party postings, or chain letters. Posting the same question across several boards is irritating to users. Please post your topic once and on the appropriate board for your topic.

Advertisements
Any messages containing advertisements or commercial spamming are not permitted on Sega.com message boards. Please use another venue to buy and sell your merchandise. If you're wishing to post a related site keep it on "General Discussion"

Profanity
There are other ways to get your point across than using excessive profanity. Please refrain from using offensive language.

Off-Topic Posts
If you post a question that doesn't have anything to do with the topic at hand, it's okay. However, if you repeat such questions just to annoy others, your questions will be deleted and further postings monitored. Further action may be taken to ban you from use of the PSO boards.

Questionable Content
You know where that line is, just don't cross it. Please refrain from posting messages that are abusive, sexually-oriented, threatening, vulgar, hateful, obscene, provoking, misleading, intentionally inaccurate, harassing, profane, privacy invading, or persuasive toward illegal behavior.


Thank you for your cooperation and thank you for posting at sega.com's PSO Board!

[PSOXtreme]

Regarding Fanfics:

Please refrain from racy themes or topics that might be offensive to others. This of course applies to posts in general, but especially to our beloved blue hedgehog and his friends. Basically, don't write anything you wouldn't want a little brother or sister to read. It's up to the mods and admins to judge this standard. If you think you might be crossing the line, you probably are. It's recommended you back up your work in case you are found in violation and have your writing removed.

Regarding signatures:

Offensive/racy/offensive sigs are not allowed. We will modify them if we see something questionable.

[PSOXtreme]

Regarding Spamming:

Please refrain from making senseless posts in order to pad your thread count. Threads with high spam content are subject to removal. In these cases, you will lose your post count for those threads. Please use your best judgement and try to contribute positively to the community!

Regarding Mods:

Issues you may have with any of the Mods can be brought up with a Forum Administrator by emailing us at adminhelp@segaamerica.com. Please include your username and the issue you have with the mod in question. We will read all proper submissions.

FYI: "[USERNAME] isn't doing a good job" is not worth our time or yours; please be more coherent than that.

ALSO: If you are angry because yours, or someone else's obscenities have been deleted please save yourself the trouble; thats what the mods are here for.

[PSOXtreme]

Regarding original game concepts/art, etc.:

Sorry, but Sega does not accept submissions of original concepts or artwork for new games, or any ideas for enhancing or developing current Sega titles. We suggest you take computer classes and take a shot at designing it yourself. You can then enter it in the Independent Game Festival (every February in San Jose, California) or target a small production house and pitch your idea.

[PSOXtreme]

Regarding Links:

Starting today, the use of "automatic" linking is now enabled in posts and your signatures. To use the links, simply type in a complete web/picture address (that includes the http:// prefix) and, when submitting your post, the address will automatically be converted into a link. I've been personally having some problems with the URL Button (in the Post Creation screen). But if that works for you, feel free to use that method.

GAMECUBE USERS: PLEASE SCROLL DOWN FOR IMPORTANT INFO.

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Please follow these guidelines for the new feature: (for both post links and signature links)

1. Absolutely NO inappropriate content can be included in links. This involves inappropriate site linkage, picture linkage, etc. if you need to know what's "Inappropriate" view the top of the board rules for information. Basically, inappropriate content includes profanity and other questionable content such as anything that is abusive, sexually-oriented, threatening, vulgar, hateful, obscene, provoking, misleading, intentionally inaccurate, harassing, profane, privacy invading, or persuasive toward illegal behavior.

REMEMBER: Other users may see your links to sites or your links to pictures. Please be considerate of the other members on the forum.

2. Absolutely NO harmful or malicious links to files or sites. Trying to spread harmful files is NOT AT ALL, WHATSOEVER tolerated on these forums.

3. Advertisement links are not allowed on the Sega forums just as Advertisement posts are not allowed. Please find another place to advertise merchandise. Any fan sites should go into the "Sega Fan Sites" section.

4. Do not "spam" links.

5. If you are going to post a website link at all on these boards make sure it follows these rules..
http://boards.sega.com/sega/viewtopic.php?t=28604

As with all of the rules of the forum, anything that might not be mentioned in the rules directly, yet can be implied indirectly from the rules ("risky" content) can be deemed illegal by the forum moderation and administration team.
Anyone who violates these rules are subject to punishment, anywhere from deletion of posts to ban, according to how severe the infraction is and based upon the moderators and administrators decisions.

USERS ON THE GAMECUBE WEB BROWSER: ALTHOUGH LINKS ON THE GAMECUBE DO NOT TEND TO BE ACTIVE IT IS STRONGLY RECCOMMENDED THAT YOU DO NOT CLICK ON ACTIVE LINKS WHILE VIEWING THESE FORUMS ON THE GAMECUBE. THE GAMECUBE BROWSER IS NOT AS POWERFUL AS A PC'S, AND LINKING TO AN OFF-SITE LINK COULD CAUSE YOUR GAMECUBE TO LOAD THE PAGE INCORRECTLY, OR CRASH. ONCE AGAIN, PLEASE LEAVE USING LINKS TO WHEN YOU ARE USING A COMPUTER. THANK YOU.

Thank you for your co-operation and enjoy the ability to use links!!
PSOXtreme

[PSOXtreme]

Regarding Avatars:

1) Sorry, we can't allow offsite avatar linkage.
2) If you have suggestions/requests for avatars (SEGA THEMED) -- please send to adminhelp@segaamerica.com.

3) Feel free to submit your own Sega-themed ones. Here are the rules:

Nothing profane
Must be Sega-themed
Must be 96x64 pixels
Must be saved out as a .png
Must be around 9kb max

4) If you have multiples, please send them in a .zip file

[PSOXtreme]

Regarding Piracy:

A user is not allowed to give links directly to pirated material or give links to sites containing pirated material. This includes but is not limited to Software (including game roms and images), music, any form of art, or anything else which is copyrighted.

A user may freely discuss piracy on the boards, however may not actively engage in it in any way. If a user displays a link to a website containing piracy that website's host will be notified of it and potentially your ISP will be notified.


Regarding Emulation:

Distribution of emulators or discussion of emulation is fine so long as game software or other copyrighted software (including a system BIOS) is not distributed illegally. Once again as stated above if you are found to be distributing such software illegally your host (if you have one) and potentially your ISP will be notified of these actions.