Rule Clarification

[umajon911]

So I have never read the rules not going to lie, but am going to need some clarification on the following rules please...

What can be infracted? Well the violations (taken from this post which therefore still applies) include, but are not limited to:

* Posts encouraging illegal or unethical behavior
-Define unethical? I think it depends which approach is perceived or what the Devs want? Do you want a ultilitarian approach where we promote good for the greater amount of people?

* "Trolling" (posts only intended to stir up trouble) - If in doubt avoid it, and you should have no problems.
- So don't be like korp? or octo? or mike? or steel? or any of the other active players in the forums....

* Posting on behalf of a banned user
- Was this added for bart?(Last edited by DavidC; Yesterday at 22:19.) I think this should only apply if the user who posts, is in violation of the actual rules. Because just the other day I posted on behalf of bart because he was congratulating mansoor... How is congratulating someone in violation of the rules?

[MyNameIsMatija]

I've pointed out to the trolling one before when Bishop trolled to no effect. You just get the usual mind your own posts, obey the rules that we don't care about ourselves etc.

Have to say the forum isn't what it used to be a couple of years ago. Now with all the rules and bans even I am considering throwing in the towel, might as well just get into an argument with a mod and be done with it.

[umajon911]

I've pointed out to the trolling one before when Bishop trolled to no effect. You just get the usual mind your own posts, obey the rules that we don't care about ourselves etc.

I mean everyone trolls... I always thought that was an unwritten rule of forums

[Pillz]

Bishop effectively told me I was unwelcome on the forums.

[umajon911]

Bishop effectively told me I was unwelcome on the forums.

Howd that work out for you?

[Pillz]

Howd that work out for you?

I'm still here for now.

Although allanons has expressed similar sentiment prior to his ascension within The Party.

[Korp]

Posting on someone else's behalf is a ban evade.

[Mike^]

haha, what a joke this place has become, just like the current admins and mods on forum (bam) yes that was the perm ban hammer hitting me in the face.

how do you delete a forum profil ? or could a mod plz do this for me i do not wish to have any information stay on a 3th party site likes this.
Also i like my old forum account from before 2010 "mike" to go same way.
Also i see no way to remove so my emails dont get spammed with join utopia every so often i like to be taken of that list also, thx.

Take care everyone im out.

[Allanon]

So I have never read the rules not going to lie, but am going to need some clarification on the following rules please...

What can be infracted? Well the violations (taken from this post which therefore still applies) include, but are not limited to:

* Posts encouraging illegal or unethical behavior
-Define unethical? I think it depends which approach is perceived or what the Devs want? Do you want a ultilitarian approach where we promote good for the greater amount of people?

* "Trolling" (posts only intended to stir up trouble) - If in doubt avoid it, and you should have no problems.
- So don't be like korp? or octo? or mike? or steel? or any of the other active players in the forums....

* Posting on behalf of a banned user
- Was this added for bart?(Last edited by DavidC; Yesterday at 22:19.) I think this should only apply if the user who posts, is in violation of the actual rules. Because just the other day I posted on behalf of bart because he was congratulating mansoor... How is congratulating someone in violation of the rules?

1. Encouraging unethical behaviour is encouraging behaviour that, whilst not quite illegal, would deliberately cause distress, annoyance or harassment to the receiving party - Telling someone to send a death threat is encouraging illegal behaviour. Encouraging someone to spam someone's email, or encouraging them to pretend to be someone else and communicate with another person under that alias, are a couple of examples of encouraging unethical behaviour.

2. I would like to think that trolling is fairly self-explanatory. Nothing else really needed on this point apart from to say that our mods are bound by the rules as much as any other user. If you feel a mod is abusing their position to make posts that you feel violate the rules without censor, or neglecting to handle an issue you feel is relevant to their role, I would encourage you to pm the Game Administration.

3. This one is fairly simple. When a user is banned, they are banned from communicating using these boards. If you help that person bypass that ban by posting on their behalf, regardless of the content, you are undermining the ban imposed on that person, and thus violating the rules.

I hope this helps clarify things a little :)

[umajon911]

3. This one is fairly simple. When a user is banned, they are banned from communicating using these boards. If you help that person bypass that ban by posting on their behalf, regardless of the content, you are undermining the ban imposed on that person, and thus violating the rules.

So in regards to this, even if the relayed message was sincere, as it was a congratulatory message that I relayed from Bart to Mansoor, I was in violation of the rules what I thought was morally and ethically justified and should expect another ban?

[Korp]

So in regards to this, even if the relayed message was sincere, as it was a congratulatory message that I relayed from Bart to Mansoor, I was in violation of the rules what I thought was morally and ethically justified and should expect another ban?

They dont hand out bans retroactively

[Allanon]

You were in violation, yes, but given it was not spelled out in the rules at the time and you were likely unaware of the consequences, not to mention acting in good faith, we're not going to action you based on that so long as it doesn't happen in future :)

[Persain]

1. Encouraging unethical behaviour is encouraging behaviour that, whilst not quite illegal, would deliberately cause distress, annoyance or harassment to the receiving party - Telling someone to send a death threat is encouraging illegal behaviour. Encouraging someone to spam someone's email, or encouraging them to pretend to be someone else and communicate with another person under that alias, are a couple of examples of encouraging unethical behaviour.

to be clear if u go over to the strategy forums and tell people they should always 2v1, and gb their targets just before war declare i'd call it "unethical" but you wouldn't be in violation of the rules.

[umajon911]

You were in violation, yes, but given it was not spelled out in the rules at the time and you were likely unaware of the consequences, not to mention acting in good faith, we're not going to action you based on that so long as it doesn't happen in future :)

Im not trying to get a retroactive ban lol just want to try and clear up the gray areas so people don't make innocent mistakes and get a ban for it then flip out cuz they didnt know. Its the gray areas of the rules that upset most players.

[Allanon]

Im not trying to get a retroactive ban lol just want to try and clear up the gray areas so people don't make innocent mistakes and get a ban for it then flip out cuz they didnt know. Its the gray areas of the rules that upset most players.

Agreed, its why we're trying to clarify some of the less obvious rules, tho naturally some of the rules need to be left grey as we cannot predict every situation, and a lot of it comes down to a judgement call.

In this case, the rule was not specifically written down, but rather you were aiding in bypassing a ban issued for someone breaking another rule. We obviously need to ensure that when we ban someone from the forums, they cannot circumvent that ban, and to do that we need to ensure people realise that regardless of the content the banned person is asking them to post, posting it on their behalf is a violation. Given it is a bit of a grey area in terms of what is specifically written down, we have to judge intention in this case, and I believe you genuinely didn't realise you were violating the rules at the time and were intending to simply help a former player pass on a message of congratulations. Therefore, no ban should be issued. However, now it is written in the rules, and is no longer a grey area henceforth.