These rules are shamelessly adapted from TeamLiquid.Net's 10 Commandments. That is because I have been a member there for years and have never seen a community as solid, efficient, and stable as them. These rules work for TL.net, and I am sure that by following them here it will make all our experiences better here at Insane Difficulty.
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Welcome to our site. Before you begin posting, please read this thread. These rules will help you get the most out of your experience here. Following them makes our forum a better place for everyone. If you don't, you will receive warnings and possibly be temporarily banned. If you continue to break them, we will remove you permanently from our forums. We don't want to do this, so please think before you post.
The Laws are in no particular order. They're all equally important.
1. THIS IS OUR HOUSE
2. YOU SHALL OBSERVE FORUM ETIQUETTE
3. YOU SHALL THINK BEFORE POSTING
4. YOU SHALL CONTRIBUTE TO THE SITE
5. YOU SHALL NOT SPAM
6. YOU SHALL RESPECT FORUM VETERANS
7. ENGLISH IS THE OFFICIAL LANGUAGE
8. YOU SHALL RESPECT YOUR ID
9. READ THE COMMANDMENTS
10. YOU SHALL HAVE FUN
1. THIS IS OUR HOUSE
You are our guests. We will make all attempts to treat everyone with due respect and to accommodate everyone's wishes as far as reasonably possible. But, this is a private site. We are not a "for profit" enterprise. We are not funded by any governments. This means we run the site the way we see fit. We are not obligated to observe anyone's notions of "free speech" or even "fairness." We try of course, and that's why we're consistently considered one of the best gaming sites on the web, and you are always free to give us suggestions (Site Suggestions Forum). But, we have our limits. If we don't like you, we simply IP ban you. If we're really pissed off, then we IP ban you AND nuke every single post you've uploaded to the site - ever. It will be as if you had never existed here. This is our house. You've been warned.
2. YOU SHALL OBSERVE FORUM ETIQUETTE
Common sense, people, common sense. Do unto others as you would have them do unto you. (And if you happen to be into masochism, then you're at the wrong site, anyway.)
This doesn't mean you can't get verbally medieval on someone's ass every once in a while. We don't run the place like a monastery. But, flames are generally discouraged and we expect people to have a damn good reason for resorting to harsh language in the forums. This means gratuitous swearing is a no-no. Generic trolling will get you banned. If you must flame, be smart or creative about it, and make sure the flame was warranted to begin with. Generally, you'll never go wrong by being nice, polite and mature. All just common sense, people.
There are also a number of Rules of Posting in our forums. Take the time to observe and learn them. There are way too many to recite here, but the following are a few important examples:
Tasteless jokes at the expense of someone's race, gender, or sexual orientation are not acceptable. Nobody likes to be called a name.
Do not post in ALL CAPS. It sounds like you are screaming.
Post your topics in the appropriate forum. If you can't find a topic you created, it might have been closed.
Don't be an attention whore and give away the results of games, sporting events, movie endings, etc. in the title of the thread/post. Also, if you're going to reveal stuff in the body of your post, then be decent enough to use the
Spoiler
Don't be a drama queen martyr. Insane Difficulty isn't colonial America or Tienanmen Square. You do not need to preemptively declare "I'm going to be banned for this..." or "ban me, I don't care." Our Moderators ban for good reasons. If they read someone acting like a martyr, they'll simply treat it as a request to be banned.
Before you create a new thread, make sure to use the search function to make sure there isn't already a thread about the topic.
Only bump old threads if you have something new and significant to add to them.
Use the search function. It's better than Google and it works because whatever questions you may have, chances are we've already discussed it before ad-nauseam. Did a search already and you still don't know? Ask politely!
Memes, even ID ones, are annoying. Don't 1a2a3a your way to posting over 9000 memes -- we will ban you. There are plenty of places to go if you want to see posters of people failing at things or a humorous caption appended to a photograph of a cat. Insane Difficulty is not one of those places.
3. YOU SHALL THINK BEFORE POSTING
Please, think before you chime in with your opinion on a given post or series of posts. There will usually be some history behind a given exchange in our forums, so take the time to observe what might really be going on and put the conversation into context before you decide who's "right" and who's "wrong." Above all, take into account who is posting - context is everything. Chirping in with your grossly uninformed opinions will only make you look dumb and irritate the heck out of the people who do know what's going on.
Remember, there's a reason why we do things around here. Our Moderators are not power hungry, unreasonable people with agendas against specific users. If they ban someone, there was probably a very good reason for it. If you believe a certain ban was a mistake, you can contact a Mod through PM or in our IRC channel, but please be respectful about it. Do not take things into your own hands by posting "Ban?" or telling users they will be banned. You PM Moderators to let them know about specific posts or threads, but let them handle it after that.
Finally, do not post for the sake of posting. While it is sometimes acceptable to support another person's view point, doing so by adding "+1", or quoting while adding nothing at all, is not an appropriate post.
4. YOU SHALL CONTRIBUTE TO THE SITE[
Contribute to the site. Everyone should pitch in. Some people contribute by being helpful when someone posts a question. Some people contribute by writing interesting posts that stimulate discussion or by uploading relevant and useful facts and information. Some people contribute by posting news from the gaming world. Others contribute by providing resources allowing us all to enjoy this game. Still others contribute by simply making everyone laugh. Contribution can take many forms and there's no single prescribed way to go about it. But, like good micro, we know it when we see it. Many contributors will have stars or special icons by their name. It's not a license to do anything they want, but good contributors will always get favorable treatment.
For you this means, when you create a new thread, make sure to include content worth discussing in it. A link or youtube video is not enough. An opening post should set the tone for discussion by being thoughtful and well constructed. We will not hesitate to close threads that don't have enough OP content.
5. YOU SHALL NOT SPAM
Do not spam.
Do not spam.
Do not spam.
Do not spam.
Do not spam.
Do not spam.
Do not spam.
Spam our site and you die. Advertise pyramid schemes (it's been tried before) and you die. Post/link/request illegal stuff (CD keys, warez, serialz, copyrighted materials, actual threats of bodily harm, etc.) and you die. We'd rather ban you than receive a cease and desist letter from some lawyer or anal retentive parents' organization.
This includes non-gaming related voting campaigns (vote for my friend in this contest!) or blatant threads asking for homework advice (how do I solve this equation??). Insane Difficulty is not your personal army. It is not a substitute for Google or a tool for lazy students. We're here to discuss things and have fun, not for your own selfish needs.
You've been warned.
6. YOU SHALL RESPECT FORUM VETERANS
All other things being equal, we will give preferential treatment to site members who have been with us longer (as reflected in their post count + length of time with us as a registered member). It's a simple recognition of the quality of these people. Longevity and contribution are prized commodities around here. In a similar vein, "known" pro/semi-pro players will also be treated with deference (yes, quite a few hang out here). Don't complain - these guys have earned it.
Remember: we ban little kids all the time because they sign on thinking they can say and do whatever they want to whomever they want right from the get-go - just like they're used to doing at other sites. That attitude won't work here. That's a promise. As far as new users are concerned, this site is Holy Ground. The veterans are the users who've consistently shown respect to the site and to others and that's why they're still here. Show them some respect.
In practice, this policy means a user who has thousands of posts may be able to get away with a few minor transgressions in etiquette with just a warning. If you're at 50 posts and you try the same kind of stunt, then we may just ban you. Harsh? Yes. Unfair? Most definitely. But that's the way life is. Learn to live with it.
This also means you should think twice before calling that guy with 5000+ posts a jackass. If the guy's been with us that long, chances are YOU'RE the one being an idiot. Some battles are just not worth fighting - just move on.
7. ENGLISH IS THE OFFICIAL LANGUAGE
Ceci est un site anglophone.
Ver sa vennlig a benytt engelsk pa disse sidene.
Engels is de officiele taal van deze site, gaarne geen andere taal gebruiken dan Engels.
Diese Seite ist offiziell in Englisch gehalten.
Ingles es el lenguaje oficial de este sitio.
Use English, and please make at least a moderate attempt to spell check and type coherently. It doesn't matter how brilliant or insightful your posts are if nobody can understand them.
8. YOU SHALL RESPECT YOUR ID
This means you don't use clones or aliases or any other form of obfuscation of identity (other than the ID you first signed on with). Try any skullduggery with your ID and you get an automatic ban. We can see your IPs in real-time and if we even suspect someone's abusing, we just ban you. So, don't even try it. It's not worth it.
Also, don't use IDs containing weird characters, symbols, smiley faces, geometric shapes or any combination of the same. The last thing we need here are fan club members of the Artist Formerly Known as Prince moving in and setting up shop. Finally, crude and offensive usernames will be banned. Do you really want to be known as LayZeeDick anyway?
In limited circumstances we do allow users to change their IDs later on, but we generally discourage it. It's all about respecting your own name. If you have a legitimate reason for changing IDs (for example, you need to change your clan tag), let us know in the Suggestions Forum and we'll be happy to accommodate.
A comment about your country of origin. It's all up to you what country you decide to put in your profile - but, why the heck would you want to lie about the country you're from? We've had members think it's "funny" to put "Afghanistan" in their profile for the heck of it. Some even put down nothing. Maybe it may seem cool or different to some. But, to us it's really the farthest thing from "cool" - and it's "different" in the most negative way possible. Users who are juvenile enough to lie to everyone about where they're from don't tend to last very long on our site. If you don't respect your own name and where you are from (or where you happen to be), why should anyone else?
All just common sense.
9. READ THE COMMANDMENTS
Read these Commandments. Pleading ignorance will not get you anywhere. If you just registered, make your first post here!<
10. YOU SHALL HAVE FUN
It's a fun site with fun people. Have fun with it. Enjoy it. Make others happy. Be happy. Avoid being negative. We don't expect you to be Pollyanna, but users who are consistently negative will draw the ire of their peers and site staff alike. No one likes people who have nothing but bad things to say all the time. Heed the admonition of Oscar Wilde: some people bring happiness wherever they go, others whenever they go.
