Black Ice studios

Hey guys, I modeled our code of conduct on hg's, but changed it to reflect the forums here. Could I get some feedback, grammar, spelling, changes, concerns, etc on this? So i can finalize it and make it a sticky.

Preamble
By registering and being in the forums of Black Ice Studios, it is expected and enforced that you will comply with and abide by our Rules and Guidelines. The RaG is created to ensure that we maintain a good atmosphere clear of trouble. Violations of the Rules and Guidelines constitute grounds for warning, kicking, or banning of the said breaker of our RaG.
Principle Guidelines
We made the Rules and Guidelines to establish clear rules for what’s ok and not ok in these forums. The following are the principle guidelines for the establishment and enforcement of our RaG:
·    Ensure a friendly atmosphere to our visitors and forum members
·    Ensure the privacy of our members and that of others
·    Comply with existing laws
·    Encourage responsible use of our forums and discourage activities which disrupt our community and reduce the value of our services to our visitors
·    Encourage the freedom of expression and exchange of information in a mature and responsible manner
Violations of the Rules and Guidelines
It is extremely important for you to understand that this section of our Rules and Guidelines isn’t designed to cover everything. We may take action — issue a warning, ban your account(s) and/or IP addresses, lower your post count, delete/edit your post(s)/thread(s), etc. — if your conduct at Black Ice Studios is counterproductive to the Rules and Guideline’s principle guidelines.
Unauthorized Access / Forum Security
The following actions are strictly prohibited:
·    Accessing, or attempting to access, the accounts of other users
·    Exploiting, or attempting to exploit, bugs, vulnerabilities, or loopholes; whether they are disclosed or undisclosed
·    Penetrating, or attempting to penetrate, security measures of Black Ice Studios software or hardware, or electronic communications system
All intrusions will subject all your forum accounts to immediate termination, regardless of whether or not the intrusion results in the corruption, loss, or theft of data.
Users are responsible for the security of their Black Ice Studios accounts. Users may not share their passwords or transfer – via any means – their accounts to others without the express permission of the BIS Lead Moderators. In addition, users are responsible for all activity made by him/her or anyone the user allows to use his/her account.
Usernames
Usernames must not be in violation of this Rules and Guidelines. We reserve the right to terminate accounts whose associated usernames are in violation of these Rules and Guidelines, or are otherwise deemed inappropriate and/or potentially offensive. Users may be invited to register under a new name at our discretion.
Ad Hominem
Ad Hominem comments/personal attacks towards anyone - staff, forum member, or a visitor who is likely to view it on the forums - is subject to the message being deleted and action taken against the user, regardless of how pertinent or thoughtful the rest of the message might be.
Spamming
Unless a thread or forum is designated as an area ok for spamming, you may not spam. Spam includes, but is not limited to, the following:
·    Excessive off-topic threads
·    Posting nonsensical messages
·    “Flooding” the forum with similar meaning messages
·    Post-Count farming
·    Inciting a forum war or riot
·    Outwar-style links
·    Blatant advertising
·    Messages without content
·    Fraudulent activity (Pyramid schemes, chain letters, etc.)
·    Free-____ links (i.e. Free porn, Free money, etc. etc.) (unless it is genuine and helpful)
Advertising
We want to avoid spam generated by promotion teams, public-relations campaigns or any other traffic-hungry webmasters. So please note that our forums aren’t the place to advertise your own site or forums or sites with similar content to ours. Black Ice Studio staff don’t visit your site and spam it with adverts, so we expect the same courtesy in return. You are welcome to link your site in your signature without a slogan.
If you are part of a gaming site and you want to link it as a relevant part of a discussion, please contact a moderator first and be honest if it’s your own site.
If you are part of a clan or design team, you will normally be able to make one thread about it, after consultation with a moderator. Other clan/design team information should be sent to one of the site staff for inclusion in the news. (We are hoping to have a better solution to this in the near future).
Any forumer who seems to have created their account solely to promote another site will be permanently banned.
Pirated Materials, Cracks, Multiplayer Hacks, Keys, and Key-Generators
“Piracy” is the illegal copying and/or distribution of copyrighted content including, but not limited to, games, software, music, movies, pictures, ROMs, abandon-ware, and leaked software. “Cracks” are programs that disable copy-protection technology; “Multiplayer Hacks” are any programs, patches, files, modifications or information exposure cheats that allow a player to gain an unfair advantage over other human opponents in a multiplayer game; a “Key” is a combination of numbers and letters that is required for software installation and sometimes used to validate users for online play; and “Key-Generators” are programs that generate valid Keys.
You may not encourage, post in support of, link to, or discuss activities, methods, and/or techniques involving piracy, cracks, multiplayer hacks, keys and key-generators. In addition, the following are grounds for moderator action on your post and/or account:
·    Seeking help to create cracks, multiplayer hacks and key-generators
·    Seeking missing files that are supplied with installation CD(s)
·    Admitting to possess pirated materials, cracks, multiplayer hacks and key-generators
·    Admitting to distribute pirated materials, cracks, multiplayer hacks, keys and key-generators
·    Admitting to the use of cracks, multiplayer hacks and key-generators
·    Uploading any such files to Black Ice Studios
Generally breaking this rule will result in an instant permanent ban. However you may be given a warning for a first offence if, in our opinion, you are a new forumer who doesn’t understand why this is such a strict rule – this will be explained to you; any subsequent offences will result in a permanent ban.
Forgery or impersonation
Attempting to impersonate any person, including staff, using forged headers, instant messenger names, similar usernames (i.e. “WinstonShnozwick2”, “WinstonSnotwick”, “Whineston”, “Jackoff”, “Jack F U”) in an effort to deceive or mislead is prohibited.
Profanities
You may not use profanity or bypass the software-based censor. In addition to words included in the censor list, sexual remarks and slang may be considered profane when used in certain contexts.
A word about what is considered to be bypassing the software-based censor: Anything done to avoid the default *'s provided by the censor is considered to be a bypass of the censor. For example, if the word “****” was in the censor (it is), then all of the following are considered a bypass of the censor and thus in violation of the RaGE:
·    C***
·    cun7
·    c u n t
·    CUnt
·    cu<>nt
·    <img src="http://www.example.com/93QrsteaV/****.gif"> (links to image containing the word “****” used in a demeaning context)
The list of words automatically censored by our filter is (not) available upon request.
Harassment
You may not use terms or audio/visual materials referring to ethnic/national origin, ideological/religious beliefs, gender, or sexual preference in a demeaning context.
We have no tolerance for discrimination. You are in violation of this rule if the nature of your post discriminates, promotes hate, promotes violence or advocates hatred or discrimination against individuals, groups, races, cultures or organizations because of their ethnic/national origin, skin color or culture.
DEROGATORY TERMS
If you use any terms in an offensive context against a person, race, culture, group or organization, as determined by our moderators, you are in violation of this rule.
Please note that words carry different meanings in different cultures, and that while a word may be acceptable use in one part of the world, it may not be in another. In addition, any one can invent their own derogatory terms, unfortunately. Because of those factors, we will evaluate the context in which the term was used to determine whether a violation has occurred.
Porn/Sexually Offensive Materials
You may not post or link to pornography or sexually offensive materials. If you are unsure whether what you wish to post may be in violation of this rule, please consult a moderator first before posting.
Offensive Images / Shock Sites
You may not post or link to shock sites, or any such excessively obscene material. If you are unsure whether what you wish to post may be in violation of this rule, please consult a moderator first before posting. Violations of this rule will result in a permanent ban on your account.
Illegal Use
You may not use our forums for illegal purposes, in support of illegal activities, or encourage conduct that would constitute a criminal offense, as determined by the laws of Siberia and the United States of America. Such activities will guarantee a ban. We reserve the right to cooperate with legal authorities and/or injured third parties in the investigation of any suspected crime or civil wrongdoing.
Non-Disclosure Agreements
We will delete posts containing materials in breach of active Non-Disclosure Agreements. We reserve the right to cooperate with the companies in the investigation of any NDA breach.
Privacy
·    You may not post any form of real life information of a user unless the user has first permitted it by express consent. Examples of real life information include name, address, IP addresses, and phone numbers.
·    You may not distribute any form of real life information, email address, private/email Messages, and Instant Messenger messages (“Chatlogs”) with intent to harass or in any demeaning manner as determined by a moderator, regardless of consent.
·    You may not disclose a user's unpublicized email address unless the user has first permitted it, either by actual consent or previously releasing said information.
·    You may not post any form of real life information if you are 13 or under.
Signatures
Signatures, whether facilitated by the forum software or by the user, may not exceed the following restrictions:
·    The signature may not be large to the point of annoyance of other forumers
·    Signature images may not be large to the point of annoyance of other forumers
·    The signature must not violate any part of this RaG
Official Language
English is the official language of our forums because it is the common language between our moderators and users. Because we can not moderate conversations in a foreign language, you may not hold a conversation in the forums in language other than English.
Foreign languages are allowed in forum signatures as long as
a.) it is not in violation of the Rules and Guidelines,
b.) not in a different character set, i.e. áíúúíá éáéä,
c.) a correct translation is either included in the signature (which should not take the signature beyond the annoyance level) or is in the 'About Me' box of the user's profile.
Email Addresses
·    You may not harvest email addresses from our forums for any purpose
·    You are required to keep your forum account's email address up-to-date. If a warning sent to the email address on record bounces, your account will be banned and you will have to grovel to the moderators with reasons why you should be allowed back
·    You may not use the knowledge of fellow forumers’ emails to sign them up, spam, etc, their emails. If we get reports of this from users of any actions and proof is found, you will be banned
Moderation & Bans
·    You may not evade a ban. Doing so will drastically lengthen your ban. If you believe your actions were not in violation of this Rules and Guidelines, you can appeal your ban by groveling to the moderators with reasons why you should be allowed back.
·    You may not publicly complain about or demand a reason for another user's ban, the deletion of a message, or the deletion/closure of a thread. Any discussion about warnings, bans, message deletion, thread deletion and thread closure should be done over private email between the person concerned and the moderators
·    You may not re-edit a message that has been edited by a moderator
·    You may not post a message on behalf of a banned forumer.
·    You may not re post a message deleted by a moderator with similar or same content to the deleted one.
Miscellaneous
·    Do not post negative posts and discussions that are repeated over and over and over with no other purpose than to disrupt conversation. If you feel the need to say something, say it once and then move on. Do not disrupt multiple threads in order to get your view out.
·    You may not bait/troll users. Bait / Trolling is defined as posting with a clear intent to provoke anger, incendiary posts, and behavior that results in other users violating the RaG.
·    You may not bait, insult, flame, or otherwise abuse a staff member. Staff members have to follow the same rules, and should you have a problem with a certain staff member, please contact a moderator.
·    You may not abuse your ability to post in HTML in HTML-enabled forums
·    You may not post graphically-disturbing images as inline images (such that the images are displayed when users view your post). However, you can link to the images with a warning stating that the images are graphically disturbing
·    You may not post in a manner that is harmful to Black Ice Studios. For example, “BIS forums are empty, no one goes here!” or posting confidential BIS documents. If you do, the post will be deleted and you will be banned.
·    You may not register multiple accounts with intent to violate any part of this RaG.
·    You may not link to the forum logout page, disguised or not.
Moderation Dicipline
·    Warning: with the exception of a few rules (please see below), members will be warned once before they are banned.

·    First ban: the first ban will last 1 week.

·    Second ban: the second ban will last 1 month.

·    Third ban: the third ban will be permanent with
eligibility for parole after 2 months.

·    Fourth ban: the fourth ban will be permanent without parole.

·    Active period of warnings: a warning stays active for three months; if the member violates the Rules and Guidelines when there’s an active warning, the member will be banned. If during any one-year period the member incurs four or more warnings, the member will be banned permanently with eligibility for parole after 3 months.

·    Active period of bans: If during any one-year period the member incurs four or more bans, the member will be banned permanently without eligibility for parole.


Warnings
Our warnings are sent to the member via email, to the email address listed on the member’s account. If the warning is bounced back to the moderator for any reason, the account will be temporarily banned until the member files an appeal providing an active email address, not already registered to another account, which will be set as the email address for the member’s account.

Temporary Bans
To have a temporary ban lifted at the end of the term, the member should file an appeal stating his temporary ban is up. Temporary bans may be extended if the member shows no signs of co-operation. This includes their attitude in both the unban form and any email correspondence with moderators.

Multiple Accounts
Bans may be applied to multiple accounts that belong to the same person.

Evading Bans
Do not evade a ban. Doing so will drastically lengthen the duration of your ban, eliminate your eligibility for parole or cause a server-wide IP ban to be enacted. If you have a problem with the banning or feel it was inappropriate, please file an appeal to a moderator.
Parole and Probation
Requests for parole must be sent through a filed appeal to a moderator. Parole requests received before the user is eligible for parole will be automatically denied.

If a member is paroled, the member enters a probation period that lasts 6 months. During that time the member must not violate any points of the RaG or the member will be permanently banned without eligibility for parole.

Exceptions
Violations of the following Rules and Guidelines points will trigger an immediate (without warning) permanent ban:

·    Forum Security Breach

·    Offering or admitting to the use of pirated software, cracks, trainers (including exploits), keys, and/or key generators on the forums (may be eligible for parole after 1 month)

·    Depending on the severity, members may be banned without warning if his actions falls under the “Questionable actions and content” point of the Rules and Guidelines.

Self-Imposed Bans
We will ban people at their own request. This may not be for less than a week and an
unban request form should be completed in the normal way when they wish to be
unbanned.