Like any community, PPT has rules. Not too many, mind you. A careful balance is maintained so that all may go about their forum lives in as comfortable a manner as possible. These rules are here for your protection, not to make life difficult. Many of you with a history of using forums will recognise many of them from other sites.
The rules below are what are known as Global Rules. They are in use everywhere on these boards, just as the regulations detailed in the
Terms of Service Agreement you signed upon registering. Even so, many of the sections of PPT have their own specific rules which you must follow when posting. You will find a copy posted and stickied at the top of each board, and should read them carefully.
I know the wall of text pouring away beneath this paragraph may look a little daunting, but I promise you, it only seems that way as I have tried my best to explain each rule to its fullest.
The people who enforce these rules are known as
Moderators and
Global Moderators ( click the names to see the Moderator team. ), normally referred to simply as "Mods". You can easily spot a Mod while surfing around the Forum because of the custom rank colours they wear.
- Moderator
- Global Moderator
Moderators are assigned certain boards to look after, whilst Global Mods can moderate every board on the forums. These people are not prison wardens. They will not skulk about ( well not all the time ), cracking heads with sticks when people double post ( thats my job
). They are protectors. They are fountains of knowledge, ready and willing to help each and every one of you should you find yourselves confused or in need of assisstance. I employ them, and even Im not sure why they do it. Something about a "warm glow" and "satisfaction in helping others". No, I dont get it either
Each and every one of them gives up their time freely, and without pay, to make sure that no harm comes to any of you. All they ask in return is that you respect them and heed their warnings should they ever need to contact you. Which leads us the first and most important rule PPT has;
Respect the staff and comply with their wishesRefusing to comply with the wishes of a staff member will generally result in a permanent ban. There is simply no excuse for this behaviour. If you feel the judgement against you is injust, you should comply anyway, and then send a formal complaint to an
Administrator ( Yup, its another one of those clicky names).
- Administrator
No Flaming"Flaming", is when somebody attacks somebody else over the internet, normally in the form of insults. This will not be tolerated. You do not have to agree with every other member of PPT ( And you wont at some point. Believe me). You do not have to like every other member at PPT. You do, however, have to respect every other member of PPT. And when I say respect, I mean respect their right to have their say just as you have the right to yours. If at any point you think what a member is saying may be out of line, you should contact a Moderator and have them look into it for you. If somebody flames you, do
NOT retaliate. You will end up in as much trouble as them. Just contact a Moderator. Its their job to deal with members breaking these rules, remember? Flaming is also outlawed through the Personal Message system. You may argue a little more heatedly in private, but be sure to never insult another member.
Do Not Backseat-ModerateThis is when a member acts as a Moderator. As stated above, when a member breaks a rule, you should either ignore it, or contact a Moderator. It is their job to reprimand rule breakers. We dont
expect you to shoot off Private Messages as soon as you see a problem, but we appreciate any help members give us while trying to keep the forums free of trouble. You are more than welcome to help other members if they make simple mistakes, but should never post just to do this. Including a short message at the end of a topical post is fine. Posting just to tell another member what to do is not.
Do not SpamFor such a simple little statement, it has a lot of meanings. So many infact, that this entry will probably be more of a section by the time Im finished ( infact, I may aswell go on and underline it ). As many of you will no doubt know, the origins and explanations of the term "Spam" are highly debated. The most widely held belief is that it is an acronym meaning "Short Pointless Annoying Messages". We at PPT also believe this. To ensure your posts do not fall into the category of spam, try and ensure all posts are
at least 3 words in length. This is more of a guideline than a rule, as it is often perfectly possible to add your own thought to a topic in one word. However, it does not take a lot of effort to add a few extra words, and the staff will have words ( pun intended ) with anybody posting "yes", and "no", on every topic they can find.
But Spam does not have to be short at PPT. Typing a 6000 word message detailing the many subtle nuances one must consider when buying cheese in a thread dedicated to a new Neopet Colour is also a type of Spam. We call this;
Going Off TopicDont do this. I know its difficult not to occasionally, but it becomes very annoying for the people trying to hold the original discussion that the thread is dedicated to while you are announcing that Camembert knocks the socks off of Cheddar.
On a related note, members should be sure to always ;
Post in the Correct PlaceThe Forums are divided into various sections dedicated to many aspects of Neopian and Non-Neopian life. Before starting a topic, be sure to read the section descriptions above each board. For example; if you are wanting to post about a new feature on Neopets, you should go to the "General Chat" board in section "Neopets". You should then make sure nobody else has already started a similar topic which you could post your message in. If not, you are free to post
Repeatedly posting topics in the wrong sections is Spam.
Do Not Double PostThis is when you post a message in a thread, and then post again on the same thread straight away making 2 consecutive messages. People normally do this if they remember something they forgot to include in the first post. Dont do this. It makes the forums messy. If you forget something you wished to include use the edit button at the top-right of the message box for that post. Double posting is also Spam.
Do Not Abuse the Personal Message SystemOccasionally, and for various reasons, some members feel the need to start sending many identical personal messages. This normally occurs when a member joins simply to plug his/her own website. If you recieve such a PM, or any other sort which you think might break any of the forum rules, forward it to a Moderator.
No Swearing. No Innapropriate Topics.Self explanatory really. Examples of innapropriate topics are any that contain abusive, obscene, vulgar, slanderous, hateful, threatening or sexually-oriented content. Political discussion of any kind is not allowed, except within the confines of
The Debate Group. We obviously cant list every Innapropriate topic of discussion, so members are expected to use common sense. Remember, this is a family site.
Do Not try and Get-Around the Word FilterPPT has a filter in place which recognises when people use certain words in their posts, and then substitutes them for another word the Administrators have selected. The words normally filtered are swear-words, but occasionally will include terms that are offensive in other ways, or even website addresses. If you find that after you post a topic, one of the words has been changed as if by magic, it is because it is filtered. Do
NOT go back into your post and try to edit the word so that it shows up anyway. Editing it to remove the word or replace it with something appropriate is fine. Words are filtered for a reason. Respect this.
Do Not Share Your Account or PasswordAs in Neopia, do not share your account with others. It is simple enough to create your own account and identity.
Thats about it, really
. If you have any questions, whether right now, or in the future, feel free to PM a Moderator. Nine times out of ten they will be able to help you, and if they cant, they will know somebody who can.