Clockwork Mansion Forum Rules

As common sense would dictate, these rules are subject to change and are not all-inclusive. There are bound to be some isolated situations that don't fall under these rules as they currently stand, but require moderator action, and we may alter the rules slightly or make additions to adapt to that as need be. Do not cry foul. Do not collect 200 dollars.

Rule I

Do not be annoying or an idiot. The moderation staff reserves the right to define what being an "idiot" is at their leisure. They also have the right to remove excessively annoying or difficult people from the community.

  • Section A: It is wise not to purposefully argue with the admins about a decision they have made. While we are willing to discuss a decision, any action the admins take is discussed among them, and is usually final. Being argumentative just makes you seem like an idiot, and (as covered) we don't like idiots.

Rule II

Don't be a jerk. Don't come to this forum to pick fights, be rude, start wars, or put everyone down. If you are an asshat to everyone around you, the administrators will be more than happy to deal with you in an effective (and permanent) manner.

  • Section A: Racial slurs or derogatory terms (n*gger, k*ke, sp*c, hyooman [and derivative spellings], f*ggot, etc.) will not be tolerated.
  • Section B: No member here shall be subject to prejudice or ridicule based on: gender, race, ethnicity and /or religion, age, forum age (newbie or oldbie), location, occupation, or sexual orientation.
    • Sub-section 1: There is to be no "newbie bashing". We can deal with the teasing in introduction threads (to a point), but outside of introduction threads, newbies are at the same level as everyone else. This means that ALL members are entitled to participation in forum discussions, and their voice should not be prejudiced based on forum age (older members are no more special than newer ones).
  • Section C: Do not post emails, PMs, or IM conversations. If they didn't generate on the forum, likely they were not intended to be SHARED on the forum, so don't do it.
  • Section D: No PM Harrassment. If someone feels like your PMs are going too far, they can lodge a complaint against you. If we feel your PMs were over the top, you will be warned/banned as needed.
    • Sub-section 1: No PM Stalking. If someone requests that you stop PMing them, for whatever reason, do not PM them. If you feel this is unfair, do realize that their PM box is their little place of privacy on the forum, and they are allowed to decide who they want to talk to (or not talk to).

Rule III

Flame Wars are narrowly tolerated, as occasionally some things just need to be said. However, any topics that become flame wars will be moved to General Discussion. Furthermore, if flame wars become:

  1. Too personal (admin's call);
  2. No longer about forum related actions or issues; or,
  3. Lame to read

the admins reserve to right to lock/delete them at any time.

  • Section A: Some topics, such as politics or religion (to name two off hand) are naturally heated and can, quite easily, become flame wars -- in other words, less about the topic at hand, and trying, very heatedly, to prove the other side is wrong. Guess what? You won't be able to. No side ever wins these wars. Ever. That said, we aren't going to ban these kinds of topics outright. CMF is open for all discussion, so long as it's actually (emphasis on) discussion. Keep these discussions civil.
  • Section B: No Trolling. This means no "following" someone else from thread to thread posting flamebait posts. If you can't get a good flame war narrowed down to one topic, or you're just so lame you have to settle a grudge with them, do it off the forum (PMs, IMs, Email). We don't want to read 80 lame topics about how you hate someone on the forum. We hate that, and are more likely to just ban you.
  • Section C: On the topic of settling scores, do not bring business from other websites to CMF. If an issue has started elsewhere and comes here, we don't want to see it. Keep it where it started, and if the admins there kill the subject, consider the subject killed.
    • Sub-section 1: By the same concept, do not take CMF related issues and move them to other forums. We don't want to have to go to other areas and inform other admins of your issues. We've done it before (if sparingly), and we leave other forums' business up to those admins. If we find out you took CMF business elsewhere, we'll treat it just as if you brought it here.
    • Sub-section 2: Included in this are any other social networking sites (yes, even Facebook, Twitter, and the like), and chat rooms (such as IRC chats). We do not want to see it, hear about it, or find out in any way you're taking CMF issues elsewhere or bringing other issues here. Ever.

Rule IV

While not all portions of the forum are suitable for all ages, those members that post here have been known to do so from work, school, church, summer camp, etc. As such, you need to act like a reasonable human being when posting. Here are guidelines to follow:

  • Do not post up images or links to child pornography, snuff (images, movies, etc), or pirated software, at all, not even in Private Messaging. Keep all that illegal stuff completely off of the forum.
  • NSFW (Not safe for Work) threads MUST have a warning in the thread title.
  • Do not use any swear words in thread titles. By swear words, we mean the words which can't be said on television: Sh*t, P*ss, F*ck, C*nt, C*cksucker, MotherF*cker, Tits.

Rule V

No spamming. This means pointless threads and posts that are just annoying.

  • Section A: No Double Posting in Topics (which, of course, includes triple posting, quadruple posting, et all). If you've made a post in a thread, and you have a new thought that you want to add, use the edit button and add it to your previous post. Often times, new posts aren't that long (simply in reference to one additional point), and having to see your sig, bio informatiom, and everything else taking up screen real estate a second time around is obnoxious.
    • Sub-section 1: The exception to this is art threads in the Tower of Art, where you are the artist who made the threads, and RP threads in the Haunted Ballroom, as sometimes games die off and come back.
  • Section B: No Thread Necromancy. If a topic is dead (more than a month since the last post), do not post in it again. If the topic has become relevant anew, make a new thread, link to the old thread. Reviving old topics is spamming.
    • Sub-section 1: Again, the exception to this is art threads in the Tower of Art, where you are the artist who made the threads, and RP threads in the Haunted Ballroom, where you are the one running the game, and/or in Out of Character (OoC) discussion threads for an idle game.
  • Section C: No advertising in threads or PMs. You may, however, advertise in your signature (that includes a tasteful -- i.e. 150 px or less in height, non-glaring, non-obnoxiously animated -- image). Please note that there is a fine line between posting up a cool link you found and posting up an ad for your own site or advertising to join another site. This will be up to moderation to decide.
    • Sub-section 1: If you advertise anything in your signature, you CANNOT do anything to draw attention to your sig. That means do not make a post about the fact that you are advertising something in your sig. That's the same as making an advertisement post (you'd think we wouldn't have to clarify this, but we do).
  • Section D: Don't hijack threads -- take threads in a completely off topic direction to further a personal agenda. We understand that, due to the natural flow of a conversation, topics will wander as new ideas (theories, etc.) come about. However, taking a thread, purposefully, far off course to discuss a topic unrelated to what is going on in the thread is not allowed, and is considered little better than spamming (you're advertising your own agenda).
    • Sub-section 1: On the topic of pushing an agenda, in computer help threads, do not make your only answer (or your primary answer) be to "install Linux/Windows" or "Get a Mac" etc. Try to come up with something useful for the person to do with the machine the way it is. If people want to know more about another OS or Brand they can (and should) ask.

Rule VI

All threads should be placed in the appropriate sub-forum. Repeated violations will be considered spam.

  • Announcement threads, "blog"-style posts, introduction threads should all go in "The Villa"
  • Discussions about a particular comic go in that comic's forum (DMFA discussion in the "Lost Lake Inn", CVRPG discussion in the "Lusty Siren Tavern", etc.).
  • Threads to share artwork you've created (under the broad definition of artwork) should go in the "Tower of Art".
  • All RPGs (role-play threads you play with other forum members) should go in the "Haunted Ballroom".
  • All other games (things you play on forums with other forum members) should go in the "Arena".

If you are not sure what forum a particular topic should belong in, please make a comment to that effect in the post. If it's wrong, the admins will kindly move it.

  • Section A: Even though this is covered above, we feel the need to re-iterate this: Please post all "Introduction" topics in "The Villa" section. This includes but is not limited to "Hi, I'm new here"; "This place is cool"; "My name is..." threads.
    • Sub-section 1: Please, do not title your introduction topic "Hi", "Hello", "Word," or any one word greeting. After MANY people doing this, it was agreed that if you can't come up with more than ONE word to summarize your topic (in title form), maybe you don't really need a topic at all.
  • Section B: All RPing (role-playing) must be done in the Haunted Ballroom (RP Forum). If you feel the need to act in character every time you post, do not post outside the RP Forum. If you want to post anywhere else, you must do so as yourself, and not your 9th Level Cat-Mage-Barbarian-Warrior-Ferret... or whatever it is you play.
    • Sub-section 1: Role-Playing is defined as acting in some way counter to your actual self. This is the internet, so we know you're going to act more freely than you do in real life. However, that does not mean you need to have 18 different personalities (or even two) when posting on the forum. Keep your personalities down to a nice, simple, one.
    • Sub-section 2: Moderate use of actions, such as *Darkmoon tosses a kitten off the roof of the building to see if the kitten can learn to fly*, are fine, so long as you don't do it excessively (which is at the admins discretion)... and just so long as the kitten survives.

Rule VII

No multiple accounts. This is final. If you dislike your current account name, it is possible to change your displayed name in your profile settings. This, however, will NOT CHANGE YOUR LOGIN NAME. If you have problems while changing your name, or have a question about this, please contact Darkmoon and he will be more than happy to help you with it.

  • Section A: Having multiple accounts will result in us permanently banning your secondary account (thus removing the temptation, and ability, to use it) as well as temporarily banning your first account for a fair amount of time (at our discretion).
  • Section B: Making a new account to get around a ban placed on your first account will result in ALL accounts being permanently banned.

Rule VIII

No posting in anything other than English. If the administrators cannot decode what you're saying, then you don't need to post it.

  • Section A: The languages which are prohibited include but are not limited to: any language other than English (all posts must be entirely in English, unless referring to a name or place), Excessive 1337-speak, backward text, encoding. Spanish is among the barred languages. It may be one of the most popular languages on the planet, but none of the admins here have had the motivation to learn it. Sorry.
  • Section B: This is NOT a chat room. Speak like human beings. Some of you may not speak English very well, but at least learn what the shift, period, question mark, and quotation mark keys are. Please, try to type coherently, spell things correctly, and, above all, no excessive AOL-speak.

Rule IX

Do not duplicate (in part or in whole) other people's accounts. That means do not mirror their signatures, avatar, custom title; do not mirror their display name; do not purposefully make youself look like someone else. Not only does it mess with people's heads, but has the potential to get the other person in trouble if you do something wrong.

  • Section A: Do not use the names of characters from DMFA or CVRPG as your name at the forum (display name or login name). These character were (for the most part) based on real people and their online accounts. If you aren't them, you shouldn't be pretending to be them on the forum.
    • Sub-section 1: Obviously, the exception to this rule is if you are actually that person. Then, well... I guess it's okay.

Rule X

You are not the forum police. You are just an average poster, and it is not your job to make sure other people are doing things "properly". If you see people doing naughty things (having an improper images in their sigs or avatars, using bad language in a PG rated section, etc...), DO NOT post about how they are doing things wrong. You may nicely take it to IMs/PMs and suggest that they try to do better in the future, and you may report the posts to the admins. That is as far as you should take any matter.

  • Section A: If you are found to be acting as a member of the "Forum Police" your punishment will be the same as any other offense. Often times, those that think they are only being helpful in saying what others are doing wrong actually have the information wrong themselves, and it leads to big messes that have to be cleaned up.

Rule XI

Please forward all complaints/concerns to the admins (even if some admins will not be available for several days, there are still plenty of admins to go around). If your complaint or concern is about an administrator, obviously you should choose a different administrator to report them to. All PMs of an "issue" nature that cannot be resolved immediately will be posted in the admins' area as documentation of the issue. The admins will then come up with a fair decision on the matter. Things to report include:

  • harassments from other members through PMs or otherwise;
  • threads that have gotten out of hand which the admins have not seen yet; or,
  • any other rule breaking offenses you feel the admins have not noticed yet.

Once you've reported a situation to the authorities, leave the situation alone for the administrators to take care of. We don't need you going back in and saying "I've reported this because you've done something wrong." That makes you look like (a) the forum police (covered above), or (b) an idiot (which we clearly do not like). Either way, you're violating other rules, as well as this one.

  • Section A: Do not abuse the "Report" button. It's there as an easy way for you to make sure the admins see your complaint, but the offense needs to be complaint worthy. Do not push the "report" button simply because you don't like another member's thoughts on... whatever topic it is you're discussing (if it's not flame-bait, it's not report worthy). Do not "report" because someone gave you bad karma. That's not what it's for, and we hope you're mature enough to know that. Abusing it makes you look like an immature idiot (and, again, we don't like idiots).

Rule XII

We, the admins of CMF, do not want to have to be the "rule police" at conventions (we don't run conventions for a reason). But as our forum members go to conventions, take forum business to the conventions, and even just get into trouble at conventions and expect us to fix it, it is expected that all members of CMF will conduct themselves around other forums members with proper decorum. That means no stalking, tailing, trolling, assailing, or otherwise being excessively dickish to other members at conventions (or in social gatherings away from the forums). Although we cannot get you removed from the convention (or other meeting place), your access to this forum (warnings and bans) will be impacted by your behavior. Possibly severely.

If you do ask us to intervene, we retain the option to decline, should we feel it not in our, or the forum's best interests. Furthermore, if you do ask us to intervene, you must also be willing to ask Convention Operations (or other similar administrative groups) to intervene as well -- we would rather not end up with the short end of the stick and be found to be interfering with the legal requirements of the proper administrators in these situations.

Rule XIII

If you don't like the forum and feel the need to post your dislike, don't. You may as well leave if you hate it so much -- we don't want to deal with your pointless bickering anyway.

Rule XIV

Old accounts, those that have fallen into disuse, will be deleted after an appropriate amount of time. Make sure, if you want to stay a member of this site, that you login regularly (at least once every three months) to ensure that your account does not get deleted.

  • Section A: Member accounts that have no posts will be deleted after being idle for six months. We assume that if an account has never been used for posting, then the account never will be. Guests (and lurkers) can see the entire forum, with few exceptions, without needing a member account. Having a 0-post account doesn't give the user access to any of the post-required sections, so having a 0-post member account is pointless.
  • Section B: Member accounts will be deleted after being idle for a year. This is for all accounts. We have to assume that, with the capricious nature of the internet and its users, if someone has left the site for over a year, then they just won't be coming back.
    • Sub-section 1: Members that have been permanently banned will have their accounts deleted after the year-long idle time as well. However, their bans can and will remain in effect, so that they won't be able to post even if they make a new account (and if, somehow, they do manage to sneak back onto the forum under a different account, they will get rebanned for not only violating their previous ban but also making a new account to sneak around a ban). There are no exceptions to this.
  • Section C: The Good-Bye Threads Clause -- We here at CMF aren't much for good-bye threads. Posting a good-bye (especially an overly emo one) is like saying "I hate it here and I am leaving" in the most public way possible. As far as we're concerned, if you feel the need to publicly leave the forum, we'll help ya along by removing your ability to post. Permanently. Your account will be permanently locked, and, after the appropriate amount of time has passed, deleted in one of the account purges.
    • Sub-section 1: The exception to this is when you are posting to say you have to go away for a spell. In this case, it's politeness, and we understand. Just make sure to check in every three months or so, even if it's just to login and leave again, so that your account isn't "idle" and to prevent it from getting purged. It is not the reponsibility of the admins to make sure your account stays in the system.
  • Section D: The Death of a Forum Member -- If a forum member dies, for real in the real world, and someone comes to the forum to report said member's death, the administration will close the account. However:
    • Section 1: The administration will require proof of the death, either in the form of a link to the obituary for the member or a scan of the death certificate. In either case, we require that this information be emailed to the administration from the email account of the member that passed away. This sort of information is usually provided to the responsible party in the form of a will (or similar document).
    • Section 2: The account will be locked, but not saved. After the appropriate amount of time, the account will be purged from the system. We do not run a shrine for old accounts.
    • Section 3: If it is later proven that the forum member is, in fact, not dead and it was all a prank, the account will be permanently closed, as will the accounts of any other members that participated in the prank. There will be no exceptions to this.

Additional Rules and Clarity

Rule Clarity:

Warnings and Bans:

We work on a system of increasing punishments for rule breaking. The first offense will warrant a warning. Subsequent offenses will be met with temp bannings of a day, a week, a month, and then, on the fifth and (trust us) final offense, you will be permanently banned. If an offense is severe enough, the amount of punishment incurred may be higher than normal.

Administration:

The Administation consists of Amber Williams, Darkmoon, llearch, Mao Laoren, Sprocketsdance, and Tapewolf.

Rules for the Comic Sections:

These rules go not only for any comics stored in the Half Moon Theater (the main repository for all new comic sections added to CMF), but also for the Lost Lake Inn (DMFA Discussion) and the Lusty Siren Tavern (CVRPG Discussion).

Firstly, many of the members coming to read about the various comic stored here-in are not adults. As such, by common consensus, the comic sections are rated PG-13. Failure to follow this rating in your posting will result in punishment.

Also, many people have felt the need, in the past, to act wacky or funny in the comic threads. Although a little hilarity is allowed, do not act wild and crazy in the threads. It is at the admins' discretion as to what "wild and crazy" means, and we will act accordingly if we feel things step over the line. Use your best judgement, please.

Titling Threads

When posting a new thread, your title MUST conform to this layout:

  • Date [Comic Abbrv. Comic Number] - Optional Interesting or Funny Title.

As an example:

  • 01/01/01 [CVRPG #100] - Beware Your Fuzzy Doom!

Although not following this is not a major offense, if TWO threads about the some particular comic are posted, and one of them does not follow this format, that will be the one sent to the Abandoned Mine (our repository for all the spam and crap posts).

As a note, comics that do not have more than one comic type on their site (such as DMFA having both DMFA and Abel's Story, or CVRPG having both CVRPG, DSWC, and all it's numerous bonus arcs) do not need the comic abbreviation... at least, not until such time as they do have more than one comic on their site.

Rules for the RP Forum:

  • All posts are On Topic (ie, in character, in the flow of the game), unless they:
    • Specifically say "Out of Character", "OOC", "OC", or the like.
    • In a topic designed to be out of character (like discussions about the game at hand, etc.).
  • Do not play as your character outside of the RP forum.
  • Follow the rules of the game. Do not power game or rule whore. Don't bitch if the rules don't go your way.
  • If you don't like a game, play a different one (or not at all). Don't ruin the threads for others.
  • Do not remove your posts from a game. The games are built on the previous posts, and removing posts from a game can ruin the entire topic.
  • Games must be all inclusive and may not segregate. They must have open periods from time to time (when feasible for the story -- at least 1 real-time week, spaced apart no more than two months at a time), and must allow anyone to join that would like to, regardless of character type (within reason).

Rules for the Art Forum:

Goal: The Art Forum is for the open sharing and criticism of artworks. Artworks posted must have been created by the member posting them.

Artists:

By posting your work in the Art Forum, you are sharing your work with others. However, you are not doing it for the sole purpose of garnering praise and showing the world how slick your art "moves" are. This for is for sharing AND critisism. They go hand in hand here. If you are not looking to improve your work and just want praise, go get a DA account.

Additionally, and this should go without saying (but I'll say it anyway), no plagiarism of any kind. That is a serious, bannable offense.

You may post anything creative in the Art Forum. You are able to post (and are not limited to): drawings (hand-drawn or digital), artistic photography, stories, sprites, flash movies, comics, homebrews.

When posting your artwork, be aware that the forum display limit is 500 x 500. People can click to view the images (and will be able to see them full size), but they won't be able to see them at the proper size immediately.

You will not be able to host any pictures on the forum server. You'll need your own hosting for your artwork.

Index your art: whenever you post up a new piece normally, also please update the first page to include the link to the new piece, as well as a link to the new post you have just made so people can find where it has been discussed.

Forumites:

As people posting in the Art Forum, it is your responsibility to be civil and well-mannered. The people posting their artwork are sharing themselves. That takes courage. Posting a one word/sentence response does nothing to help them as artists.

If you can't say more than "this art is so awesome" (or the like) then don't say anything. You aren't helping anyone by giving them a useless pat on the back. Say what you like about the art, not just that you like it.

In the same vein, don't just tell artists they suck. Tell them what you don't like about their artwork. Be detailed, but still, be kind enough that you don't make them cry (as much fun as that might be, it's just cruel).

As always, no flaming/trolling. Report all complaints and/or concerns to the administrators.

For All:

Plagarism is defined as, but not limited to: claiming someone’s work as your own; using someone else’s work in your own without their permission and without giving credit; photo-editing or manipulating to give it a hint of your own style; or reposting someone else's work without their permission.

That said, SIGNIFICANT editing/manipulation of another’s image is okay, but ONLY IF CREDIT IS GIVEN TO THE ORIGINAL ARTIST. Plagiarism is a bannable offense, and will be handled at the administrators' discretion.

  1. Always try to ask the original artist before using their art if at all possible, but nevertheless, ALWAYS give credit.
  2. Tips to avoid being plagiarized:
    1. Put your signature on your own work in some way, such as name signatures in hand-drawn work, or watermarks in digital art.
    2. You will NOT be punished for forgetting to put some kind of mark in work you post here, but it is recommended to ensure that you are not plagiarized by anyone and to prove that it is indeed your art.

Titling Threads

When you make a thread, firstly you must tag it as to what it is. This means putting AT THE FRONT OF THE TITLE such things as [Art] or [Story] or, if it's multiple things at once, [Story, Flash], etc.

If you're making a regularly updated repository of your work, as many of the artists here do, please also put your name at the start of the thread, so that it looks something like:

  • [Art] Darkmoon
  • [Story] Darkmoon

Additionally, when you update, it would be nice if you tag the thread that you've updated it. You can also put a cute title if you like. Such a scenario would look like this:

  • [Art] Darkmoon: Land of Misery (12/1/07)

You can be creative with the titles, and use a little leeway in your tagging, but please be clear and concise.

You MUST put "NSFW", "WARNING – NUDITY", "WARNING", "NUDITY WARNING", etc, etc in the thread title, in all-caps or you will be warned. Artwork with a sexual nature may also be posted, but only as a form of art. DO NOT POST pornography for the sake of "HAY GUYS IT'S PR0N!" Extremely graphic images and child pornography will not be allowed, just like any other thread. And we mean this on the child porn. Posting child porn will result in an immediate ban.

However, if forum members have concerns as to the graphic-ness of an image, they should notify the administrators through Private Message. Do not leave every mess up to us to find and clean up. We need help sometimes.

Please Note: If you have a thread, say for art, but you want to post something different, say writings, you do NOT need to make a new thread. Simply retitle your main thread to take into account this new material, and add the new material on as you would with any other new art.

Rules for the Comic Frenzy IRC Chat

The Comic Frenzy chatroom shares certain administration staff with the Clockwork Mansion staff. The Clockwork Mansion staff do not in any way endorse, as official representatives of CMF, any of the activities or discussions that occur in the IRC chat.

Rule 1

Comic Frezy is not an official IRC for DMFA, CVRPG, or any of the CMF-related sites. Since it is not official, none of the creators know or care about what goes on here. Hence, if you take the contents of here and wave it around other places, with the effect (intent or not) of getting people riled up, the server op -- llearch -- will get annoyed. If he gets annoyed enough, he will switch off the room.

The IRC server is not a democracy -- it's a dictatorship. Because it tickles the ops's fancy, he will sometimes listen to other people when making decisions about what people can do on his server with his bandwidth. Any listening he does is above and beyond requirements, and you should be pleased and surprised. Do not expect him to agree with you, should he make the effort to listen. If you don't like it, the door is there, and he's more than happy to show it to you.

Rule 2

See rule 1 again.