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Continuing down the slippery slope of increased rules, the Codex is releasing the latest Director's Cut version, an update on the previous edition. A few changes bring the rules in-line with decisions that have been made over the past 12 months, along with a general update.
a) The Rules
The Codex is a place to debate and discuss computer-based roleplaying games. It was founded by a group of RPG fans who wanted somewhere to discuss how terrible RPGs were without getting banned on various developers' official forums or having their posts deleted (it turns out if you call a game's combat system crap on the developer's official forums, they don't like you very much). As such, the Codex is quite happy for people to come here and vigourously debate - until they run out of breath - how good or bad their favourite / least favourite RPG is. Codexians should feel free to do so without fear of being banned for using "offensive language", having their thread locked because it "got too heated" or warned for "flaming". By all means, feel free to troll each other as much as you please and incite flame-wars with whichever willing participants you are able to find.
You should note however, that due to our tolerance for such debate, The Codex does attract - from time to time - people who like to debate things other than RPGs in such a manner. This is tolerable up to a point. As long as it remains in an appropriate forum it's generally acceptable but if you start dragging that shit all over the place, expect a response from The Management™. You should also know that the Codex was not founded for lulz. While there is lulz and lulz is acceptable, it is not our primary purpose for existing. If you only came here for the lulz, you have come here for the wrong reason and one day you are likely to find yourself on the wrong end of The Management™.
Finally, for a long-time, we resisted having rules. We wanted to maintain our casual, relaxed attitude. However, as the Codex has grown over the years and more people are now visiting it every day (bringing with them an increasing number of people who wish to push the limits), it's necessitated we change that position. This helps give our moderators clear guidelines on how to address issues as they rise, and allows users an understanding of what is and isn't acceptable. So, keep the rules below in mind and you should be fine.
b) Moderation Tools
The Codex uses XenForo forum software. It's great software as it's very well coded and runs nice and fast, which helps keep the server load down and ensures the place runs as smoothly as possible. It also comes with a bunch of nifty features that help us moderate the forums. There is no set rule in how we use these tools, as punishment is determined on a case-by-case basis. As a general guide though, they're listed below in the usual order we use them in - depending on the seriousness of the issue at hand.
c) The Management™
To ensure the rules are followed and that the place doesn't devolve into a complete mental asylum, the Codex has the following staff.
d) Things to Note
And last but not least, here are some things you should be aware of.
Updated 7 Feb 2023: Changes to staff. Minor corrections. Removed SomeDrunkGuy's drunken reading of the rules.
a) The Rules
The Codex is a place to debate and discuss computer-based roleplaying games. It was founded by a group of RPG fans who wanted somewhere to discuss how terrible RPGs were without getting banned on various developers' official forums or having their posts deleted (it turns out if you call a game's combat system crap on the developer's official forums, they don't like you very much). As such, the Codex is quite happy for people to come here and vigourously debate - until they run out of breath - how good or bad their favourite / least favourite RPG is. Codexians should feel free to do so without fear of being banned for using "offensive language", having their thread locked because it "got too heated" or warned for "flaming". By all means, feel free to troll each other as much as you please and incite flame-wars with whichever willing participants you are able to find.
You should note however, that due to our tolerance for such debate, The Codex does attract - from time to time - people who like to debate things other than RPGs in such a manner. This is tolerable up to a point. As long as it remains in an appropriate forum it's generally acceptable but if you start dragging that shit all over the place, expect a response from The Management™. You should also know that the Codex was not founded for lulz. While there is lulz and lulz is acceptable, it is not our primary purpose for existing. If you only came here for the lulz, you have come here for the wrong reason and one day you are likely to find yourself on the wrong end of The Management™.
Finally, for a long-time, we resisted having rules. We wanted to maintain our casual, relaxed attitude. However, as the Codex has grown over the years and more people are now visiting it every day (bringing with them an increasing number of people who wish to push the limits), it's necessitated we change that position. This helps give our moderators clear guidelines on how to address issues as they rise, and allows users an understanding of what is and isn't acceptable. So, keep the rules below in mind and you should be fine.
1. Visually Safe For Work
Ignoring the text, the Codex tries to be as visually work friendly as possible. This means you should feel safe to open most threads without seeing tits, ass or whatever the latest internet abomination is - unless you have been appropriately forwarned. Threads that have or are about NSFW images should be appropriately labelled (or will be labelled as required). NSFW images that are in otherwise "safe-for-work" threads should be within spoiler tags, preferably with a warning. This means that you should refrain from posting tubgirl / the latest shock image between img tags.
As with all rules we have an exception, and that is that trick linking to such images / sites is perfectly fine and highly encouraged (refer to this video documentary for further information). People do need to learn that this is the internet after all.
And yes, this means NSFW avatars and signature images are right out. We'll remove avatar rights for anyone that tries it on. Prestigious works of art are no exception.
2. Nothing Illegal
As much as possible, we don't really want the the NSA / FBI to shut us down. As such, things that are generally illegal in most Western countries are not allowed. Obviously this is difficult in a global environment with different laws in every country (and there is a genuine legal question around which jurisdiction the Codex would come under) but as a general rule, use the laws of the United States of America. We do however, have some specific issues that have arisen in the past:
2.1. Piracy: We do not mind discussions about piracy, however posts that are seeking or promoting pirated versions of games will be warned, the offending text may be edited out and it may result in a ban if you do it too often. As clarification: "I am seeking and / or promoting a pirated version of something" == BAD vs "Let us have a genuine discussion about piracy and the impacts it has on the game industry" == OKAY.
2.2. Child Porn: We have our limits, so images and discussions about child porn are right out. Try it and it will typically result in an insta-ban and nuking of your account (that is, the deletion of all the posts you've ever made).
3. No Spamming
Spamming is the repeated posting of the same (or similar) message, be that in the same thread or many different threads. Spamming, especially in non-GD forums, is an instant death sentence (or will be, on most occasions). We shall reign holy hell-fire down upon those who think that posting the same thing repeatedly is a good idea. You shall know no-end to my wrath and it is highly likely that your account will not survive. This goes for repeatedly re-posting the same topic in either the same or multiple forums, or re-posting the same message in multiple threads (and the same thread repeatedly too is a bad idea). Spamming is wrong kids. Don't do it. This has been your mandatory FBI warning.
4. Don't Get Personal
aka Watch the Harassment. According to Wikipedia, "Harassment covers a wide range of behaviours of an offensive nature. It is commonly understood as behaviour intended to disturb or upset, and it is characteristically repetitive". It would be difficult to say the Codex has a zero tolerance of harassment as we allow robust debate, during which colourful phrases such as "conservatard" and "biowhore" are thrown about by our users with gleeful abandon.
We also give users colourful tags such as "dumbfuck!"; we have two members who have been awarded the title "undisputed queen of faggotry" and we have used "village idiot" and other labels from time-to-time to identify particularly troublesome users, all of which could be considered a form of harassment.
So you are, within reason, perfectly allowed to call someone a miserable lying shit-cock of a whore, or whatever colourful language you can come up with for them, if that is indeed your opinion of them and their thoughts. Like-wise, The Management™ has the right to give you whatever colourful tag we're able to concoct for whatever reasons we deem appropriate. However, due to a few instances, we are drawing a line in the sand where we feel things have gotten too personal:
4.1. Stalker-ish Behaviour: Behaviour which we're broadly defining as anything remotely involving tracking down someone's location (such as city, town, street address, phone number) or personal info (such as real name or photos, unless disclosed by the poster him- or herself) - or harassing them on other sites such as Facebook or YouTube, especially suggesting doing things to them that would or could be considered criminal. There has been A Real Instance™, police were involved and the Administrators do not appreciate real police rocking up at their real doorsteps to ask about bullshit that happened on an internet forum. It's all fun and games until someone has to go to a Police station to try and explain the Codex. Strangely enough, it has nothing to do with any of the more recent well known stalkery threads and was one that caught us by surprise, go figure. As such, any instances of stalkerish behaviour may result in an entire nuking of the accounts involved and deletion of relevant threads - even if it's just a bad joke. As always, we're much more inclined to nuke if you're just a shit-poster.
4.2. Personal Details: There has been a recent rise in requests for admins to delete threads, usually after some moron has posted personal details about their sex life and only just discovered that the internet is not private - and that with a bit of googling and some basic information, anyone can be found. Where once we would have told you "too bad. Crime can't be undone. And your stupidity can't be either. It is not our job to clean up after you", we are instead drawing a line in the sand here. As such, if you post the real names, images, address or other details of anyone (be they a member of this forum or not) without their permission, we will remove it if it's been requested we do so, or if we think it crosses a line. This includes instances where we have had requests from non-members who have found images and other details of themselves posted on the Codex - in the case of such requests, those details will be removed.
4.3. Shit-posting: From time to time, we get users who, upon review of their posts, it is discovered that they have not really added anything of value to the Codex. Their posts are typically only ever in GD and their few forays into the other forums provide little insight or opinion. It's not surprising to find these users often spend all their time complaining about other users - in many cases following them from thread to thread, rather than debating or discussing actual issues. We define these people as shit-posters and we define their posts as shit-posting.
These users eventually make the mistake of pissing off one of the Moderators with their Shitposting, which leads to said Moderator advising the Administrators, which usually leads to a ban and nuking of all their posts. As a simple rule, if you've gained this much attention and we make a judgement that the Codex would not lose anything by banning you, we will probably ban you. You should note that there are some Moderators who are more than happy to bring these users to the attention of the Administrators on a regular basis and not banning half the forum is an ongoing struggle.
5. This is Our House
I'm a big believer in free speech, even if that means I disagree with 92% of what gets posted on the Codex. While I might disagree with you, I believe you have a right to say it. Even if some people find it out-right offensive. I believe the best way to deal with an issue is through debate. And it's that principle the Codex was founded upon. Don't agree with something someone said? Well, say something about it. Convince them that what they said was wrong / inappropriate / stupid / whatever.
At the end of the day though, if you feel a punishment you've received is not appropriate - that you really did nothing wrong; or that we've failed to act appropriately in dealing with something, please keep this in mind: This is our house, not yours. You are here because The Management™ let you be here. You are allowed to post your crap because The Management™ has a high tolerance for crap. And The Management™ is not easily offended.
But everything has limits. For the most part, you should expect the moderators to follow and enforce these rules but while I will happily argue with you about it until page 57 and beyond, if you are having trouble grasping who's in control here - or you think you have some legal right of appeal; that you can "rule-nazi" your way out of a hole - think again.
The best way to think of the Codex is like a pub. You're free to come in, buy a drink and chat about whatever you like with the other people you find here. As much as possible, we're not going to decide what is or isn't an inappropriate topic to talk about; or an inappropriate subject to joke about - and some of the stuff posted on the Codex is down-right offensive in that regard. But you're not allowed to trash the place, or get into a physical brawl with the other customers. Words are fine. You have rights, but your rights don't over-rule someone else's rights.
And as owners of the pub, we reserve the right to throw your ass out at any time, for whatever reason.
So while that freedom of speech has been tested over the years, as long as you keep a modicum of respect for each other, and keep that shit in the appropriate forum or thread, you generally won't have any trouble from The Management™.
b) Moderation Tools
The Codex uses XenForo forum software. It's great software as it's very well coded and runs nice and fast, which helps keep the server load down and ensures the place runs as smoothly as possible. It also comes with a bunch of nifty features that help us moderate the forums. There is no set rule in how we use these tools, as punishment is determined on a case-by-case basis. As a general guide though, they're listed below in the usual order we use them in - depending on the seriousness of the issue at hand.
1. "This Post is Awaiting Approval": Due to a long history of not being able to keep out people who have been banned - people who continued to register and re-register accounts with multiple different proxies - all new members must pass through a moderation approval process before they are free to post. This means that for the first couple of posts, every post a new member makes needs to be approved by a Moderator or Administrator before they are visible. We accept this will stifle some people's participation but feel it is worth the risk. Once you've had a handful of posts approved (IE: You've proven that you're not someone we just banned or that you're not just a spammy adbot), your account is upgraded to "Codexian" status and you are free to post without approval being required.
As this approval process relies on a certain amount of discretion and oversight (the Moderators need to make a judgement call when they approve your post), it may mean that some posters have trouble getting through. While we're not after a magnum opus, we do advise that you'll have better luck if your first foray into the Codex is of a more extensive nature than "lol FemShep's ass lol".
2. Report: Moderators are not omni-present and expecting us to monitor everything that happens in every thread across the entire Codex is just not possible. As such, if you see something that is inappropriate or that you feel should be brought to our attention, use the report button at the top of every post. As with all your toys, abuse it and we'll take it away from you.
3. Retardo Land: The Codex does not lock threads, so feel free to keep abusing one another until page 28 and beyond. Our Moderators will move threads that are deemed stupid or otherwise unworthy into Retardo Land at their discretion.
4. Tagging: You may have noticed some users have colourful tags beneath their username such as "dumbfuck!". Tags like this are special prizes we give out to users depending on how stupid or annoying they are.
5. Reduced Privileges: We have the ability to restrict your posting to certain forums, disallow bro-fisting of user's posts, remove your avatar, your signature or anything else you can do on the forum. Try not to give us any reasons and your privileges will remain in-tact.
6. Watch-witzing: Forum going slow? Suddenly finding yourself re-directed to RPG Watch with no idea how you got there? It's called discouragement and we use it if you're being stupid and annoying. As a general rule of thumb, don't be stupid and annoying.
7. Re-queue: If all you're posting is crap, we can put you straight back in the moderation queue on a more permanent basis. That means every post you make will need approval before it's seen publicly.
8. Banning: Banning is woefully ineffective as most users immediately register a new alt (which is why we prefer the punishments above), however we do use it from time-to-time.
9. Nuking: If all else fails and you really haven't gotten the message - or everything you've ever posted is just utter crap, we will nuke your account from high orbit. Every comment you ever posted and every thread you ever made will be gone in an instant. Note this is used extremely rarely as it has bad side-effects on the forum (think page numbers going screwy and links to specific pages not working, due to missing posts).
c) The Management™
To ensure the rules are followed and that the place doesn't devolve into a complete mental asylum, the Codex has the following staff.
1. Administrators: Since the Death of Saint_Proverbius, the Mysterious and as Yet Unexplained Disappearance of Calis, Jason baby arm Goes to Rehab and Trash Gets a Real Job, the Codex is run by the following users, long shall they reign:
Technical Department
- DarkUnderlord - For all technical and forum management issues.
- Taluntain - Issues regarding annoying advertisements, slow server issues or time-outs.
- Twiglard - Forum technical issues.
News & Content
- Infinitron - Editor-in-Chief
- VentilatorOfDoom - News
- Darth Roxor - Content
- Zed - Content
User Management
- King Crispy - Everyone's Punching Bag
- WhiskeyWolf - User Management
- Roguey - Deep User Analysis
The following image should give you an idea of the Power Structure™:
Really though, it's a team effort to keep this place going.
NOTE: Only Administrators have the power to ban and nuke (delete account + all posts) users. Historically, we've used these powers more often than people have ever realised. And seem to be on an increasing slippery slope of abusing them more often, not to mention adding more rules.
2. Moderators: Each of the forums also has a number of moderators who are responsible for ensuring the place doesn't go full retard. Their job is to ensure the rules are followed and generally annoy you as part of the Codex experience. A link to the Moderators of each forum can be found in that forum's description. If you have an issue in a particular forum, your reports will go to them - and you should harass them about it before coming here.
Each moderator has their own nuances and quibbles (both with particular issues and with certain users). However, within their forums they are Gods Angels of Death and Mercy. Fear them appropriately.
3. Content: Beyond that, we also have a number of Staff who are responsible for news, interviews, writing reviews and such. They change often but the main ones are Infinitron and VentilatorOfDoom. Bother them as required or better yet, use the Contact Us form.
d) Things to Note
And last but not least, here are some things you should be aware of.
1. Ratings: You will likely see a bunch of colourful images underneath a lot of posts. It's our comprehensive rating system. It's designed to reduce some of the unnecessary one liner replies like "I agree". Because we're a prestigious and exclusive bunch, you will only be able to rate posts once you have been a member for 12 months or more.
2. General Discussion: Due to a number of miserable cunts coming here purely to post crap about Joos, womyns and L|BRULS (thanks to our slightly more hands-off approach to moderation), you will only be granted access to the General Discussion and Politics forums once you have been a member for 12 months or more. This is designed to encourage people who want to come here to talk about boring stuff like games - and discourage people who really should be at StormFront instead. It also means that when we ban you for shitposting, and you register a new alt, you'll have to wait 12 months again before you can see those forums.
3. Moderator's Discretion: The Administrators have no interest in baby-sitting or second guessing every decision a moderator makes. As such, moderators have free rein within the limits of their powers, to exercise their powers in line with The Rules™ and to make general decisions as they see fit. This includes the moving or renaming of threads (either by request or as deemed necessary), warning users for illegal stuff or NSFW images, and bringing matters that require more severe action to the attention of the Administrators. Don't expect us to over-rule our Moderators often.
4. Complaints: If you have a complaint you wish to make against a Moderator because they're being too much of a Nazi moving threads or they Retardo'd your post or whatever, feel free to raise your issue with the Administrators either directly via conversation or publicly via a thread in Site Feedback. Please be advised that if it seems you're being a miserable shitcock about it, we may just ban you instead. As a word of advice, if you are serious about your issue, start a conversation with DarkUnderlord and if you don't really care what happens, post in Site Feedback.
5. Logging: You should be aware that every action ever taken by a Moderator, Administrator or in fact any user is comprehensively logged, and in many instances can be easily undone with a single click. Tracking someone's actions is easy and as such, any issues can be dealt with appropriately.
Updated 7 Feb 2023: Changes to staff. Minor corrections. Removed SomeDrunkGuy's drunken reading of the rules.
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