Forum Rules (Updated January 5th, 2009)

[Kortalh]

1. - Piracy

Regardless of anyone's personal stance on the matter, file sharing is illegal, and as such you cannot share any files that you do not own the copyright to.

With all the talent around here, it's only a matter of time before someone with a suit decides to check out the forum. Seeing a topic where people are trading burned CDs or MP3s would not only make those people pass on to greener pastures, but it also might prompt them to speak with the record label of one of the bands being shared.

The end result would most likely be some sort of legal action taken against the WMA (for providing a filesharing hub, of sorts). At the bare minimum, this forum and potentially the WMA itself could be shut down.

If you did not participate in the creation of the file -- be it music, a computer program, or otherwise -- you are not allowed to arrange for, or discuss, the sharing of it. Plain and simple. Anyone who violates this rule risks being banished from the WMA forums, regardless of who they are. There are absolutely no exceptions to this rule.

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2. - Censorship

It is my intention to keep this forum as open as possible. In most cases, you are free to post anything and everything you could ever imagine posting. There are four things you cannot post, however.

Blatant Threats
Child Porn
Bestiality
Pirated Music or Software
Spam
Note: Spam is discussed in detail lower in this post.

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3. - Overheating

Flaming is a delicate thing. It could look like just a joke to you, but to the other person it could be the cruellest thing they've ever heard. As a result, it can only be dealt with on a case-by-case basis. There are no hard rules for flaming. Just make sure you're not being a jackass when you're trying to be a smartass.

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4. - Spam

A. Advertising, Spam, and You. You're welcome to post links to homepages, funny/interesting pages, band pages, or anything else that jerks your yergan. The exception to this is if the sole purpose of the link is so that you can gain profit. If it is a good, worthwhile link that just happens to also earn something for you, that's fine. But if the link exists purely so that you can gain money, status on a different site, or any other form of profit... your posts will be deleted, and you may be banned.

B. Worthless Threads. If you're going to create a thread, at least put some sort of content into it. Posting one-line threads that make no sense will result in a locked thread. Why? Because there are plenty of good threads already. For every nonsensical thread, a worthwhile thread is pushed further out of sight and into the thread graveyard - A.K.A. the second page. This isn't to say that jokes or other short posts will be locked. Look to the next section of this rule for what would be considered 'worthless'.

C. Post-Whoring. Don't blatantly post-whore, especially just to gain access to higher ranks or status. What is considered post-whoring? Completely off-topic jargon that makes no sense in its context and is overly obvious in its stupidity. (ex: 'Pancakes!!' or 'First reply!') Don't post a quote from someone else and nothing more.

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5. - Drama

Save the Drama for your Mama. Or, in this case, save it for Private Messages. There's a good chance that if you've got a personal beef with one or more members of this forum, the other <current member count minus 2> people don't give a shit. Private Messages are built into this forum for a reason. Use Them.