Guidelines
AtariAge Forum Guidelines and Rules
The goal of the AtariAge Forums is to promote intelligent discussion about video games of all types, as well as allow for off-topic discussion in the forums designated as such. To help promote friendly discussion, we have put some guidelines and rules into place to make it clear to members what behavior is and is not acceptable when posting to the forums.
When creating new topics or responding to an existing thread, please try to be positive, constructive, polite, and on topic. We do not censor opinions or ideas on our forums but we do take action against posts and/or topics that could cause unrest in the community beyond a civil and polite disagreement.
We reserve the right to remove any topics we deem inappropriate or disruptive to our community. Please note that, from time to time, topics may be removed for being inappropriate even though your individual post in that topic may have been perfectly fine. Please do not feel this reflects badly on you.
Remember, the whole purpose of this forum is to have fun and to share your love and knowledge of video game with other members!
Forum Rules:
Please read and understand the following rules. We reserve the right to ban any member who violates our guidelines or disrupts our community. We will be fair and provide warning in most cases. If after being warned a member continues to engage in the behavior he or she was warned about, the member will lose his or her posting privileges.
Politics and Religion
Since reasoned discussion of politics and religion rarely seems possible on the internet, please do not start such discussions here. We've allowed it in the past, but such threads just fall apart quickly and everyone ultimately gets pissed off at one another. In addition to forum threads, please also do not add political/religious remarks or images to your signature (if you have one), your profile, and/or your profile photo. Also, do not use Status updates to espouse your political and/or religious views. Any such posts/profile/signature/status updates will be subject to removal without warning. Continued refusal to abide by this policy may result in a permanent ban from the forum.
Spamming
Spamming is not permitted. Spamming comes in several flavors, including:
1) Posting commercial messages to the forum, where the product or service being advertised has no relevance to the forum they are being posted in.
2) Repeatedly posting the same message in multiple forums in an attempt to get "wider exposure". We will delete any duplicate threads of this nature, so please don't waste our time by doing this.
3) Using the forum to excessively promote your "agenda". For example, if love or hate a certain game console, that is fine. But if you feel the need to interject your love or hatred into various topics any chance you get, and it is disrupting the forum, we consider this spamming. This is also considered Trolling (see below).
Trolling
Trolling isn't always easy to define, but it generally is easy to spot. Trolling usually involves disrupting a thread by posting messages that are off-topic, rude, inciting, and so forth. We recognize that topics will often veer off course for one reason or another, but when an individual member repeatedly disrupts threads in a negative fashion, that member will be warned. Trolling also includes creating new threads for the purpose of starting flame wars (known as "flamebait").
Personal Attacks and Discrimination
While we understand some discussions can become heated, we will not tolerate members insulting each other in the public forums. Likewise, any racial, ethnic, gender-based, sexual-orientation, and other personal discrimination against individuals or groups as a whole will not be permitted.
The strength of your arguments goes out the window once you resort to personal attacks. If you find that you often get angry when discussing a certain topic, we suggest you refrain from involving yourself in such discussions.
Explicit and Offensive Imagery
Do not post images directly to the forum of a sexually explicit or offensive nature. If it's not something that might be shown on the 6 o'clock news, think twice before posting it. Please use common sense and remember that many people visit AtariAge from school, work, and other locations where they could get in trouble if these types of images suddenly appear on their screen. If you want to provide an external link to such images, that is fine as long as the link relevant to the discussion and is prefaced with a warning describing what the linked image contains.
Profanity
Please keep in mind that there are many younger members who visit the site, and thus, keep the use of profanity to a minimum. Members who litter many of their posts with profanity will be asked to tone down their posts.
Pirated Software/Music/Movies/etc.
Do not post information on where to obtain pirated software, music, movies, or other copyrighted media. Please also do not post such material directly to the forums. We will tolerate posting information regarding binary images for classic gaming consoles and computers, where the company controlling the copyrights is either no longer in business, unknown, or is not actively protecting the copyrights. Likewise, please do not post the entire contents of a story or article from another website directly into a thread on AtariAge. Quoting sections of such material is acceptable.
Signatures
Signatures should be limited to three lines. Please do not increase the text size to make your signature stand out or it will be removed. You may include text links in your signature.
Please do not include any images in your signature. If you add an image to your signature it will be removed without warning. We feel that graphic signatures at the bottom of every message detract from the flow while reading a thread. You may also include a link to your website in your profile. To this end, we also ask that you don't use a larger font size in your signature to help draw attention to it. You may upload an avatar up to 120x120 pixels in size to help customize your profile, and text links are permissible inside a signature.
Also, do not use your signature to espouse your personal religious and political views.
Multiple Accounts
Users found signing up for multiple accounts will have all of their accounts disabled. If you have forgotten your password for an account, please let us know and we'll be glad to help restore access to that account.
Any questions or comments about these guidelines and rules can be sent to editor@atariage.com.