Terms and rules

This forum is governed by a VERY different ruleset from all the other forums out there, so please take a few minutes to read through these terms and rules to make sure your time spent using the forum is enjoyable and stress-free.

The providers ("we", "us", "our") of the service provided by this forum are not responsible for any user-generated content and accounts. Content submitted expresses the views of their author only.

This forum is only available to users who are at least 16 years old. If you are younger than this, please do not register for this forum. If you register for this forum, you represent that you are this age or older.

All Content you submit or upload may be sent to third-party verification services (including, but not limited to, spam prevention services). Do not submit any Content that you consider to be private or confidential.

You agree to not use the forum to submit or link to any Content which is defamatory, abusive, hateful, threatening, spam or spam-like, likely to offend, contains adult or objectionable content, contains personal information of others, risks copyright infringement, encourages unlawful activity, or otherwise violates any laws. The Definition of Content also includes your profile picture, custom user tag, location, about section and any social media profile links. You are entirely responsible for the content of, and any harm resulting from, that Content or your conduct.

All free/disposable email providers are forbidden. You must use a non-free email address to register and use the forum. Use your ISP or work email.

Upon registering you will be assigned a Junior Member status which will remain in effect until at least 3 months pass and you create at least 300 posts. When both of those requirements are met, you will be automatically promoted to a full MetaMember.

During your period as a Junior Member you will be unable to report any content, warn any users, change your username or participate in the Suggestions and Feedback forum.

There will never be any ads on the forum. It is funded entirely by the users through voluntary donations.

No Admins, No Mods! Every single full member of the forum is equal and everyone is responsible for making it a good place for people to have chats on various gaming (and non-gaming) topics.

Content removal is handled automatically through the use of the forum's Report function. If a post receives 3 reports - it will be automatically removed. To protect this functionality from abuse - each report will be visible to all full members (including the user whose content got reported) on the profile page of the user whose content received the report. Each report will be fully detailed and include the date, username of the person who issued the report and the comments left when the report was issued. Only report content that is illegal, offensive or in any way violates any of the terms and rules stated in this list. Do not report content that you simply disagree with, because while there is technically no way to stop you from doing it - your behaviour will eventually get noticed, which leads us to the second part of the way to keep the forum a friendly place for everyone:

User bans will function as follows: each full member has access to the forum's Warning functionality. Each issued warning applies one warning point which expires after 25 days. If at any time a user has accumulated 3 active warning points - they will automatically receive a 24h ban. If they manage to gather a further 3 warnings (for a total of 6) - the next ban will be a 48h one, then one week (at 9 points), then one month (at 12 points) and then the final one will be a permanent ban (at 15 active warning points). Bans are applied after reaching a warning point threshold, so if a user gets below 3 active points and then reaches the threshold again - a 24h ban will be automatically applied. Additionally - each time a user gets banned, there will be a thread created automatically in the Ban Notifications forum. Same as with reports - to protect this functionality from abuse - each warning will be visible to all full members on the profile page of the user who received the warning (including the user themselves). Each warning will be fully detailed and include the date, username of the person who issued the warning and any comments left when the warning was issued. Only warn users for content or behaviour that is illegal, offensive or in any way violates any of the terms and rules stated in this list. Do not warn users who you simply disagree with, because while there is technically no way to stop you from doing it - your behaviour will eventually get noticed and dealt with accordingly.

All terms and rules are subject to change by way of democratic vote carried out by full members of the forum. Each potential change must be proposed in the form of a new thread created in the Suggestions and Feedback forum. Each proposition thread that reaches a 90% upvote/downvote ratio will be up for a site-wide vote. Each full member will receive a notification and will be able to cast their vote within a reasonable time frame (one week by default, unless requested and agreed upon otherwise in the change discussion thread). If the vote poll receives at least 90% of positive votes, the change will be implemented. If not - the change will be open up to further discussion and refinement back in the proposition thread in the Suggestions and Feedback forum.

If you do not agree with these terms in their current form, please do not register or use the forum. Use of the forum constitutes acceptance of these terms.

Now for a list of rules regarding posts and behaviour you ought to adhere to:

• Respect the developers using this forum, they are people too and if you want them to talk and participate on this forum phrases like “lazy devs”, “the way they’ve done it is trash” and “I would have done better” will not help and are just downright disrespectful. You can have a differing opinion, but personal attacks or armchair-devving are forbidden. Respect the journalists as well. Believe it or not, they're also people, and the fact that you don't agree with what they wrote does not give you a permission to attack, harass or call them names. Differing opinions are fine, personal attacks aren't!
• No games are banned from being talked about, as long as they don’t contain elements that could be considered illegal. Although, all screenshots need to be safe-for-work.
• NO platform wars of any kind!
• Piracy isn’t a black and white matter – let's not treat it as such. Condoning cracking ≠ condoning piracy. (Although no links to pirated content are allowed!)
• Emulation isn't piracy! Threads about emulation and emulators are strictly to talk about those topics. If you want to express your concerns about piracy - create a separate thread specifically dealing with that issue.
• No corporate worship! Corporations aren't your friends and even though they surely appreciate the free advertising and defence you're providing for them - keep in mind that you won't get anything in return for doing it.
• No dogpiling, people should be able to have an opposing opinion without getting shouted down by other people. As long as you keep it civil, respectful and don't personally attack anyone - a difference of opinion is a-ok ... unless, of course, you try to peddle alt-right/Nazi, racists, transphobic, homophobic or generally hateful crap, in which case, feel free to GTFO. None of that stuff is (or ever will be) allowed, no matter how "good" you think your arguments are!
• No "fallacy trolling"! Do not attempt to detract from the validity of a statement by attacking (via known fallacies) the manner in which it was presented rather than the message itself.
• Please try to refrain from creating “Am I the only one ... ?” threads. We assure you - you are not! It's perfectly fine to express your opinion about things, just try to word it a bit less "clickbaity".
• Please try not to answer well-thought-out threads with just “yes” or “no”. Arguing against the OP with a monosyllable is dismissive. Please try to be constructive, even if you disagree (especially if you disagree). And if you agree with the OP but don't feel like you have anything to add - just use the "Like" button, we're sure they'd appreciate that more than a "this" or "agreed" reply.
• Self-promotion is allowed and encouraged (within reason). If you wrote a review, insightful blog post, made an informative video, created or are creating a game, have a crowdfunding campaign you'd like to promote, or have some breaking news - absolutely feel free to post your stuff! Just try to be reasonable about it - don't post a thread each time you go live on Twitch, and not every single let's play video of yours needs a thread.
• When posting screenshots in one of the general threads - do remember to mention which game/movie/series the screenshot is from. It'll just make everyone's life easier and prevent the following 10 posts from people asking what game/movie/series it's from. The only exception are threads for specific games/movies/series, obviously.
• Don’t feel attacked when someone creates a topic stating their criticism towards a game/movie/series you like/love. Stop feeling the need to undermine such opinions. Stating that you like the game/movie/series is fine, telling someone their opinion is wrong - isn't!
• If you are expressing your opinion as a fact, find and link a study that supports it.