RPA FORUM RULES.

These rules can be changed, edited, and added to at any time. It is your responsibility to keep updated with them.

1. Yes, this is the internet, but this is our corner of it.

1.1- While this is on the Internet, these forums are not a democracy. We have rules, and we expect them to be followed. Most of the following is common sense and we do provide exceptional roleplaying services in return for your common courtesy. It's a special privilege to be allowed to participate on this forum. It's privately owned, and yes, it does cost money and lots of time to run it.

2. Language, and NSFW.

2.1- Posting contents and links of pornographic, political, immoral, offensive material, or excessive violence which may breach applicable laws are forbidden, and appropriate actions will be taken against the offender. Above all, do not post any material that supports illegal or dangerous activity or depicts nudity/sexual acts. Remember, we have lots and lots of minors who read this site.

Examples: Illegal, harassing, libelous, defamatory, abusive, threatening, harmful, vulgar, obscene, profane, pornographic, racially offensive, intentionally inaccurate or otherwise objectionable material.

2.2- Label things that are NSFW (or potentially NSFW) and put them in spoilers.

Examples: ill-humored memes, triggering subjects (such as suicide, sexual innuendos - overall, just use common sense. If you question its safety, put it in a spoiler.)

2.3- Swearing is not allowed in usernames or the titles of threads

2.3.1- You can say, fuck, shit, bitch, ass, damn, cock, balls, and even shit-fucking ass-balls cock. We permit that kind of language here and making an issue out of someone else’s cursing won’t result in any kind of disciplinary action for them. This applies to every part of the forum. But do not put swearing in your username, or in titles!

3. Open source roleplaying.

3.1-Any roleplay that you create is considered open source, as such RPA will not take any legal action should someone steal your work. This site is for fun, therefore, if you are worried about someone stealing something that you post here, don't post it.

3.2-If you want, we will close a game if you ask in a clear, polite, message to one of the rp moderators, and it will be moved to one of our archives. Do not ask the staff to delete a thread that encompasses the work of more than one individual, or posts that affect others' work. The answer will be "no". It's not fair to remove everyone's work for the sake of a single person.

3.3- Artwork and other literary work that is posted outside of the roleplaying forums are still your own based upon the rules and regulations of the site they are posted on.

4. Attitude on the Forum.

4.1- Respect your fellow members and be polite.

4.1.1- If someone is being disrespectful, do not resort to the same level. Report the post, and wait for a staff member to handle the situation.
4.1.2- Do not take a situation into your own hands, if you do, disciplinary action may have to be taken against you as well as others involved parties.

4.2- The views and perspectives featured in roleplays are those expressed by the roleplayers themselves. While those views and perspectives do not represent RPA as a whole, we will not limit the ability of our members to express their own creative writing abilities unless it strictly breaks the roleplay rules.

5. We are not a commercial site, no site pimping.

5.1- Do not create threads to promote your website, your online recruitment game, your webcomic, or an auction/commercial site, or anything else trying to get free advertising.

5.2- Selling stuff to our members isn't cool and isn't allowed. Links to charity websites and the like will be checked out by the administrators. If they don't seem legit, we'll ask you to take them down.

5.2.1- Small, clickable, text-only links within your signature are allowable as long as they are redirected to areas that are appropriate and meet all other rules. If you wish to have a thread made for your site, contact the staff for further instructions.
5.2.2- Absolutely do not advertise hostile sites on the forum. This encompasses sites that include pornography, bashing of any sort, or sites that promote or incite flame wars between other forums.

6. Thread Etiquette.

6.1- Do not double post. If you need to reply to multiple users in a thread, do it within a single post. Denote who you're replying to by mentioning their name first. If another post appears while you are posting yours, use the edit button.

6.2- Do not repost/recreate a locked thread. If threads get locked, they get locked for a reason. (Unless a Staff member specifically says the subject can be discussed elsewhere on the forum.)

6.2.1- Do not make new threads asking why a thread was shut down, and do not complain on the forum about a thread being closed.

6.2.2- Editing a post modified by a member of the staff, will get you a warning.

6.3- Bumping a thread is allowed after a week of inactivity in the thread, but no sooner. Threads that are needlessly bumped will be closed and recycled. Ask a mod if you need help gaining interest in your game.

6.4- Do not derail or stray from a thread’s original topic too much. The occasional tidbit of off topic is ok, but more than a few posts can lead to the thread being locked.

6.4.1- If you are posting just to post (outside of Downtown), and are not contributing to the discussion, refrain from doing so or your post may be removed to avoid unnecessary cluttering.
6.4.2- If you want to talk about something else, start your own thread. In addition make sure your post contributes to the topic in a meaningful way.

7. Do not open multiple accounts.

7.1 Only one account per person. If you are found to have more than one account then all of them will be banned.

7.1.1- If you're found to be using a proxy IP address to have multiple accounts, you will be banned. There really is no reason you should be using a proxy address, or have more than one account.

7.1.2- This also includes members who were banned re-registering with new accounts. You will be caught and you will be banned again, so don't waste our time or yours. The staff investigate account anomalies and you will be asked to explain the situation to keep this rule enforced.

7.2- If you are sharing the same IP address with another member, let the staff know.

8. We are an English speaking site.

8.1- Posts must be made in English. The reason for this is simple: we cannot moderate posts if we cannot understand them. If you do put up a post which contains a language other than English, please include an accurate translation as well.

9. Illegal is illegal!

9.1- Links to pirated material, material which contains malware, warez, or anything else that is a violation of U.S. or international copyright laws are strictly prohibited. Such links will be edited out and appropriate punishments dealt out.

9.2- Plagiarism is not allowed. Do not steal other people's works, whether it is art, writing, photos, videos, whatever, and say they are yours. It’s easy to find out if you are ripping people’s work, and punishments will be handed out.

9.3- You also agree not to use this online community to communicate information or material that encourages conduct that could constitute a criminal offense, give rise to civil liability or otherwise violate any applicable local, state, national or international law or regulation. Any other unauthorized or illegal use of or activities on this board, including copyright infringement, are prohibited.

10. Do not ask to roleplay over I.M. or Email or Off-site.

10.1- You are welcome to roleplay on the forum or privately via RPA's PM system but do not ask to RP off-site (this includes email and I.M.) as it is considered to be advertising for other sites - this also includes linking directly to other roleplaying forums.

10.2- Exceptions for 10.1 are if you are using sites such as GoogleDocs or TitanPad to co-write and then post the final material back onto RPA. If the work is not intended to be posted back on RPA, do not ask to RP off-site.

11. Keep personal problems personal.

11.1- Do not ask the staff to mediate a problem that did not originate on RPA. Seeking advice from friends is fine but please do not make these issues public. Keep them to PMs. If you have to, feel free to come to a staff member for advice or clarification on what can or cannot be done about the situation.

11.1.1- Conversations from Skype, Yahoo, FB, Snapchat, etc.. have no bearing on what happens to RPA and therefore shouldn't be brought onto RPA and cannot be used as evidence in any situation.

12. Don't be a Nosy Nelly.

12.1- Hacking (or attempting to hack) into accounts will result in your account being banned.

13. Harmful Media.

13.1- Members are welcome to embed/link to offsite videos and images. If you use a website other than a well-known platform such as YouTube or DeviantArt as your source, please make sure it does not contain any malware beforehand.

13.1.1- Any media brought to RPA from a dangerous website that interferes with the forum will result in a warning or ban.

14. Respect the Staff.

14.1- Treat us the way you want to be treated. We are people who volunteer our time to do this job, and deserve to be treated with respect. Violations will lead to appropriate actions.

14.1.1- If you feel a staff member is being disrespectful or abusing their position, then PM a staff member in a position above them. (Mod < Global < Admin)
14.1.2- If you are uncomfortable approaching a staff member about a particular issue, feel free to contact our Member/Staff Liaison, currently Nazgul.

15. Signature size.

Please remember the max size of your signature is 500 x 220 (Avatars are no larger than 130x130). This is the entire signature, not just the image. So if you have a signature picture that's 500 x 220, you shouldn't have a bunch of text around it. Please remember to stay within the limit.

This is exactly how big your signature can be at the maximum!



Don't be afraid to utilize spoiler tags! If there's something you just have to have in your signature that is too big you can add a spoiler, and place it there. This is how you do it: (only without the spaces)
[ hide = ] insert content here [ /hide ]

If you think your signature straddles the line of what might be acceptable, odds are you shouldn't use it. If you need verification before you put it up there, feel free to PM a staff member, we'll happily let you know if it's okay.

If you use an image or picture that you do not have the ownership rights to and we receive a complaint, we will remove the image immediately.

If you do put a video in your signature, please be courteous of others and put it in a spoiler tag. Realize that some people do have slower connections and you may cause their browser to slow or even freeze. The code for a spoiler is above.