FORUM RULES and GUIDELINES
Important information about forum rules and guidelines. (
top)
Spam
Please do not spam in the Scholars of Shen Zhou forums. Spam is any post that does not contribute in some way to the objective of a thread. You will better understand this term with time, but for now, we will present some examples.
- If the thread calls for an opinion, please answer with more than a ‘yes’, ‘no’, or a smily face.
State your view, and offer your thoughts!
- Posts with horrible grammar and spelling, or those that fail to properly communicate their point due to formatting, can fall into this category. Again, please avoid things like ‘r’ for ‘are’ or ‘4’ for ‘for’, and please please use paragraphs and the glorious period (•).
- After submitting a post, if you wish to reply to another person, or if you want to include additional thoughts, please use the ‘Edit’ button; avoid making another post (unless the previous post is long, would be confused by the addition, or is from an earlier date). This is called ‘double-posting’, and aside from exceptions such as those above, is considered spam. (Examples: long posts, acceptable double-post.)
- Make sure you are going somewhere in your debates. If you constantly state one opinion while ignoring debate from other members, or press an opinion in multiple threads without any interest of discussing it, this too can be considered spam. If you would like clarification, please write an active administrator.
- Our private message system is intended only for personal communication. You may not use it for advertisement of any form. Abuse in this form will result in a loss of your account or private messaging abilities.
Flaming
Flaming is the act of attacking another member, directly or indirectly, through posts or a private message. The old adage “If you have nothing nice to say, say nothing at all” applies here. Strive to communicate your point of view without offending other members. Realize that other people may hold a different opinion (in fact they will, given our diverse membership), and understand that none of us possess a complete understanding of
any topic. To help with your understanding, we have included some examples below.
- Openly attacking another member to offend or upset them.
- Attacking another member through unproven slander of their beliefs.
- Attacking them in any way through private messages.
- Responding to their contributions with sarcasm or a dismissive attitude.
(e.g. responding to their views with the 
smily.)
Trolling
Trolling, on the internet, is defined as a deliberate effort to agitate or work up members who hold a specific point of view. It is also against the rules. To avoid ‘trolling’, please state your views without attacking another member’s beliefs, and avoid making unfounded generalizations about organizations or groups (e.g. “Anyone who supports abortion is a murderer!”) For example, you can explain why you are an atheist without calling Christians mislead sheep, and you can explain why you disagree with liberalism without quoting Michael Savage and saying “Liberalism is a mental disorder.” Similarly, please keep unfounded generalizations out of your topics. For examples, see below.
- Discussion: Just another example of the Liberal Media!
- Discussion: How could any intelligent person respect Sun Quan?
- Discussion: Abortion is murder!
- Topic Title: Proof the Bible is False
- Topic Title: X-Box Rocks; PS2 Bites!
- Topic Title: Why emo should kill themselves.
- Topic Title: DW4 is for Losers.
- See also: Friendly Debate
Sexual Harassment
We do not tolerate sexual harassment (unwanted sexual advances) targeted against our members in the open, in private, over messenger services (such as AOL Instant Messenger) or even on other forums. Please observe basic decency when interacting with other forum members. In serious cases, we will be pleased to assist the victim in contacting the proper authorities. Questions? Please contact an active
administrator.
Vulgar or Explicit Content
This relates to images, language, and sexual content. Absolutely no pornography or explicit sexual content. Avoid moderate or extreme vulgar language except in the case of topic-appropriate quotation (if the language filter kicks in, replacing text with something like ••••, your wording is probably inappropriate). On that note, do not attempt to defeat the language filter when it kicks in—it does so for a reason. Avoid gruesome or disturbing imagery as well (people can understand the atrocities of Al Qaeda without being forced to view a decapitation when they load a thread). Similarly, please be cautious when linking to this content. Members of Scholars of Shen Zhou may be as young as 13, and we must act accordingly, and in observance of United States and international law. Questions? Please ask in our
Interactive Forum FAQ.
Plagiarism
Plagiarism is the act of passing someone else’s intellectual property off as your own. This can be as simple as posting a biography without permission or credit to the author (we take this seriously—please link instead) or as complicated as copying topics from another forum without credit.
Learn more.
Software Piracy
We respect the intellectual property of companies, and their right to profit from their efforts, regardless of personal interpretation. It is the law, and it is a good law. This forum is not a place to ask for the latest copy of Koei’s
Romance of the Three Kingdoms, nor is it the place to request ROM files for currently produced games. Similarly, do not link to pages or discussions that violate this rule.
We do allow a few exceptions to this rule. Old out-of-print games (e.g. Romance of the Three Kingdoms I–V) may be distributed and discussed, as long as they are relative to the forum’s content (e.g. Three Kingdoms games). In fact, we feature a number of them on the Game Downloads page of
Kongming’s Archives. You may also discuss topics such as emulation, and
playing old DOS games.
Members Enforcing Forum Rules
Aside from general helpful and constructive advice (e.g. “We are already discussing this topic
here, why not ask in that thread?”) we ask that forum members do not self-moderate discussion here at Scholars of Shen Zhou. If you see a serious rule violation, please send your concern to a moderator. Mature members may find this strange—more so when asked not to do this—but our diverse membership (some members younger than 13 years old) combined with our principle of equal rule enforcement prevents this from being a viable option (as it is on so many other academic forums). If you have any questions, please write an active
administrator.
