Avatar Arena Forum Rules & Guidelines

[The Admin]

Avatar Arena Forum Rules and Guidelines

Welcome to the Avatar Arena forum! The Avatar Arena forum is intended for the discussion of the Avatar Arena, as well as current and past Avatar Arena Entries.


As a member, it is your responsibility to familiarize yourself with the forum's rules before posting. Posting in this forum implies that you read and understand the rules and guidelines and that you accept responsibility for the appropriateness of your thread or post.


Navigation:

1. Introduction
   
2. General Posting Guidelines
   
3. Rules & Guidelines for Posting in the AvA Forum
   
4. How to Report

[The Admin]

General Posting Guidelines

Please be sure to follow the Terms of Service and Rules and Guidelines here, as in all forums.

Common violations to avoid:

• Spam. Posts that are gibberish, off-topic, contain advertisements, solicitations or begging, or have low or no content are considered spam. Please ensure that your posts are on topic and contain an appropriate amount of discussable content.
  
  
• Flaming & trolling. Posts directed at another member which are hateful, abusive, or intentionally inflammatory are considered flaming. Making intentionally inflammatory or provocative posts to incite responses from other members is considered trolling. Please be considerate when discussing past winners. It is okay to give a negative opinion, but inflammatory remarks and personal attacks will not be tolerated.
  
  
• Scamming. Taking or attempting to take another member's gold, items or efforts, through false promises, deception, tricks or get-rich-quick schemes is considered scamming and is not tolerated on Gaia.
  
  
  Terms of Service violations may result in a warning or a ban on your account.
  
  If you find Terms of Service violations, or threads that may need moved to a different forum, please use an appropriate report. The procedure for this may be found below.
  
  You can find online moderators by following the "View Forum Moderators" link at the top of the forum.
  
  Gaia Staff will NEVER ask for your password! If anyone asks you for your password, report it.

[The Admin]

Rules & Guidelines for Posting in the Avatar Arena Forum

Threads that Belong in This Forum

• Threads Discussing the Avatar Arena or asking questions about the Avatar Arena. Note: Putting a 'discuss' line at the end of the first post, doesn't automatically make it an actual AvA discussion thread.
  
  
• Threads discussing previous Avatar Arena Entries (i.e Past Winners)
  
  
• Threads that go along with Avatar Arena Group Entries
  

Commonly Misplaced Threads

• Avatar Talk related threads - While we do allow users to talk about past avatars threads that are asking for advice or offering advice on future arena entries or asking for basic rates belong in the Avatar Talk forum.
  
  
• Threads offering gold/items/other compensation for votes - In the past the issue of users bribing or soliciting votes, by promising compensation of some sort, be it gold items or services has come up. Users may not provide compensation of any sort for voting or commenting on Arena entries. Cases of bribery and cheating will result in a disqualification of an entry. If an entry is suspected of bribing or cheating, they should be reported using the report form for the entry or thread/post.
  
  
• Threads offering to buy or sell items, art, services, etc. - With the exception of contests, all transactions including the exchange of gold and items do not belong here and will be moved to the Minishops and Exchange forums.
  
  
• Threads flaming/attacking another user or accusing another user of cheating - If you suspect a user of cheating report their entry and provide your proof so a moderator can handle the issue. This will prevent unnecessary conflict in the forum.
  
  
• Regular Centric Posts - These are threads that users, who consider themselves regulars, make about them selves or their groups.

Not permitted in Avatar Arenas or elsewhere on Gaia Online:

• Threads asking for votes or otherwise advertising your Avatar Arena entry. This includes threads/posts that have links to entries to the Avatar Arena, vote exchanges and legitimate discussions with links to an Avatar Arena Entry.

[The Admin]

How to Report

Abuse of the report system will result in a warning or ban of your account.

Report a Post

Use the button when an individual post in a topic contains inappropriate content.

Reasons to Report a Post:


• The content of the post violates the Terms of Service or forum rules.
  
  
• The content of the post is off-topic.
  
  
• The member who made the post has a signature which violates the rules.

Report a Topic

Use the Report this Topic button at the bottom of the page when a topic is not appropriate for the forum.

Reasons to Report a Topic:


• The topic violates the Terms of Service or forum rules.
  
  
• The topic is in the wrong forum and should be moved to a more appropriate forum.

If you need to contact a moderator via Private Message, please use the "View Forum Moderator" link at the top of this forum to find a moderator.



Report Hacking, Scamming or Abuse & Harassment?

The Hacking, Scamming and Abuse or Harassment report forms can be found at the bottom of the forum index. When submitting a report, ensure that you fill out all fields and include as much relevant information as possible.

Report A Hacking
Use this form to report a Hacking. Hacking, on Gaia Online, refers to the unauthorized access of an account by someone other than the account owner. In most typical hacking cases, an unauthorized person enters an account which does not belong to him or her and takes items or gold from the account, often changing the account information so that the original owner can no longer access his or her account.

Report A Scamming
Use this form to report a Scamming. Scamming is when another member of Gaia takes your gold or items, or tries to take your gold or items, by making false promises of giving you rare items, get-rich-quick schemes, or by any other deceptive means. Scamming generally involves a situation in which two members of Gaia make an arrangement to trade gold, items, or a Gaia approved service (e.g. avatar art commission) with each other and then one of the parties involved in the arrangement fails to live up to his or her promise of an exchange.

Report Abuse or Harassment
Use this form to report ongoing Abuse or Harassment. If you are reporting harassment or abuse that is occurring directly in a thread, please use the "Report This Post" button instead.