Gaia Commerce: Rules and Guidelines

[The Admin]

Gaia Commerce Forum Rules and Guidelines

Welcome to the Gaia Commerce forum! Gaia Commerce is intended for roleplaying based on a bar, inn, tavern, hangout, or any form of business.


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 Gaia Commerce
   
4. Gaia Commerce Thread Requirements
   
5. 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:

Sexually explicit content. Posting, requesting, distributing, or offering sexually explicit material is not permitted anywhere on Gaia. Sexually explicit content includes explicit photographs, text, artwork, video, or cybersex conversations.

Spam. Posts that are gibberish, off-topic, contain advertisements 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.

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 procedures for doing so can be found here.

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 Gaia Commerce

What belongs in Gaia Commerce?

• Threads in Gaia Commerce should be created for the purpose of roleplaying a business. Examples include:
  
  • Bars, Dance Clubs, Pubs, Taverns
    
  • Inns, Hotels, Bed and Breakfasts
    
  • Coffee Shops, Tea Houses
    
  • Restaurants, Bowling Alleys, Movie Theaters, Malls
  
  
  
• Roleplays posted in this forum must meet the Gaia Commerce thread requirements, or they may be moved to the Chatterbox.

What does not belong in Gaia Commerce?

• No Cybering/Adult Roleplay
  The explicit roleplay of sexual encounters is strictly forbidden. Businesses based on inappropriately adult themes which violate the Terms of Service by nature are not permitted - examples include strip clubs and brothels. For details on how far is "too far" when roleplaying romance, see the Gaia-Appropriate Content in Detail post.
  
  
• No Explicit Roleplay Encouragement
  Users often post rules regarding inappropriate content within their own roleplays. Using ratings like "PG-13" is fine, but directing users to "take cybering to PMs", or using ratings such as "Rated R" which clearly indicate adult themes, is not permitted. In all cases, the Gaia Terms of Service and forum rules override individual roleplay rules.
  
  
• No Hangout Threads
  Threads which do not contain a sufficient level of roleplaying may be moved to Friends Chat.
  
  
• No Abusive Comments
  This includes abusive comments to other users, flaming, trolling, harassment and stalking. You are allowed to swear on Gaia, but you are not allowed to insult other users, go into their thread without permission and start trouble, or refuse to leave after the creator has asked you to.
  
  
• No Advertising
  Advertising in this forum is not allowed; you may not create a new thread with the intention of advertising, or post in existing threads purely to advertise your own content. If you wish to advertise a roleplay please see the Barton OOC forum. Please note that although you may also roleplay offsite, offsite advertisements are not permitted at all in the roleplaying forums.
  
  
• No Hate Based Roleplays
  Hate roleplays that are negatively directed towards a Gaia user, race, ethnicity or sexual orientation are not allowed on Gaia. These roleplays that are found will be removed and the owner punished.
  
  
• No "Copycat" roleplays
  Just like art theft is not allowed, copying another person's work for a roleplay is also not permitted as it infringes copyright. If you want to use another person's writing for your roleplay, word for word or only slightly changed, you must get permission and credit them or else you will face the same serious consequences that art theft does on Gaia Online.
  

Commonly Misplaced Threads

Certain topics are not suitable for Gaia Commerce; please follow the guide below to find out where to post these threads, and be sure to read the rules of other forums before posting there.

Requesting roleplayers for on-going, in-the-works, or personal roleplays: Roleplay Recruiting

General roleplays based on original ideas: Barton Town

Roleplays centered around a school, university, college, dojo, or any form of educational site: University/School roleplay

Roleplays centered around a family, mansion, or a place of residence: The Gaian Neighborhood

Roleplays based on a TV series, movie, manga, book, game, or any other form of media or entertainment: Series-related/Miscellaneous Roleplay

Gaia-appropriate slave roleplays: Series-related/Miscellaneous Roleplay

Roleplays centered around a bar, inn, tavern, hangout, or any form of business: Gaia Commerce

Private roleplays intended for a pre-selected group of people: Invitation-Only Roleplay

Creating/recruiting for a GGN guild: Gaia Guilds Network

Threads that are for bumping, randomness, or for other oddities: Chatterbox

[The Admin]

Gaia Commerce Thread Requirements

There are a few requirements to keep your thread in Commerce. Roleplays such as "This is my bar. Talk, drink and have fun!" do not contain enough content and will be sent to the Chatterbox.

Required Elements

Your thread should contain the following elements within the first few posts:

1. Description
   Tell us what the place looks like. Is it nicely decorated and well-kept? Is it spooky or dark? Does it have an odor or sound that greets a newcomers ears when they enter? What can be found in the business? Does it have a pool table? A dance floor? A kitchen? How many rooms are there? Be descriptive and set the scene. It is a roleplay thread, after all.
   
   
2. Rules
   What are the rules in your thread? Do you allow fighting? Are there other RP rules you want people to follow? Keep in mind that all threads must follow the Gaia Terms of Service and Gaia-Appropriate roleplay content rules - no explicit content or sexual themes, no trolling, no spamming and so on. (Remember, cybering is not allowed anywhere on Gaia, including PMs, so don't tell people to take it there or anywhere else.)
   
   
3. List of Employees
   What kind of jobs does your place offer? Who works there? Are you hiring? You can even say if you pay or not. If your business doesn't need or want employees, or everything is run by NPCs (non-playable characters), state that somewhere in the thread. Also, if you are hiring, you should have it written somewhere so where it will be seen.

Remember, your roleplay must be a business!

Threads such as:

• Party threads
  
• Wedding threads
  
• Birthday threads
  
• Sleepovers
  
• Fan clubs/non-business clubs

are not considered businesses and should not be posted here! Providing they have sufficient roleplay content, these types of roleplay may be more appropriate for The Gaian Neighbourhood subforum.

[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.