Gaia Guilds Network: Rules and Guidelines

[The Admin]

Gaia Guilds Network Forum Rules and Guidelines

Welcome to the Gaia Guilds Network forum! Gaia Guilds Network is intended for advertising, selling, and buying GGN guilds.

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 Forum Posting Guidelines
   
3. Rules & Guidelines for Posting in Registered Guilds
   
4. Using the Report System

Interested in becoming a Forum Assistant (FA) for the Gaia Guilds Network forum? Learn about joining our team here!

[The Admin]

General Forum Posting Guidelines

Terms of Service Reminder:
Remember to follow the Terms of Service, the Rules and Guidelines, and all applicable extensions of those documents, when posting in this forum and any activity that you engage in across all of Gaia Online.

Common Site Violations:
Here are some common violations in our rules that you should avoid committing while using Gaia Online.

• Abusive Behavior: Abusive behavior is defined as behavior that is either flaming, trolling, or harassing.
  
  
  • Flaming: Posts that are directed at another member which are hateful, abusive, or intentionally inflammatory are considered flaming.
    
    
  • Trolling: Posts that are intentionally inflammatory or provocative that incite negative responses from other members is considered trolling.
    
    
  • Harassment: Consistent, continued abusive behavior to another user or stalking is considered harassment.
  
  
• 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.
  
  
• Inappropriate Content: Posting, requesting, distributing, or offering inappropriate content is not permitted anywhere on Gaia. Inappropriate content includes, but is not limited to, explicit photographs, text, artwork, video, gory/graphic text or images, or cybersex conversations.

Consequences for Violating the Terms of Service:
Violating the Terms of Service violations may result in a warning or a ban on your account. Some violations will result in more severe punishments than others, such as receiving a permanent ban on the first offense. We encourage all our users to do their best in following the Terms of Service in order to keep their accounts protected.

Reporting:
If you find Terms of Service violations, or threads that may need moved to a different forum, please use an appropriate report. Do not post in these threads as it only keeps the thread active and moves it to the top of the forum. The procedure for reporting can be a found a little later in this rules thread.

Contacting a Moderator:
If you need to directly contact a moderator, then you can find online moderators by following the "View Forum Moderators" link at the top of the forum.

Password Phishing Reminder:
Gaia Staff will NEVER ask for your password! If anyone asks you for your password, report it. You can find more information on identifying password phishing in our thread, Recognizing & Reporting Password Phishing.

[The Admin]

Rules & Guidelines for Posting in Gaia Guilds Network


Threads that Belong in This Forum

• GGN discussion topics
  
  
  • Any discussion about the Guild Network or specific guilds is best suited for The Crew Lounge forum. For example, you may plan interaction between guilds, ask for feedback on something in your guild or discuss running a guild.
    
  
  
• Advertising/recruiting topics
  
  
  • You must include, at least, a link to your guild (besides your signature) and a brief description of your guild so that visitors know what is being advertised.
    
    
  • Prefix your thread title with [Ad] or [Recruiting].
    
  
  
• Selling/buying guilds or guild-related services
  
  
  • Buying threads must include requirements of the guild you want to buy, such as a maximum price or existing members. If you have no requirements, browse the selling threads instead.
    
    
  • Selling threads may only be created by the guild captain to help ensure legitimacy.
    
    
  • A guild link and relevant information such as number of members, subforums, etc. must be included.
    
    
  • Prefix your thread title with [Buying] or [Selling].
    

General Forum Guidelines

• Threads should only be bumped if they have fallen off of the first page.
  If your thread is bumped excessively then it may be moved to the Chatterbox forum. Posts which do not discuss anything, answer any questions, or add any information to the first post will be considered bumps.
  
  
• Information
  Threads must contain both a link to the guild and a description of that guild in the first post. Threads which do not contain these two things may be recycled.
  
  
• Do not post the same thread multiple times
  If you have trouble with losing track of threads you create, subscribe to it or bookmark it so that you can find it again. For selling and advertising threads, coordinate with your other guild members to be sure that multiple users are not creating threads for the same guild. Repeat threads will be recycled.
  
  
• Thread Hijacking
  Posting advertisments, and guild links in other recruiting & ad threads is not allowed, unless the thread poster asks for them. It is considered to be spam and will be treated as such.

Commonly Misplaced Threads

• Threads that are ‘guilds’ themselves
  This forum is for threads about guilds that are registered in the Gaia Guild Network. Refer to the GGN Rules/FAQ for information on creating a GGN guild.
  
  
• Error or glitch reports
  All bug reports belong in the Bug Reports and Technical Support forum – even if they are related to the GGN.
  
  
• All Gaia related questions are best suited for the Questions and Assistance forum.
  

Daddy Dom/Little Girl and similar BDSM roleplays are not allowed on Gaia.

Quote:

Daddy Dom/Little Girl, Mommy Dom/Little Boy, etc (noted as dd/lg from here on out) refers to a BDSM relationship between an adult male/female and someone portraying a younger/underage childlike persona with the adult persona being in a father/mother/caregiver type of role.



While this kind of fetish/subculture is often between two consenting adults, because of the nature of these sorts of roleplays we do not allow them on Gaia. Many explore this as a sexual fetish and the nature of adultxchild relationships that are involved is not appropriate on the site. Gaia has never allowed BDSM roleplays, and we are now considering dd/lg as being under the same category. Any roleplaying or attempting to find partners for roleplays of this nature is strictly forbidden on Gaia.

We understand that for many, it is not their intent to have a sexual roleplay. However, we cannot risk the potential of underage users being involved in a roleplay with an adult where the nature of the roleplay may become sexual on one or both sides. As Gaia does allow anyone aged 13 and older to join the site, any attempts to engage in a dd/lg relationship or roleplay with another user will be removed with the potential for warnings and/or bans being placed on the account.

There are other websites where this sort of roleplay/relationship is welcome and ask those users that are interested to seek it elsewhere.


So we can't roleplay family roleplays anymore?
This rule is not meant to restrict genuine family roleplays. If you are wanting to roleplay a non-BDSM relationship between members of a family, such as those often found in Barton Town, you are still allowed as long as you are not engaging in one related to dd/lg and the like as described above.

These are just a few examples of what is and is not allowed;

• I'm a Mommy just looking for her Little. - Not appropriate
  
• I'm a 32 y/o Daddy wanting to play house with his Little - Not appropriate
  
• Looking for a Family. Wanted: Mom, Son, and Grandma - Appropriate
  
• Wanting Mother/Daughter crime-fighting duo! - Appropriate
  
• Daddy wants to "play" with his lg - Not appropriate



Will I be banned if I call someone Daddy?
No. We recognize that the term 'daddy' can be applied in various scenarios that are not sexual in nature and are only disallowing those that apply specifically to the dd/lg relationship type roleplays regardless of if they are sexual or not. Users casually calling their significant other/friend 'daddy' and not otherwise violating our Terms of Service is fine.

Does this mean we can't discuss dd/lg relationships?
In terms of a discussion topic, Gaia does allow many topics of content that we do not otherwise allow you to engage in. Users who wish to discuss dd/lg relationships in a mature way that doesn't result in the solicitation or engagement of this type of relationship is allowed within reason as long as users are doing so in a way that follows our Terms of Service and is not graphic, explicit, descriptive or otherwise an attempt to solicit others or find partners.

Do you still have questions about rules specific to the Gaia Guilds Network forum? Please reach out to us! You can find a list of Gaia Guilds Network's moderators here, or instead contact someone from the list of all current Gaia Online moderators.

[The Admin]

Using the Report System

This post explains how you can file a report for various areas across Gaia Online, and when using the report system in these spaces is appropriate. Confused about when to report or unsure if you need to directly contact a moderator? Please visit this thread for additional information.

Report System Abuse Warning:
Abuse of the report system will result in a warning or ban of your account. Report system abuse is defined as the act of maliciously reporting a user. It is acceptable to report something you may not be sure is a violation or that you think may need moderator attention. It is not acceptable to randomly report a user for no reason.

Report a Post:
Within each post there will be numerous options that allow you to work with that post. You can use the “Report Post” link to report any post within the thread. The “Report Post” link is highlighted in the image below:

Reasons to Report a Post:


• The post violates the Terms of Service, Rules and Guidelines, or the rules of the forum.
  
  
• The content of the post is off-topic.

Report a Thread:
At the top and bottom of every thread there will be numerous options that allow you to work with that thread. You can use the “Report This Topic” link to report any thread. The “Report This Topic” link is highlighted in the image below:

Reasons to Report a Topic:


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

Report a Private Message:
Within a private message there will be numerous options that allow you to work with that private message. You can use the “Report This PM” button to report any private message you have received. The “Report This PM” button is highlighted in the image below:

Reasons to Report a Private Message:


• The private message violates the Terms of Service or Rules and Guidelines.

Report a Profile:
Every user's profile includes a, "Report this Profile" link that allows you to report any violating content found on a user's profile. You can use this link to report the profile and specify which section of their profile is a violation. The "Report this Profile" link is highlighted in the image below:

Reasons to Report a Profile:


• The user's signature is over-sized.
  
  
• Content on the profile violates Terms of Service, Rules and Guidelines.
  
  
• Unacceptable alternation to the navigation bar: The navigation bar is in place at the top of the profile so that users who visit a profile know they are still on Gaia, and can navigate away from the profile easily without having to try to figure out how. Users may change the background color, and the color of the links for the navigation bar. However, users may not alter the Gaia logo, reposition the navigation bar, or remove the navigation bar all together, or change the color/transparency of the navigation bar & links so that it appears to be gone. Altering the Gaia logo includes removing it all together, as well as making it semi-transparent to the point that it is hard to see or nearly invisible. Users may alter the Gaia logo image to remove the black background, or change the black background to a different color, but the logo itself must remain as is.
  
  
• Flashing/Harmful Images: Certain types of graphic images may contribute to or otherwise cause viewers to experience an adverse physical reaction, such as migraine headaches or seizures. Images that may cause such reactions are not permitted on Gaia.

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. Failure to fill out these fields means the report will not be submitted and, instead, the report page will refresh. A successfully filed report will provide you a report ID.

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/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.

Importance of Evidence:
Before filing any report, it is important to have any and all evidence prepared beforehand. With regards to a thread or post, ensure that the offending content is still there before filing the report. Our report system will take a snapshot of whatever you report at the time of it being filed. For instances of Abuse/Harassment reports, please include any evidence of the continued abusive behavior and report any threads, posts, or private messages that will help justify the report. Finally, for scamming reports, include evidence that supports the scamming behavior.