Life Issues: Rules and Guidelines Updated! 10/3/11

[The Admin]

Life Issues Forum Rules and Guidelines

Welcome to the Life Issues forum! Life Issues (LI for short) is intended for users to get advice and helpful suggestions regarding a variety of life's problems and dilemmas. One can ask questions of other users regarding personal issues such as school, sexuality, relationships, and the like.


Professional Help & Contacting Authorities
Please remember that we here at Gaia are NOT professionals. This forum is intended for casual discussion and helpful advice among Gaians, not to be a substitute for seeing a professional or for contacting an authority.

If you need someone to speak with please visit www.metanoia.org where counselors are available online to speak with you.

If you have an emergency or something that requires the intervention of the authorities, please contact them rather than making a thread here. Inappropriate threads will be removed.


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 Life Issues
   
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:

• Abuse: We all know how frustrating it is when somebody is being blatantly stupid. And we all know how much we'd like to just go on a rant at them, saying how much they suck and that they're stupid, but really, this just makes you look like a fool too. Then they'll probably get angry and try flaming you back. This goes on and on until it's a full-fledged flamewar. And yeah, you might enjoy yourself, but it's certainly not fun for users actually trying to have a discussion in the thread you're hijacking.
  
  
  
  
  • Trolling/Prank Threads: You'd think that this would be common sense, but just to make sure, please do not make threads making up situations, only to laugh at everyone later. This forum is based upon trust, and doing this breaks that trust and is also considered "trolling", which is "intentionally posting inflammatory statements to get responses" and is against the TOS. If you are found to be making "prank threads", then you will be warned accordingly.
    
    
  • Suicide Encouragement: This is NOT permitted. Do not do this. Not only is it sick and disturbing, but it violates both the PG-13 nature of this site, and it's blatant abuse of another user, a TOS violation. Seriously, if you actually spend time in your life to tell another person who you've never met to go kill themselves, you have issues. No matter how much you think they're just trying to pull a prank, you could be wrong. And what you say could be the words that push that person over the edge to actually attempting suicide. Don't do it. Period.
    
  
  
  
• Spam: Spam posts in LI can generally include, but are not limited to the following: When a user posts a message that is off-topic, has little or no relevance to the subject being discussed, or is a post that fails to contribute to the thread in question. If you want to spam, use the Chatterbox; that's what the forum is there for!
  
  
• Explicit Content: Sexually explicit content is not allowed on Gaia Online. Although at times LI is tolerant of more sensitive material in context, the rules still apply to sexually descriptive adult material. If your thread or post is found to violate this rule, it may be removed and you may receive an official warning for posting explicit content. Try to keep things clean when possible, and use another off-site resource if you feel your topic may be too explicit for Life Issues.
  

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 Life Issues

• Threads that belong in Life Issues:
  
  
  • Threads asking for advice on any sort of personal issue, such as school, love, sex, friendship, etc.
  
  
  
• Threads that do NOT belong in Life Issues:
  
  
  • Advice giving threads. Life Issues is not for personal columns, so please do not make threads that say 'come talk to Dr. User' or 'so and so's help thread, come ask me for advice'. These threads are better made in the Chatterbox.
    
    
  • General discussion threads, such as "what do you think about birth control" or "what are you feelings about cheating?" Generally speaking, if a thread is geared more toward discussion than receiving advice, it is better suited for either Lifestyles Discussion, General Discussion or the Chatterbox, depending upon its content.
    
    
  • Survey/Poll threads: Life Issues is not the appropriate forum to take a survey of what everyone's breast size is or what they age they first had sex at was. Please make such threads in the Chatterbox.
    
    
  • Threads requesting feedback on more trivial matters such as hair styling or makeup: Such questions may feel like a "life issue" to some, but in the scope of things, they do not belong in LI and would be better suited for Fashion and Style. If you specifically want hair advice, there is an official sticky in the forum here.
    
    
  • Validation seeking threads: Threads with a topic such as "Am I attractive/cute?" or "Do I have what it takes to be a model?" have no place in LI, as they do not constitute a life issue. Topics such as that would be much better off in Chatterbox or in a private journal. Basically, if you are asking for feedback on a photograph of yourself or a friend, it doesn't belong.
    
    
  • Questions with regard to a Gaia technical site issue: If you should happen to be having trouble with a Gaia-related feature such as your signature or profile, please use the Questions and Advice forum.
    
    
  • Computer Questions: If you are having problems with your computer, try the Computers and Technology Forum
    
    
  • Anything in the frequently asked questions list in the LI FAQ thread. These are extremely common questions that people have, and it is not necessary to make a thread about them, as you can read the FAQ post or do an internet search to find the answer.
  
  
  

• Other Inappropriate Threads:
  
  
  • "How do I ___?" type self-mutilation threads: Threads which ask how to cut oneself or hurt oneself in other manners are not allowed. This also includes thread supporting self-harm (anorexia, bulimia, burning oneself, etc).
    
    
  • Suicide threads in which the OP is seriously considering suicide: This sort of content is not appropriate and not suited for Life Issues. This includes threads where the OP asks how to kill themselves, or says "I am going to kill myself." There are links provided in the FAQ sticky for users who are have issues with suicide.
    
    This is not to be confused with threads that are asking for advice about suicide. If someone makes a thread asking on how to talk themselves out of committing suicide, or who is looking for better alternatives to suicide, those types of threads are allowed.
    
    
  • Threads asking how to obtain illegal drugs/weapons: Kind of self-explanatory. If it's about something illegal, don't ask about it. This includes threads about obtaining weapons for the purpose of hurting oneself or someone else.
  
  
  
  In general, you can usually figure out if a post should be in LI if:
  
  
  • The problem/situation is something you're experiencing and you want assistance handling it.
    
  • The problem/situation is happening to someone you personally know and you want to find out to handle it or help them.
  
  
  *If the thread is about a topic in general, it most likely belongs in General Discussion.
  
  
• PLEASE READ: Do not post in misplaced threads!"
  Life Issues has always been a great forum for members to come to and seek advice from their fellow Gaians. As with any forum, sometimes people get lost or misunderstand the rules of the forum and think it is ok to post their topic here when it isn't. The moderation team has seen a great increase in the number of people who decide that it is okay to respond to violations; either by quoting rules to tell the poster that they are wrong, harassing, spamming or otherwise being a disruption to the thread and to the forum. This behavior is not only wrong, but completely disrespectful. While we understand your overall intention is to help, this often causes more problems and you can be in trouble yourself.
  

We are taking this time to remind everyone of the proper way of handling misplaced threads and other terms of service violations.

• Responding to a violation is spamming in itself, and anyone who does so is subject to receiving action against their account.
  
• Flaming users for a violation is still considered flaming, and it will be dealt with accordingly.
  
• If you come across a misplaced or otherwise violating thread, you should simply report it and leave it alone until a moderator can deal with it accordingly.
  
• If you are the poster of a misplaced thread you can report your own thread to have it moved to the correct forum.

Please also note: if you see a violating thread and users are posting in it, it is not necessary to report every single post. Simply note in your report for the thread that it is not only misplaced, but users are spamming the thread, saving you time, but also getting the message to us.

[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.