Welcome to Gaia Rules & Guidelines READ FIRST-UPDATE 12/8/10

[The Admin]

Welcome to Gaia Forum Rules and Guidelines

Welcome to the Welcome to Gaia forum! Welcome to Gaia is intended for new members to introduce themselves and ask basic questions about Gaia. This forum is a great place to make your first post and to let us know who you are.

If you are here then it probably means that you are a new member. Welcome to Gaia! It may seem a bit intimidating at first, but you'll get the hang of it in no time.

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:
What Belongs in the Welcome to Gaia Forum
What Does Not Belong in the Welcome to Gaia Forum
General Posting Guidelines
How to Report

[The Admin]

What Belongs in the Welcome to Gaia Forum.

These are the types of threads that belong here:

Introductions:
We encourage new users to make their first post in the Welcome forum. Tell us a little about yourself.

Here are a few suggestions on things to tell us:

• How you found Gaia
  
• How you came up with your username
  
• How old you are
  
• Your hobbies and interests
  
• Your favorite song, movie, color, etc.
  
• What you think of Gaia so far

You can introduce yourself any way you like (that's within the rules). Get creative and have fun! If your intro thread reaches more than 5 pages, it is most likely turning into a chat thread and will be moved to the Chatterbox Forum.

Basic Questions about Gaia:
You can ask basic questions here. Before asking any questions, we recommend that you check out this guild: Newbie Support & Training Guild

For complicated questions or questions about issues with Gaia, you should go to the Questions & Assistance forum. Questions that are not simple or basic will be moved to the Questions & Assistance forum.

A Note to Experienced Users: Please be patient with new users who misplace or repeat their threads. Due to the nature of this forum there will always be spam and misplaced threads. Please read the Friendly Behavior Notice and report misplaced threads.

NEVER POST PERSONAL INFORMATION
DO NOT give out your personal information in any thread or to anyone.

Examples of information that you should NOT give out:

• Real full names
  
• Addresses
  
• Phone numbers
  
• Passwords
  
• Financial information (credit/debit cards, checks, etc.)
  
• Security question information, such as:
  
  • What is your mother's maiden name?
    
  • What is your city of birth?
    
  • What is your father's middle name?
    
  • What is your favorite pet's name?
    
  • What is your favorite restaurant?
    
  • What is your favorite movie?
    
  • What is your favorite sports team?
    
  • What is/was your high school name?
    
  • Who is your favorite celebrity/icon/idol?
    
  • When is your Anniversary [mm/dd/yy]?

NEVER give out your password to ANYONE! Gaia moderators and administrators will NEVER ASK OR NEED for your password. Anyone asking for your password should be reported immediately.

[The Admin]

What DOES NOT Belong in the Welcome to Gaia Forum.

These are the types of threads that DO NOT belong in the Welcome to Gaia forum.

Welcoming Threads:
These types of threads are not allowed because this forum is already for welcoming. If you want to welcome new users, please post in their threads to say welcome them or offer them assistance getting started. Any threads made to welcome new users will be moved to the Chatterbox Forum.

Help/Ask me Threads:
There are already enough help threads posted here that making any more would be redundant. If you want to be helpful and answer the new users' questions, go ahead and answer them in the threads they create. Any new help threads or "ask me" threads will be moved to the Chatterbox Forum.

Achievement Threads
Achievement threads are threads created for the sole use of completing achievements. These types of threads will be moved to either the Chatterbox or to the Achievement Forum.

Friend Requests:
If you are looking for friends, there is a specific forum made just for that purpose. It is a subforum of the Welcome to Gaia Forum called Friends Chat. The Chatterbox Forum is also a place to ask for friends because you are allowed to post anything in there as long as you are not breaking the rules. You can ask for friends as part of your introduction post, but please do not make a thread that is ONLY looking for friends in the Welcome to Gaia Forum. Friend requests will be moved to either the Friends Chat Forum or the Chatterbox Forum (depending on the content).

Quest/Begging Threads:
We have a specific place where you can ask people for gold or items or ask for donations to your quests. It is called the Charities/Quests Forum. You can also ask for donations in the Chatterbox Forum, but you may not have as much luck there. Any threads asking for gold or items will be moved to the Charities/Quests Forum.

Advertising Threads:
Do not post advertisements for your threads (guilds, bars, lotteries, quests, etc) in the Welcome to Gaia Forum. You may advertise in the Chatterbox Forum. If it is a guild that you are promoting, please use the Guilds Charter and Barter Forum. You may also use your signature to advertise on-site areas. Advertising threads will be moved to the Chatterbox or the Recycle Bin depending on content.

Spamming with referral links or advertising other websites is called Off-Site Advertising, which is not allowed anywhere on Gaia.

"I'm bored, chat with me" threads:
Any "I'm bored, want to chat?" types of threads belong in the Chatterbox Forum and will be moved there.

Hangouts/Bar Threads:
Threads pretending to be a bar, restaurant, cafe, etc. do not belong in the Welcome to Gaia Forum and can be made in either the Chatterbox Forum or the Gaia Commerce Forum. Hangout threads (a thread meant for a group of people to chat and hang out) belong in either the Friends Chat Forum or the Chatterbox Forum.

Any of the above types of threads found in the Welcome to Gaia Forum will be moved by a Forum Assistant or a Moderator. Continued mis-posting can get you an official warning or even a ban if you continue to do it. Keep your threads in the right place and everyone will be happy.

[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:

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.

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.

Bumping: Bump stands for Bring Up My Post. When you post in a thread, it essentially "brings that thread to the top of the forum page". The further up on the page your topic appears, the more likely people are to see it. So when someone says "bump" they are just wanting to bring that thread back up to the top of the page. Be careful when bumping. Most forums do not allow it or only allow it in certain circumstances. In the Welcome to Gaia Forum, you can only bump a thread if it is a question and it has fallen off the first page without being answered. You can also make bump threads and bump in other bump threads in the Chatterbox Forum

Achievement Threads: These are threads in which the sole intent is to complete achievements. These threads are considered spam, and will be moved to either the Chatterbox or to the Achievement Forum.

Quoting for Achievement: The Noob Wrangler achievement requires users to quote ten new gaian members, and suggests doing so in the Welcome to Gaia forum. Posts that are just quoting new members or quoting "You've been Wrangled" or "Just doing this for the achievement" will be deleted. These posts are considered spam and are not very welcoming at all. Make sure when quoting new members that you are welcoming them.

Necroing: Necroing is the act of reviving a thread that has been inactive, or dead for quite some time. It is best to post in new, active threads instead of old, inactive threads - plus there's no point in welcoming a user who's been a member for months or even years. You can see if a thread is new or not by looking at the date and time of when a post was posted above the top, right corner of a post. Please refrain for posting in threads that is older than one week.

Chain Letters: Any post/letter where it encourages you to "pass it on to your friends" or "send this to everyone or we will delete you account" is considered a chain letter and is not allowed on Gaia. Posting chain letters will get your posts deleted and a warning on your account. Repeated posting of chain letters can get you banned.

Copy/Paste Posts: These are posts that you copy and paste over and over in threads. These are considered spam and constantly posting them after being warned can result in a ban on your account. Take the time to type out unique responses to the various threads you visit. It shows that you care!

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.

Unspoken Rules
There are things in the forums that may not be considered "against the rules" but may irritate other posters. This section will outline some of those "unspoken rules".

Posting in all capital letters:
Posting your entire post in capital letters will irritate people pretty quickly. It is considered shouting. You wouldn't go up to someone and start shouting at them would you? So please don't do it in the forums either.

impolite

HELLO THERE HOW ARE YOU? DO YOU LIKE IT HERE?

Try it like this:

polite

Hello there, how are you? Do you like it here?

Using too many emoticons:
Emoticons are fun to use and cute too but using too many of them can clutter up a post and detract from what you are trying to say. For example

too many emoticons

Hi how you?? heart heart heart domokun domokun domokun eek eek xp lol sad

Try it like this:

better way

Hi, How are you? heart biggrin

[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.