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:

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.

Quoting ToS Violations. Users should NOT quote Terms of Service violations of any type at any time in the forums. This includes, but is not limited to the following:
o Explicit images or text
o Flaming/trolling
o Page stretching
o Scam links/posts

Rules & Guidelines for Posting in Chatterbox - Explicit Content Violations & Cybering

* Cybering is described as "descriptive s3xual roleplay." Cybering in all forms is not allowed on Gaia. This includes requesting, offering or encouraging cybering in your threads, posts or PMs. Please be careful when posting vague requests for fun or offers of fun. If they could easily be seen as a cyber invitation or request, you risk getting warned for violating the cybering rule.

* Webcam shows also are not allowed.

* Please also be aware that telling people to "take it to PMs" is considered encouragement to violate the Terms of Service. Some examples include making thread rules ("no cybering (take it to PMs if you must)" or "cyber in PMs, not here") or in thread conversation ("if you guys are going to do that, go somewhere private") Anyone using these or similar phrases may receive a warning for explicit content violations. You should report users who are cybering instead of encouraging them.

* Strip clubs and other roleplaying that violates explicit content rules is prohibited. Such threads will be deleted and creator(s) of the thread will be warned. Slave RP will fall under this category unless they meet the allowed conditions for Slave RP listed in the Barton Town sticky.

* Images and content also must comply with Gaia's rules regarding explicit content.
o Artistic nudity must not be posted directly, however it may be linked. The link cannot be misleading and must include a warning with the content of the link.
o Only extremely limited artistic nudity is acceptable on Gaia. If you are unsure whether a particular image follows this guideline, ask a mod. You are responsible for what you post.
o S3xually explicit images that are not artistic in nature are not allowed on Gaia.
o Sexually explicit and pornographic images are strictly forbidden.
o Posting, requesting, or selling such images or content will result in a warning.

* Cleavage images are not considered to be in violation of any explicit content rules. However this only applies as long as they do not show any n****e and are not provocative or overly revealing.
o Images of cleavage/breasts or private areas not covered with any clothing even if blocked by limbs, a sign, other objects, etc. is considered overly revealing and thus not allowed.
o Users may have 'Cleavage Quests' as long as the images they are asking for fit in the Image Guidelines. If a user asks for sexy, nude, provocative, etc. cleavage shots, they will be warned.
* Having only see-through clothing including but not limited to transparent bras, panties, etc. covering private areas are not sufficient to prevent an image from being overly revealing and thus a violation.

* Images of users in just panties and boxer/briefs are not allowed. This standard applies to photos of users. Other images still fall under the general image guidelines listed above.

* Images containing excessive gore or violence are also considered to violate Gaia's appropriate image guidelines.

Rules & Guidelines for Posting in Chatterbox - Spam Violations

* Stretching the forum pages using excessive amounts of unnecessary text, text that contains no spaces, or large images is disruptive to the flow of the forum/conversation and is thus a violation of the Terms of Service of Gaia.

* Other examples include excessively and unnecessarily repeating a word or phrase such as "bump" many times in one post, posting long song lyrics for no particular reason, posting images that are excessively large (either resize the image or use a link to the image), etc.

* Distribution of chainletters is prohibited on the forums, in PMs, and anywhere else on Gaia.
o Many chainletters resemble something else such as a petition or warning message and sometimes even say "this is not a chainletter" on them.
o Other chainletters claim to be from the admins and sometimes make threats about banning people if they don't send it on. The admins can use stickies and the Announcement forum to disperse information and will not use chainletters (something they have prohibited) to do it.
o Just remember any message that asks or encourages you to repost/resend indiscriminately to other users can be considered a chainletter.

* Please report any threads that ask personal questions such as address, phone number, email address, or any questions related to security questions.

* Do not reply to these threads. However, threads that do not ask such questions and only ask harmless or neutral questions (favorite color, video game, etc) are allowed.

Rules & Guidelines for Posting in Chatterbox - Flaming/Abuse/Trolling

* Any posts containing flaming, racial slurs, verbal abuse, etc. directed at a user or comments made with the purpose of provoking anger (trolling) are against the ToS.

* Posting any content (images, links, etc) that encourages other users to harm or kill themselves, even in a joking manner, can be considered abusive. In cases where a user has posted about their intent to commit suicide or harm themselves, any encouragement at all will lead to a warning or even a banning.

* Many thread creators have a list of posted rules at the beginning of the thread. Please attempt to respect these rules even if what you are doing is not a violation of Gaia's rules.

* If you make your own thread rules that are not reflected in Gaia's rules, then you or your clearly designated agents (commonly called "thread mods" or "thread staff") have to enforce them on your own.
o In the Chatterbox thread creators have the ability to delete any post in threads they create (and not just their own posts).
o Thread creators can use the Ignorelist feature to prevent a user from making further posts in a thread.
o You can also set up a blacklist - this allows designated agents to disallow users from staying in the thread.

* After being clearly asked to leave a thread by thread creator or designated agents for any reason, a user should stop posting in the thread or face the possibility of violating Gaia's rules regarding harassment.

* When reporting this kind of harassment (ie. if the user continues to post), you need to include a link to where the user was asked to leave the thread by the thread creator or their clearly designated agents.
o Do not be rude when telling users to leave. Just clearly tell them to leave the thread.
o Make sure the post telling someone to leave is clearly directed at the intended user. This can be done by quoting their post or including their full username in the message.
o When blacklisting, include a link on the blacklist to the post where the user is informed they are being blacklisted.
o If you are not the thread creator or their clearly designated agent, then telling someone to leave will not hold any weight. (Yes. Even if you are a "regular".) However, you can still report them if they are violating Gaia's rules.
o By "clearly designated agent", we mean that they are listed prominently in the thread's introductory posts as having the ability to enforce the thread's rules.