Upon the inauguration of our new board (and after dealing with a few dust-ups and at least one racist drive-by on the old one), I thought posting some basic rules of behavior would be a good thing. This is a work-in-progress, though; we'll continue to add rules as we think they're necessary, and even abolish old rules as we think better of them.

And I hope you guys don't think of this as a way to dump cold water on your fun. It's just that one or two of the more heated moments here have come from confusion about the rules, so I might as well set 'em down in writing. Away we go:

1) You must register and introduce yourself in the "Gaijintroduce Yourself" thread first in order to post. Please introduce yourself IN THAT THREAD. DO NOT create more threads to introduce yourself. And yes, this means posting your real name! Got it? No exceptions from here on out. If you don't post an introduction within 7 days of joining, you will be deleted. If you lurk, you have no reason to be a member, as this board (with the exception of Piss & Vitriol) is viewable by all. Bearing that in mind, people with zero posts run the risk of losing membership priveleges during my periodic "housecleanings."

Amendment (8/18/05)

Multiple usernames will not be permitted. Post under the same one you've introduced yourself with. Also, if you do not have a fully-filled-out profile, you will not be approved for membership.

2) If you want to argue about something, that's fine...BUT... We reserve the right to step in if, in our judgement, you're starting to get out of line. Passion is fine, but don't be a complete asshole, okay? The final arbiters of who's actually being the asshole is myself; the Gai's; and Kaiser and RevGambit, the mods.

Amendment (4/10/05): Since we've been having a bit of a rash lately of people who like to provoke people and push buttons that they've been warned not to, I'm instituting a three-strikes rule. If someone has told you that they're personally offended by something you've said in a discussion, and you respond by being an what I think is being asshole about it, I'll put you on notice. If it happens three times, you're banned until you convince me that I should un-ban you. No exceptions.

3) Under no circumstances is porn or any sort of link to a porn site allowed. Images featuring nudity are fine as long as they're artistic in nature (i.e. painting/drawings/cg renderings) and tasteful.

4) No spam, period!

5) All the sections are named in a pretty self-explanatory way. So, please-- please-- post in the appropriate forum.

6) If you want to criticize someone else's work, feel free to do so. But... do it in a sane and adult manner. Personal attacks will not be tolerated.

7) The only exception to most of these rules is the Piss & Vitriol section. You can say anything you want in there, but you have to apply for and receive access from an admin to post in it, and you have to have introduced yourself. There are no rules, except: Don't double-post, don't post porn, and don't be a racist. Other than that, say whatever you want, be as big an asshole as you want. But be forewarned: Not only is this section completely unmoderated, but the editing and deleting function is turned off. Once you say something, it's permanent.

Not following the rules is a good way to get banned.

UPDATE 8/26/06

Just wanted to let everyone know that over the next few weeks, I'm going to be deleting members who aren't posters. This board is able to be read whether one's a member or not (except for the Piss & Vitriol Section, which, frankly, only posters should be allowed to have access to, anyway).

What this means is that I'm definitely going to be deleting members with zero posts. Like I said, if you're gonna lurk, you don't need to be a member to do it. After I weed all of those guys out, I'm gonna start looking at those who have ten posts or less, and deleting them or not deleting them based on how recently they've posted. Then, I'll possibly do that with people who have 20 posts or less.

If you have less than 20 posts to your credit and want to remain a member, I'd advise that you start posting meaningfully on the board. And keep in mind that if you try to up your count by posting bullshit (one-word posts, spam, stuff that obviously has nothing to do with anything, etc.), I'll delete your post-- and possibly you!

UPDATE 4/7/08

If you want access to the PISS N' VITRIOL section,you must have 100 posts and request permission for access, and agree to the confidentiality of the section-- no exceptions. Violating the confidentiality rule is grounds for dismissal. E-mail kowalski@gaijinstudios for access.

Thanks to those that do post, though. You make this board something that people wanna lurk on, that's for sure!

That's all I have for right now. Enjoy the board!