Rules of the Oddworld Forums

By becoming a registered member of the Oddworld Forums, you are agreeing to abide by the rules. Members of staff, including Moderators, Super Moderators, Administrators and the Oddworld Forums Owners (hereafter collectively refered to as moderators) have the right to give you an infraction if you break the rules. Infractions expire after a while, but if at any time you have three unexpired infractions, you will be automatically banned from the Oddworld Forums.

  1. The first time you are banned, your ban will be temporary and last one week.
  2. The second ban will last two weeks.
  3. The third ban will be permanent.

When a temporary ban expires, you will again have full access to the Oddworld Forums, but you will likely still have unexpired infractions. If you break the rules further while temporarily banned, you will be immediately and permanently banned. You may be immediately and permanently banned for breaking certain rules as described below. An infraction for creating multiple accounts counts as two infractions. Banned members may also be banned from the Oddworld Forums Facebook group and any other Oddworld Forums communities or events. Do not discuss infractions or bans given to members.

The following rules apply across the whole forums unless otherwise specified. Particular forums may have additional rules stated in stickied threads. Particular threads may have additional rules stated in the first post. Moderators can create additional rules ad hoc. All of these additional rules that are not stated on this page apply exactly the same and carry the same penalties as those stated on this page.

Moderation takes place in all parts of the Forums, including blogs. Private messages and reputation are not actively moderated, but members can report these to moderators if they feel they break the rules. Moderators can give infractions in all areas of the Forums, including forums where they are not the designated moderator. In order to do their job effectively, moderators are exempt from certain rules (most obviously, posting about moderation and infractions); you cannot use their posting behaviour, or that of any other member, to excuse your own rule breaking.

All judgements and decisions made by the Administrators and Owners are final. If you have any queries or suggestions please feel free to contact Alcar, Max the Mug or Nate.

Rules in short

  1. Respect other members and users
  2. Do not spam
  3. Keep posts understandable and presentable
  4. Do not promote piracy
  5. Follow profile and account limits
  6. Do not threaten the security of the Forums or its members

Rules in full

Respect other members and users

The Oddworld Forums welcomes a diverse community. Do not bully or abuse other members for any reason, including their beliefs and opinions, their posting behaviour or rule breaking, or their artistic endeavours. Intelligent arguments are valued over personal attacks. Trolling, flaming and baiting are against the rules. Only leave positive or constructive comments for artists, writers and others expressing their creativity. Do not post anything inflammatory or offensive, including racist, homophobic, violent or pornographic material.

Have a sense of humour

While many members may seem to contravene the above rule, the friendships the develop between members makes the atmosphere of the Oddworld Forums very informal, and consequently what might be read as rude is likely to be intended humorously. You are advised to laugh off critical comments; they are not an excuse for ‘returning fire’.

Spoilers

At certain times the Oddworld Forums introduces a Spoiler Policy. During such times, do not post spoilers (as defined in the current Spoiler Policy) outside the Spoiler Forum. Anything not defined as a spoiler in the Spoiler Policy may be discussed freely.

Do not spam

‘Spam’ has lots of different meanings to different people and in different communities. On the Oddworld Forums, spam is broadly defined as anything that doesn’t contribute to (or distracts from) discussion or the community, any form of advertising, or anything that artificially increases one’s postcount. Because of the difficulty of forming any single definition, moderators can use their own judgement to determine whether constitutes spam. However, some things are definitely spam:

Search for existing answers

If you are asking or requesting something, first search to make sure that what you need is not already available. There are numerous tools to make this easy. The Oddworld Forums has its own search feature which allows you to limit searches by forum, thread and poster. External search engines including Google, Bing and Yahoo allow you to perform site-specific searches using ‘site:oddworldforums.net’. Most web browsers have a search feature that lets you quickly search a page. Some forums have stickied threads directing you to useful information and resources.

Multiple posting

Multiple posting is leaving two or more consecutive posts in a thread (also known as multiposting, double posting, triple posting, etc.). Do not deliberately multiple post unless

Otherwise, use the edit button to amend the content in your most recent post, and use the Multi-Quote feature to create multiple quotes in the same post. If you accidentally multiple post, edit your posts to make this clear so a moderator can merge or delete them.

Thread Necrumancy

Thread Necrumancy occurs when you reply to a thread that has not been active in a long time. Consider the contribution your post makes if the thread you’re posting in has been inactive for even a couple of weeks. Posts are more likely to be judged as spam if they revive an old thread without adding anything significant. Do not publicly leave feedback for members who have not been active in the last two months (view their profile to see when their Latest Activity was).

This rule does not apply to stickied threads or the most recent version of standard threads (such as What Do You Look Like). It is acceptable to add new chapters or artwork to an old thread of yours in Fan Corner. Members are automatically prevented from posting in threads that have been inactive for three months. Contact a relevant moderator if you wish to post in such a thread.

Unsolicited moderation

You may provide new members with advice only in their welcome thread, via private message or as an aside to a post that otherwise stands alone. Do not post to point out or correct the bad netiquette, imperfect English or rule breaking of another member. If you take exception to a post or wish to bring rule breaking to a moderator’s attention, use the Report Post button. Moderators may post publicly to remind members of the rules, issue a warning or infraction, or to create a rule ad hoc. Feedback to these posts should be directed at the moderator through PM, not posted publicly.

Do not post to say you are trying to delete or close a post or thread; only a moderator can do these things. Do not post to request a thread be closed; instead PM a relevant moderator. Do not post to request that members behave differently in a thread; this may have adverse effects, and you should instead PM your concerns to a moderator.

Keep posts understandable and presentable

The Oddworld Forums are an English-language community. We welcome members who are not fluent in English, but please use the best English you can to express yourself comprehensibly, including spelling, punctuation, paragraphs and other points of grammar. You may post foreign-language content (for explaining ideas to members not fluent in English, or for quoting non-English sources of information) if you make clear to English-speaking members what you’re saying.

If you have difficulty with spelling, please use a spell checker on your posts. Some browsers can have these built in.

In addition:

Do not promote piracy

Do not share, link to, or explain or suggest how to obtain illegal copies of Oddworld games, the Art of Oddworld Inhabitants book, the Music From Stranger’s Wrath soundtrack, or any commercially available, copyright protected media, in whole or in part, freely or for personal profit. Such content will be deleted.

You may share material extracted (‘ripped’) or recreated from the games or their production, such as sprites, models, sounds, textures, logos, etc. Extracted and recreated material may be used in fan projects, including films and games, provided they are completely non-commercial and credit is given for both the original artists (where known) and those who performed the extraction/recreation.

Follow profile and account limits

Your avatar, profile picture, signature and sigpic must conform to the following rules:

Avatar
Maximum dimensions
100 × 100 pixels
Maximum filesize
15 kiB
Profile picture
Maximum dimensions
150 × 150 pixels
Maximum filesize
20 kiB
Signature
Maximum lines of text (without sigpic)
6
Maximum lines of text (with sigpic)
4
Sigpic
Maximum dimensions
100 pixels high, 400 pixels wide
Maximum filesize
35 kiB

Do not upload an avatar, display picture or sigpic that is animated or otherwise unsightly, distracting or painful on the eyes.

One account per user, one user per account

No more than one person may use each registered account. Do not share accounts between friends, partners, family members or project contributors.

Each person may have no more than one registered account. Do not create an account if you already have one. It will be instantly and permanently banned, and your existing account will be given an infraction that counts as two standard infractions. If you create the additional account while your existing account is temporarily banned, both accounts and any you create in the future will be instantly and permenantly banned.

If you wish to access the Forums but have forgotten your password, you can reset your password. If you can’t reset your password because you’ve forgotten your username or have lost access to the email account associated with your Oddworld Forums account, contact the webmaster for assistance. Also contact the webmaster if your temporary ban is lasting longer than it should. These are not excuses to create a new account.

Do not threaten the security of the Forums or its members

Do not damage or threaten to damage, or access or threaten to access by means other than those clearly intended to be provided to users by the vBulletin software, the Oddworld Forums or its server. Do not threaten the security or privacy of our members or Oddworld Inhabitants or their production partners. Offenders will be instantly and permanently banned.

Do not publicly share private messages without the permission of all recipients. Do not publicly share contact details of yourself or others apart from the fields that exist in your profile.