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Sonic Online Community Guidelines

This is a community of fans of Sonic the Hedgehog, his games, comics, television shows, and any other related topic. Your behavior here, and ours, can be summed up in five words: “Mi casa es su casa” (my house is your house). The Sonic Online community is a place where it's okay to be yourself as long as you always act with respect for your fellow members as well as the Sonic Online staff. Our goal will be to treat our members as we would wish to be treated on their forums. In return, we ask that you act here as you wish for your own members to act on your site. There are going to be topics and discussions that will have heated debates. Please think before you post and re-read what you type before you post it. Keep your comments limited to the debate at hand and do not make this a personal issue between you and another member.

Public online forums always lead to a large diversity in age, race, gender, language, location (worldwide) and more and there will be a lot of varying opinions on different subjects. We're all human beings and we're all drawn to this site because we have a common bond as fans of Sonic the Hedgehog. We will willingly listen to your suggestions and complaints, and try to incorporate your ideas into the board.
If you come across any violations to these guidelines or have any problems navigating the site, do not hesitate to let us know through the Sonic Online contact form or Forum Help forum. We'll be happy to address your concerns. Here at Sonic Online we encourage everyone to participate in and enjoy the community while at the same time adhering to these guidelines:

Be Welcoming
When newcomers arrive, welcome them to our growing community. Many of our community's senior members are a wealth of knowledge and have much to share. Help new members learn about how to find information and resources, save time, and how to get involved in the community.

Be Courteous
Don't attack others. Personal attacks on others will not be tolerated. Challenge others' points of view and opinions, but do so respectfully and thoughtfully... without insult and personal attack.

Follow Basic Forum Etiquette
Please give your posts a meaningful title so that members and visitors do not waste their time reading posts about things they have no interest in. Make your title descriptive, reflecting the topic you're addressing, rather than a generic title such as "Question" or "I Need Help."

We like to have fun here, but not at the expense of getting people's questions answered. So, staying on topic is somewhat relative -- as long as the original poster's question is answered in a timely fashion, some straying off topic will be tolerated. But it will always be discouraged if it comes at the expense of helping each other and getting questions answered and problems solved.

Don't post huge pictures/complicated animations unless you have a very good reason. Many people do not have fast connections and consequently, big pictures and complicated animations slow them down. If you want to post a picture, make it smaller or lower the quality.

Don't abuse the polls. Remember that most of the things you might say in a poll can be said just as well in a regular topic. Try to use them if you want a general opinion on what a broad range of people think on a certain subject. Otherwise don't bog down the board with them.

Don't go wild with emoticons ("smilies"). Most forums support them, people often use them, and while it is okay to use some emoticons in your posts, don't flood your messages with them. It's hard to read a message that is mostly small yellow faces.

Members should post their messages to the relevant forum. Off-topic posts or messages posted in the wrong forum will be moved as deemed appropriate by a moderator or administrator.

Don't Take it Personally
In the same vein as the above, it doesn’t matter what you say -- sooner or later, someone is bound to make fun of you for it. Take comments like this for what they usually are: jokes. Most members are friendly and don’t mean it seriously, so keep that in mind.

If a poster does mean it, though, be the bigger person; ignore it.

Be Cautious
Think before you post or speak: Do you really want to put your address or telephone number on a public discussion forum? We encourage you to keep personal information personal.

Similarly, do not ask for personal information from others. Discussion forum posts that request members to submit personal information to another party will be removed. Information that should be considered personal includes but is not limited to your home phone number, name, and age. If you must give this out for any reason, please do so privately.

Be Appropriate
There may be places where excessive explicit, obscene or vulgar language, graphics or behavior is appropriate however Sonic Online is not one of them. Discussion forum posts that contain excessive explicit, obscene or vulgar language will be removed. Similarly, discussion forum posts that solicit or offer explicit or X-rated GIFs, JPEGs or similar content files will be deleted without notice!

It is okay to swear, or post a more adult (non-explicit) picture or two (as long as there is some warning), but again, do not do so in excess. That is not what the board is here for. In general, try to keep posts rated at least PG-13.

Be Patient
Just because your post doesn't get replies quickly doesn't always mean that no one read it. Sometimes people may not reply because, well, they don’t have anything to say. If you post regularly and try to be friendly, members may be more receptive. Try posting topics that others are interested in, don't post things that have already been said somewhere else, and try to make good conversation in already existing topics.

Don't Be Ignorant
Ignorance is not bliss for everyone else. People in forums get tired of answering the same questions over and over. So before you post, look around a bit. If the question is about a game, look at the manual or search the web before you ask. Look at previous posts to see if what you want to know is already out there. Learn how things operate here before going on a posting frenzy. Make sure you are not starting a topic which has already been recently discussed. Doing these things will benefit you and save others time and undue mental anguish.

Post Counts Mean Nothing
So you have a higher post count/rank than someone else. Who cares? Don't think that just because of this, you are right in every debate. Consider what the other person is saying. Along similar lines, don't brag about your post count/rank.

Additionally, just because you have a lot to say doesn't mean it's worth reading. It only gets worse when you have a lot of nothing to say -- and say it constantly. Your posts should have some entertaining, informational, or intellectual point. Before you post something crazy, take a look at your message, and ask yourself: Is it spam? Is it funny? Is there a point?

Also, refrain from responding to your own post, especially if no one else has responded to the topic yet. Everyone has the ability to edit their own posts. If you think of something new to add, just edit it into your previous post.

Use Proper Grammar
You speak English? Show it! Posts can be totally illegible because of poor spelling and grammar. Something often seen is posts with no punctuation whatsoever. This makes the post nearly unreadable. Also, make sure it is correct punctuation. Using a sporadic comma does not make the post readable. If posting something long, it doesn't hurt to copy it into a word processor and run a spelling/grammar check. Remember to always read over what you wrote before posting it.

This especially applies to “1337 speak.” Everyone trying to make sense out of such stupid sentences will need twice as long as if you had written "2" as to and "you" as you; the spelling normal people use. You aren't allowed to write like that anywhere else, and public forums are no exception. Not only is it annoying and hard to read, but also makes you look like an idiot since (hopefully) you are the only one in the thread doing it.

No Cross-Posting
Do not post the same discussion more than once on a discussion forum or on many forums. Duplicate discussions are frustrating and counterproductive for other members, especially for those whose time and energy is limited. Duplicate discussions will be deleted.

No Advertising – Spam
Do not heedlessly place your advertisements through the discussion forums (except in the Advertising & Trading Post forum). This will be considered spam and could result in the loss of your Sonic Online community membership. Affiliate links are not allowed within the forums. If you wish to promote a particular program then promote the program not your own affiliate tie with it.

No Abuse of PM
Private messaging is provided to the members of Sonic Online as a service intended to enhance the community experience. The purpose of private messaging is to allow for discreet conversations to take place between members. This privilege is not to be abused! Solicitation, spamming, or harassment of any kind is strictly forbidden. Any member receiving an inappropriate private message should forward that message to an administrator or moderator right away. Although private messages are normally only accessible by those who send and receive them, they are part of the database and as such, property of Sonic Online. An administrator, if so inclined, could locate the private messages in the database and read them. They are private, but not necessarily secret. In addition, private messages are not intended to deprive the community of valuable information or experiences which could benefit the entire group. Please do not use private messages if the content of the message can be helpful to others.

No Copyrighted Material
Information copyrighted or owned by any individual or entity other than the member should not be posted on the discussion forums or software libraries without the consent of the owner. If such an event occurs, the individual posting the information shall be held solely responsible. Sonic Online shall not be held responsible for member-posted information that may violate copyright law.

Signatures
A signature is a unique option that allows you to append various bits of information in a small section after your post. Signatures are subject to the same rules as posts, so, if something is not acceptable to post, then it is not acceptable for a signature. Signatures may not exceed 10 lines of normal (2) sized text or 13 lines of small (1) sized text and the width may not stretch the page. Images are currently disabled in signatures.

Finally, We Reserve the Right
Sonic Online and its assigned agents reserve the right to remove a post which does not relate to the topic being discussed in the forum. In addition, Sonic Online reserves the right to organize discussion forums in order to best serve the majority of our members. For example, narrow-interest or minimal activity topics may, at Sonic Online’s discretion, be relocated to a more appropriate discussion forum, or deleted entirely.

Sonic Online or its assigned agents also reserve the right to prohibit or delete discussions that are thought to violate applicable law or that may be harmful to other members, the sites that comprise Sonic Online, or the rights of Sonic Online or others. That being said, Sonic Online does not have the practical ability to restrict conduct or communications that might violate these guidelines or the terms of service prior to transmission on the web, nor can we ensure prompt removal of offending discussion forum posts. We also reserve the right to remove your membership from you should you violate these guidelines.

Members failing to comply with our rules will be warned a maximum of two times, but a minimum of zero times, usually in the form of a note appended to their post, via a private message (PM), or email. It is every member's responsibility to check his or her PMs and email used to register on these boards regularly to see if we have something to tell them.

Further infractions may constitute removal from the board. The fact is, if you choose to make this place un-enjoyable for everyone else, you will be dealt with. We do log all accesses to the forums, and we will not hesitate to contact your ISP if you abuse our site or our visitors.

Please see the TOS (below) for more specific rules as well as for more legal information.

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SONIC ONLINE TERMS OF SERVICE AGREEMENT

ACCEPTANCE OF TERMS
Sonic Online provides the services to you, the visitor, based on its Terms of Service (TOS) outlined here. When using the services provided by Sonic Online, you are subject to these posted terms. Usage of the services on this site denotes acceptance of these terms. The TOS may be changed at any time and without direct notice to individual visitors, so it is recommended that you check back with this page at any time you have questions or concerns.

REGISTRATION REQUIREMENTS
Sonic Online does not require you to use your real name or other identification that can be easily traced to you, and the e-mail address you provide will be kept private. In order to register on Sonic Online, registrants must be 13 years of age or older. Sonic Online does not knowingly collect any information from any users under 13 years, and if it is found that an underage user has fraudulently registered, their account will immediately be terminated.

CONTENT NOTICE
By viewing the site content, you agree that all content on Sonic Online is the responsibility of the person from which the content originated. You agree that neither Sonic Online nor its owners, administrators, moderators, sponsors or affiliates are responsible for all content that you personally post or upload. Sonic Online does not directly control any content posted on the boards, and does not guarantee the truthfulness or quality of any content. You agree that while using Sonic Online, you may be exposed to content that is offensive or objectionable, and that you will in no way hold Sonic Online, nor its owners, administrators, moderators, sponsors or affiliates liable in any way, shape, or form for any harm or loss that may come to you or others as a result of viewing this content. Sonic Online is not responsible for screening content before it is posted.

ACCOUNT RESPONSIBILITY
Users are solely responsible for protecting their accounts from access by others. You are strongly encouraged to select a hard-to-guess password and not re-use that password on any other sites where it may be read by the owners or administrators of that site. While it is acceptable for users to maintain multiple accounts on Sonic Online, Sonic Online can and does track multiple shared accounts from a single or multiple computers as one account in terms of TOS violations. If the TOS is violated severely enough to warrant the banning of one account, all known accounts shared between a single or multiple users who use the same computer may also be banned for the actions of the violating account at the administrators' discretion. Because of this rule, it is highly recommended that board users do not share their accounts with others, nor share their computers used to access the site with others, as the actions of some other person could easily directly impact all known shared message board accounts. If you must share your computer, it is highly suggested that you make sure you log out your account.

PRIVACY AND RELEASE OF INFORMATION
Under normal circumstances, Sonic Online will never release your provided information to any third party without a court order requiring us to do so.

MEMBER CONDUCT
You agree that you will not use this service to perform the following actions:

Offensive Posting
Posts of a patently offensive nature are not allowed. This includes, but is not limited to:
• Using vulgar, profane, or sexually explicit language
• Using race, religion, sexual orientation, culture, ethnicity, handicap, nationality, or gender as a means of insult
• Using sexual preference terms as a term of insult in any way, shape, or form
• Using threatening, harassing, defamatory, hate-speech, or libelous language
• Posting or requesting links to or material from pornographic, obscene, or hate-speech web sites
• Posting links to web sites with potentially offensive content without a clear warning
• Descriptions or details about any sexual act or sexual organs


Flaming (Insulting Other Users)
Posts clearly insulting other board members, individually or as a group, directly or indirectly, are not allowed. This includes, but is not limited to:
• Name-calling ("You're an idiot", "You moron")
• Direct insults ("Screw you")
• Offensive orders ("Go kill yourself")
• Insinuations ("Are you stupid or something?") or insults towards family ("Your mom...")

Trolling (Inciting Flames)
Posts intended solely to annoy and/or offend other posters by going against the clear nature of a board or topic are not allowed. This includes, but is not limited to:
• Provoking other users to respond with flames
• Provoking fans of a particular system or game, especially on boards dedicated to that system or game
• Making misleading topic titles
• Asking obviously useless questions
• Posting false information as fact

Illegal Activities
Posts that violate or incite others to violate the law are not allowed.

Spam/Advertising
Posts that clearly advertise a service or product are not allowed outside of the designated forum. This includes, but is not limited to:
• Unsolicited commercial or personal web site advertisements
• For-Sale/For-Trade/For-Auction/Wanted notices
• "Make Money Fast" scams, chain letters, and pyramid schemes
• Advertising for another message board
Users are allowed to include a web site address in a signature, but posting for the sole purpose of advertising another web site outside of the designated forum is not allowed.

Off-Topic Posting
The main purpose of Sonic Online is to provide discussion forums for various video and computer games and their systems. It is expected that your post remain on the topic of the forum; otherwise, post need to be made in the "General Discussion" Forum.

Spoilers without Warning
Posting "spoilers" (critical plot details) about games, comics, or television episodes in the title of a topic or in a message without advance warning is prohibited.
• To discuss such information in a topic, users should leave the title of the topic as vague as possible and include a warning (i.e. "SPOILER") in the topic title.
• In a message post in a non-marked topic, users should leave several blank lines in a post after a warning before revealing any vital plot information.

Spam/Disruptive Posting
Posts that disrupt the message boards for other users, intentional or not, are prohibited. This includes, but is not limited, to:
• Message posts or topic titles that force browsers to scroll horizontally
• Large blank or content-free posts
• "Bumping" multiple older topics (posting in them well after the last post)
• Posting multiple identical or near-identical messages or topics, including "fad" topics
• Intentionally hard-to-read posts or topic titles (i.e. ALL CAPS, AlTeRnAtE cApS, no spaces, no or excessive punctuation, “1337 speak”, etc.)
• Posting multiple hard-to-read or nonsensical messages in a single or multiple topics
• Posting large ASCII art
• Post counting (i.e. "First", "100th Post")

Impersonation
Users will be immediately banned (along with any associated accounts) for impersonating other boards users by creating and/or using a message board account with a name clearly intended to impersonate, mock, or antagonize another user, or otherwise falsely claiming to be another message board member.

Harassment/Stalking/Privacy
Continual harassing behavior directed towards a certain individual or group with the intent of creating an intimidating, offensive, or hostile environment on the boards, with or without use of explicit or implicit threats is strictly prohibited. Posting private information without permission is also prohibited.

Unauthorized Access
Accessing or attempting to access any Sonic Online user account not belonging to the user in question without permission is prohibited. Accessing another user's account in this manner is grounds for immediate loss of all known accounts.

Bugs and Exploits
Using exploits or tricks in the Sonic Online code to gain privileges, access, or abilities not clearly intended by the board design is prohibited.

Usernames, Profiles, and Forms
Violating any of the above rules with a username or any part of the user profile (signature, quote, e-mail, I'm) is considered a violation of the TOS.

Other
Any other activity that is clearly detrimental to the flow of conversation and normal activities of the boards and its users may also be deleted.

TERMS VIOLATIONS
Violation of the above rules may result in action taken against your account (from something as simple as a warning, to permanent suspension of your account). Messages and topics may be removed at any time and for any reason at the sole discretion of Sonic Online and its administrators. All determinations of what is "acceptable" and "unacceptable" content will be determined solely by Sonic Online and its administration. You agree that the decision of the moderators and administrators is final, and you may not legally contest their rulings.