This is a simple quick guide to help you, well, not get banned.

First and foremost, what is the Cbox?
Well, see that little box full of text at the bottom of every HiddenCrossroads page? That's what we call a Cbox. It's a nifty tool. You can chat here with your friends about almost anything. Key word there, almost.


What are the Cbox rules?
Well, the Cbox rules are posted right about the Cbox itself on every page of the Xroads. I will go trough every one of them in the next few questions. There are also some things that aren't written there that are also against the rules. Those things are defined here.

What does 'No cursing' mean?
This is simple. No profanities. They are also called curses, and sometimes swears. Do not use swear words as insults. Do not use them to describe another user, or this site. However, some swearing is allowed. Please do not take it overboard, however. If you are asked to stop, by ANYONE, please do so. Also try to avoid words that are censored, even in context, as these are generally less accepted.

What is spamming?
Spam is Internet slang for 'Stupid pointless annoying messages.' and, pretty much is exactly that. But, what exactly is considered stupid, pointless, and annoying in the Cbox? Well, here's a list in nice bullet form for you. Do any of these, and you will be banned.
Things that are spam in our Cbox include, but are not limited to...

-Posting the same message three or more times within the visible messages in the Cbox. {Visible Cbox is the part you can see without having to click '[Older messages]'}
(We understand that something may have glitched. In those situations, please try and say that there is a problem. It is utterly up to the staff to determine spam or not. Sometimes you can still be banned for posting it a lot, even not within the visible messages, so be careful.)

-Posting a link three or more times within the visible messages in the Cbox.
(If you accidentally 'broke' a link, or posted it incorrectly, the staff should understand when you post again with the correct one.)

-Saying 'Join the site in my name' repetitively, is spam. Like most other things, three times is more than enough. People will click the link in your name if they want to. No matter how much you advertise, no more people are gonna join than would have 5 minutes ago. If a staff member sees a problem with it, you will be banned.

-Using multiple punctuation marks. This is three or more of the same punctuation at the end of the same sentence. You can get your point across with a single question or exclamation mark fine. (An exception, of course, is the ellipsis (...))

-Any excessive use of ALL CAPS. We can understand a few words, but there is no reason you need to make a whole sentence in all caps. If you have something that's that important to say emphasize it by bolding it. Other ways to emphasize your text can be seen by clicking the 'Help' button at the bottom of the Cbox.

-AlTeRnAtE CaPs is also spam.

-Multiple posts in a row. If you have something to say, please try to keep it to as few posts as possible. Sometimes, you post something, and then have to correct it, or you post something, and something new you wish to respond to has popped up. In these situations, it is okay to post another, new message. But, there is never any reason to post more than three on top of one another.

-Copying another persons message to reply to it. If you are not sure if someone knows what you are commenting on, you can always say their name at the beginning of their post. For example...
If I say...
Silver: I like kittens.
And you copy it, and then post something afterward, like this, it can be considered spam.
You: "Silver: I like kittens." Me too! :)
Instead, you can say something like "Silver, I like kittens too!".

-Posting a single letter or word. Okay, it's annoying. It's dumb, and nobody wants to see it. If you don't have more than a word to say, think of something more to say before you post. That's easy enough.

-Posting nothing but an emoticon. (Also called smilies, such as :) :( :3 XD and others. This is acceptable if you actually regularly contribute to the conversation, as sometimes "smile" is all you have to say in response to something. But if you don't regularly contribute to the conversation - " :3 " - is not a good thing to post.

-Posting a message consisting of only periods. (Like You: .....................................................) Uh, don't do it. It's stupid, annoying, and pointless, and is therefore spam.

Harassment?
Basically put, harassment is bullying. Anything that offends another user purposely, anything that hurts someone's feelings, calling someone names, swearing at someone (which is against the rules anyway), picking on someone, and/or being purposely rude to someone is harassment, and will get you banned.

What is chatspeak?
Let's make another list, shall we? Chatspeak includes, but is not limited to...
-Abbreviations for short words. Such as 'U; ppl; ur; any1; 2 instead of to or too; r; and sum1'. All are chatspeak.
-Purposely misspelled words, such as 'kewl; liek; awesum; plz; and sum' are chatspeak.
-l337 is chatspeak, or falls under the category when explained in the Cbox rules.
((Lol, brb, gtg, and such things are abbreviations for whole sentences, and are acceptable. Please try to keep them to a minimum, however.))

If you're upsetting other members - stop.
This rule is in place to avoid people from becoming upset with the contents of the conversation. However, this rule is NOT in place to allow a person to change the subject just because they want to talk about something else. This rule is in place so that, if a person is being (or feels like they are being) attacked or harassed, the people doing it are to stop. This rule is also here to stop people from talking about things that are offending other members.

This rule does not come into play if you simply disagree with someone's musical tastes, or their opinion of a tv show. If you disagree with someone, then that does not, by any means, violate the Cbox rules. However, if you are mean or nasty about disagreeing with them, then it violates this rule.

Having opinions is not against the Cbox rules.

Having opinions that are different from someone else's is not against the Cbox rules.

Attacking someone else's opinion, telling them they are -wrong-, or otherwise trying to force your opinion on someone else IS against the rules.

Talking about a movie, a video game, a song, etc. is not against the rules. Even if someone else in the Cbox doesn't like those things.

Talking about something that can be considered offensive IS against the rules. For example, talking about sex is against the rules if someone else asks you to stop. Even if you are not going into detail, or you don't personally find it offensive.


The staff is the ultimate judgment of this rule. Listen to them if they are there. If you think something unfair happens, whether staff is there or not, please report it to a staff member.

Links in the Cbox.
Do NOT post links from sites you yourself do not trust. Do NOT post any links that would be against the Pg13 atmosphere of the HiddenCrossroads. Examples would be...
Anything containing pornography; anything containing ANY sexual content; anything with sexual pictures; anything with gore (It is up to the staff to decide what is acceptable as far as gore); anything that advertises drugs or alcohol; anything with excessive profanities (you are allowed to link to sites with slight language, only if you say it has language in your post); anything with a general adult theme; any videos or images that users may find disturbing.

Edit by Spirit:
Actually - let's just make this cut and dry... if you don't trust the site (if I wouldn't trust the site) 150%.. then you can't post the link.. what are some sites that generally ARE trusted?
DeviantArt
Wajas
Subeta
Neopets
Proboards
Wikipedia
Dictionary.com
MML
DWF
Evelon
Youtube
Serebii.net
Photobucket

Pg13
Yes, this site's PG 13. All of invisionfree is supposed to be. It doesn't mean we're going to attack you for saying 'boobs', but do try and be tasteful. I trust you to know the line between artful nudity and porn. Don't make a big deal of it, usually you'll get a warning from a staff member verbally before anything bad happens. Just, be respectful, and tasteful, okay?
If you are unsure of a link or something you can or cannot talk about, ask a staff member.

Languages in the Cbox.
The only language allowed in the Cbox is English. The site is all in English. The staff speaks in English. And we have no way to tell if you're swearing, saying mean things, or something else you aren't supposed to if you aren't speaking English. I'm sorry to any foreigners, but you have to have a basic knowledge of the English language to be part of this site, nonetheless the Cbox.
(A word here or there is okay. Maybe you want to say 'Bonjour' or, 'Konichiwa' instead of hello. That's fine. But if a staff member has reason to suspect you are doing something against the rules with such words, you will be in trouble.)

Impersonating.
Password protect your name so that nobody else can pretend to be you.
Even with this security, however, it is still possible to impersonate someone else. This is NEVER okay, ESPECIALLY if you are impersonating staff. Only the staff knows the difference. It's uh, against the rules, 100%. You will INSTANTLY be banned from the Cbox, and probably the forum if you impersonate someone, especially staff. Using someone else's name is wrong, and you will be punished for it, no warning.

Proper grammar.
We expect our users to use as good of grammar as possible. We can't technically ban you for not capitalizing, and using periods... but it makes people mad. And, just to let you know, if you write like a 5 year old would write, people are gonna talk to you like you're a 5 year old. They're gonna think you're stupid, and they're probably not gonna talk to you. But, it's ultimately your choice how you want people to think of you.

Respect other users!
Treat people like you want to be treated. I don't care if you've been here forever, if they're new, if they're not as smart as you, if they don't have the cool pets like you, or if they don't like the same things as you. Respect them! Treat them like you want to be treated. If you're a jerk to people, people are gonna be jerks back... and hey! All we have are a bunch of jerks, and the world dies because everyone's mean.

What is drama?
The Cbox follows the same drama rule as the whole site. If you don't know what could be considered drama, please click this link and read up. That's all I got to say here.

Violence is bad.
Yea, I don't know what happened, but for a while, there was all this talk of killing and shooting and biting in the Cbox. It was dumb. Really dumb. Don't be violent, especially to new members, okay? Some people take things more seriously than others, and some people get offended easier than others. Playing is one thing, random carnage, is another.

If a staff member tells you to do something... DO IT!
Not listening to a staff member will get you in big trouble. Any staff member. If you don't know if someone's staff or not, listen anyway! This should be a given, but sadly, it isn't. Don't make staff mad. It's not smart, ever. Even if you don't think it's fair, don't complain about it, you'll end up in more trouble. If you feel a staff member was unfair, report it to me, or Darky. One of us will see to it that it is taken care of.

No mini-modding.
Okay, this is especially annoying when staff tries to deal with something. If someone breaks a rule... don't yell at them! If a staff member is there, trying to deal with a situation, leave it to them and go do something else. If you start going "Oh! Chatspeak! That's bad! Don't do that!" when a staff member has already reprimanded that person, it just makes everyone more upset. I understand people who break rules are frustrating, but you have no reason to say such things. It's as frustrating as the rule breaker a lot of the time. All you do by yelling is make the staff member and the rule breaker mad. And when rule breakers get mad, they usually break more rules.
(Now, if staff isn't around, please do tell someone to stop breaking a rule... but do not NOT NOT yell at them! And, immediately report the rule breaking to me, or another staff member.)

What if I break these rules?
Well, as I've been saying, you'll be banned. You will loose your privilege to post in the Cbox, pretty much. And, yes it is a PRIVILEGE.
If it is a serious enough offense, you could be officially warned. This means a little number under your name goes up. When it gets to 100%, or a high enough percent, you will end up banned from the entire site. You may also be banned from the HiddenCrossroads forum completely, without any warning percent for a single offense in the Cbox. This doesn't happen often, but it does happen.

I was new, I didn't know the rules!
I don't care how new you are. That's no excuse. It says above the Cbox to read this BEFORE posting. It explains everything. If you didn't read it, it's your own darn fault. I'm not gonna go easy on you because you're new. The rules are all here, in black and white. You break 'em, you suffer consequences. People who kill someone and say "I didn't know I wasn't supposed to." aren't getting off the hook because of it, and you aren't going to be unbanned because of it. READ THE RULES.