I. Forum Rules

A. Formal Terms

1. Intellectual property
Anything posted on the Duelist Central forum is considered Duelist Central's intellectual property, and may be used by The Duelist Central Forum toward publishing derivative works such as tutorials, articles, technical documentation, or books. Unless otherwise specifically agreed in writing under separate contract, The Duelist Central Forum is under no obligation to provide monetary or other compensation to providers of this content.

2. Copyright material
Copyrighted material is ineligible for inclusion on our forum unless the source is clearly stated and verified, preferably with a corresponding link to the original work.

3. Policy adjustments
The Duelist Central Forum rules and policy list may be adjusted by the site administrator at any time for any reason whatsoever, and is perpetually available for review in this section of the site. It is the end-user’s responsibility to keep current on whatever adjustments are made to the list.

B. Enforcement

1. Staff authority
The Duelist Central Forum moderators have absolute authority, and are granted unequivocal discretion at editing or striking any post for unsuitable language and otherwise objectionable content, or warning, restricting, and banning members as necessary.

2. Misconduct
This forum operates on a "two strikes" policy regarding misconduct. Should a member be warned of misconduct by any moderator, the second offense will result in banishment from the forum.

3. Appeal
Should you feel you have been treated unfairly by any Duelist Central Forum staff member, you may appeal to the forum administrator.

C. Inappropriate Content

1. Profanity
Keep profanity to a minimum. The best policy is to swear at websites rather than on them. Our bad words filter is minimal, and forum participants are automatically considered mature enough to exercise restraint in their language. Nobody should have to point out what language is over the line.

2. Objectionable links
Links to any site or web content considered unsuitable by the management of this website are forbidden. Moderators have full authority to use their discretion in determining the appropriateness of links or other content.

3. Unsuitable images
Posting or providing links to obscene images is forbidden.

II. Personal Conduct

A. Forum Use

1. Respect other countries
Remain courteous and respectful regarding other people's countries. Anything determined a deliberate slight or insult toward anyone's nationality will result in the member being permanently banned. This is a zero tolerance policy.

2. Multiple accounts
Multiple forum user accounts by the same person are forbidden. Should you ever wish to change your forum username, please contact the forum administrator.

3. Opinions and beliefs
Bear in mind how your opinions and beliefs are your own concern, right up until you openly voice them. Once voiced, they become everyone's concern.

B. Posting Cautions

1. Zero spam
Zero spam policy. We are all for helping people promote their web projects. However, if you are posting a link to your website just to drive traffic to it, your post will be declared spam and your link removed. This also holds true for posting links to any online voting system designed to provide weighting based on the number of hits.

2. Cross Posting
Cross posting (posting the same topic in multiple forums) is frowned upon to an amazing degree and is normally regarded as spam. Should you be uncertain of what constitutes cross posting, ask and a moderator will explain it to you.

3. Guest posting
We are far more interested in inspiring an active membership than we are with bloating the member base with dormant accounts. As a result, guest posting is enabled on this forum to allow people to test the waters and ask a few questions before committing to signing up for an actual forum membership. The terms and rules for guest posting are identical to those for registered members.

C. Disputes

1. Member disputes
Whenever possible, disputes against other (non-staff) forum members should be handled away from the open forum. If ever you have a particular problem with another forum member, please email or PM a moderator and describe the situation.

2. Disputes against staff
This forum operates with a clear chain of command and it shall be used for any member disputes against staff members. Challenging any Duelist Central Forum staff member on the public forum is regarded as the poorest of personal and professional courtesy, and will not be tolerated. Disputes against any general staff member (Moderators) should be addressed to the next highest up (Global Moderators), while disputes against Global Moderators of the site are to be handled by the Junior Administrator. Disputes with Administrators should rarely occur, but should they it will be handled by the other Administrative staff.

3. Reporting abuse
Abuse reporting should be as specific as possible. If there is an immediate or potential problem regarding what someone has posted in a public forum, please advise the moderator for that forum. For abuse of forum features (such as spam through the forum PM or email system), please contact the forum administrator.

III. Forum Protocol

A. Posting Courtesies

1. Posting links
Posting links to features or articles found elsewhere in the web is both expected and encouraged. However, please make an effort to provide a preliminary description, pertinent personal thought, or quoted excerpt from the link you are posting. Creating a new topic containing only a link with no description is both annoying and a potential security risk to end-users.

2. Image posting
Our forum allows the ability for users to place images in their posts. Any images posted on the board must be 500Kb or less in file size and of a physical size to fit comfortably within an 800x600 window without stretching the forum display or producing a bottom scrollbar. If your image is greater in physical size or file size than these limitations stipulate, please link to it instead while stating its type and file size (e.g. 230Kb JPEG, 200Kb animated GIF etc.).

3. Large files
If you post a link to page containing a large file (such as a large PDF, streaming media file, or something built in Flash), please describe the media type and file size.

B. Member Rights

1. Promotion Approval
Should your website be holding any special promotion or contest you are welcome to promote it on The Duelist Central Forum, although we do ask you to contact us first in order that we may gauge the suitability of your promotion and provide guidance as to the appropriate place to post it. Promotions posted without prior approval or by non-registered forum users will be treated as spam.

2. Account termination
Members may contact the forum administrator any time to request their member account be terminated for any reason.

C. Networking

1. Business alliances
The Duelist Central Forum is always prepared to discuss possible alliances for business or promotional purposes, although we ask to be contacted by email to discuss the matter privately rather than being expected to respond to such proposals on any public forum. All alliance proposals should be addressed directly to the The Duelist Central Forum Administrators.

2. About bartering
Bartering skills, products, and services between members is encouraged. However, the exchange must be equivalent and we reserve the right to determine what is considered an unbalanced trade.

3. Soliciting members
Solicitation. While members are encouraged to network with other members, using the resources of this forum either through private message or email to outright solicit the purchase of skills or services is forbidden. Members are advised to report any solicitation to the administration so we may determine intent and appropriate action. If you have an idea you would like to privately put forth to other members for a particular networking opportunity, we advise you contact us first so we may determine the suitability of your idea and provide guidance or endorsement where required.

IV. Board Settings

A. Personal Features

1. Signatures
Signatures may be added and adjusted in your user profile. Signatures must be 500 characters or less, may contain links provided they conform to our rules for posted links, and can contain images of appropriate size.

2. Using Avatars
Avatars are small images which appear directly under your forum username when posting. Default avatar size (in the avatar gallery) is 100x70 pixels, and max allowed avatar size is 100x100. Uploaded avatars cannot exceed 25Kb in file size.

3. Personal Photos
User profiles allow users to upload a personal photo if they choose. Uploaded photos must conform to our rules for objectionable content and are limited to 500x500 pixels.

B. Security and Privacy

1. Passwords
Users are responsible for keeping their passwords secure. If ever you think someone else may have obtained your password, contact the forum administrator to make arrangements to secure your member account. If you use a shared computer, make sure you log out of the forum after each visit so someone else cannot come along behind you and access your account.

2. Email address
Users are expected to maintain an accurate email address, otherwise they cannot be contacted regarding important updates by the forum administrator (such as announcements about member pruning or security issues), and will encounter validation problems when changing their contact information or password. Additionally, invalid email addresses cause undue server resources drain due to messages bouncing when members are notified via the PM system and when replies are made to subscribed topics. If any message is bounced back the user will be banned for 3 days. If another message is bounced back after the 3 day ban your account can and will be deleted.

3. PM system
The forum's Personal Messaging (PM) system is provided as a convenient method for members to contact one another and receive updates or other warnings from the management. Its use is subject to our rules governing spam and solicitation, and it is the member's responsibility to maintain their inbox and other PM folders. The PM system is unintended for legal correspondence between members, and The Duelist Central Forum cannot be held responsible for any inconvenience cause by data loss. Please read the VERY bottom for more PM information.

C. Forum Ranking

1. Staff ranks
The Duelist Central Forum's administration is setup as a chain of command. From lowest to highest, the staff structure operates like so:

- Moderators (Moderate certain forums)
- Global Moderators (Moderate the whole site)
- Junior Administrators (Moderate and police the staff)
- Administrators (Edit the site/Moderate.)

It is the member's responsibility to familiarize themselves with who occupies The Duelist Central Forum staff while having a working knowledge of the particular duties of staff members so they will know who to address regarding specific matters or concerns.

2. Privilege restrictions
Some forum privileges are restricted based on user level to help prevent abuse of certain board features.



*By joining Duelist Central you promise to follow these rules & not sue/take any legal action against us. We are not responsible of what goes on at this forum. We do have the ability to view pms sent back and forth through the members of Duelist Central. We will only go through these if we really need to or suspect illegal activity going on. Anything you say in a private message can and might be read by an admin.*