Terms of Service    Forums    Officials    Enforcement    Etiquette ForbiddenCove.com Terms of Service The FC Team - Updated 13 I 11 ForbiddenCove.com Forums Terms of Service (TOS) Every person is granted one ForbiddenCove.com forum account. A person is not permitted to have more than one account. Administrators (Admins) have the ability to find out if a person does have an excess account, and if such is discovered, a penalty can be issued. Registering an account is an acknowledgement that you intend to follow the rules and decorum of the ForbiddenCove.com (FC) forum. What follows are rules created by the FC Administration. The Administration reserves the right to alter, enforce, add, or waive any rules for any specific member at any time. Age Limit - 16 years or older ForbiddenCove.com is hosted in the United States and is therefore subject to all applicable laws and regulations therein. The Federal Government has created a set of regulations for websites, called the Children's Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA), that dictates how a website is run if said website caters to or includes users under 13 years of age. Additional information regarding COPPA laws may be found here. Websites that are COPPA compliant, among other things, must not collect without parental consent or make available any personal information, including names, locations and email addresses, of any user or member less than 13 years of age. Due to COPPA restrictions, and to also protect the liability of the owners and operators of ForbiddenCove.com, members must be at least 16 years of age. This is not a bendable rule. If you are under 16, (under 13 by law) we cannot and will not allow you to join or participate in our forum or website in its current setup. We are unwilling and/or unable at this time to change said setup. This includes a lack of physical services, such as a fax number, to accommodate COPPA compliancy. If an official or representitive of ForbiddenCove.com learns of a current registered user under the age of 16, that user's account will be summarily deleted. We also reserve the right to pursue international legal action against anyone who registers in violation of our Terms of Service. Rules for the ForbiddenCove.com Forums 1. There is no Flaming. Flaming makes for a negative atmosphere and it will not be tolerated. That means you should avoid yelling at and needlessly criticizing other members. 2. There is no Trolling. Trying to force someone into an argument it not allowed. 3. Unacceptable Material. No pornographic, sexually offensive, sexually explicit, or objectifying material. Simple rule. Administration judgment applies here. Sexually suggestive images will be heavily scrutinized. We'd like for our readers to be able to read the forum at work and at home without fear of retribution. Use the grandma test. If you don’t think your grandma would want to see it – don’t use it. 4. Post in the right forum. If it's about Pirate sets, post it in the LEGO Pirate Sets forum. Even if it's only humor, an observation, or angst, if it's about something that we have a forum for, post it there. Do not post something off topic because you think you'll get "better responses" in a particular forum. We know there are a lot a forums and it can be confusing to choose the right one to post in. If you are unsure, consult an Administrator or Moderator. 5. Do not post Off-Topic threads. Off-Topic threads are threads that do not directly relate to the LEGO Company, its' products (LEGO Bricks), LEGO Fan creations, LEGO Fan customizations, the LEGO Fan community at large, and the topics relating to the architecture, lifestyle, and sequence of events of Pirate history and Pirate-style fiction. Topics in question will be judged on or off topic by the Administration and/or Moderators, and if necessary, those topics will be locked. Users who frequently post Off-Topic threads with disregard to Administration and/or Moderator warnings will recieve disciplinary action. 6. Foul Language. Don’t use foul language on the FC system. We want FC to be kept clean, and that includes keeping a clean sounding forum. Most bad words are filtered out, but some have been overlooked. Just because a word is not filtered does not mean it is allowed. Use your judgment – we think you know what is right and wrong on a forum that 7 year-olds read. Do not double post. Posting two or more times in a row is not necessary. There is an edit button for all posts you make, and it should be used. 7. Partial Information. Do not post a topic with partial information. Don't post a topic with only part of the point you want to make and state that you will post the rest of your thought when X amount of people reply. That's a form of spamming and is not allowed. 8. Leaks. ForbiddenCove.com does not allow unofficial leaks of LEGO Company product information in our forums or chat before it has been publicly revealed by LEGO. For example: Scans of new catalogs and brochures made by LEGO are ok to link to while set images, information, and names stolen from a retailers database are not ok. 9. Respect those in authority here. The Administrators and Moderators here at ForbiddenCove.com work very hard for the LEGO Pirate community for little or no gain to themselves, so please respect their efforts. 10. Commercial Web Links. Any member who links to a non-LEGO related commercial site in their forum profile, posts, signature, or avatar, will be banned from ForbiddenCove.com. This action is necessary due to a large number of spammers linking to sites with inappropriate content. 11. Stupidity Clause. Any member who consistently and frequently posts in an immature way to the detriment of the ForbiddenCove.com community, and refuses to follow the Terms of Service after multiple warnings, can and will be banned from ForbiddenCove.com by the Administrative team. These violations are found below in the Forbidden Cove Forum Etiquette section. 12. No Religious Fervor. Keep your religious viewpoints and opinions to yourself. Do not post any religious inferences in your avatars or signatures. The Cove is not your pulpit. 13. Finally, read the all stickies in the Administration Forum. There are other rules and guidelines located there that are not mentioned here that you are expected be aware of. Roles of Officials Administrators: There are four Administrators of this site. Ben Ellermann (Architect), Nelson Yrizarry (BigDaddy) Troy Cefaratti (Mnementh), and Bluesecrets (Bluesecrets). Administrators each ‘own’ a portion of the website, and work to maintain it. Decisions affecting the entire site are made by consesus of all the Admins. We consider each Admin to be an equal member of the team. If a Admin makes a decision, do not go running to another admin looking to have the decision reversed – it’s not going to happen. Once an Admin issues a judgment, it is as good as written in stone should they want to stick to it. Moderators: Moderators will help in the enforcement of the Terms of Service, such as (but not limited to) moving or locking off-topic threads. When a Moderator issues a reprimand or a judgment, it is to be followed. A Moderator’s decision will hardly ever be reversed by a member of the Administration. Moderator decisions are not permitted to be reversed by another moderator, so don’t bother pursuing that avenue. Should you have a problem with a decision a Moderator makes, discuss it with the moderator, or an Administrator. Methods of Forum policy enforcement When a member violates these guidelines action can be taken. These are some (but not all) of the methods of action: 1. Reprimand by a Moderator or Admin. This is just a simple talking-to. It is basically a warning not to repeat the offending action. 2. Suspension. A break from posting because of a rule violation. Suspension can last anywhere from a few days to indefinite suspension. 3. Banning. Banning means that you are no longer invited to participate in the FC forum. Once a member has been banned it is permanent and cannot be reversed by anyone except the Administrator who preformed the banning. 4. Legal action. Legal action is not out of the question if property destruction occurs because of mischievous behavior such as hacking and virus sending. You can be traced in all the actions you perform, so think twice about doing anything serious. We have no problem with throwing a mischievous 16-year-old in jail should they cause damage. ForbiddenCove.com Etiquette Rules Descriptive Titles Use descriptive subject lines and research your post. It makes it easier for people to see what they do/don't want to read. Also, consider what forum your topic should be posted in. Be considerate of transfer speeds. HTML is currently disabled, but if it is enabled at a later date, the use of embedded objects, java and javascript are not welcome. Signature Images and Text Do not use overly large signature images. A signature image should be 100 pixels high by 500 pixels wide or smaller. Do not use many lines of text in your signature. If your signature would take too long to type individually at the end of each post, it does not belong on Forbidden Cove. Large Images in Posts Images in a post are limited to 400 x 400 pixels or smaller. Please do NOT include the image in your reply. Consider posting one image and linking to the URL for the rest of your images on sites like BrickShelf and Flickr. See this article from our sister site, Classic-Castle on how to create thumbnail image links in your posts. Emoticons, Punctuation, and Capitalization Excessive use of Emoticons, Punctuation, and Capitalization is an offense at ForbiddenCove.com Help us keep this clutter out of the forums so that all members of Forbidden Cove can enjoy reading threads. These provisions will help keep ForbiddenCove.com running quickly and efficiently. Forum Ranks The ForbiddenCove.com forums have various ranks which are based on post count. Creating meaningless posts to increase your rank can lead to permanent "Plankton" status. Occasionally a member of ForbiddenCove.com will be bestowed with a custom rank. This can be a blessing or a curse. Asking for a custom title may not be in your best interest. Be Humble Don't be snappy or a know it all. People don't appreciate such an attitude and it leads to a cold-feeling forum. Common Courtesy for Contests ForbiddenCove.com periodically hosts various building contests. If you choose to enter, it is your responsibility to read and follow the Common Courtesy Rules for Contests Congratulations! You made it to the end of the Terms of Service. You win our gratitude. We, the administrators of ForbiddenCove.com, thank you for your cooperation in following these rules and guidelines. Your cooperation makes ForbiddenCove.com a better place for everyone.  Home | Archives | Gaming | Events | Sets | How-to | Creations | Stories | Links | Contact  © 2008-2011 ForbiddenCove.com. Site design © Anthony Sava, Benjamin Ellermann, and Nelson Yrizarry. All rights reserved. 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