Version User Scope of changes
Apr 6 2012, 9:48 PM EDT StellaLani 3 words deleted
Mar 15 2012, 11:44 AM EDT StellaLani 2 words added

Changes

Key:  Additions   Deletions
Language IconThese rules should be seen as guidelines for the proper use of Wetpaint Central. If you can follow the rules listed below, you will be welcome.
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Section 1: Advertising, Spam, and Scams

A.
 No advertising includes:
  • Advertising another wiki.*
  • Advertising a product.
  • Advertising a service which does not relate to a valid Q&A topic regarding Wetpaint features.
  • Creating a thread to do any of the above.
  • Advertising in the form of a Writer Request.
  • Uploading photos advertising your product or service.
  • Sending a PM to do any of the above.
  • Joining with your sales pitch, company name, or product name as your username and doing any of the above.
  • Posting a link to a product or service's website.
  • Advertising in a language other than English.
If you post any of the above, your content will be deleted, and depending on the severity, you may be banned.
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There is zero-tolerance for advertising a product or service. If you do, you will be banned with no warning and the ad content will be deleted. This rule is retroactive. Anonymous users will be IP Banned.
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*: Advertising of another wiki is permitted on Wetpaint Classified Ads. (Wetpaint Classified Ads and Splats2 are the only Ads permitted on Wetpaint Central.)
  • It is also permitted on one's own profile, but not in the discussion forum.
  • It is also permitted in valid Q&A threads.
  • The Wiki must be a Wetpaint wiki.
    B. You are permitted to advertise your other Wetpaint wikis on your profile, but you are not allowed to advertise a product, service, or post links to any non-Wetpaint wiki. Wetpaint Central is for Q&A regarding Wetpaint services, functions, materials, and features, not for advertising.
    No advertising on your profile includes:
    • Listing the product or service.
    • Posting contact information for the provider of the product and/or service.
    • Posting pictures and/or brochures.
    • Posting any of the above in a thread on one's own profile or someone else's.
    • Using a company logo as your profile image to advertise.
    C.
    		 No Spamming includes:
    • Anything pertaining to the first rule of Wetpaint Central.
    • Sending messages to other members advertising a site, product, or service.
    Consequences:
    • One PM warning. If the warning is ignored or disregarded, then you will be banned.
    • If you continue as an anonymous user, then you will be IP Banned.
    D.
    		 No Scamming includes:
    1. Sweetheart scams.
    2. Money hoaxes.
    3. Posts saying that the reader will die after reading it.
    If you receive a Sweetheart Scam or Money Hoax, immediately notify a Moderator and we will take care of it.
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    Consequence:     Because of how despicable these scams are, if you send or post a Sweetheart Scam or Money Hoax, you will be immediately banned from Wetpaint Central.
    • If you continue as an anonymous user, then you will be IP Banned.
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    Section 2: Legal Issues/Terms of Use

    A.
    		 Wetpaint Central Rules - Wetpaint CentralYou must be 13 years or older to use Wetpaint:
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    The Children's Online Privacy Protection Act ("COPPA") specifically protects the privacy of children under the age of 13 by requesting parental consent for the collection or use of any personal information of the users. The Act took effect in April 2000. The Act was passed in response to a growing awareness of Internet marketing techniques that targeted children and collected their personal information from websites without any parental notification. The Act applies to commercial websites and online services that are directed at children. The main requirements of the Act that a website operator must comply with include:
    • Incorporation of a detailed privacy policy that describes the information collected from its users.
    • Acquisition of a verifiable parental consent prior to collection of personal information from a child under the age of 13.
    • Disclosure to parents of any information collected on their children by the website.
    • A Right to revoke consent and have information deleted.
    • Limited collection of personal information when a child participates in online games and contests.
    • A general requirement to protect the confidentiality, security, and integrity of any personal information that is collected online from children.
    		 This information has been taken from epic.org/privacy/kids/ and more information may also be found there.
    More information may also be found at http://www.ftc.gov/privacy/coppafaqs.shtm
    We are really serious about this issue, so if you are under the age of 13 you will need to wait until you turn 13.
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    Congress' intent in passing the Act was to increase parental involvement in children's online activities, ensure children's safety during their participation in online activities, and most importantly, protect children's personal information. Consequences:
    If it is discovered that you are under the age of 13, you will be banned because of the COPPA Act of 1997. No exceptions.
    B.
    Use the Contact Wetpaint feature if you are having any of these problems:
    • Copyright issues
    • Legal issues
    • Site Deletion issues
    Use the contact Wetpaint link at the bottom of every page, http://www.wetpaintcentral.com/contact
    Do NOT post any of the above in threads, as they cannot be answered or resolved in threads. Also, do not send any of those issues in the form of a private message. The only way those issues can be dealt with is by contacting Wetpaint directly.
    C. No posting inappropriate content anywhere on the site, including your own profile.
    This includes any and all pornography, racist, supremacist propaganda, virus websites, or miscellaneous adult language.
    Other offenses can also include:
    • Inappropriate profile icons.
    • Linking to inappropriate content.
    • Posting any of the above in the form of a keyword tag.
    		 Consequences:
    Any instance of this will result in immediate removal of material and appropriate Administrative action.*

    *Please note that anything posted on your profile can be removed by an Administrator, if necessary.
    D. No using the Wetpaint logo in your profile picture.


    		 Consequences:
    • An Administrator will ask you to remove the Wetpaint logo from your profile picture.
    • If you refuse to remove it, your profile picture will be removed by the Administrator.
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    Section 3: Discussion Forum Etiquette

    A.
    		 No Flaming includes:
    • Profanity (This also includes profanity in another language.)
    • Racial slurs.
    • Insults.
    • Mocking.
    • Overbearing and demeaning comments.
    • Disrespectful comments.
    • Boasting about your wiki in an obnoxious manner.
    • Pro or Anti-religious comments.
    • Sending a private message containing any of the above.
    Any thread that hosts a flame war will be locked or, depending on the severity of the comments, the thread will be deleted by one of the Moderators.
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    Also, please remember to not feed trolls. This will only make things worse since it is what trolls want. For more information, see Dealing with Flame Wars and Internet Trolls.
    		Consequences:
    • Locking or deletion of thread(s).
    • PM Warning.
    • Three Strikes...you're out. On the third warning, you will be banned.
    • If you continue as an anonymous user, then you will be IP Banned.
    B.
    		 No Irrelevant posts includes:
    • Posting a thread/post with:
      • Gibberish
      • Small Talk
      • Randomness
      • Profanity
      • Inappropriate comments
      • Ads (See Section 1)
      • Anything irrelevant to the functions, features, or materials of Wetpaint Central and/or the page they were posted on.
    • Replying to a thread and forcing it to go off topic by posting anything irrelevant to the original topic of the post, and/or to anything relating to Wetpaint Central, it's materials, features or functions.
    		 Consequences:
    • Your thread will be deleted with a PM warning.
    • If posting persists, you will be banned.
    • If you continue as an anonymous user, then you will be IP Banned.
    This is our definition of Irrelevant:
    Irrelevant    : Does not relate in any way, shape, or form to the topics, materials, functions, or features of Wetpaint Central.
    C. No posting of personal information includes:
    • Personal information of someone other than you.
    • Credit Card numbers from you or anyone else.
    • Phone numbers.
    • Web addresses other than Wetpaint wikis. (Note: This falls under Section 1.)
    • Home address and/or mailing address. This includes those of yourself and of other members,
    • Passwords belonging to you or anyone else.
    • Another member's age and/or date of birth unless that member has either given permission or posted it on their own profile.
    		 Consequences:
    • Immediate removal of information.
    • PM warning.
    • Depending on the severity, you may be banned.
    • If you continue as an anonymous user, then you will be IP Banned.
    D. No Begging includes:
    • Posting multiple threads requesting to be promoted on Wetpaint Central.
    • Sending multiple PMs to the Moderators requesting to be promoted on Wetpaint Central. This is considered harassment and will not be tolerated.
    • Please don't ask to be made a Moderator. If we feel you would make a great Moderator, we will talk to you.
    • Writer requests will be ignored since only Moderators and up need to edit pages on Wetpaint Central.
    		 Consequences:
    • Deletion of threads.
    • PM warning.
    • If PMs and/or threads persist, then you will be banned.
    • If you continue with anonymous posts, then you will be IP Banned.
    E. Just because you are anonymous does not mean you are safe.
    Moderators and up can see the IP Address of an anonymous user instead of the word 'Anonymous'. As such, if you break any of the above rules we can click on your IP Address and IP Ban you.
    If 4 or more of your threads are irrelevant and have to be deleted, you will be IP Banned.
    F.
    Please be patient
    Sometimes it can take one of us a while to respond to your post. Be patient and don't start constantly posting to make your voice heard.* It is borderline flaming. Furthermore, when you post a thread asking for help on an issue, don't post in an angry way or use INTERNET SHOUTING.
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    *If your question still isn't answered after a week, send a message to the Moderators with a link to the thread so that they can help you.
    G. No Forum Necromancy
    The definition of this term is: Posting a reply on a long-dead thread when your reply adds no value to the conversation.* More information may be found on this page: Forum Necromancy. This can be distracting to older members and serves no purpose. (This rule does not apply to featured threads.)

    *Bumping a thread if you haven't had your question answered is fine.    		 Consequences:
    • PM warning, and a warning in the resurrected thread, followed by the locking of the resurrected thread.
    • If the warning is ignored or disregarded, then you will be banned.
    • If you continue as an anonymous user, then you will be IP Banned.
    H. Rules for answering questions in the forum.
    You may help the Moderators answer questions on the discussion forum as long as your posts have value and are grammatically correct. Please do not use excessive text-speak or abbreviations (e.g. u, idk). Write in a way that is easily understandable to everyone.
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    Section 4: Abuse Of Features

    A.
    		 News Feeds
    The rules are:
    • No posting anything irrelevant to the news feed.
    • No posting profanity or flaming.
    • No advertising, scamming or spamming.
    • No gibberish.
    		 Consequences:
    If any comments include those, it will be deleted. Further consequences include:
    • A PM Warning. If it is disregarded or ignored, then you will be banned.
    B. Profiles are yours, but they are moderated.
    Please note that Administrators have the ability to use EasyEdit on another person's profile, so anything inappropriate can be removed.


    What you can do:
    • Post appropriate pictures of yourself.
    • Post fun facts about yourself.
    • Post links to your other wikis.
    • Display trophies and/or achievements.
    		 What you can't do:
    • Post pictures of another member without their permission.
    • Post nudity, sexual innuendos, propositions...etc.
    • Post any advertisements for a product or service.
    • Post any links to non-Wetpaint sites.
    C.
    		 Do not abuse the report page/photo/video button
    If you constantly report a page, photo, or video that has no questionable content in an attempt to distract the Moderators, this will be considered a form of harassment.
    Consequences:
    • PM warning, or depending on the severity, an instant ban.
    • If the warning is ignored, you will be banned.
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    Section 5: Moderation Issues

    A.
    		 Don't be afraid of the Moderators.
    Just because we are Moderators doesn't mean we don't have to follow these rules too. If a Moderator is breaking any of these rules, please notify another Moderator and/or CryingDove, the Administrator.
    We are here to help, not to intimidate.
    B.
    		 No Means No! includes:
    • Continuing to post irrelevant comments on another user's profile after they ask you to stop.
    • Coming back under a different username and persisting in any rule breaking.
    • Asking Moderators to unban you by posting multiple threads. (Note: If you were banned, it was most likely for a good reason.)
    		 Consequences:
    • PM warning.
    • Deletion of offending threads.
    • Ban or an IP Ban.
    C. No pretenders includes:
    • People creating an account with a name similar to a Moderator or Administrator, and then pretending to be one. Also, do not pretend you work for Wetpaint or add 'Wetpaint' to your user name when you are not a Wetpaint staff member.
    • Putting the Moderator badge in your profile icon.
    This will result in an instant ban.
    D. Moderators are not Gods.
    Even as Moderators we do have limits. We can not help out on a site taken over by a hacker, and we can not do anything different from what Moderators on other wikis can. We have absolutely no authority on any other wiki other than Wetpaint Central.
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    If the PM is replied to with understanding and/or apologies, you will be forgiven. If it is replied to with a retort, vulgar language, or threats to continue violating the rule, then you will bring on a potential ban on yourself.
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    The people with authority to give you a PM warning are listed below. If a person not on the list tries to issue a PM warning, notify a Moderator immediately.     Anyone can issue a thread warning.

    Below are the names of Wetpaint Central's Moderators and Administrators. You may send them a private message here on Wetpaint Central:
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    StellaLani
    rιмғαхe96
    x-wolfhunterBaby_Apple
    ben
    Tony_Wetpaint
    		 Naru2008
    CryingDove
    Losa78
    jeremy_wetpaintAdminbotAlexWeinstein
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    Note: These rules have been made specifically for Wetpaint Central only. They do not apply to any violations on another Wetpaint Wiki. However, don't assume that you can come here with excess baggage from other wikis and stay for very long.

    You are free to adopt these rules for your own wiki, but you will need to re-word some of the text to match your wiki's title and theme.