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Rules of Conduct

Stratics Rules of Conduct

  Stratics Rules of Conduct  

Overview

The use of our website(s) constitutes acceptance and agreement to our Terms of Service (ToS) and our Rules of Conduct (RoC); we reserve the right to update these documents at our sole discretion. While we will do our best to inform users of changes to these terms, the most recent updates are always publicly accessible via a link in the footer of our website(s), therefore, it is your responsibility to ensure you are familiar with our ToS and RoC, and to abide by those terms.

Should you violate our ToS or RoC, we reserve the right to terminate any and all accounts belonging to you without prior notice. While typically our first preference is to advise users of inappropriate behavior, be aware that flagrant, egregious or repeated violations of our RoC may result in an immediate ban without warning.

Note that our failure to enforce this policy for whatever reason shall not be construed as a waiver of our right to do so at any time.

The following are the goals upon which these Rules of Conduct was based:

  • Provide a respectful, friendly, and inclusive atmosphere for our visitors and community members to engage.
  • Protect and ensure the privacy of our community members and guests.
  • Comply with existing local and US laws.
  • Encourage the responsible use of our forums and website(s), and discourage activities which disrupt our community and/or reduce the value of our website(s) for our members.
  • Encourage the freedom of expressing and exchange of (on-topic) information in a mature and responsible manner.

As a member of our community, you are required to participate responsibly. If you have any questions regarding our RoC, please contact any of our forum moderators via PM or email.

Insofar as a user's First Amendment right to free speech and how it applies to our website(s), please refer to this article: What exactly is freedom of speech and how does it apply to the internet?

Due to the changing needs in moderation on Stratics, the following rights are reserved:

  • Stratics reserves the right to issue warnings or bans on a situational basis for items not explicitly covered by these Rules of Conduct.
  • Stratics reserves the right to update and modify these Rules of Conduct without prior notice.

Violations of the Rules of Conduct

Be aware that our Rules of Conduct are not designed to cover every situation we may encounter. We may take action issue a warning, ban your account(s) and/or IP addresses, lower your post count, delete/edit your post(s)/thread(s), etc. if we determine your conduct on Stratics.com is counterproductive to our RoC's principle guidelines.

  • Warnings by moderators and administrators must be followed at all times.
    • You may not openly discuss warnings, thread locks, or bans publicly without the consent of a member of the Stratics Leadership Team.
    • You may not create new threads to discuss locked topics without consent from a moderator or administrator.
    • You may not create or use another account to evade a temporary or permanent ban.
    • You may not create or use an alternate account in a manner intended to imply you are more than one person.
    • Bans can only be reviewed and overturned by members of the Stratics Leadership Team.
  • Stratics employs a progressive discipline system based on a user's warning history and the severity of their violations. Details of this progressive dicipline policy can be found at our Progressive Discipline Help Page. While we try to err on the side of leniency, especially with infrequent offenders, some violations may result in faster discipline progression or immediate permanent ban depending on severity.

    The following activities have been broken down into categories. Please click the buttons below for each category and review their content carefully as all users are expected to know and follow the Rules of Conduct at all times while on Stratics.

    Trolling, Personal Attacks, and Harassment

    Trolling, personal attacks, and harassment of other community members serve no purpose other than to anger, generate animosity, and discourage engagement on the site. As such all members of Stratics shall not:

    • Troll or otherwise badger, or abuse, other users of Stratics (including staff members), other posters, visitors, and VIPs from development teams.
      • Trolling is defined as: To make a deliberately offensive or provocative online posting with the aim of upsetting someone or eliciting an angry response from them.
      • Personal attacks are defined as: The making of an abusive remark on or relating to one's person instead of providing evidence when examining another person's claims or comments.
    • Engage in abusive use of the Report button in order to attempt cause action to be taken against another poster, without justification.
      • Baiting is defined as when a user trolls an individual for the purpose of eliciting a negative response.
      • In the event a user reports a post that is a reaction to a troll or personal attack (baiting) the reporting party issued, the reporting party will receive a double weighted warning.
    • Start threads for the purpose of posting derogatory comments or opinions about any user of Stratics.
      • Civil, tactful, constructive criticism of a game, game mechanic, or on site practice is allowable so long as it remains impersonal.
    • Continually attempt to derail or redirect a thread off topic.
    • Make accusations or publicly air disputes or grievances. Such public accusations can not be resolved on the forums and serve only to stir animosity, which negatively impacts the community as a whole.
      • You may not make public accusations of misconduct against or about any other user of Stratics, staff members, EMs, other players, developers, or guilds.
        • While you may discuss in-game problems in general terms, these should not be written in a way that makes concern(s) identifiable to any individual(s). Disputes or grievances should be taken to private channels; if you need clarification as to the proper channels please contact a moderator or administrator.
        • Attempts to dodge this rule through pointed implications, or veiled accusations may at the discretion of the moderation staff be considered a personal attack and action taken accordingly.
      • Make or imply threats of physical or mental harm against any other user, users, or individual(s).

    Content

    Content posted on Stratics does not grant Stratics ownership of the content. Stratics does however reserve the right to edit, or remove content posted on our website(s). The following types of content are not allowed on Stratics:

    • Posts containing content containing profanity or attempting to bypass the software based profanity filter.
    • Posts containing or linking to pornography or other explicit material.
    • Posts containing or linking to information concerning or relating to the execution of bugs or exploits in a way they can be reproduced.
    • Post or link to content or engage in conversations which are discriminatory or derogatory in nature. Examples of this are:
      • Content which is derogatory in nature aimed at defaming or lobbying against people of a specific culture, religion, gender, sexual orientation, race, or nationality.
      • Off color jokes based on stereotypes.
      • Use of racial or ethnic slurs.
    • Posting or linking to 3rd party game related software and utilities not authorized for use by any title supported on Stratics, or images from such.
      • Examples of this third party content include but are not limited to:
        • Script Engines
        • Emulation Software
        • Speed Hacks
        • Software that facilitates game client modification
    • Posts containing or linking to content which violates an NDA agreement with any organization.
      • Stratics reserves the right to assist and disclose user information to appropriate 3rd parties on request concerning NDA breeches.
    • Posts containing or linking to pirated or otherwise illicitly acquired copyrighted content.
      • Stratics reserves the right to assist law enforcement and/or damaged parties in the investigation of illegal usage of copyrighted materials, including releasing user information.
    • Posts containing or linking to a virus or other malicious software which may harm another users computer.
    • Posts linking to any 3rd party site which engages in real money transactions (RMT), which are not authorized by the Stratics Leadership Team.
      • For the purpose of this provision, the Stratics Leadership Team currently only authorizes linking to the Origin Store and the Shroud of the Avatar Store.
    • Posting of spam content is prohibited, spam is defined by Stratics as:
      • Excessive off-topic threads.
      • Repeatedly posting nonsensical messages.
      • Flooding the forum or a thread with similar messages.
      • Post-count farming.
      • Messages without content.
      • Spreading out a single message into multiple posts rapidly.

    Trade Forum Rules

    In order to ensure that all users of the various trade forums have a fair, competitive opportunity to present in-game items for sale, specific rules for the trade forums have been created as an addendum to these Rules of Conduct. You should review and view these rules on the Trade Forum Rules page.

    Privacy

    Stratics takes the privacy of its users seriously. In order to support and protect user privacy:

    • You may not post or distribute chat logs or the contents of private conversations/IM threads/SMS messages unless the participants of those conversations have given their express consent for you to do so.
      • Private messages sent through or posted on Stratics are still subject to the Stratics Rules of Conduct and Terms of Service. Stratics reserves the right for the Senior Leadership Team to review any reported conversations sent through our private message system as needed to ensure context of reported violations.
    • You may not post any form of real life information of another user on Stratics.
      • Examples of real life information include name, address, IP addresses, phone numbers, IM contact information, un-publicized email addresses, employment or financial information.
    • You may not openly discuss warnings, thread locks, or bans publicly without the consent of a member of the Stratics Leadership Team. This includes posts and threads currently under moderation.

    Prohibited Activities

    Stratics users may not use our website(s) to engage in any of the following activities:

    • Conduct any commercial activities on Stratics:
      • RMT or selling or trading virtual goods or services for any real world currency / real life goods or services for virtual currency.
      • Contracting to or hiring other users for out of game activities paid with in-game currency or items.
      • Contracting to or hiring other users for in-game activities paid for with any real world currency.
      • Sale or trade of game time or other game codes.
      • Sale or trade of game accounts for any game is prohibited.
    • Engage in any activity which would be in violation of the laws of the United States of America, the States of New York and Illinois, where our servers are located, and the State of Washington where Gamer's Gambit, LLC. is registered.
    • Engage in any malicious activity through the use of the services provided on Stratics.
    • Engage in real-life political or religious discussions anywhere on Stratics or associated properties.

    Language Restrictions

    English is the predominant language used on Stratics and it is preferred posts be composed in English. Posts in other languages are subject to the same rules, and if translations imply or reveal that a poster is attempting to evade the rules by posting in another language, the infraction will be treated more severely.

    Site and User Account Security

    In order to protect both the site and the information of our users, the following activities are strictly prohibited:

    • Accessing or attempting to access the accounts of other users.
    • Sharing your Stratics account information with other individuals.
    • Exploiting or attempting to exploit bugs, vulnerabilities, or loopholes in our systems or software, whether they are disclosed or undisclosed.
    • Allowing others to access your user account:
      • Users are responsible for the security of their account information.
      • Accounts may not be transferred, loaned, or given to other users.
      • Users are responsible for any content posted by their accounts.

    Username Limitations

    User Names should not:

    • Be the name of a famous or infamous individual from history.
    • Be used for the purpose of marketing or advertising any 3rd party organization or website.
    • Contain or phonetically represent any derogatory word, phrase, or otherwise violate any portion of the RoC or ToS, or attempt to bypass profanity filters.
    • Be created intentionally or otherwise to impersonate another individual.

    Usernames should be unique and tasteful. Stratics staff may request a user choose an alternative name if their username is found to be offensive or otherwise violate these Rules of Conduct. On failure to comply with this request, Stratics reserves the right to change a username to bring it into compliance.

    Please be aware that users may request one (1) username change for the lifetime of their account. Any additional requests will be denied.

    Signature Limitations

    Signatures used on Stratics must conform to acceptable standards:

    • Signatures may not contain more than 6 lines including blank lines.
    • Signature images may not be larger than 650px wide and 150px tall, with a maximum file size of 250kb.
    • The signature must not violate any portions of the Stratics Rules of Conduct.

    Disputes or Questions

    If you wish to dispute an action or ask for clarification of any portion of these Rules of Conduct you may do so by emailing [email protected].

    Effective date: 04/04/2016
    Updated 11/14/2016

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