1.) Do not attack posters simply because you don't agree with what they are saying. This is by no means to say you can't disagree with them, but if you do, back it up with an intelligent and well thought out reply. This is not a forum for children. Do not act like children calling each other names on the playground, or you will be removed. If you disagree with someone so strongly that you feel the need to call them stupid, please don't. Do not attempt to bait them. If you feel they are violating rules with their actions, please point it out to the staff, not the rest of the board. We may or may not agree with your concern, but we'll be happy to listen, investigate, and discuss. On the other hand, though, please do not harass us every time someone makes a snide remark. This isn't a school yard.

In a perfect world, we'd all get along. But let's be realistic. That's not always going to happen here. People will always fall into the name-calling trap. This is acceptable, to a point. It happens in mature conversation, even though it perhaps shouldn't. We're not going to come down on you like the Gestapo every time you toss out a jab or whatnot. However, remember that the staff reserves the right to determine what is acceptable amount of name calling, and what is just a particular person(s) conducting themselves inappropriately. It also should be pointed out that text messages do not carry tone and inflection. Sarcasm, for example, can very easily be taken out of context since there is no tone to indicate that you are in fact being sarcastic.

2.) Threads about politics and religion, while acceptable on the board, should be broached with caution. Think before you type, and do not attack anyone's religion, or political standing. Discuss it. Voice your opinion as to why you agree or disagree, but do not attack others over it. Many times people will use the theory 'Its my opinion, and I have the right to it, so **** you.' Well, while its true you have the right to have that opinion, belief, or whatever, the person you're disagreeing with has just as much right to hold the opinion he/she has. Discussion is good, but please be conscious of the difference between rational discussion and irrational fighting.

3.) SPAM : How to deal with SPAM? The occasional pointless post is alright, and often times they somehow evolve into decent discussions. However, when all you're doing on a regular basis is posting pointless garbage like 'I had Taco Bell for dinner,' it becomes SPAM. And nobody cares. It detracts from the intelligent reading in other posts, and encourages more SPAM. So cut it out. If we see you SPAMming up the place, we'll let you know. If we do, think about changing your posting style, because we're talking to you about it for a reason. If you have questions about your SPAM level, don't worry, we'll inform you politely, the first time that you're called up for doing it. We understand that it's possible to SPAM and not really realize it, and that's why we bring it to your attention. If it continues beyond that, however, we'll take other actions as we deem necessary to the overall well-being of the board.

This is a message board, NOT a Instant Messaging utility. Do NOT post if you don't have anything of importance to say. Post only if the your post can further develop the topic. You do NOT have to reply to every single thing.

4.) If you have a problem with someone, please bring it to the attention of the staff, as opposed to making the message board your private battlefield. PM one of us, any of us, or all of us. We're here to deal with that stuff, and to make EVERYONE'S time here pleasant. Now, if you PM us and say, for example 'bob sent me a threatening pm make him stop please I didn't do anything to him so do your job and ban him or something' I can tell you right now we're not going to pay nearly as much attention to it as we would if you bothered to type it out, grammatically and spelled more or less correctly, as well as including details of said threatening PM. We're not going to ban Bob just because you say so. We will, however, investigate the situation, and we'll be talking to Bob, so we'd better not find out that you sent a threatening PM right back, or instigated the situation. And again, don't hassle us with every little thing. Stop and think' is this actually something that needs to be handled, or is it something I can just ignore' If you ignore it and it goes away, great! If it becomes a consistent problem, then its time to get us involved.

5.) Do not attack or insult posters just because you personally don't like them. Just don't do it. At all times, remember there are probably people who don't like you, and we're not going to tolerate that either, so don't do it. 'Attacking' or 'insulting' others also covers a broad group of things, so use common sense before you post something that might be construed as an attack.

6.) Listen to the staff when we tell you something. Pay attention to what we tell you. We're not just typing to hear our keyboards clack. We're here to help you, but we want to have a good time as well, and when we're being ignored, we have to deal with it, and that's not fun for any of us.

7.) We also reserve the right to escalate you to any of the consequence stepisodes at any time for major issues, such as sexual harassment, racism, or anything we deem threatening to the well being of our community.

Consequences for abusing the guidelines

This is how we're going to be handling things from here on out. In the past, we've just tried to gently nudge people in the right direction. Sometimes that works, and that's great. But many times, it doesn't. So, this is the system we're adopting for handling the larger problems, such as abusive posters. For most of you, this won't affect anything, or force you to change your posting styles. This will however, force those people who can't play well with others to work towards being part of the community.

1.) Official warning ' Basically, we'll point out what you did that causes us concern in a PM. We can discuss it, and see what happens. Whatever the case, you'll get a warning from us, and a request to cease and desist actions like this.

We'll let you know in the PM if its an official warning, or just a casual 'Cut it out.' People slip or make mistakes all the time, us included. We're not going to be tossing out official warnings left and right just when situations warrant it.

Please don't think however, that just because the warning isn't an official warning, that its an excuse to continue your behavior. If we send you something like 'Hey Bob, you've done an awful lot of SPAMMING lately' knock it off, will ya,' that's a polite way to let you know that you might be heading for trouble, and it would behoove you to take it to heart.

On the other hand, if you see 'Official Warning: Bob, you've been warned before about SPAM, but you continue to ignore our requests to stop,' then you can be sure the next incident will result in further action taken.

2.) 3 Day Suspension ' If you continue to break rules, or just make a pain of yourself, we're going to remove you from the site for a few days to cool off.

3.) 7 Day Suspension ' If you come back, and still don't get it, we're going to give you a longer vacation.

4.) 1 Month Suspension ' This is pretty much it. If you don't get it after this, you'll be removed permanently.

SIGS: All sigs bigger than 400 x 400 pixels are forbidden from now on.

Reason for this rule.

There ar more sig's on the forum than text. Every page you open there are way out of line sigs.

We as staff think that we need to put a stop to this.

If your sig is to big it will be removed by the admins. If you set it back again you will get a warning for not listening.

We will also remove sigs with URL's in them, since we ar not an advertizement agent.

That's it. Please feel free to PM any of the TCA Staff if you have questions, concerns, comments, or complaints. We're here to help.

Thanks!

TCA Staff

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