Southperry.net FAQ

A warning is a yellow caution flag. It means the course of action you're currently on is either already a breach of the rules and you're being warned about it, or that you are skirting dangerously close to the edge of the rules and need to check yourself. Warnings are not punitive. They carry a zero point value. Warnings do not directly contribute toward banning. The number of warnings you've had about a specific area, or topic, or type of misbehavior, and how recently you've had them, determine whether or not you receive an infraction in future instances of the same behavior. In severe circumstances, or when the violation is obvious, intended and willfully wrong , a warning will be skipped outright and an infraction given instead. Ignoring a recent warning and doing the same thing again can also result in immediate escalation to an infraction.

An infraction is an enforced violation of the Rules & Regulations, a red flag, that has incurred points. Point accumulation eventually leads to banning. The more infractions you accrue, the more points you incur, the sooner you will lose account privileges. Thresholds for account suspension and point expiration can be found within the Rules and Regulations.

Point Value: 1 point Definition: "Posting a claim that someone is a hacker, troll, or mult. Or claiming that someone has been reported." Additional Comment: The following examples are exceptions to this rule: 1. This rule does not apply to moderators or administrators, 2. Reporting someone for trolling does not invoke this rule. The following examples do count: Saying something to the effect of "Reported for trolling", or saying someone lives under bridges or acts in the general manner of mythical trolls. This also includes comments similar to "Reported for X, enjoy your Y".

Point Value: 8 points (Temporary Ban) & thread/post deletion Definition: "The act of posting another website in order to bring more users to that website without any gain of Southperry.net." This includes but is not limited to referral links in any context. A referral link is defined as any link for which you obtain some benefit for people clicking, signing up at or similar. Additional Comment: See [url=http://www.southperry.net/showthread.php?t=26420]here[/url] for a clear definition of what an advertisement is.

Point Value: 16 points (Permanent Ban) & thread/post deletion Definition: "Posting an advertisement within an account's first ten posts." Additional Comment: See [url=http://www.southperry.net/showthread.php?t=26420]here[/url] for a clear definition of what an advertisement is.

Point Value: 1 point & thread deletion Definition: "Attempting to start any auctions." Additional Comment: Due to the ease of creating an account, it could lead to shill bidding which throws off the ability to have a fair auction. Also, there is currently no way to enforce the exchange of items after an auction is done.

Point Value: 2 points Definition: "The appearance of attempting to antagonize (including condescension) or incite a specific person or group of persons, or pushing the limits of the rules."

Persuant to the Children's Online Privacy Protection Act it is illegal to retain or record any private information of individuals under the age of 13 without express parental consent and supporting documentation. To this end we do not permit the registration of individuals under the age of 13 and anyone claiming to be 12 years or younger will be summarily banned to comply with this act.

Applies: Everywhere Definition: "Any post which generally crosses the line and the moderator uses his discretion to mark it." Additional Comment: Moderator's Discretion - See section III

Point Value: 2 points Definition: "A post that appears intended to attract drama or attention and nothing more. Includes He said she said scenarios and public disclosure of private conversations to attract attention."

Point Value: 2 points Definition: “A post with no purpose but to insult or causes a hostile action to another user or group of users, whether implied or direct.”

Point Value: 1 point Definition: "The act of posting the same thing over and over and over again consecutively, or any other unreasonably large volume of content with little to no actual value. This includes both text and images. Images of excessive size (more than 1mb cumulatively in a single post) also count as a 'large volume'."

Point Value: 1 point Definition: "Insulting [b]any[/b] forum needlessly or without justification." Additional Comment: "Sleepywood is stupid" is forum bashing. "Sleepywood is stupid because it has harsh moderation policies" is not forum bashing (justified). "Sleepywood is stupid because its users are stupid" is forum bashing (not justified).

Point Value: 16 points (Permanent Ban) Definition: "Posting that you are or you have hacked any online game." Additional comment: Known hackers from other forums are not banned on sight here. We, as admins and mods, cannot police every person that enters the site based on their behavior across the entire internet. We deal with what happens here, and that doesn't include extensive background checks on registering and lifelong monitoring thereafter. If a person is stupid enough to say, "I am a hacker", then he deserves a banning. This also includes people who post pictures where it's readily obvious the user hacked the game. Use of the Robin Hood Defense (hacking for the public good) will be determined by moderators.

Point Value: 16 points (Permanent Ban) Definition: "The act of attempting to convey someone else's identity regardless of the possible humor involved by creating similar identities to that person or by giving others false presence of who you are."

Inappropriate behavior is an extension of the moderator's discretion rule. Any behavior deemed inappropriate may be warned or infracted under this category. There are simply too many ways to misbehave to document and the vast majority of them are common sense not to do. These include basic internet etiquette, abuse of features, stalking other users and pretty much anything else that we thought we didn't have to tell you was wrong but you decided to do anyway because 'it wasnt listed'. Not having an explicit rules against it does not mean it's acceptable.

[B]Obscenity: Graphic/Suggestive Conversation[/B] Definition: Discussing any form of genitalia, sexual act (including masturbation and foreplay) or the mechanics of sex, whether real or imaginary, implied or explicit. Elaboration: This includes linking to pornography, pornography search results, escort services, erotic stories, "dating" websites, sexual advice or anything else a moderator deems obscene. Point Value: 2 [B]Obscenity: Graphic/Suggestive Imagery[/B] Definition: Displaying any human or anthropomorphic representation, real or imaginary, in a manner that sexualizes or eroticizes them. Elaboration: A suggestive image is one that includes but is not limited to nudity (display of genitals, female breasts, or buttocks), pornography, sexual toys, see-through clothing, "bubble pornography", sexual medication, strategically covered up nudity, "pushed up" breasts, undressing/posing in a seductive manner, close-ups of genitals/breasts/buttocks whether male or female. [B]Note[/B]: People quoting posts that violate this rule, thereby spreading the damage, are subject to deletion as well regardless of what else they include in the post, as well as 1/2 of the infraction points, rounded up. Response: Post Deletion + Point Scale Below Point Value: Sexy; Warning. Penetration/Genital/Bodily Fluid, 8 points, in between, 2-4 points at moderator discretion of severity. ***Non-Sexual material may also be deemed obscene if it's of a grossly inappropriate subject matter including portrayals of graphic or extreme violence, bodily functions or other unsuitable material at the discretion of the administration.

Point Value: Post deletion We do not support or condone the usage of proxies to bypass Nexon's game level IP filtering. Topics created asking for ways to achieve this will be closed and/or removed. Admission to using such means itself is not a crime, but explaining how, or asking how, are both illegal topics and should be avoided. *Note by extention this rule also covers asking for things like a KSSN or other bypasses to play a locale you are explicitly forbidden from playing.

Point Value: Thread deletion Applies: Everywhere except blogs and visitor messages. Only new and coming back threads are allowed in Amherst. Definition: "A thread made to announce that one is quitting or coming back to MapleStory or the forums." Additional Comment: We have thousands of members. While each and every member is important, we don't care who is or is not quitting. As a subset of these we also do not allow "I've just come back tell me everything that happened while I was away." You need to read the updates yourself to catch up.

Point Value: 2 points Definition: "The posting of false or misleading information in order to make someone view an fad video, picture, or other."

Point Value: 1 point Definition: "A post containing no value, including off-topic posts or posts which derail threads." With the advent of the "+1" system a "me too"/"i agree" post with no purpose or further elaboration of it's own in a discussion thread would also be considered spam as would "reaction" images. Additional Comment: The word "derailing" here implies a train wreck sort of situation, not necessarily that the topic of the thread changed. Minor side tangents are not a violation of this rule unless the whole thread is impacted, or a request to return to the primary topic has been made and ignored.

Point Value: 2 points Definition: "The posting of information regarding how-to's on private servers or hacking." Additional comment: You can discuss the effects of private servers or hacks on the community. You can also discuss the basic premise of how and why the hack works. You cannot discuss how to perform hacks or link to places where hacks can be found. You cannot discuss how to set up a private server.

Point Value: 16 points (Permanent Ban) Definition: "The attempt to do or solict any of the following: (1) Transferring characters or accounts, (2) Buying/selling hacks or access to hacks, (3) Interserver meso trading, (4) NX and/or real currency transactions (5) Meso Selling (6) Linking or advertising any site or service that violates any of these"

Point Value: 2 points Definition: "Making any inflammatory or antagonistic post." Additional Comment: Whether a post is actually inflammatory or antagonistic is up to the moderators determination of general public response, it doesn't particularly matter if [i]you[/i] didn't consider it such.

Point Value: 2 points Definition: "Posting, sharing, requesting links, or helping others find illegal content online. 'Illegal content' is defined as cracked programs/games/software and digital media (including, but not limited to TV Shows, movies, MP3s or any other digital format). This infraction also applies to those that link to places where a user could learn how to obtain warez."

Necroposting, the posting in and or bumping of, a thread that has been inactive for more than a month, is not directly a crime. A legitimate post that adds value to a thread is almost always fine. Actions that raise the dead needlessly are subject to being treated as spam.

Point Value: 0 points Definition: Profanity in general is not a crime. Bypassing the censored words is not a crime. Using profanity in a way that violates another rule, such as to flame someone, bait, troll or forum bash, is, and will be punished under the actually broken rule. The censors exist to reduce casual profanity in an amusing way, not prevent it completely. Every censored profanity has a corresponding nonsense word that censors into the real profanity so that if someone truly wanted to swear, they could do so with a little effort. Excessive profanity just for the sake of being profane will be dealt with as needed, and most likely considered a class of spam.