The warning system works on a percentage system where 0% is no warnings and 100% is banned. TFF uses a three strikes policy for official warnings. Each official warning is worth 34% and on your third you'll be automatically banned. Smaller warnings and larger warnings exist for matters that have a specific cause, like trolling, flaming and NSFW content. NSFW warnings never expire. All other warnings will expire after a set amount of time.
A brief description of the rules are followed by a more in-depth description, carrying explanations and examples. The brief description is intended to give you a quick understanding of the intention and meaning of the rule, but not fully explain it. Please read the full description afterward so you grasp everything. A links to the full descriptions are provided by clicking the header in the brief description. The links will navigate you down the rules to full description for your convenience.
Forum Rules Overview
Spam
A post that derails the discussion of a thread with unrelated information or too brief of a reply post that furthers the discussion.
Trolling
A sentence or post written with the express purpose of instigating a fight.
Flaming
A sentence or post written with the express purpose of verbally attacking, insulting or harassing a member.
Multi-posting
Two or more posts made by the same member in the same thread where the posts are contiguous.
NSFW Content
Adult or mature subject matter requiring you to be over the age of 13 to be viewable.
Illegal Content
Sentences or posts containing subject matter about hacks, illegal software, files, etc.
Ban Evasion
Creating a new account because your original account was banned.
Harassment
A continual trend of stalking, trolling, flaming or otherwise following another member when not welcome.
Back Seat Modding
A member telling any other member or mod what rule was broken and how it should be handled.
Necroposting
Posting in a thread that has not been posted in for more than two months.
Your Rights as Members
All members have certain rights and responsibilities. See full description.
Spam
1. Spam: Spam is any post that derails the original discussion of a thread or is too short to provide a meaningful answer to the discussion. While rarely seen, it is possible for a two paragraph post to be spam if it has nothing to do with the thread. Conversely, it is possible for a single sentence not to be spam if it answers the question of the thread in a way that is meaningful. Posting a line "Thanks for the help" would be more acceptable than simply saying "That's cool". It may be only the difference of a couple of a words, but that little extra can pull it away from spam.
Please remember that some spam is not considered a problem. While generally we don't want spam to happen, as the staff we understand it is not completely avoidable. Managing the amount of spam is what we strive rather than completely removing it. The rule exists to remain and guide in how to prevent it. The enforcement of the spam rule should be handle in cases of repeat incidences after previous due warnings through PM or posts have been sent. Warning for spam should be a last case effort to prevent repeated short term incidents.
Example of Spam:
Original Post: What is your favorite FFVII character?
Spam Post: Cloud is awesome!
Reason this is spam: While answering the question indirectly, as the poster clearly likes Cloud, it is still spam. The reason is because there is nothing meaningful in the post. The person is not expressing why Cloud is his or her favorite or what makes the character 'awesome'.
How to avoid making it spam: These types of questions typically have short answers, but you do need to provide more content in your post. Explaining yourself is often critical to changing a spam post into a real post.
1.1 Advertising: Advertising is a subset of spam, being that it is created with no purpose other than to be read and direct someone away. Advertising is not a discussion or question and the purpose of the forums is to be a discussion, debate, theorize, submit works, ask questions, etc. All advertising made as a post will be promptly deleted by the staff.
Examples of Advertising: Personal websites asking to be viewed, other forums asking to be viewed, sale of product and sale of MMO in game money/property.
1.2 Exemptions in Advertising: Posting and creating threads for the purpose of advertising is wrong. However, you are allowed to make use of your signatures for the purpose of advertising. If you wish tell others about your own forums or website, the signature is the place that you should be doing it. Advertising the sale of product and sale of MMO in gane money/property is still forbidden.
1.3 Relevant Advertising: Posting Final Fantasy related news from a news site or gaming news is not considered advertising as it can provide discussion within the thread and forum. If it is relevant then it is allowed.
1.4 Padding your Post Count: Another term for this is "Postwhoring", which is the act of posting a high volume of replies across multiple threads in a short period of time for the express purpose of increasing one's post count. This is another subset of spam and will be warned across a broad scale of posts rather than an individual. Typical posts of this sort will be short and provide very little meaningful response to the discussion.
1.5 Padding Character Limit in Posts: There is a requirement of 30 characters for making a post or thread. Any willful act of adding unnecessary characters or spam to meet the necessary requirements. Examples of methods are repeating the same character, repeating words, using html or url to hide characters to meet the requirement, etc.
1.6 Warnings for Spam: A spam warning is worth 5% and will expire in 90 days. Repeated spam offenses by the judgment of the staff can become official warnings.
Trolling
2. Trolling: Trolling is posting with the intention of instigating a fight. These are posts mean to start flaming or cause someone else to engage in combative nature with someone else. Trolling will often lead into flaming. If flaming ends up being the result of a troll post, any warning that might have been trolling will be superseded by flaming warnings.
2.1 How to respond in a trolling situation: As a member that is the target or a member seeing trolling occur your only responsibility is to report the post. Do not engage the member or you will likely be subjected to warnings as well. The only way not to be warned is not to interact with the individual trolling.
2.2 Rights and responsibilities of members: When trolling occurs it is your responsibility to report it immediately. If you see trolling going unchecked or ignored by the mod of the forum send a PM to the S-Mod or Admin. Trolling is a serious issue and no member in the forum deserves being subjected to it. We can't see all actions that occur in a timely manner. So we rely on you, the members, to help us in reporting incidents that occur.
2.3 Trolling warnings: A standard trolling warning is 10% for 90 days, but the staff is within their rights to make official warnings for trolling if deemed to fit the situation.
Flaming
3. Flaming: Flaming is a direct verbal or visual attack on someone with the intention to insult, belittle or discriminate. In addition, carried under flaming is any action to mob a member, mock members or target members. Ganging up as well as individual acts are all considered flaming and will be warned equally. Flaming has been expanded to encompass less direct attacks on members.
3.1 Ganging up: Ganging up and attacking, teasing, mocking or discriminating a single individual or group of individuals is also flaming. If a member makes a mistake is it not your right to make fun of the mistake or member. These acts must be reported just like any other action of flaming.
3.2 How to respond in a flaming situation: Just like with trolling, as a member that is the target or a member seeing flaming occur your only responsibility is to report the post. Do not engage the member or you will likely be subjected to warnings as well. The only way not to be warned is not to interact with the individual flaming.
3.3 Rights and responsibilities of members: Similarly with trolling, when flaming occurs it is your responsibility to report it immediately. If you see flaming going unchecked or ignored by the mod of the forum send a PM to the S-Mod or Admin. Flaming is a serious issue and no member in the forum deserves being subjected to it. We can't see all actions that occur in a timely manner. So we rely on you, the members, to help us in reporting incidents that occur.
3.4 Flaming warnings: A standard flaming warning is 15% for 90 days, but the staff is within their rights to make official warnings for flaming if deemed to fit the situation.
Multi-posting
4. Multi-posting: Multi-posting is two or more posts in contiguous order in a thread. When you feel you need to add additional content to your post after you have already posted, the "Edit" button in the lower right corner of your post is available to you. Using the edit button will open the post up for changes or additions. It is possible to also go advanced with the edit and it will open into a new page for further options.
4.1 Exemptions to multi-posting: If you are waiting for an answer and there has been no response in the thread after two or more days, posting again is allowed. Posting multiple times within minutes or hours is wrong, but a couple days in between is acceptable.
4.2 Exemptions to multi-posting: If you exceed the character limit of a post it is allowed that you can post a second time after yourself immediately to finish the post. Also certain forums like the RP, Literature and Journal forums allow multi-posting without any sort of limit.
4.3 Multi-posting warnings: A multi-posting warning is 10% for 90 days.
NSFW Content
5. Not Safe for Work (NSFW) Content: NSFW content is all adult or mature content that would require the age of the viewer to be over 18 to see. In addition to this restriction, subject matter that is not suitable for the ages 13 and younger is prohibitted. TFF remains a family friend environment and as such subject matter that would not be suitable for family to see is also forbidden.
5.1 Examples of NSFW Content: Nude images or videos, artistic or otherwise are not allowed. Lingerie and swimwear are also considered NSFW, as well as revealing clothing, explicitly provocative or suggestive positions, explicit text or description and explicit imagery or text.
5.2 Actions by Staff: For instances of nude, pornographic, or explicit content the member will be immediately warned without notice or pre-warning and the content will be deleted. For instances of minor infractions, meaning everything else, the staff will inform the member of his or her offense and request it be removed. Failure to comply will result in a warning and deletion of the content. Repeated failings of minor infractions will result in immediate warnings with no prior notice.
5.3 Exemptions: There are none. There is no place on TFF that is exempt from this. Any requests for such a place to be created will be denied. Personal albums and private groups are not exempt from this rule like any other rule. All parts of TFF are subject and will be enforced. Retroactive warnings for this will occur as well, these acts never expire.
5.4 NSFW Warnings: A standard NSFW warning is 34% and never expires. It will remain with you forever and no amount of repeal will have it removed.
Illegal Content
6. Illegal Content: Illegal Content includes things such as plots of terrorism, discussion of hacks, cracks, warez and other illegal content. Posting cracked software, ROMs, illegally downloaded songs, torrents are all part of this.
6.1 Exemptions: Game mods are allowed to be discussed and linked, provided that the game's End-User Liscence Agreement(EULA) allows modifications. This would primarily include PC games where mods have been made to allow players to change or edit their gaming experience.
Examples of games where the EULA does not permit modifications include both Final Fantasy XI and Final Fantasy XIV. Any modifications to these games is a violation of the contract you agree to(EULA) and therefore considered illegal content.
6.2 Illegal Content Warnings: Illegal Content Warnings are 5% and last for 90 days, in general they are part of the spam warning.
Ban Evasion
7. Ban Evasion: This is when your original account is banned and you make a new account so that you can continue to post in the forum. The staff had a reason for banning you and evading the ban is against the rules. Any new accounts made to circumvent the ban will be banned without any warning.
7.1 Multiple Accounts: If a member is found to have more than one account, all secondary accounts (or the account the came after the first account in join date) will be banned immediately. No member should have a reason to have more than one account.
7.2 Exemption to Multiple Accounts: Administrators and Forum Designers may have a secondary account for the means of testing or working on new systems.
7.3 Warnings for Ban Evasion and Multiple Accounts: There are no warnings, the only action is banning. These will be permanent bannings.
Harassment
8. Harassment: Harassment is the act of stalking, following, tracking or the unwelcome presence of another member. Harassment is in part an extension of flaming and trolling, but scaled up to long-term repeated offenses. Acts of harassment require several examples of specific instances to be reported otherwise it is trolling or flaming. If someone asks for you to leave him or her alone, politely respect his or her wishes and do not continue to pester the person.
8.1 Harassment warnings: Harassment warnings will be official warnings that will be 34% and last for 90 days. The staff has the right to warn for individual instances of trolling and flaming or harassment if they deem it from the situation.
Back Seat Modding
9. Back Seat Modding: Back Seat Modding is the act of a member, who is not a mod, s-mod or admin, informing another member that he or she just broke a rule of the forums. It is not the place of members to tell others that they are breaking rules. Your only responsibility is to report the action and ignore it. Do not take matters into your own hands, as you will be warned for it.
9.1 Past Modship: Having been a mod, s-mod, or admin in the past does not give you the right to inform others what they did wrong. You are now just a member and no longer have the responsibility of handling the situation personally. Your only responsibility is to report it and ignore.
9.2 Back Seat Modding warnings: Most incidents will be handled as a pre-warning, repeated and excessive acts of breaking this will result in an official warning of 34% lasting 90 days.
Necroposting
10. Necroposting: Necroposting is posting in a thread that has not been posted in for more than two months. If a thread has remained inactive for that long then do not post in it, a mod will close it. At that point it is allowed to create a new thread if you wish to discuss the matter. Reading old material is welcome and encouraged, but do not post in it. The correct action is to make a new thread to talk about the subject if wish to revive it.
10.1 Exemptions to Necroposting: If a thread is marked "Important" next to it then there is no limit on how old is too old to post in it. You are always allowed to post at any time no matter how long it has been since the last post if the thread is marked "Important".
10.2 Exemptions to Necroposting: There are some forums where it is allowed as the threads are a continuation of an ongoing purpose. These are mostly for threads that do not exist so much as a discuss but as a presentation. Examples of such forums would be the Journal Forum, Literature Forum (for personal written works, not discussions), Roleplaying Forums and Art Forum.
Your Rights as Members
11. Rights as members: It is your responsibility as a member of the forum to read and understand these rules. It is not your responsibility to enforce them, only to report when someone has broken the rules. The report button is located on the lower left corner of the post under the member profile for that post. Each post has one. Please use these whenever you see a violation.
11.1 Report Function: The way the reports work is that when you issue a report it is sent to the moderator of the forum. If the forum has no moderator it is then sent to the staff in general to see. So the reports will always make it to someone. But remember that for reports made in forums with mods the mod will be the only one that sees the report. So if a report goes ignored by the mod send a PM to a S-Mod or Admin as they will not have seen the report.
For breaking above rules you may be warned/banned appropriately!