Legend:

Basic rules fundamental.

Usually about all sections.

Usually about link advertising sections.

Usually about requests and general sections.

Advanced rules specification.





General Board-wide

#1.1
Dock Penguins is aimed at a general audience. This means our site is
designed for 13 year olds and older. Everything must be aimed at this
age and older. Explicit, vulgar language, drug talk, nudity, *removed and so
forth is not allowed.


#1.2Do not mini-mod.
We would like to encourage and thank members to use the report button
but not add their own criticism. Impersonating a staff member is a
serious offense and may lead to a permanent ban.


#1.3
All publicly displayed messages are only limited to English. This
includes posts, titles, signatures, profiles and other forms of public
display.

Warning System

#2.1 Members who disobey the rules will be warned or banned depending on what the moderator believes is the appropriate punishment.


#2.2
Members can be warned a maximum of two times consequently. On the
third, the member will be immediately banned. This does not mean that
you have to have a warning to get banned, moderators may ban you without
warnings depending on the offense.


#2.3
A warning can have a time bomb unless you're banned. If a time bomb is
set, your warning will automatically expire after a certain number of
days.


If you believe you do not deserve the warn please contact the moderator
who warned you. Talking back to the moderator who gave you the warning
with no sense of respect will lead to further warnings.


If you do not know why you received a warning, an email and/or private
message would have been sent to notify you of the reason why you were
warned and who warned you.

Posting Etiquette (manners)

#3.1 All topics must contain a valid description.


#3.2 Treat others positively and with respect. Flaming other members or other forums will lead to a warning, possibly even a ban.


#3.3 Topics must be submitted to the relevant forums. Please read the forum descriptions before posting.


#3.4 Topic titles must have an appropriate description.


Example:



An example for a good description is "Help needed with game".


An example for a wrong description is "HEEEEELP!".


#3.5
Bumping is allowed provided that the reply has relevant information
that is useful to the continuance of the topic. Short intervals of bumps
are not allowed to bump the topic up onto the first page by the same
person.


Example:



Allowed: A topic discusses a news event. The topic's discussion has died
but there is new striking evidence to turn thoughts around. A reply
with such information that is relevant and useful is allowed.


Allowed: Requests may only be bumped once every 48 hours since the last reply.


Disallowed: Bumping topics continuously to get them up to the first few
pages. This includes using additional accounts (either your own or
others) to do so.



#3.6
Double posting of the same links (also called dupe) may lead to a
warning, especially if you have your own independent topic for a set of
links and yet still post the same links in related topics with the
intention of gaining exposure.


#3.7
It is generally forbidden to double post on the board. It means that
you are not allowed to reply twice in a row in any topic. Use the edit
button when altering your reply if you're the last to post in the topic.
Exceptions may be found at #3.20.


#3.8 We recommend hosting any images using the ServImg "host an image" button.


#3.9
Content of posts should not be explicit, offensive, shocking,
discussions of demerit commodities unless it is posted in an educational
sense.


Disallowed even if educational: Hacking, fraud, drug related, *removed, or extreme gore (especially in images).


#3.10 Unless inside the link farm, no link that is outside of dockpenguins.com or wweadam.com may be posted.


#3.11 No topic hijacking (going off topic).


#3.12 Rule #3.12 has been omitted for the time being.


#3.13
Rule #3.13 has been omitted for the time being.


#3.14 Removal of moderated messages is not allowed.


#3.15 Posting serial numbers or license keys in messages is not allowed.


#3.16 The use of unusual presentation methods within topic titles and descriptions with the intent to gain attention is not allowed.


Examples and exceptions:



Not allowed:

Words/phrases such as but not limited to:

**** MUST HAVE****, L@@K, LATEST, NEWEST, LOOK HERE, *Newest Version*

or other words along these lines including symbols.


Allowed:

Names that have been created that may include caps and periods.

Use of hyphen between words such as music titles.


#3.17
Rule #3.17 has been omitted for the time being.


#3.18 Excessively replying to your own topics to gain first page exposure is not allowed.


Replies such as:


'You're welcome', 'no problem', 'thanks for replies', 'fresh links' or similar


are only allowed a maximum of twice per page. This rule only applies to posts made on or after April 16th 2008.


#3.19
Members are allowed to make a huge topic with an index on first post
only if all the download links are posted in the same thread as
posts/replies.


#3.20When
their previous post has exceeded the maximum characters limit, or if
they have relevant content to add to their topic 24 hours after the
previous reply was made, members are allowed to double or triple post.

#3.21
Trades of any kind and selling are two things that are not allowed
here. To break it down in simple terms, it's considered a trade any
time the situation is "If you do this, I'll do that" and selling is
offering a product, service, etc. for money. The staff do not
appreciate members trying to get around these rules, so please avoid
attempting to do so.


#3.22
Posting games hacks & cheats is allowed as long as they only affect
the offline side of the game. It is forbidden to post any online hack
(aimbot, wallhack, ...).

Spam Rules

#4.1
You may only promote your website once. This may be done in the Link
Farms section and only applies to sites that are within the rules.


#4.2 If you choose to post a link it should benefit everyone and must not be a site of the following categories:



Web hosting. Referrals. Affiliation. warez forums. Sites that
require registration, subscription or a fee to access. Links within
posts that links to non-allowed 3rd party in order to gain access to the content (eg Link protectors, Text files, Altered links, Links directory...).


#4.3
Rule #4.3 has been omitted for the time being.


#4.4 Excessive posting of similar messages to increase post count is not allowed.


#4.5 Rule #4.5 has been omitted.


#4.6 The following one-liner messages are classified as spam when used alone [Except in Funstuff]:



Any acronym such as lol.
The use of 1... X within posts.

The use of an emote only reply (such as ).


These are only guidelines not strictly limited to just these examples.

Private Messaging

#5.1 All rules apply in regard to private messaging.


#5.2
It is the responsibility of each member to check their private messages
when online, as certain private messages from staff members may require
prompt answers. Members who ignore these messages from staff may be
warned, locked or banned, depending on the situation.

Avatars and Signatures

#6.1 All rules apply to avatars and signatures.


#6.2 The total maximum dimensions for all images in a signature is 500px (width) by 200px (height) horizontally only.


#6.3 Signatures can only be 100KB or less in total file size.

Explicit Guidelines

#7.1
Sticky Requests: Please do not request a post to be made sticky. If
there is room to make an exceptional post as sticky, we will do so;
however, there is only room for ten stickies per forum. Topics which use
a poll to petition a sticky are not allowed.


#7.2 Rule #7.2 has been omitted for the time being.


#7.3
Asking any staff member if you can be a part of the staff will hinder
your chance of ever becoming one.

#7.4 All forum rules apply to each member's profile, no referrers, no *removed links, and no warez forums.


#7.5
All forum rules apply to every image posted in messages, signatures,
avatars and PM's. Images must not contain words that bypass our
word censor or any type of serial number.

These rules are modified from an original set of rules used from another website. If there is any problem with what you see in these rules, please tell us in the forum comments section of Dock Penguins.