Well, actually, we have an old staff member back too. Welcome back e1n from his extended vacation, and welcome Roz who will be picking up slack since some of our older mods have stepped down.
In addition, Cinder has now become a Site Administrator for all the hard works she continues to do. and Battle Franky has been promoted to Forum Administrator.
Now, here's the not-so-fun part. We are going to crack down on some things that have been an issue as of late. (credit mostly to e1n, he be crackin' down. damn he types a lot)
REGARDING SPOILERS:
1. ANY SPOILERS (ONE PIECE OR OTHER SERIES) MUST NOT LEAVE THE RESPECTIVE SPOILER THREAD IN ANY FORM. NO EXCEPTION.
"Any form" includes, but not limited to, the following (as stated by BF):
- Heavily alluding to said spoilers,
- Creating highly suggestive threads,
- Suspicious bumping of related topics,
- Linking without context (tricking people),
- Spoiler teasing or baiting,
- Just balls out brazen spoiler dropping,
- Giving out hints about certain things,
- or any other form not yet mentioned here.
A "spoiler" is defined to be:
- Any information posted in the first post a spoiler thread, confirmed or unconfirmed.
- Any information posted in ANY POST in the spoiler thread.
In other words, even an obscure, far fetched speculation posted in page 34 of a spoiler thread MUST NOT leave the spoiler thread in any form before the actual raw chapter comes out. And yes. That also means that if after many pages of discussion about a spoiler, the thread goes off-topic and starts discussing about a completely and entirely irrelevant topic, such as a panda's penis, you are still not allowed to mention the panda's penis outside the spoiler thread.
2. WHAT HAPPENS IN THE SPOILER FORUM, REMAINS IN THE SPOILER FORUM. NO EXCEPTION.
Did you get into a fight with someone in the spoiler thread? Did member A irritate you? Well, that's too bad. We hope you will be able to settle the conflict, and we understand that these are not spoiler-related, but you are not allowed to mention any of the drama or fight or mess that's happening in the spoiler forum OUTSIDE it. Keep it to yourself and wait until the raw chapter comes out.
3. OP Anime forums: BE VERY VERY VERY VERY CAREFUL WHEN TALKING ABOUT MANGA STUFF THAT MIGHT SPOIL ANIME-ONLY WATCHERS.
Some of our members who post in the anime forum do not read the manga and don't want to be spoiled. If the anime has not yet reached a certain part in the story you want to discuss, SPOILER TAG IT. and give proper warning. For example: watch out, the following might be anime spoiler!. Also, a thread specifically for discussing future events in the anime from a manga reader's perspective is OK as long as there is a warning in the subject of the nature of the thread (i.e. add "SPOILER FROM MANGA" at the end of thread title).
Failure to comply, or attempts to find loopholes around these rules, will result in a severe action taken by the forum moderators, which may or may not lead to banning from either the spoiler thread or the forum in general. NO EXCEPTION. NO ARGUING. OUR DECISION IS FINAL; TAKE IT OR LEAVE IT.
Speaking of banning, we have a new banning system that we thought you might be interested in reading:
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REGARDING PUNISHMENT / BAN POLICY:
Since the state of the forum has reached what we consider BLOODY CHAOTIC, we are revising the ban policy and taking it a somewhat harsher standpoint. That's right. We as mods are tired of playing nice with people who just like to irritate the hell out of us, so for a little while, we're gonna go ban-happy. =)
FAILURE TO READ AND COMPREHEND THE FOLLOWING WILL ENTIRELY BE THE OFFENDER'S FAULT.
Here's how the new ban rule will work:
a) Any offense made by a member will warrant a WARNING. Just one, but this is a FINAL WARNING. There will be no more warning after this. This warning will be sent via PM to the offender. In the event that the PM box of the offender is filled up, the warning remains. It is the offender's responsibility to clean up his PM box so that communication can go smoothly. DECISION IS FINAL. There is no need for you to send a PM to an admin or mod explaining your actions. We do not give warnings unless we think you really deserve it, and if we think you really deserve it, there is no amount of explanation you give that can make us take it back.
b) If warning is heeded, then all is good, if warning is NOT heeded and another offense is made, we exercise TEMPORARY BAN. The length of the tempban will depend on how bad the offense is and will be decided collectively by active mods and admins. again, DECISION IS FINAL. No explanation or argument will change the decision.
c) After tempban time is served, the offender has 6 months of "parole." Should he commit anymore offense within 6 months, he will be PERMANENTLY BANNED and forever disappear from the forum. Again, our decision on this can NOT be overturned and will also be made collectively. If the offender is "good" during the 6 months of "parole," he will be scratched off the list and any offense made AFTER the 6 months period will be treated with a simple (but final) warning again.
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REGARDING PG-13 IMAGES FOR AVATARS AND SIGNATURES
3. No EROTIC images of anyone in undergarments is allowed for AVATAR and SIGNATURE.
Even if you get the image from a manga or a colorspread or have it drawn by someone you know, erotic display of undergarments ARE NOT ALLOWED. Mods and admins reserve the right to judge what is considered erotic and what is considered not. DECISION FINAL. Personal artwork featuring softcore nudity / undergarments should REMAIN IN THE ART FORUM and MAY NOT BE USED FOR AVATAR/SIGNATURES. Any violation of this rule will warrant the warning mentioned above. If you are not certain whether or not a certain image violates our new avatar or signature rule, contact your local friendly moderators and ask.
If you have any questions/concerns about anything in this announcement, please contact a forum administrator or moderator.