|
These rules apply to all people who use RuneVillage (villagers). Absolutely no one (including staff members, users who have donated money, items, or other help to RuneVillage) is immune to these rules. The administration reserves the right to alter this list without prior warning or announcement.
Moderating Team
Chat Administrators: Chat Administrators are RuneVillage Administrators whose primary roles are the maintenance of the Chat Room and the managing of the chat moderating team. If you have an issue with a Chat Moderator, please bring it up with one of the Chat Administrators.
Site Administrators, Forum Administrators and Staff Administrators: Have the same powers as Chat Administrators, but generally do not exercise them as the Chat is not their area of expertise and responsibility.
Chat Moderators: Moderators are responsible for looking after the Chat Room and its users. If you have an issue regarding the Chat Room or another user, please raise it with a moderator.
Board Moderators and Forum Moderators: Have no authority in the Chat Room; however, they are available if there are any pressing forum issues which needs to be resolved.
Minor Offences
Moderator actions against users will occur whenever rule infringements (i.e. minor offences) occur. Users will be punished even if rules are broken when a moderator is not in the Chat. Possible moderator actions include: verbal warnings, kicks, mutes and temporary bans. An accumulation of four moderator actions (i.e. the fourth moderator action) will result in a user being banned from the Chat for the time specificed on the ban chart. Moderator actions accumulate against users for a period of 96 hours.
Minor offences include but are not limited to:
- Spamming
- Speaking in a language other than English. The occasional "Bonjour" or "Auf Wiedersehen" is fine, but anything other than this is not. Anything not in an English alphabet based language is not allowed at all. If you want to speak to a friend in an alternate language, please do so through private messaging rather than RV Chat.
- While general use of profanity is accepted (due to an optional censor), we ask that you not use it in excess. Profanity directed negatively at other users is not accepted and will result in punishment. Racial slurs in any context are prohibited and, likewise, will result in punishment
- Deliberate filter evasion
- Flaming and/or flame baiting
- Discussion of illegal practices (such as illegal file-sharing, illegal drug use) and anything else that isn't considered in keeping with a PG rating.
- Sexual harassment
- Racial harassment
- Do not provide spoilers for books, films, games or any other media forms. Deliberate spoilers (spoilers which are provided with the intention of harming another's experience of a media form) will be treated more harshly than accidental ones. Moderators will have the discretion to allow spoilers in certain circumstances, particularly where the spoilers are of such a nature as to constitute common knowledge.
Those users identified as repeat offenders or on probation will face harsher kick and ban charts. For those not so identified, the length of the ban will generally be in accordance with the ban chart below:
First ban: 24 hours
Second ban: 48 hours
Third ban: 1 week
Fourth ban: 2 weeks
Fifth ban: 1 month
Sixth ban: Permanent ban
Each ban you receive will be recorded by the Chat Moderator who issued it and you will receive a Private Message (PM) on the forums which will explain that you are banned, outline the reason for your ban and state the length of the ban. Chat Moderators will only take into account bans that have occurred in the previous twelve (12) months when deciding the length.
Leaking of Confidential Moderator Information
The distribution of confidential moderator information is strictly forbidden, no matter how you arrived by the information.
Confidential moderator information is considered to include, but is not restricted to:
- Information on chat bans
- Ban discussions
- Moderator debates and discussions in the chat moderator forums
- Moderator nominations
- Moderator selections
The period and type of punishment for a breach of this offence will be decided by the Chat Moderators and Chat Administration and will primarily depend on the severity of the offence and the extent to which the user passed on the information. Very minor breaches of this offence may not result in banning, but this is at the moderator's discretion.
Note: This offence applies strictly to normal users who have received moderator information. Any Chat Moderator who leaks information will receive a punishment based on the decision of the Chat Administration.
Major Offences
In the case of major offences, the warning chart will not be used. If you commit any of these major offences you will be banned for an undetermined time period. These cases will be discussed by the Chat Moderators and the ban length will be set on a case by case basis. After a ban for a major offence the user will be considered to be on probation (see below section).
These offences include but are not limited to:
- Impersonating another member of RuneVillage
- Breaking of Jagex's RuneScape Rules
- Posting pornography, pictures containing nudity or obscene pictures
- Posting viruses, hacks, cheat sites and/or scam sites
- Serious breaches of criminal law (e.g. threats against someone or anything that is potentially dangerous or life-threatening).
Appealing and Probation
Any user who is permanently banned but wishes to return to the Chat Room may appeal their permanent ban after a period of six (6) months. Appeals should be in the form of a Private Message (PM) to a Chat Administrator. Appeals will be discussed by the Chat Moderators and the Chat Administration. If an appeal is successful, the user will be considered to be on probation. They will still be subject to the offence chart, but the ban lengths will be as follows:
First ban: 1 week
Second ban: 1 month
Third ban: Permanent ban
Moderator Infallibility
Moderators have the discretion to halt any discussion in the Chat Room if they believe it is unsuitable. While you are participating in the Chat Room you must obey the instructions of a moderator. If you believe that a moderator is biased, is unfairly warning you or another user and/or is breaching the Chat Rules, please take it up with one of the Chat Administrators. Similarly, if you wish to appeal a chat ban of any length, Private Message (PM) a Chat Administrator. Do not post your appeal in the forums.
|
