Rules and guidelines.

by **Admin** Sun Mar 29, 2015 3:00 pm

Participation in TCEF constitutes agreement to the following guidelines, which apply to posts, profile information, avatars, signatures, any other content on this site and participation in general. This includes private messages, which we have the ability to read, but only do so when a violation is reported to us or we have a legitimate reason. Although rare, it does happen.

Because of the live nature of the discussions on this community, it is not possible for us to review and/or confirm the accuracy or validity of a message before it is posted.

If you believe that someone has violated our User Guidelines or you have spotted content that may otherwise require attention, please send a private message to an admin or a staff member with a link to the content and a brief description of what you believe is wrong.

Notification is voluntary and anonymous, but in no case should a user respond to a situation personally, thereby aggravating the situation further. Responding to a violation in an inflammatory manner is a violation in itself and will result in appropriate action.

This is a for profit website that will attempt to generate revenue through avenues that we deem appropriate. Any content that violates our User Guidelines will be removed. Interpretation of our guidelines is at the discretion of the staff.

1. Cross posting is not allowed and will result in the removal of one or more posts. Cross posting is defined as posting the same information in two or more locations. When posting your topic, please try to post it in the most appropriate place within the organizational structure of our community. Identical topics posted in the same or different forums will be removed.

2. While member post count has meaning, it should not be taken too seriously. Attempts to artificially increase your post count are prohibited. This includes the mass creation of short or meaningless posts. When participating in game threads such as "Word Association Game" or "What song are you listening to right now?" please do not post consecutive replies within a short period of time.

3. Advertisements are not allowed. Generally speaking, posts made specifically for the promotion of a website, product or service are considered advertising or, at least, posts made that unnecessarily send people to a website that you are in some way affiliated with. It does not matter if it is a commercial website, a personal website, a non profit website, etc.

All signature links must be kept in your signature in your profile. Anyone found to be posting excessive links to their websites or suspected of using "sneaky" advertising methods is in violation of this guideline. Links must be appropriate for a pg-13 and under audience and legal.

You may only post a link to your site/a site that you are in some way affiliated withf the link specifically answers the question that is being asked and the answer cannot be simply posted without the link. If you are found to be excessively posting ilinks to your site (or you appear to be seeking out threads where your link may be relevant, so that you can post it), you may lose the ability to post links to your site.

4. You are not allowed to post an affiliate URL that leads to you earning cash, banner impressions, credits, points, etc. Such links are only allowed in signatures, and may not be referred to in posts.

5. Do not post personal, real-life information such as home addresses, full name, email address and home phone numbers. They will be edited out if we find any.

6. As this is an English-speaking community, we require that posted content be in the English language, so that it can be well received and properly monitored. We know not everyone speaks English, so please just try your best. If in doubt, use a spellchecker.

7. Vulgar language and inappropriate material is not allowed and will be removed. Abbreviations, self censoring, and attempts to circumvent the word censoring feature of the community software also violate this guideline. If your post contains a word that is censored by the software, you must remove that word or the post will be removed. If you feel that the censor is acting in error, please contact us.

We try to maintain a family friendly atmosphere whenever it is possible within the main subject matter of this community. Please keep this in mind when participating.

8. When linking to outside websites, you must ensure that the content of the link is appropriate for our community, in line with the guidelines laid out here. This includes mentioning or referencing a site, even if the mention is not hyperlinked. If you post a link and that link is automatically censored, it is considered to be an inappropriate link and you should remove it from your post immediately. If left, all posts that feature inappropriate links will be removed.

9. Posts that discuss illegal activities, transactions, or websites such as warez, cracks, etc. will be removed. This includes the posting of information that you have obtained illegally.

10. Political and religious discussions are not allowed on this website. If it is believed that the end result of a discussion will be political or religious, the post may be removed. Likewise, strong political and religious sentiments should be kept out of profiles, signatures, and other content.

11. Do not post copyrighted materials (articles, videos, audio, etc.) that you do not have permission to reproduce or distribute. This is not the place to illegally trade or distribute copyrighted (or those with questionable copyright status) video or audio clips.

13. Respect is the name of the game. You must respect your fellow members. Please refrain from inflammatory and defamatory comments as well as flaming, taunting, and general disrespect. Do not simply put down the opinion or advice given by others. If you don't agree with it, say why - respectfully. Don't just tell them they're wrong. Do not make uninvited remarks about typos, duplicate posts, posting styles, etc.

14. Signatures are limited to five (5) lines of text. This includes blank lines. The text in the signature may be customized by the BBCode in use on the forums. It is recommended that you stick with readable fonts and colors and that the size is not too large. You may mention websites and ventures that you are in some way related to, as long as they are otherwise appropriate for this community. Focus on things that you like, not things that you don't.

15. Each user is allowed to create one account. If you would like to change your username, please contact us and, most likely, we can do it for you while you can keep all of your profile data, posts, and other content.

16. Automated account creation, participation, and content scraping is not permitted.