Okay, guys, I thought now would be a good time to lay some ground rules. Hopefully these will be easy to follow and nobody will end up getting warned. I realise this is a fairly long read but you are all expected to read it. Ignorance is no excuse for breaking the rules.

GLOBAL RULE: Do NOT violate the Invision terms of use. This ought to be obvious. To check these out, click here.

1. No flaming or trolling. This one ought to be obvious. Flaming is any instance of overt and uncalled for name-calling, bullying or harassment of other members and trolling extends to any behaviour that is intentionally designed to annoy others.

2. No racism, homophobia or religion-related insults. This sort of behaviour will absolutely not be tolerated and will result in an instant ban.

3. No multi-posting in unpinned threads within 24 hours. Multi-posting is replying in a thread where you are already the most recent poster (double-posting would be creating an instance of two consecutive posts, triple-posting would be three and so on and so on). This is permissible when 24 hours (one full day) have passed if you have something new to add. If a thread is pinned, this rule is relaxed, but don’t post comments that add nothing to the discussion. On the first occasion you are spotted doing this, you will be giving a written warning within the thread; each occasion after that will see your warn rating added to. Comments like “bump” will result in an instant-warn, regardless of occasion, and will also count as your first occasion. Rather than multi-posting, use the Edit button to edit your most recent post.

4. No necro-posting. Necro posting is reviving a thread that has died naturally! It’s essentially bumping an old topic and it’s really pretty annoying. It can be permissible if something genuinely worthy of interest that is related to the thread has shown up and you wish to discuss it, but should generally be avoided.

5. Observe the signature image size limits. To be fair to users on slower connections or older computers, please ensure your sigs are not full of extremely long animations or needlessly huge. The CAW Vault signature image size limit is 500 width by 400 height. Please observe the limit. If your sig is over (yes, even by one pixel) you will be notified via Personal Message to change it for something smaller. If it is not changed within 24 hours, it will be changed for you. If this happens more than once, you will receive a warning. Note that the size limit is the combined size limit- you obviously can’t have multiple 500x400 images in one signature!

6. Try to stick to a topic. Each forum has its own topic and each thread sticks to a topic of its own. Try not to drift too far from the point of the conversation. If things are losing sight of the matter at hand, a board staff member will give you a friendly reminder to get back on topic. If this continues in the same thread, you will receive a warning.

7. Don’t post just to increase your post count. This is what’s known as spamming the board. If you have nothing constructive to add, then don’t add it. I know the member titles are fun to earn but they’re not the be-all and end-all. The forums should be an involving experience with good discussion, not just one- or two-word responses in each thread. Also, if you don’t have anything to offer to a thread other than “I don’t know anything about this” or “I don’t care about this”, then don’t waste your own time posting that because it will be considered spam.

8. Don’t write “edit later”. If you intend on downloading a CAW show, don’t post saying anything to the effect of “I’m downloading now, I’ll edit and leave feedback later”. The number of people who forget to leave feedback in these kinds of threads is frequently high and it’s often more upsetting for league owners to see those kinds of comments unfulfilled than to see nothing at all. Leave feedback or don’t, basically.

9. No pornography, hentai, cartoon porn, sexually explicit content, etc. You will be instantly banned for posting this kind of content, even if it’s censored. Do not link to this kind of content, either. Simple.

10. No illegal/pirated content or links to it. This includes links to streams or torrents of TV series or movies. This is a violation of the Invision terms of use. Links to YouTube or similar sites are acceptable as long as they don't violate the other rules.

11. Don’t take things personally. If you receive a warning, there was probably a good reason for it. If you feel the warning was unjust, send a Personal Message to a staff member and ask them to review the warning. If they do not overturn it, don’t complain. This will not help your case.
11a. If you have a personal issue with a site member, sort it out via Personal Message or instant messenger. It is absolutely not the job of the site’s staff to sort out your petty squabbles, so don’t bring personal issues onto a public forum.
11b. DO NOT post instant messenger conversations without the express permission of all parties involved. Pretty simple, just stops people getting upset.

Receiving Warnings

Breaking the rules will result in you receiving a warning. Each warning will take up 20% of your warn meter. Reaching 100% will result in a ban (for ban lengths, see below). Each warning will be removed one month after it was added.

Do note that persistent rulebreakers who regularly reach 80% warning, then behave for a month or so, before continuing breaking the rules, may receive multiple warns at the same time (40% or more at once) for repeat offences. This is purely at the discretion of the administrators (mods must be sure to ask for permission before doing this). Hopefully this would act as a deterrent.

Ban Lengths

1st ban: 2 weeks
2nd ban: 1 month
3rd ban: 6 months
4th ban: Permanent

These are the rules you are all expected to adhere to. They may be added to or amended at any time. Thank you, I hope your time at the CAW Vault’s forums is enjoyable and without trouble!