Occult Forum Rules & Regulations

Site guidelines are needed in order to help maintain sanity within an online community and for the most part if you simply follow the golden rule you should not have to bother familiarizing yourself with such things. However, it is still a good idea to at least skim through this thread to simply make sure that you stay within the guidelines of the site so you will not find yourself banned.

The following links will take you directly to the specific rule sets.

General Guidelines
Posting Guidelines
Board Specific Guidelines
General Information
Disclaimer
Privacy Policy

General Rules
1. No multiple usernames/ ONE account per person
--- Those found with multiple accounts will have one or more accounts suspended pending review of the situation. If you have trouble logging in with one account please email an administrator before creating a duplicate account.

If you are in a situation where you are going to be sharing an IP address with other (real) people, please let us know before we catch you.

2. Use a valid, working email address.
--- Those found with invalid email address with be instantly banned.

3. Signature size
--- Please be mindful of the size of your signature. If it is distracting, too big, or breaks any additional guidelines it will be removed. As common netiquette, it should not be more then a few lines high.

Posting Guidelines

01. Stay on topic
--- Post in the appropriate board/thread.

02. No Spell begging
--- There will be none. If you can not cast a spell yourself, ask yourself if magick is really the answer to your problem.

03. Use the Search feature
--- Members who have repeatedly been warned about using the search feature will receive an Infraction.

04. Keep it Clean
--- While certain vocabulary can better help us express ourselves, please make a concerted effort to keep profanity to a minimum. We do not wish to hinder free speech, but we do ask that certain language is used only when absolutely necessary to stress a point or feeling.
NOTE: All signitures, user tites, and avatars must be 'clean' as it crosses over to excessive, as they are all seen in each post.

05. No Multiple/Cross Postings
--- It is simply not acceptable to post your question more than once, or to post it in more than one forum. Choose the forum that your question or post best fits in, and place it there and only there. If, after posting, you feel it should be in another forum, please PM the appropriate Moderator of the forum you have posted in and ask him/her to move it. We also reserve the right to move posts to other forums and delete duplicates.

06. No Flooding

--- There is never a need to post the same thing more then one time. If you have a question or wish to start a thread and are unsure of where to do so, then simply pick one, and stick with that. If a moderator feels it is in the wrong section, they will happily move it for you.

07. No Flaming or Trolling.
--- Be respectful of other posters and please keep discussions tasteful. Respect other point of views and they will respect yours. Name-calling, paradigm bashing, Racial slurs, sexism, etc will not be tolerated here at Occultforums.com.

08. No disruptive posts or threads
--- Including, but not limited to:
--- -- * Typing in ALL CAPS (especially in thread titles)
--- -- * Net or Chat Speak (u no wut i mean -- Including 1337)
--- -- * AlTeRnAtInG CAPS and lower case
--- -- * One liner posts/replies
--- -- * Non-sequitor (I LIKE PIE) All posts should remain ON Topic.
--- (Those found doing such things on a regular basis will be issued a warning.)

09. Plagiarism and Copyright
--- Please cite your sources when copying and pasting information into your post. We encourage original thinking in this forum, but when quoting someone else's work please give credit where credit is due. Also be mindful of the amount of information taken, simply copying and pasting from other websites does not make for a post, if doing this then simply provide the link to save all other members ploughing through the superfluous information. Legally speaking, when quoting, anything more then 10% of an article crosses the 'fair use' law. We'll likely be a little more lax, but please keep this in mind.

10. Preaching
--- There is a fine line between stating your opinion and stating that opinion as fact. Here there are no universal truths, if you come here claiming one you may find yourself with an infraction.

11. Posting of software, Cracks, hacks, and passwords
--- You may post up links to legitimate software that you think people will find useful, so long as it is related to the forum in which you are posting it. However we will not allow the posting of any warez (serial numbers/cracks), Malware (Trojans/viruses) or passwords of any kind.

12. No SPAM
--- There are specific threads to share links in and they should be used rather then starting new threads. If a site is requested or if it is relevant to the topic at hand it should be OK to share - otherwise utilize one of the sticky threads. You can also place a link to personal sites in your Signature. (Human Spam-Bots may be automatically banned)

13. "Chatting"
--- Flooding includes posting...
--- -- * Multiple (more then three) short responses to a single thread (Add in afterthoughts with the EDIT button).
--- -- * Posting multiple posts/threads with similar content.
--- -- * Bumping several threads in consecutive order with little to no content. Chances are if you are the last poster in nearly every thread on a page, it will be considered flooding.
--- -- * Having "chat like" conversations with another member falls under flooding. If you would like to chat take it to Pm, IM, or the chat room.

14. No Threats/Harassment (6 month suspension)
--- Open debate is welcomed, harassment is not. This would be threats of bodily harm or other forms of harassment against another user, through Public posts or Private (IM, email and PM) messages. This also includes threats of a magickal nature.

Forum Specific rules
These are rules setup by a Forum Leader (Moderator) in each individual forum. To see if a forum has any "special rules" specific to that board please see the sticky threads in that forum.

Please observe these rules, and treat them as extensions to the main rules as listed in this thread.

General Information

01. If you are banned:
--- Being banned means that you can no longer post on OccultForums. You are banned for life and we check IP addresses of suspected members that try to re-register. If you are caught doing this, we will place a ban on your IP address and report it to your ISP. If you feel that you have unfairly been banned, you can email the administrator at their respective email address linked in their profiles or click the Contact Us link at the bottom of every page.

Most bans never expire...

02. Locked Threads:
--- Moderators reserve the right to close any thread that does not break a rule, for any reason. If however you feel that your thread was unjustly locked, please PM the moderator concerned and ask for further clarification, do not just start another post with slightly different wording, as this will be locked as well.

03. Asking for help:
--- If you need help or have any questions feel free to PM one of the moderators, Super Moderators, Administrators, or even another member.

04. Been abused?
--- If you are being harassed by another member of the forum, please pm the moderator of that forum.
--- * Public posts - Please report this to the moderator of the forum in which you are having the problem.
--- * Private messages(PM) - Keep the message in question and forward it to one of the moderators or admin.
Please do not retaliate in kind, this just leads to flaming and everybody gets unhappy.

06. Security:
--- As a general rule of thumb never give out any personal details on the Internet. This includes home address and telephone numbers, passwords, or other private information. We have a growing community here and we have members who are meeting out in the real world, if you are going to do this, make sure you take a friend with you. Also be sure that you let people know where you are going to met with your Internet contact and who that contact is. It is always better safe than sorry.

NO ONE FROM OCCULTFORUMS WILL EVER ASK FOR YOUR PASSWORD!

Just a Reminder of the Disclaimer

While the administrators and moderators of this forum will attempt to remove or edit any generally objectionable material as quickly as possible, it is impossible to review every message. Therefore you acknowledge that all posts made to these forums express the views and opinions of the author and not the administrators, moderators or webmaster (except for posts by these people) and hence will not be held liable.

You agree not to post any abusive, obscene, vulgar, slanderous, hateful, threatening, sexually-oriented or any other material that may violate any applicable laws. Doing so may lead to you being immediately and permanently banned (and your service provider being informed). The IP address of all posts is recorded to aid in enforcing these conditions. You agree that the webmaster, administrator and moderators of this forum have the right to remove, edit, move or close any topic at any time should they see fit. As a user you agree to any information you have entered above being stored in a database. While this information will not be disclosed to any third party without your consent the webmaster, administrator and moderators cannot be held responsible for any hacking attempt that may lead to the data being compromised.

This forum system uses cookies to store information on your local computer. These cookies do not contain any of the information you have entered above; they serve only to improve your viewing pleasure. The e-mail address is used only for confirming your registration details and password (and for sending new passwords should you forget your current one).

By registering and posting on these forums you have agreed to all the terms and conditions set out.

Privacy Policy:

Tracking:
The IP of everyone is collected in order to track movement across our pages. Your referring page is also collected so we know where you found us. Additionally if you click on an outgoing link, that is also collected. These three things help us to better serve you by seeing what is and is not popular. These things are also collected on nearly every page the Web, whether they say so or not...it is a part of being on the Internet in this day and age.

Cookies:
Cookies are given to both guests and registered users. These cookies, for the most part, collect the same information above, but are placed on your computer to let your browser know which threads you have or have not read. You have the ability to turn cookies off from your browsers preferences or set up, though turning your cookies off will greatly diminish your Occult Forums experience.

Registering:
Some personal information is collected at registration. This is to assist you in interacting with the rest of the member base, and most of it is optional. The few required fields are in place for Occult Forums to verify you are in fact a real person (specifically your email address which must be valid to complete your registration). When registering it is suggested you do NOT use your real name. Use a nickname or 'handle'.

Posting: (including emailing/private messaging other members) We can not control what you post, and while we highly recommend that you do not post any personal or pertinent information about yourself. If you should post personal information about yourself, you do so at your own risk and Occult Forums, it's staff, moderators, and administration take no responsibility.

When Posting your IP address is collected. This is for security reasons and is only seen by Occult Forums moderators and admin. This is to help ensure you are you and is not generally used as 'tracking information'.

COPPA & Children:
OccultForums is not intended for persons under 13 years of age. We do not knowingly solicit or collect personal information from or about children, and we do not knowingly market our products or services to children. Any Registered member found to be under 13 will be banned until their 13th birthday. This is not because we do not like children, it is because it's a law...

If you are under the age of 13 and would like to be a member here at Occult Forums, have your parents contact us.

Links to Other Sites:
Several places on OccultForums have hyperlinks leading to sites that are not affiliated with us. We will not share your information with them without your express permission (including through PM or Email). What they do with your personal information is beyond our control, so be sure you read their privacy policy.

Many of these links are placed where they are by members themselves (such as the Weblinks System, resource threads, and signature files). You click these links at your own rish, however, if you suspect a link to be harmful, notify an Administrator and it will be looked into.

Access to Collected Information:
Any information seen in your Profile is seen by the public! Most fields in your profile are changeable through your UserCP.Keep in mind, when filling in the information such as your facebook name if the name you use there is your REAL NAME.


All other information is restricted to Moderators and Administrators.

Security of Collected Information:
The Administration of OccultForums does it's best to safeguard your information from any outside source but can not guarantee such safety. If you feel there has been an abuse of this policy please contact a site Administrator.

Contacting Us:
At the bottom of every page there should be a 'Contact Us' link. Feel free to use it.

Changes to this Policy:
It is advised to check this Privacy Policy periodically as it is subject to change without notification.