Topic: Elliquiy Site Policies

[Vekseid]

Elliquiy has a certain set of policies that govern how the administration acts in various situations. These are guidelines regarding what you can expect from the staff.


Privacy

• Elliquiy's systems collect ip addresses, user agents, e-mail addresses, and set session cookies to track users. This information is used to enforce bans, catch multiple accounts, and to assist with technical problems of members.
• Information regarding individual members is not and will never be for sale. Elliquiy is not and will never be for sale. Aggregated information is sometimes revealed where it does not infringe on others' privacy.
• We will proactively cooperate with law enforcement where it enhances public safety and that of our members.
• Users can choose whether or not their e-mail address is visible by going to their account settings in their profile. Only privileged members can see e-mail addresses, and then only if they are set as visible. You can always see your own e-mail address so do not be alarmed.
• Users can opt in or out of most e-mail and system messages in their notification settings and personal message settings.
• Instant Messenger contact information that can be optionally set in profile information is also only visible to privileged members.
• Users must declare their sex in their introduction. This is public information.
• Users do not need to declare their birth date in their introduction, but they must declare that they are over eighteen years of age. This is public information.
• Personal messages through Elliquiy reside in plain text on the server. It is not difficult for me, Vekseid, to view them. In general I do not, but if there is some pressing need, such as for legal reasons or rule violations, they may be viewed. Messages are not necessarily deleted if you 'delete' them from your inbox or outbox, and members may report abusive messages to the staff.

Rules Violations

• Gross rule violations may net an immediate ban. Some things just are not done.
• Enforcement of the rules is based on a notice and warning system. If the violation is minor and occasional, a staff member may send a gentle reminder. This does not count as a warning and is merely in place to remind members of the rules.
• If rule violations are repeated, or if the violation is severe, a staff member may issue a warning. If the user has already been warned recently or the staff believes the violation warrants it, the user will be 'castrated' instead, meaning that they now have eunuch access. This restricted access setting is more difficult to use Elliquiy with, and many features are disabled, but the user will still be able to participate in their games.
• Disrespecting the staff's time by arguing with or attacking staff for enforcing the rules will merit further punishment.
• Generally inactive members - those who are not making posts in the forums that add to the site - may be treated more harshly than active members. This is particularly focused on people who try to drag other members off-site, to instant messengers, email, websites or otherwise.
• Members who are found to be underaged will gain the 'underaged' access level. This is identical to that of unapproved members. It is used to prevent sending them site e-mails by default, at least until they are eighteen.
• Members who do not log in for a time and who let their e-mail account atrophy will become 'deverified'. Personal Messages are blocked and their access level is similar to that of a Eunuch. If they manage to sign in again, they can request that their account be upgraded after they fix their e-mail, and all will be well.
• Members found to be under the age of seventeen will be banned until they reach said age. The reason seventeen-year-olds are not banned is because the adult content is in restricted from view anyway.
• Some banned members gain the restricted access level, and they see little but their own forum, where they can communicate with the staff.
  
• Members who have had such access reduced are noted in the pillory, along with the reasons why.

Staff

• Staff are expected to be active members of the forum and in their duties. Inactive staff members are replaced. This has nothing to do with our opinion of the staff member in question, but power means responsibility, and poses a security risk if the member is inactive.
• Staff are expected to keep personal relationships and issues separate from their moderation activities. If a staff member feels that he or she cannot, they are to refer the matter to another staff member.
• Staff are not selected based on friendship or bribes. Staff are selected because the administration believes that they will make solid decisions and, in general, be good moderators. My three best friends on Elliquiy are not staff, and barring some sort of miracle, never will be.
• If a member has issues with a staff member, they should direct their concerns to one of Neroon or Cecilia. This is one of the reasons multiple staff exist, after all.
• Staff take actions for rule violations. Criticizing staff is not against the rules. Make your point without vitriol and it will be listened to.

Copyright

• Members own and are responsible for the original material that they post here. By posting their original work to Elliquiy, they are implicitly granting Elliquiy permission to display said content indefinitely on elliquiy.com.
• Members are to ask before deleting material. This is primarily for roleplays - you made something with someone, if you delete your part of the story, your partner's work is made to suffer. Stories and images are not subject to this rule, unless an image is a part of a roleplay.
• The above does not necessarily apply to forums specifically set up for different purposes, such as Elliquiy's Writer's Group.
• If you hold the copyright to something that has been posted on the public forums against fair use and without your permission, contact a member of the staff and it will be investigated, and edited, deleted, or moved as is appropriate.
• Content in the private section of the site is generally considered to be for private use, largely game masters and players using pictures as character references. Elliquiy is first and foremost a gaming site, and hosts files for such use. This is believed to be fair use, and Elliquiy's purpose is not to serve as a file repository.
• Regardless of the above, all content that was not created by the user should be given appropriate attribution.

Miscellaneous Policy

• Deleting Accounts Elliquiy does not delete accounts that have had activity. You may turn notifications off in your profile, and request access restriction, but that is as much as we will do.
• We can and do ban work ip addresses for those who request it. Just ask any god or goddess. If you are being distracted somewhere this is a better option than requesting access restrictions.
• Appealing a Staff or Approval Decision: In order for a decision to be appealed, a staff or group member must agree that the appeal has merit on some grounds. Members of the deciding group, or a G-level staff, can make an appeal on their own, if they worry that something went wrong with the process. Otherwise, the person making the appeal will have to request the appeal. Staff and group members determine the validity of an appeal as a group, even if one or most think it is groundless.
  
  • Appeal requests sent directly to Vekseid will either be forwarded to staff, or replied to with a request that it be brought to staff as a whole instead.
  • Abusing this procedure, such as making frivolous appeal requests, will result in punishment as abuse of staff's time.
  • Otherwise, the appeal will be handled by Vekseid and G-Level staff for their consensus. If it is found to have merit, the decision will be remanded back to the original group to re-evaluate their decision with certain considerations.