Forum Rules & Guidelines

As a part of our effort to make the forums a useful resource for all topics relating to Wii Homebrew, we ask that all members abide by the following rules and guidelines.

Rules disclaimer:
We reserve to right to make changes to these rules without notice. While we strive to be fair in our administration, all moderator actions are made at the staff's discretion. Remember, using the forum is a privilege, not a right.

Forum Content:
When making posts to the Wiibrew Forums, please make sure that the content you are posting falls within these boundaries.

Prohibited Content and Illegal Material:
All content regarding permanently patching IOS, MIOS; installing a cIOS, cMIOS; the use of "backups", "backup loaders" and "USB loaders" is strictly prohibited. Violation of this is a very serious offense and may result in an early banning.

Please note that the Wiibrew Forums and its staff do not condone piracy or illegal activity in any way.
While forum members may be subject to different laws according to their residency, we ask that users refrain from posting content that infringes upon international copyright law or the US DMCA. Posts that inform, support, or request information from others members on matters of copyright infringement or copy protection (DRM) circumvention are prohibited.

This includes, but is not limited to:
- Links to copyrighted material (e.g. ISOs/Warez/ROMs/WADs), or copyrighted material itself.
- Information about how to obtain ANY kind of copyrighted material without proper licensed permission.
- Information about how to run or make backups/copies of Wii discs.
- Information about how to install or make pirated copies of downloadable Wii content.
- Information about or references to software developed for the purpose of any of the above, including "loaders", system modifications that they depend on ("cIOS"), and tools developed to support these.

This is a very strict policy, and breaching any of these rules may result in account deactivation, or a full ban.
It is also important to note that while this policy is based on legal issues, it is not directly linked with any legal system. As such, a topic being legal in one or all nations in the world does NOT legitimize the act of posting about it on this forum.

Furthermore, it should be noted that the mere usage of any of the aforementioned banned software disqualifies you from obtaining support from this forum. Software for piracy tends to make far-reaching system modifications that often cause issues. This may also apply to procedures designed to culminate in copyright infringement (e.g. following "guides" to this effect obtained from other sites), even if the steps followed do not explicitly involve software designed for this purpose. Discussion of these issues inevitably develops in discussion about copyright infringement software and is therefore not allowed. If you have used any of the above software or followed any related "guides", you're on your own, and you should not expect any help from this forum (insistence may result in a ban).

Advertisement:
The Wiibrew Forum is not intended to be a marketing tool for any individual or business entity. Users are not allowed to post advertisements for their website or any others. If a link seems to be posted for overtly commercial reasons, or for increasing "hits," it may be deemed an advertisement by the moderation staff, and removed. If your links are useful or informative, you should not have to worry about this rule.

Off-Topic posts:
Posts and threads made on the Wiibrew Forums should be relevant to the forum and/or thread they are being posted in. If the content of your topic does not fall within the scope of the forum you you are posting it in, you may want to consider posting it in the Offtopic forum.
If a moderator finds your post or topic to be irrelevant to the topic or forum it is posted in, your posting may be moved to a more fitting location, or simply removed entirely. If a moderator finds your post severely lacking in merit, it may be moved to The Junkyard and punishment may be enforced.


Forum Etiquette:

Courtesy:
As a part of our efforts to make the Wiibrew Forums a useful resource, we ask that users be courteous in their interactions with other users.

The following rules pertain to courtesy of user interactions on the forums:

- Do not post comments that defame, insult, or personally attack other users. (No flaming)

- Do not post comments that point out rule breaking behavior of other users. If there is a problem with a post, please use the "Report" link in the lower left corner of the post to inform a moderator.

- Do not start or support "flame wars" on the forums. There can be a fine line between debate and "flames," do not cross it.

- Do not "bump" or revive topics which have been inactive for several months or more if you are not contributing new information to the topic.

- Do not "over quote" text. If you wish to use the "quote" function in your post, make sure the quoted section is not excessively long. Please use use your own good judgment for this.

- Do not post "one word replies." If you don't have anything more to add to a topic than "I agree," or "That's odd," etc., then do not reply.

While these may only be courtesy rules regarding forum etiquette they are taken very seriously in order for the WiiBrew Forums to maintain a high quality of discussion. Repeatedly violating these rules may result in punishment.

Signatures, styles, etc.:
In order to make the Wiibrew Forums more accessible and less cluttered, we ask that users refrain from applying signatures, "avatars", emoticons, or unnecessary styles to their posts.

The main purpose of this forum is to provide users with a medium through which they can easily and comprehensibly learn about and discuss Wii Homebrew, its development, and other related topics. We feel that excessive non-informative imagery, emoticons, and stylistic/textual content does not help the forum flourish in this aspect.

Images:
While posting images to the forum is allowed, we ask that users be considerate of the following guidelines before doing so.

- Images posted to the forum should be relevant to the content of the post, topic, and forum they are in. No images should be posted for stylistic purposes or for adding commentary.

- Images should be appropriate for viewers of all ages. Images containing nudity or pornography will not be permitted under any circumstances.

- Images posted to the forum should not be exceedingly large. Images that extend beyond the borders of of the post area are invariably prohibited. If an image can get the point across at a smaller size, you may want to consider resizing it. There are many many sites that will do this for you, while providing hosting.

If an image you would like to post does not fit these guidelines, please post consider posting it as a link instead, or not posting it at all.

Moderation and Punishment:

Reporting posts-
Users will find a Report button in the bottom right hand corner of each post. If you find a post that is any of the rules listed here, please feel free to click the Report button to inform a moderator about the issue. It is highly recommended that you use this function rather than trying to take the job of moderation into your own hands.
While use of the report function is encouraged, it should not be abused or misused. If a user is found to be repeatedly mis-reporting posts, administrative action may be taken against that user.

Punishment-
As with most penal systems, the punishment for each offense will vary based on its severity, with past offenses taken into account. Offenses are dealt with on a case-by-case basis.
Normally, however, offenses will be treated in the following manner:

- First offense: Warning given to the user via private message.
- Second offense: Second warning given to the user with threat of account deactivation.
- Third offense: Temporary account deactivation.
- Fourth offense: Permanent account deactivation.
- Fifth offense: Permanent ban.

Also note that any users found to avoiding account deactivation or bans will be permanently banned.

Lastly, administrators do not have to follow these guidelines and may advance you to an early permanent ban if they so choose.

Final Note:
While the rules may seem quite strict, we hope users do not feel oppressed by them in any way. As stated in the opening, we will try to be fair and open minded. If you have an issue with any of the rules, or a suggestion, send a private message to a moderator. If your suggestion applies beyond the scope of you personally, you may consider posting about it in the feedback forum.

Thank you for reading, and enjoy your stay at the Wiibrew Forums. :)



Edited 4 time(s). Last edit at 10/04/2010 07:23PM by Arikado.