Welcome to The Kartel!

These rules apply to forum posting, commenting, and blogging. So READ CAREFULLY!

To keep things all sunshine and roses, we gots to lay down some ground rules. This site is not a “Do what eva ya like” community. You will get banned for unbecoming behavior. Quite simply, we love gaming and entertertainment, and we just don’t want you taking a dump all over our yard. Make sure you don't try to work the system. And sure, there's tons of nuttiness in this world we live in, but that doesn’t mean you got to get nasty about things. No need for hateful bashing, flame wars, obscenity, political chest thumping, threatening gestures. And DON’T break any laws. There’s a point where it’s all in good fun, and another point where it clearly crosses the line. Use your best judgment, OK?

FLAGGING CONTENT
If you find that someone is breaking our rules, then please flag their content. You can do that by clicking the little yellow warning sign on their post. The admin and moderators will look into the issue within 24 hours. Avoid directly addressing the issue yourself in the forums. Telling someone that they are spamming only adds to all the spam. You can send a direct message to them and send them the rules, just do so in a friendly manner. Sometimes, people just get overly excited when they first join and post like crazy, and simply need some guidance on posting. Other times, it's just clear someone is here to cause problems. That is when we step in.

So what potential issues may come up?

PROFANITY
We do have profanity filters in place, but there are obvious ways to get around it. We generally don't have a problem with profanity, we do have a problem with the way you use it. When things are getting nasty, and it's directed at someone in a hateful manner, then there's really just no need for it. Leave that stuff for your Xbox Live session. If someone does flag something you said, we may have to filter it, so the general rule is if you use profanity, don't be surprise if your post is edited or deleted.

TOO MANY POSTING/ TOO SHORT POSTS SYNDROME
Creating a post here and there that is few words long. That's OK. But our system detects a pattern where you are creating way more posts than average or/and averaging much fewer words than the norm, then we will come after you. We'll do nasty things to you. And then take away your points. That has been known to make grown men cry.

In addition, we also monitor what you write. If you are writing poorly made comments because you aren't reading a blog, or forum post, you could get flagged. One or two ransom posts are fine. But if we start to notice a pattern, then you will get flagged. In short, earning points is a benefit of joining in community conversation. Earning points should not be at the expense of interacting with the community. 

KEEP IT RELEVANT ONE THREAD PER TOPIC & POSTING IN THE RIGHT SECTION
Don't just post up random thoughts. Show that you actually been reading what other people wrote. Also, keep the thread on topic as much as possible, and post in the right section. Pretty much all forums work the same so, this isn't a big surprise here.

NO ILLEGAL CONTENT
We consider any of the following illegal - Nudity/Porn, warez, hacking files, pirated software, and viruses. There's already a wealth of other sites that do that well. I should know, I got them all bookmarked. You know, for research. The Kartel only engages in legit businesses. Anyways, don't bring that junk into our yard. There is a gray area here, such as scanned images, cleverly covered up nudity, emulation software, so use your best judgement on what is appropriate.

In this mix is copying someone else's content that isn't yours. Don't repost other people's work and call it a day. You can source the material, but it should still be your post. Add something to it. Otherwise it's known as copyright infringement.

CAREFUL OF ADVERTISING
We naturally want people to highlight things that they think the community will enjoy. And if are a developer and want to talk about your game, please join in. However, if you start crossing the line and advertising your company, or posting up ads or banners, then that's going too far. There are other ways to advertise your game/company/site, so don't do that here in the forum, and be careful of it in your blogs. And don't get me started on the exact definition of advertising. I left college just so I don't have to have do any more of those silly debates. Our rules. Just follow them. Thanks.

DON'T ARGUE WITH AN ADMIN PERSON OR TAKE A DUMP ON OUR YARD
The folks that help monitor the site do so because they want to have a thriving community. They aren't here because of an ego to wield the ban hammer. As such, they will do their best to treat you like a host welcoming to our home. And vice versa, please be a courteous guest. If your comments are flagged, deleted, etc., learn from your mistake. You can make a case for why you think we could be wrong, but quite frankly, more of than not, it's easier to just move on for both sides, rather than debate about a specific issue.

Also, don't post up rants about what you hate about the site. If you got some suggestions, let us know. We want to know how we can make the site better. Pointless "This sucks. You suck!" comments only serve to create flame wars. This also goes for comments made beyond this site. We'd prefer you simply let us know why doesn't work rather than you get all worked up about it and run around hollering at the top of your lungs why we are society's evildoers. Even an evildoer has feelings.

What happens when we determine that you crossed the line? There are three steps we take of gradual severity, though if you are really good at being a tool, we'll just jump to step 3 without warning.

Step 1 – You get a warning.  This message will be sent to your inbox on your profile, and to your email. With the warning, you can still continue to post, and you still have access to your profile. Depending on how frequent your transgression is, you may only get one warning, or you may get several.  Your forum posting may also get taken down. You also potentially lose points if we have to take down your post.

Step 2 – Your account is suspended. In this situation, you won’t gain access to your account for a period of time. It could be a few days, or up to a month. Once we reactivate your account you can then post again, and gain access to the points you accumulated.

Step 3 – Your account gets banned. In this situation, you will lose access to your account, all your blog posts, comments, forum posts, and points. Your IP will get banned. Let’s hope it doesn’t get to this point, shall we? You won't be warned if you get banned, and it is ultimately based on our discretion. Play by our rules, and everyone gets along.

Please note that being a member of this community is a privelege. It is not a right. Priveleges may be revoked without notice for violating our TOS. We have the right to remove any content we deem inappropriate. If you'd like to read our longwinded TOS, the link is at the bottom of the page.