Rules - Legal Information

Legal Information - Rules

Our network of web sites have rules to make sure things run smoothly and to keep jackassery to a minimum. Keep in mind these rules apply to every section of Black Bay, not just the forums, and they apply to all sites within NINA & Escargot network - including, but not limited to user profiles, signatures, avatars, chat rooms, and so forth.

General Conduct

No Pornography: Any picture, flash movie, video, or link to one of the previously mentioned things that contains nudity is forbidden and will immediately be deleted upon notice of one of the moderators or administrators, and you will be put on probation.
Other Images: Ideally other images should be uploaded to ButterImages and posted from there - this ensures we always have the images, because you never know when flikr, photobucket, imageshack, and so forth could disappear along with all the images on them -- sounds crazy but that does happen to web sites from time to time -- remember pownce, loudeye, bolt2k, etc? Didn't think so.
Profanity: All profanity, in English or other language, should be kept to an absolute minimum to keep this web site work and family friendly. While it's asinine to believe one can completely avoid profanity, using it too much makes one look like an idiot. Keep it down, keep it clean.
We do not owe you anything: The content, community, web site, etc are completely free. Therefore we do not owe you anything. However, we will do our best to please the community, but no single user is more important than another and rules apply to all users.
Spamming: This is filling up the forums, chats, comments, and so forth with unnecessary garbage. Spamming rules are less strict when posting on a social board, but even then, excessive spamming warrants a probation or in some cases a banning.

On Discussion forums, spamming is not tolerated. Spamming includes multiple posts with little relevant content, such as "good point", "ok", and "I agree". Also advertising web sites that are not within NINA & Escargot arena is forbidden and could be subject to post or accountdeletion.

This also includes posting links to malicious files, scripts, and so forth - including scripts that have a lot of popups, annoy people, Rickrolls, Mormon Jesus, and anything similar at all - there's a large area of interpretation here so be careful what you link.
Ad Removal: As said in the Terms of Service, users must agree when joining "to not use scripts or programs, or promote said scripts or programs, that will hinder NINA & Escargot's advertisements or ability to communicate with users." At the very least this means not telling other users how to do these things, especially how to block ads - it's what we do for a living.
Contribute to the conversation: Think of it this way. Ask yourself when chatting, posting on a discussion forum, or similar: "Does this contribute anything valuable to the argument/discussion?" If the answer is no, the post is most likely spam or just stupidity - don't post it.
Flaming: This is a clear insult to another user, both direct and implied. "Joke" insults must be used with discretion; if a moderator interprets your joke post as a true insult, it will be deleted.
Trolling: This is posting with the intention of annoying other users with disruptive behavior. If a moderator views your post(s) as trolling, they will be deleted and you could be put on probation or banned yourself.

Chat and Quotes

These are rules related to chat and chat quotes specifically

Chat

These are mostly chat specific rules, keep in mind the General Conduct rules at the beginning of this page also apply here - just because they aren't mentioned against doesn't mean you're exempt.

No Spamming: We saw the URL the first time, do not show it again. Also don't go around asking "asl", nobody asks that anymore - at least not on our chats.
No Proxies: Using proxies to chat is forbidden in most cases, and abuse of proxies will cause us to ban them all together again.
No attacking the chat service: Doing anything that can damage, crash, shut down, etc the chat service is obviously forbidden.
No warez, cp, or botnets: No warez, this isn't the pirate bay. No cp/child porn/girlies/jb/etc this isn't some crappy image board hosted in the Netherlands.
No clones: No more than 3 clones per host, and that means no more than 3 nicks per user. Abuse of this rule will lead to a very quick ban in that chat rooms and the web site.

Quotes

Your timestamps aren't best: The option to automatically remove timestamps applies to standard timestamp styles such as [11:12pm], [23:12:30], (11:12pm), (23:12:30) - any other style may not be removed. If you have especially hideous timestamps, please remove them yourself - if moderators are forced to remove them, they may get annoyed and just delete your quote.
What quotes are not: Quotes are not places to make requests; quotes are not a place to complain about a mod or disrespect them, it won't get posted - if you thought it would, you're an idiot; not a place to submit trouble tickets; It's not for anything other than posting funny things from that chat, nothing else - we cannot stress this enough.

Special Clause

This service is provided for free to you. We reserve the right to deny the service to anyone, at anytime, for any reason (or no reason) at all.

Member code of conduct / General conduct:

All information, data, text, music, sound, photographs, video, messages or other content -- whether publicly posted or privately transmitted -- are the sole responsibility of the users from which the content originated. This means that users are responsible for all content that they upload, post, email or otherwise transmit through the site. Black Bay does not control the content posted or sent through the site, therefore we do not guarantee its quality, reliability or accuracy. In participating on the site, users understand that they may be exposed to content or users that they find offensive. Black Bay is not in any way liable for content.

The Black Bay staff can, whenever they feel like it, edit or delete any content displayed on, uploaded to, distributed or otherwise published through the site. Users are entirely responsible and liable for all of their activities on the site. Listed below are some, but not all, violations that may result in termination of a user's access to the site. By using this site, users agree not to do any of the following:

Upload, post, email or otherwise transmit any content that is illegal -- which includes posts that explain how to create or encourage the use of terrorism, explosives, murder, or production or use of illegal substances.
Invade another user's privacy. This includes revealing another user's password, phone number, address or any other personally identifiable information. Black Bay discourages users from revealing their personal information to anyone they don't know.
Create member names, or post or send messages that denigrate, threaten, abuse or harm others on the basis of race, culture, religion or sexual orientation.
Harass, stalk or send unwanted messages.
Transmit, solicit, or post extremely sexually explicit messages, text or photographs.
Transmit, solicit, or post images depicting death, suicide, rape, or child abuse.
Impersonate another user or a member of the Black Bay staff.
Post or send messages that tell other members how to potentially harm themselves or others.
Post off topic messages.
Transmit unsolicited messages that advertise or link to businesses, sites, programs or other unauthorized commercial ventures. This includes junk mail, spam, bulk mailings, unauthorized promotional materials and pyramid schemes.
Forge headers or otherwise change identifiers in order to disguise the origin of any content transmitted through Black Bay's service.
Upload, post, email or otherwise transmit any content that they do not have a right to transmit under any law or contractual relationship. This includes proprietary and confidential information learned as part of employment relationships or under nondisclosure agreements, and any other inside information.
Transmit anything that violates any patent, trademark, copyright or other proprietary rights of another party.
Upload, post, email, fax or otherwise transmit material that contains software viruses or any other code, files or programs designed to interrupt, destroy or limit the functionality of any computer software, hardware or equipment.
Interfere with the site's servers or networks, or disobey any requirements, procedures, policies or regulations of networks connected to Black Bay.
Intentionally or unintentionally violate any applicable local, state, national or international law.
Interfere with or detailing how to interfere with Black Bay's ad services.
Violate anything as per the agreed upon terms of service.

Member code of conduct / Chat:

These are mostly chat specific rules, keep in mind the General Conduct rules at the beginning of this page also apply here - just because they aren't mentioned against doesn't mean you're exempt.

All rules in the General Conduct are and the Terms of Service apply here.
No Spamming - We saw the URL the first time, do not show it again. Also don't go around asking "asl", nobody asks that anymore - and unless you connected to Black Bay through a time machine, there's no excuse for it.
No Proxies or Tor - Using proxies to chat is forbidden in most cases, and abuse of proxies will cause us to ban them all together.
No attacking the chat service - Doing anything that can damage, crash, shut down, etc the chat service is obviously forbidden.
No warez, child porn, or botnets - No warez, this isn't the pirate bay. No cp/child porn/girlies/jb/etc this isn't some crappy image board hosted in the Netherlands.
No clones - No more than 3 clones per host, and that means no more than 3 nicks per user. Abuse of this rule will lead to a very quick ban in that chat rooms and the web site.
Speaking off topic, especially repeating the same thing over and over.
Share a phone number or address.
Public chats (those listed on the web site) are moderated by Black Bay staff, private chats are not, you enter them at your own risk.

Member code of conduct / Special clause:

If it's illegal in the United States or European Union, it isn't allowed on Black Bay. This service is provided to you for free (unless you're a paid member), and we reserve the right to deny the service to anyone, at anytime, for any reason (or no reason) at all.