Things That Will Get You BannedComic piracy
Discussing places to get pirated comics or manga, how many pirated comics you have, etc., is right out. (this is very important)
Posting pornographic or extremely disturbing/graphic images from hentai, adult manga, or independent comics
Keep in mind that a number of our users are under-age or browsing from work, and just because you've posted a drawing of, say, female genitalia, instead of a photo doesn't mean they'll necessarily get in less trouble over it. Ergo, you will get in trouble if you post something with the above content. This includes links posted in signatures.
If something is borderline,
link to it with a warning as to the content, or PM a mod before posting. If you're about to post something that could potentially cause trouble for users browsing while at school or work, add a "NSFW" (Not Safe For Work) tag to the subject line. PMing NSFW material to another user without having been asked to or without warning about the content will result in removal of PM privileges.
Posting internet horrors, fetish pictures, or disturbing medical photos
You don't need to be posting those in here period.
Trolling
This has a working definition of "attempting to be as annoying as possible while still technically obeying the rules," and it's not the way to go about getting attention. Attempting to derail threads, posting off-topic bullshit, or flame-baiting are all strictly verboten. There also tends to be a thin line between being abusive and immature and being argumentative. Crossing it persistently will lead to a ban.
Participating in "forum raids"
A "forum raid" is an invasion of a forum on another site. Variants of this involve clubbing together here to spam someone's email address, call a business number, rape a small site's bandwidth, or mob a comments section/guest book on a particular site. This will earn you, at the very least, a temporary ban. It will more likely be a permanent ban. This sort of thing reflects badly on the main site, and we take it very seriously.
Consistently or egregiously doing Things That Will Get You In Trouble
If you are constantly finding yourself jailed, take a moment and wonder why. If you are constantly disrupting things here, you'll be banned on either a temporary or permanent basis, depending on severity and frequency.
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Things That Will Get You in TroubleMaking a "Hi, I'm New!" thread
This forum sees a large number of new users every day, and there would be no actual discussions going on if each and every one of them made an introductory thread. Lurk for a while, get a feel for the place, find an active thread that interests you, and join the conversation. It would be a good idea to avoid hitting the new topic button for a few days. If you're making five new topics in your first hour YOU ARE DOING SOMETHING WRONG. It is also inadvisable to make your first post a new topic.
Beginning redundant threads
We are not a news service, but many of us check them frequently. Before you make a topic specifically to bring us a link, do a quick forum search for the URL and related keywords to make sure there isn't already a thread about it. If the only thing you're posting is the link, you might want to consider posting it in Linksville.
Failing to pay a modicum of attention to grammar and spelling
Nobody here demands epic poetry from other users. That having been said, it is difficult to have a worthwhile debate with someone who cannot make their points clearly or coherently.
Plugging your personal website or project
This comes off rather badly if you do it too soon after joining. It is known as "site-whoring," and you will be flamed. If you want to plug your (or anyone else's) site, put a link in your sig. If this rule is violated, you will be jailed and the link will be removed.
HOWEVER.
If you're a forumer with a cool comics related project, feel free to plug away. As long as you don't get excessive about it, most of the forumers here would be happy to see what you're working on.Starting a new thread asking why another thread was locked
PM a moderator if you don't understand why a thread was locked or would like to make a case for it being unlocked. Do not make a thread identical or nearly identical to a thread that has been locked. Also, do not make a thread solely for the purpose of referring to a thread that has been locked.
Making alternate accounts, otherwise known as "alts"
The mods do keep tabs on these things. Do not make a second account. If you are having trouble with your first account or would like to change your username, PM an admin.
Engaging in thread assassination
The most obvious things to avoid are posting "in before the lock" or any variant thereof. It's not clever, and no one appreciates it. If you feel that a thread truly needs to be locked, PM a mod.
Having a gigantic sig
Sigs should be no taller than 80 pixels (approximately four lines of text), no wider than 500 pixels and no bigger than 20 kb. This includes
everything below the white line. If your sig is significantly bigger, it will be taken away.
Failing to use spoiler tags or spoiler warnings
This should be self-explanatory. If you're making a spoiler thread, include "SPOILERS" in the title. If you're posting a spoiler within an unlabeled thread, user the
tags. Do not abuse the realspoiler tags. This will get you jailed.
Attempting to contact staff through threads
Gabe reads the forum rarely at best; Tycho does not read it at all. If you wish to contact them, you will need to email them.
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What to Do
Lurk
Reading threads and announcements without posting will help give you an instinctive idea of what will and will not be tolerated by the forum and the mods.
Behave like an adult
We don't care if you are one yet or not, you will be expected to act like one in this forum. That means restricting your flames to posted points or opinions, not people. See also, no ad hominem attacks. Gloating is also frowned upon, and posting things like "OMG Pwned" or 0wned pics will result in a jailing.
Stay on topic
This should be self-explanatory. If someone starts a thread about, say, Frank Miller, you should not be talking about monkeys by the third page.
Read the whole thread before you post in it
You are not special, you are not a beautiful snowflake, and if a thread is 20 pages long, someone has probably already posted whatever you were going to post. We don't need to go back over the same retarded arguments every 5th page. If the thread has become ridiculously long, read at least the first and last ten pages.
Pay attention to thread prompts
If the thread's creator has asked that you cite your claims by providing links, issue numbers, or other verification, comply to the best of your ability. If you don't want to do that, don't post in the goddamned thread.
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Additional Things to Know
These rules apply to regs just as much as they do to the most recent person to sign up.
Just because you've been here a while doesn't give you license to indulge in bad behavior. In fact, regs should be setting a good example for others.
"But Forumer X did it first" is not an excuse for breaking a rule.
Mods can't be here 24/7 and we can't see everything. We do what we can, but just because you've seen someone else break the rules doesn't open the doors for you to do the same.
This is not SE++
Things that fly in there can and will get you jailed here. Act like you got some goddamn sense.
MANIFEST'S AMENDMENTS TO THE RULES
1. Don't turn a discussion on why (insert superhero here) is cool/not cool into a flamewar.
2. Try to keep the blasting of creators on other forums. For the most part I feel like every other comic book forum is riddled with "OMG BENDIS SUX" posts. If you dislike something a writer or artist has done, feel free to criticize it. Just don't go overboard. (Exceptions will be made for anything said about John Byrne.)
3. Morrissey.
4. POST! Don't be afraid to post new threads. This isn't SE or G&T, I am much less likely to lock something than the mods there are. I'm a firm believer that bad threads will either die on their own, or blossom into something decent over time. So if you find something that interests you, by all means post it.
5. Honor thy father and thy Whippy. Whippy built this house, I'm just subletting.
SERVO NOTES-
I am more likely to lock your thread if I think it is a worthless waste of the internet, so keep that in mind before you post it. Ask yourself. Be honest.
SERVO FURTHER NOTES-
The question "What if the Juggernaut ran into the Blob lol UNSTOPPABLE FORCE AND IMMOVABLE OBJECTLOLOLZ?!" is now a jailable offense. A minimum of one day in the lockup if I catch you asking this retarded and trite question that literally every single person on the face of the planet has asked first.
Plus, Juggernaut totally wins. History proves this.
UPDATE:
From the holy book of Manifest:
Keep your whining about "what a hack Claremont has become" or "Why Joe Q is ruining Marvel" to yourselves.
If you want to constantly bitch about the things you hate, go to Newsarama. If you want to celebrate the comics that you love, post here.
EDIT FROM SERVO
this includes trying to claim that marvel/dc/oni/dark horse/whatever publisher you don't like sucks/has no good characters/is full of talentless hacks/whatever
these things are dumb and clearly untrue and you are dumb if you want to whine about it
Posts
I don't know what kind of shit you've been getting away with elsewhere, but you're not going to get away with the oh-so-clever "Princess Miranda" shit anymore.
No more warnings on this.
Using the forums to aid your piracy is an insta-ban.
Secondly, I'm going to emphasize a rule that's already in place, and that has been emphasized multiple times already in this thread.
DO NOT USE THESE FORUMS TO CONTINUALLY BASH ON PEOPLE IN THE COMICS INDUSTRY
I'm not saying you can't say "I don't like this story and this is why." That's fine. But enough bashing on Joe Quesada and Dan Didio and whoever else at every fucking opportunity. There are thousands of comics forums out there that you can do that at. Part of what's made this forum work is that shit like that didn't happen here, but it's gotten out of hand lately.
If you want to bash on "Joey Q" for RUINING SPIDER-MAN or Dan Didio for RUINING DC or whoever the fuck else, take it somewhere else. I'm tired of it, and it is absolutely hurting this forum.
It's fine to not like something. There's plenty of things in comics I don't like, and I'll post when I do. But you aren't children. Keep it civilized, and quit running shit into the ground.
If you can't follow rule #1, expect to receive an infraction. If you post excessive amounts of scans over a series of posts without other people contributing, expect to receive an infraction.
Also, a friendly reminder: bitching goes in the bitching thread. You can discuss things, even things you liked, in a reasonable manner everywhere else. It shouldn't be terribly difficult. This goes for things like, "well THIS GUY sucks on THIS COMIC, but THIS COMIC RULES." That's obnoxious, and it needs to stop.
There are hundreds of shitty comics forums on the internet. If you can't deal with these rules, I'm sure they'll welcome you with open arms.
Just a note: the scan rule applies to this entire forum.