Participation Guidelines

The following Participation Guidelines have been established to maintain the quality of and a friendly atmosphere on the Phantasy Star: Fringes of Algo web site and community. By participating or registering at Phantasy Star: Fringes of Algo, all users accept the responsibility to behave in accordance with these guidelines. All content submitted to this site by users, including, but not limited to, message board posts, private messages, literature, images, downloads, and profile information is governed by the Participation Guidelines. These guidelines are subject to change at any time without notification of users.

We hope you will enjoy your time at Phantasy Star: Fringes of Algo and be a long standing member of our community. We are glad to have you here!

Guidelines

1. While the staff will attempt to remove any content that violates the Participation Guidelines as quickly as possible, it is impossible to review every message. Therefore, you acknowledge that all posts made to this web site express the views and opinions of the author and not the site staff (except for posts by these people) and hence they will not be held liable. #
2. Please do not act as a "back seat moderator" or respond directly to content submitted by other members that violates the Participation Guidelines. If you encounter such content, please report it to site staff, so that staff may act on it as necessary. Please include any and all relevant information in your report. Replying to such content directly may cause the situation to escalate. An icon link for reporting posts and private messages can be found near the message. Other issues can be reported by private message or the Contact form. #
3. This site is aimed at a general audience, which may include children. Please do not post content that is abusive, obscene, vulgar, slanderous, hateful, threatening, sexually explicit, adult, otherwise inappropriate, that may violate any applicable laws, or that may invite others to post such content. Please do not post any links to other web pages that contain content which would violate this guideline if posted on this site. #
   1. Some leniency is allowed for works submitted in the Creative Corner section of the site. It is recognized that fictional conflict and fictional character personality are an important parts of story telling and we do not wish to impede usage of these elements for that purpose. Works may include abusive, slanderous, hateful, threatening or violent material for interaction between characters. However, obscene, vulgar, sexually explicit, adult, or otherwise inappropriate content is prohibited. #
   2. Automated systems prevent some content that violates this guideline from being posted. If you make a submission that triggers these systems, you should edit your submissions to remove the inappropriate content. As our list of such content can never be fully complete, sometimes additions to the list may cause content to be replaced with an asterisk (*). If this occurs, it is not required to edit your previous submission(s). #
   3. Do not attempt to bypass the automated filter systems in any way. Replacing portions of the content with other symbols is an attempt to bypass the systems and not acceptable. For example, if "gris" is a blocked word, variations like "gr*s," "gr15," "gr-is," "gr is," "gr.is," "g**s," or "g***" are also not permitted. Submissions that trigger the automated systems will be flagged for review by site staff to check for bypasses. Some leniency regarding content that may be considered lightly vulgar is allowed for works submitted in the Creative Corner section of the site. "Lightly vulgar," for this purpose, excludes any language that is highly obscene or sexually and/or anatomically explicit. #
   4. You may post a link to web site containing violating content if the content is not displayed directly on the specific web page accessed from the link and the main purpose of the web site is not to provide such content. If the individual web page linked contains a section with content that changes over time and that section is later found to hold violating content, with a reasonable doubt that it did not do so at the time the link was posted, this will not be considered a violation. #
4. English is the primary language of this site. In order to properly monitor posted content, we ask that the majority of submitted content also use English. #
   1. The occasional use of other languages in small amounts is acceptable, given that this site often covers items based in Japanese or other languages. A post should be at least 70% English in most cases. #
5. Please do not posting the same information in multiple forums or topics on this site. Please post only once in the most appropriate location for your post. #
6. Please do not post advertisements, unsolicited messages created specifically to promote an entity (such as a business, product, service, web site), or an excessive number of links to a single web site. Exceptions may be allowed on a case-by-case basis, if the content is relevant to current discussion, the topic at hand, or the overall purpose of Phantasy Star: Fringes of Algo. #
7. Please do not request or provide unauthorized downloads of commercial games. This is an illegal activity and not permitted at this site. Discussion of other video game emulation related topics (including but not limited to save games, translations, patches, and emulators) is generally permitted. To the best of our knowledge, such items have never been ruled as illegal in a court of law. #
8. Please do not post personally identifying information of other persons without their consent. Examples of such information would be real names, ages, phone numbers, addresses, nicknames, or past nicknames. It is also advised to avoid posting personally identifying information regarding yourself for your own security and safety, especially phone numbers or addresses. #
9. Please refrain from posting comments that may be inflammatory, insulting, disrespectful, or taunting. Please be respectful of all people, whether they are members of this community or not. #
   1. If you disagree with someone's opinion or actions, you may choose to express this disagreement and give your own opinion. How you express yourself is important; please do so respectfully. For example, you may attack another person's opinion, but do not attack the person. Remember also that everyone is entitled to their opinion and not required to change their opinion during any discussion. #
   2. Do not make uninvited remarks about posting styles or mistakes, such as typos, grammar issues, or duplicate posts. Accidents happen to everyone, whether they be a person's mistake in hitting a wrong key or an internet hiccup resubmitting a posting form. #
   3. When reviewing works in the Creative Corner section, please provide critiques in a respectful, positive, and constructive manner. Remember that the author(s) of the work have invested time and energy into their work. Pointing out issues to help the author(s) improve their work or skills is encouraged unless the author(s) state they do not wish to receive such criticisms; just please be respectful of their efforts when doing so. #
   4. Works in the Creative Corner section should not be used for the purpose of addressing, attacking, or otherwise referencing non-fictional persons such as political figures. #
   5. During opinion-based discussions, do not make statements like "there is no argument" as if your opinion is the only valid or important. When someone has clearly stated their opinion, do not say things like "Are you serious?" or "Are you kidding me?" Comments of these natures are disrespectful the the other members of the community. #
10. Please do not post full works created by others unless you have received written permission to reproduce or distribute those works from the copyright holder(s). Doing so without written permission constitutes copyright infringement, which is an illegal activity. Always provide a statement that you do have permission and cite the source of the original works. If the source is an online web page, always include a link unless the web page contains content that would be inappropriate for this site. #
    1. Fair Use legal clauses, which can be vague, generally allow for legal reproduction or distribution of small portions of works created by others without explicit permission of the author(s). Fair Use requirements vary with individual cases. In order to help ensure compliance on this site, users may reproduce no more than one-fifth of the original work. #
    2. If a person has distributed your work on this site without permission, please report this to site staff. Please include a direct link to your original work and the work and/or discussion that contains the unauthorized distribution to assist us in handling the matter as quickly as possible. #
    3. Remixes, which are generally music and/or videos created by modifying, combining, or re-interpreting pre-existing works, are often created without the permission of the copyright holder(s). This may or may not constitute copyright infringement, depending on the nature of the remix. Some game developers have also encouraged the creation of remixes, further obscuring the issue. Discussions of and links to remixes created for non-commercial purposes are permitted here. If copyright holder(s) raise an objection to a remix that uses material to which they hold the rights, that remix will no longer be allowed. #
11. Please do not incorporate the expressions of ideas created by others into your own works unless you have received written permission to use those expressions from the author(s). Doing so without written permission is plagiarism and may constitute copyright infringement and/or fraud, which are illegal activities. When posting a work that does include expressions created or inspired by others, always cite the original source of the expressions. If the source is an online web page, always include a link unless the web page contains content that would be inappropriate for this site. #
    1. If a person has plagiarized your work and distributed or discussed it on this site, please report this to site administrator. In this report, please include direct links to your original work and the work and/or discussion that contains the plagiarism. Also include as much compelling evidence as you can gather, such as direct, cited quotes comparing the works. #
    2. As plagiarism is a serious charge, the initial burden of proving plagiarism will rest with the person reporting the offense. While site staff will investigate evidence presented to the best of our ability, we will not build a plagiarism case for the accuser. Site staff will act on accusations of plagiarism only if they can be proven beyond a reasonable doubt. #
    3. It is possible for more than one person to arrive at the same conclusion or theory independently. This is especially true when dealing with a community based on video games played by individuals across the world for decades. For this reason, accusations of plagiarism regarding content based on Phantasy Star related material must consider more than simply ideas. Concepts such as the way similar ideas in the works are expressed, the amount of similar ideas present, the likelihood that the accused was exposed to the previous work(s), and the status of the works involved will also be considered. #
12. All members must be over or exactly 13 years of age. Persons under 13 years of age are not allowed to register. If it is discovered that an account belongs to someone under 13 years of age, the account will be terminated. #
13. As a user, you agree to any information you have entered being stored in a database. While private profile or registration information will not be disclosed to any third party without your consent (unless required by law), the webmaster, administrator and moderators cannot be held responsible for any hacking attempt that may lead to the data being compromised. #
14. The staff of this site reserves the right to review, remove, edit, move or close any content on the site at any time should they see fit. #
15. The administrator and moderators have the final say on any decisions related to this site. If you feel a mistake has been made or have questions about a decision, please contact a staff member privately. Do not create topics or posts to question administrative decisions. Such topics or posts are almost always unnecessarily disruptive to the harmony of an online community. If you feel that a mistake has been made, contact staff privately and the situation will be reviewed. #
16. Please be aware of the Legal Disclaimers. The "Copyrights of the Web Site" and "Publishing Rights Statement" sections are considered part of these Guidelines. Also, please be aware of the privacy policy. While it is not considered part of these Guidelines, you should look at it at least once anyway.

Enforcement Policies

These are the policies used in the enforcement of the Participation Guidelines and any punishments the site staff deems to be appropriate.

1. If any content in a submission is found to violate the Participation Guidelines, the entire submission may be removed from public view.
2. Reported submissions may remain in public view, at the discretion of staff, while reports of violations are being reviewed.
3. Staff will not edit posts or submissions to remove violating content. This allows us to preserve the original content for later reference or restoration if needed.
4. A notice will generally be issued to the submitting user when content is removed due to a violation of the Participation Guidelines within that content. Infraction points may also be assigned the user. Infraction points currently expire after 90 days.
5. Occasionally, the removal of violating content may necessitate the removal on non-violating content. For example, suppose a post is removed due to inflammatory content. If a following post contains a quote block including an inflammatory section from the removed post, the following post may also be removed. This is generally not considered a violation on the part of the quoting poster. The quoting poster may, at the discretion of staff, be contacted with the text of their post and invited to re-post it in edited form.
6. If a member continually violates the Participation Guidelines or shows disrespect for the site and/or staff, they may be banned from participating in this site.
7. Some very serious violations may result in a user being banned from participation in this site without notice. One example of such a case would be a user posting spam or explicit material immediately after registering.
8. Any membership terminations are permanent; attempts to bypass such terminations may result in stronger action.
9. Staff will not discuss actions taken in the enforcement of violations with any one other than the member who committed the violation. Exceptions may be made in cases of plagiarism or illegal activity violations or cases where another member is invited to re-post non-violating submissions removed due to violations committed by another member.