Planet Skaro Code of Conduct - updated 13/01/07

The Planet Skaro Code of Conduct

Welcome to Planet Skaro! Please take a few minutes to read our Code of Conduct, to avoid any potential misunderstandings.

Posting on Planet Skaro
Although Planet Skaro is predominantly a Doctor Who forum, we have forums for the discussion of other matters. You are free to create threads on any subject you like, providing it is appropriate to the section of the forum you are posting in. If members of the mod or admin team feel that your thread is in the wrong part of the forum, you may find that it has been moved to a more appropriate home.

Please be aware that many subjects have been covered on Planet Skaro in the past, and we’d prefer it if you make a little effort and make sure that you don’t post a new thread about a topic that is just down the page. If you could check the previous page of threads too, that would be appreciated.
There are several reasons for this. Firstly although you’re making a really good point on a particular subject, you may find that this has already been discussed and you will not get a good response. You’re often better to reply to an existing thread and add to the discussion there. We’re not asking you to trawl through the entire history of the forum, just the first couple of pages but please just make sure that you’re not duplicating threads, as you’ll find your thread will be closed. Secondly, duplicating topics uses up vital bandwidth on the forum, and we’d rather see that used for a good purpose. Further to this, we request that you do not start threads for random comments - there are normally threads already in existance where a comment that you wish to make would fit perfectly. New threads are for areas that haven't been covered yet, and can be debated.

Personal Attacks, Spamming, Flaming and Trolling
Planet Skaro has always been a friendly forum, and as such no personal attacks will be tolerated. If you feel that someone has behaved inappropriately, please either contact the other member privately or contact one of the mod or admin team with a link where possible to the offending thread, and they will deal with the matter. We’d prefer this to posters taking matters into their own hands, which often results in matters escalating unnecessarily.
Members who the mod and admin team believe have consistently broken this rule will be banned, firstly for a short period and then, if the poster continues to ignore the warnings, indefinitely.

Spamming, flaming and trolling will NOT be tolerated and may result in removal of your membership of the forum.

Spoiler Warnings
Undoubtedly one of the primary uses of the forum will be discussion of the new series. Please mark any behind the scenes news or any story details (prior to broadcast) with either a Spoiler Warning, or use the spoiler tags, as there are significant numbers of people who do not wish to have the new series spoilt for them. Please keep this in mind when you’re posting.

Profanity, lewd discussions and mature content
Planet Skaro encourages its members to be self-moderating when it comes to swear words. The forum still has a profanity filter, although it is only set to filter two words, and any derivations from those words.

We do allow “lewd” discussions, but request that they be kept within the Temple of Secrets. Since we are an open forum, we feel that there is no place for such discussions in areas that are within the public eye.

As for mature content, we reserve the right to remove it, and issue an official warning to the person posting it. If this rule is constantly abused, we reserve the right to revoke a poster's access.

May we also remind that the posting of pornographic images and human genitalia is NOT ALLOWED under ANY circumstances, and we request that images that might be considered distasteful are avoided.

Multiple Usernames
The use of multiple usernames on Planet Skaro is forbidden. Please avoid having multiple usernames in order to avoid the staff having to take action. If you wish to change your username, please get in contact with one of the members of staff

Filesharing
Please also be aware that discussion involving illegal downloading, torrenting, and illegal copies of any media are NOT allowed UNDER ANY CIRCUMSTANCES. Members who do may be subject may have their membership removed.

The Temple of Secrets
The Temple of Secrets remains an adult forum, which will be pass worded. If you would like access to this forum, please see this thread, which will give you joining instructions.

Once you have been given the password, you are requested not to share it with anyone. Anyone who is discovered having done so will find their Planet Skaro membership revoked.

Avatars and Signatures
We welcome both of these on PS. Avatars must be no larger than 100x100 pixels, any larger and they will automatically be resized to fit the box (though you may find it will affect how it looks). Signatures need to be no larger than 500x100 as a general rule of thumb. Most signatures are best saved as GIFs, as they usually have a lower file size than JPEGs. Animated GIFs are welcome, as long as they aren't unsuitably large.

Also, please note that web links in personal signatures are NOT allowed on Planet Skaro.

Linking
As already stated, web links are not allowed in your signature. We also ask that you do not advertise other Doctor Who forums in your posts. Doing so could result in the revokation of your membership.

Posting Images
If you're hosting images yourself and linking to them on here, try to keep the size to a width of 670 pixels maximum. There are a few reasons for this. Firstly, wide images make the text stretch off the screen for the entire page, and it's a pain to have to scroll left and right as well as up and down. The maximum is 670 pixels because that is the maximum size before the page begins to stretch.

If you need to resize your images, you can do it with any graphics package (such as Photoshop), or if you don't have anything like that, there is an option with Photobucket.com (they offer free accounts) to resize your images online (to 25%, 50% or 75% of the original size). If you do not know how to do this, ask one of the Mod or Admin team and they will be happy to help. As a last resort, if you post a large image, it may be resized by the staff, or even removed.

No image needs to be more than about 150KB max. The bigger the file size, the longer the page takes to download, and this can take some time on image heavy threads like 'Eye Candy'. If you really don't want to make the image smaller, or the file size is too large, then make a link to it, telling people what it is (to save them any nasty surprises!).

many thanks,
the Planet Skaro staff