The Official Board Rules. Read it or get banned.

[RincewindTheWiz]

The Official Forum Rules
READ it as abusers get BANNED!

FileForums is a group of forums to find help on backing up your own legally bought PC/console games and making these backups work. You must have a legal copy of the game to ask questions, otherwise you will get banned! Besides the rules below, that apply to all forums, you may find some more rules in the stickies of the respective forums, as well. Also, in case you haven't done so already, read the Netiquette, the general guidelines on how to behave on the Net.

1. Do not discuss warez! Do not ask where to download illegal copies of PC/console games or how to make them work. Warez means not having the original CD/DVD, for reasons including but not limited to:
   • not having as many separately purchased original CD's/DVD's as the number of computers the game is played on (see the EULA!);
   • the original CD/DVD having been lost, damaged or unusable for any reason (kids, pets, damaged CD/DVD drive etc.);
   • the original CD/DVD being the wrong version, language or region (EU/UK/US/etc.);
   • the original CD/DVD having been rented from a shop, borrowed from someone, lent to someone, or left at another place;
   • having no compatible or properly working CD/DVD drive or having no CD/DVD drive at all.
   If the CD/DVD is lost, damaged, wrong language etc., contact the publisher and they will send you a replacement, usually for a small fee. Note that not even having a working original CD/DVD allows you to download a pirated copy of the same game from the Internet!
   Also, don't ask for any help concerning the following:
   • Cracking applications (non-game software).
   • Cracking demo versions of games (including removal of the time limit) or beta releases/updates of games.
   • Getting the full version of any software, including but not limited to trainers, whose beta/demo version can be downloaded from the Internet legally for free.
   • Making the online downloadable form (so called "digital download") of games – that need to be activated later, upon the actual purchase or the installation – work longer and/or without activation and/or in any way differently than the publisher meant them to. (These don't need an actual CD/DVD, that can be broken or lost, anyway. Also, read the PC Games forum FAQ on why we don't recommend the purchase of such "digital download" games, though.)
   • Circumventing the online activation of games. (This has nothing to do with physical media that can break.)
   • Using cracks in a commercial environment such as rentals, internet/cyber cafes, commercial LAN parties etc.! Instead, contact the publisher for an official solution that allows you to install/play the games without using actual CD's/DVD's.
   Questions about downloaded or otherwise illegally obtained/used versions of games are related to obviously illegal activity; your thread will be closed and you will be banned!
2. Do not request or publish CD/DVD-keys or serials! If you bought the game then you own a unique serial; use it! If it doesn't work, contact the publisher instead. Also, don't include real CD-keys/serials in any of your posts, for any reason.
   Such questions are related to obviously illegal activity; your thread will be closed and you will be banned!
3. Do not request or publish original game files or registry entries! As you are supposed to have the original CD/DVD (see rule #1), reinstall the game, to get the files or registry entries back. Also, don't send/attach/offer original files or registry entries in any of your posts, for any reason.
4. Search on the forum before asking. The best way to find answers to your question is to search for the name of the game you need help with (see the Search button in the menu at the top of every page) and to read the FAQ's and other stickies of the forum first as your question may have already been answered. Also, if you found a related thread, don't open a new thread; add your post into the already existing one instead.
   Too many threads about the same game only add garbage to the forum; some of the new threads may get closed!
5. Use English language only. All posts in this forum must be made in English.
   This is an international forum, where the common language is English; non-English post may get closed or deleted!
6. Give crackers a reasonable amount of time for releasing cracks. Do not request a crack or a mini image for a game (update) that has been released within two months. Before requesting a crack or a mini image, make sure to check GameCopyWorld and other sites listed in the respective forum FAQ's and/or stickies.
   Because of today's sophisticated copy protections, some games may take several months to crack (properly), therefore such questions only add garbage to the forum; such threads will be closed!
   Don't request or discuss the CD/DVD conversion of any game before its official release date. (We refer to ToTheGame and so should you. If there are different release dates for different regions then the earliest counts.) If you know for sure that the game has already been released somewhere, even if ToTheGame says otherwise, mention this explicitly in your (opening) post, with a link to your source. (Moderators, however, reserve the right to ignore such sources.)
   Threads about the conversion of games before the release date will be deleted and the posters involved warned, because of a high probability of warezing!
7. No flaming or insulting other board members! The majority of people here are trying to help and they do that free of charge. If that help is not sufficient then do not attack because of it.
   Forum members flaming or insulting others may get banned!
8. Do not bump. Don't send meaningless posts – "why noone replies?", "I also have this problem", "(does anyone know) when will this problem be solved?", "(does anyone know if) someone is working on a solution for this problem?" etc. – into any thread, only to push it back onto the top of the thread list, if you have no useful information to add. If you want to add information to your previous post, consider using the "Edit" button at the right bottom corner of your post instead. Don't multi-post (sending in the same post into multiple forums) either.
   Such posts only add garbage to the forum; they may get deleted!
9. Do not post off-topic questions or information. For general questions/problems related to games, computing etc., use the General Gaming or other forums in the Games group.
   Off-topic posts only add garbage to the forum; they will be moved to the other forums.
10. Don't moderate but do report posts breaking the rules. If you see any of these rules being broken, don't reply to such posts – especially in an offending way – because that's not your job. Instead, report them to the moderators (see the small traffic sign, with an exclamation mark in it, at the top right corner of every post).
    Posts containing nothing more than "read the forum rules", "read forum rule #x", quoting a forum rule and similar will be deleted: all forum members should've known the forum rules before posting. Forum members acting as a moderator may get banned!
11. The moderators are ALWAYS right! Do not piss off the moderators by complaining about moderation – closing/moving/deleting threads, deleting posts, banning users – as, if you were the victim, this may make the situation even worse for you.
12. Do not advertise! It is forbidden to advertise anything that includes links to any website, unless it is clearly informative! Also, do not advertise game servers, game modifications or other software or service, be it free or paid! It is also considered advertising to link to a site/page which makes profit (whether money or something else, it doesn't matter) to you (or your company etc.) but, in the lack of useful information, only you and not other members of the forum. If you want to advertise at FileForums then go to MediaTarget instead.
    Advertising only adds annoying garbage to the forum; your thread will be closed and you will be banned! If that was your first post, your ban will be permanent!

Threads/posts breaking these rules will be closed/deleted. Users breaking rules #1, #2, #7, #10 and #12 will get banned temporarily; this usually lasts for one month or, according to the judgement of the moderator, longer or shorter, depending on the seriousness of the offense. Milder offenses will get so-called warnings or infractions (yellow and red cards, like in football/soccer), prior to a ban. Serious and repeat offenders of any rule will be permanently banned and will not be unbanned; the same goes (without any prior warning or infraction) for first time posters who start (and end) their career on the forum with an advertisement. Also, don't bother to try to avoid a ban by creating another account because that new account of yours will also be banned.

These rules may seem very strict, but they've proven necessary for maintaining order on a forum with this much traffic.

History of changes:
[16/11/03] Changed off topic rule to include the new "General Gaming" forum.
[15/03/04] Added "Off Topic" forum.
[01/07/04] Further explanation of "reasonable amount of time", and how temporary bans work.
[29/07/04] Rule #11 added.
[15/06/05] Rule #12 added.
[24/02/06] Rules rephrased and refined, more explanations added.
[21/07/06] Moved definition of "warez" from rule #3 to rule #1, along with some new subdefinitions added.
[26/10/06] Added Mini Image to rule #6.
[23/12/06] Added "lost CD/DVD" and "don't download warez even when having original CD/DVD" to rule #1. Moved "contact publisher" from rule #3 to rule #1. Added "don't publish either" to rule #3. Added warnings and infractions for milder offenses.
[07/01/07] Raised the two week limit in rule #6 to two months.
[18/02/07] Added link to the Netiquette (on Wikipedia, in English). Added "no help with cracking applications, demos and beta releases of games" to rule #1.
[08/03/07] Renamed "Off Topic" forum group to "Games".
[10/25/07] Added "no help with getting the full version of any free demo software" and "no help with circumventing online activation" to rule #1. Further explained advertisements and added "first time posters with an advertisement will get permanently banned" to forum rule #12.
[11/18/07] Added "don't moderate" to rule #10. Raised the standard length of temporary bans to one month.
[03/02/09] Added "don't request/discuss CD/DVD conversions before the release date" to forum rule #6. Added "don't multi-post either" to forum rule #8. Added "posts referring to the forum rules will get deleted" to forum rule #10.