Neverside

Privileged Membership

Being a member of Neverside is absolutely free of charge, and is a privilege, not a right. Therefore, the administration of Neverside at anytime reserves the right to protect the community by enforcing the rules outlined in the Acceptable Use Policy(AUP) . This policy, in it's whole, details the steps the administration of Neverside takes to enforce. By being a member, you automatically are bound to this. Age, country, race, etc. are not plausible differences to be excused from the rules. We also reserve the right at anytime to remove access temporarily or permanently due to abuse of the site, or suspicion of abusing fellow members.

Warning System

5 Points

Neverside uses a unique system, known as a Warning System. Each rule you break has a corresponding offense, these vary from 1 to 2 points. Once you reach 5 points, your account is suspended for the duration. We do have a second chance system, and that will be outlined in it's section. Many times, if the offense is minor, you will be contacted via the Private Messaging(PM) system by a staff member, however, repeated offending of minor rules will eventually get you a warning point. Warning points expire after a certain period of time, these timeframes are outlined under each offense. They can range from 30 days upto 120 days, depends on the severity and the times such an offense or similar behavior has been repeated. All warnings that members recieve, are only viewable by them, and staff. No one else needs to see them, or know about them.

The Procedure

We understand that everyone isn't perfect, and to uphold that our system is based around the 2nd opinion idea. When a staff member issues a warning point for a post, submission, etc. that you have made, it goes into an approval center. There, another staff member must review the warning offense, and make sure there is no misunderstanding on either end, whether member or staff. If the fault is on the member, the warning point will be approved, if not it will be rejected. Both the warning official, and the approver will have areas to provide comments, which each party will recieve a copy of. This allows for no personal vendettas between staff and members to ever occur.

Petition A Warning

Every member, has the right to petition a warning point they may have recieved. While we consider our system to be fool-proof, there can always be misunderstandings either on the staff's perception of what went wrong, or the member's misunderstanding of what he did wrong. After a warning is issued, the member has seven days to file a review, which is then sent to the Community Directors to be reviewed. A response is usually given within 24-48 hours. This we will work to be a rare option, but every member has the right to do so regardless.

The Second Chance

Members have the ability to change, however, they may have reached their 5 points. The 2nd chance system is on a case-to-case basis, everyone's account will be handled differently. In most cases, once you reach 5 points, your account will be suspended from access until your points return to below 5. This is how our second chance policy works, we will log everytime you hit 5, and after reviewing your account, if we determine you are making no progress to correct your behavior and abide by the policies set forth here, then your account will be permanently banned. There are no petitions on banning, by this point, we've felt it was considerable enough to give you chances, by now you've completely taken advantage of the system.

Warning Offenses - Minor Offenses (1 Point)

Consistent Off-Topic Posting

We try to enforce quality control around Neverside, and by doing so, we like to keep forum topics, submissions, etc. on topic. This includes using someone's thread as a way to talk to someone instead of using the given private methods, such as Private Messages, E-mail, or various messenger services.

Excessive Inappropriate Language

The censorship here is option on a member-to-member basis, meaning the member can turn it off or on. However, we do not permit the constant use of this as if it were a regular vocabulary, there are other ways to get your point across, and using vulgar < derogatory language should be used in moderation.

Blatent Advertising

We understand users want to get their website out there, and get some traffic to it. We offer designated areas to do so.. these being your signatures which we stress you make those abide by the guidelines as well. We also offer many forms of paid advertising, and even a free-for-all Shameless Plugs forum. Do not use someone's popular thread, submission, etc. to advertise your services or website.

Member Misconduct

Everyone has clashing opinions and views, however, it's when the attacks get personal and mean is when we have to step in. Every member is expected to respect one another, doesn't mean you have to agree or like them, but you do have to maintain a proper conduct at all times. This is a minor offense, there are more severe forms.

Cross-Posting

Members may sometimes be desperate or just.. well, insane and try to post across more than one forum with the same question. This is known as cross-posting, and it's abusing the system. Usually for the first time, a member will be warned via Private Messaging(PMs), if it continues this is the warning associated with it.

Submitting Unauthored Work

This is not considered ripping, but in the community perspective, it can be viewed as trying to take credit for someone elses work. As the submissions show you as the author. However, if you have the permission of the author to post it & credit is given as it should be, then that is absolutely fine. We normally only enforce this if reported, and we will deal with you one-on-one before going to a decision.

Referral Linking

We know there are tons of great free offers out there, however, we stress that if you provide a link to a site, that you use the appropriate link without the referral, and then you may post a second link in your post with the referral and inform the user that it is a referral link so you can get credit for it.

Signature Guidelines Violation

Members who do not follow our signature guidelines, as warnings, we issue suspension of them for violating the guidelines. If you recieve a warning point, you'll lose your signature for the duration of the time you have a warning for it. Which at present, is 15 days.

Private Messaging (PMs) Abuse

The PM system is a privilege, however we've observed that from time to time, a user will send advertisements and/or harrass the user through the PM system. Users who get this, have the ability to report the PM, and if we see it is abuse, you will be warned accordingly. This is minor only the first time.

Warning Offenses - Major Offenses (2 Points)

Linking to Damaging Websites

Linking to websites that infringe on the member's security, cause programs to crash, simply make the computer reboot or may cause the member to get in trouble will result in recieving 2 warning points. Sometimes it's viewed as a joke, but these sites may also be doing other things that you may or may not know of. So for protection of the member's, we take these very seriously.

Participation in Warez Circulation

Everyone knows the world of Peer2Peer, Torrent, and USENET, these technologies in their 'purpose' may be discussed. However, the relaying of websites which contain downloads of questionable content, will result in recieving warning points.

Copyright Infringement

Call it what you may want.. some call it ripping, others call it pirating. Any user caught using materials that are protected under the Digital Millennium Copyright Act(DMCA) will be warned. This is a first offense only, repeated offenses will result in a ban from the community. We take copyright protection here very seriously, protecting artists and developers intellectual property is what we want to do to the best of our ability.

Disrespect Towards Community Staff

The staff members of this site are volunteer, and the job they do the administration has chosen them as fit to carry out the tasks and responsibilities associated with that. Disrespecting them based on their decisions is uncalled for, using the proper methods to report abuse should be used, not slandering the staff for the decisions they make.

Pornography

Absolutely & indefinately prohibited. The community allows freedom of expression in the artistic nature of nudity, however, linking to sites and/or posting attachments of pornographic content are not allowed, and will be carried as a serious violation.

Trolling

We do not tolerate trolls here. Trolling is what can cause a community's atmosphere to be hostile, as the point of trolls are merely to cause an issue or make a topic go off-topic. Stay under the bridge trolls!

Member Fights

Commonly known as flaming, we do not tolerate it here. If you have a personal opinion against a member, please handle it in private, do not take it out on the site.

Racism & Prejudice Remarks

We advise highly against this. We're an international community, so there are going to be differences in race, religion, and so forth. As a community, we must respect the origins of all of our members, and because of that, this kind of behavior will not be tolerated at all.

Threats

Considered a very serious offense. If a member reports a PM, a post, anything that dictates the indication of one member threatening another, the first time will be given a warning. Continued offenses will lead to banning.

Spamming

Is absolutely unnecessary here. Signing up for an account to spam the boards will be treated with high prejudice, the first time it is a warning, if it continues it'll be reflected as an instant ban.

Banning

How it Works

While we do our best to use the warning system, there are certain situations that arise that require the administration to bypass the procedure of the Warning System and immediately ban the member. Under these circumstances, the member's IP information is reported to their ISP about the activity they were banned from. If you're banned through the warning system, we typically do not take such drastic steps. Usually when this method is taking is when a member attemps to compromise the security of the community and it's members.

Area Banning

Sometimes, a user may be just causing issues in a particular area of the site.. say the Studio or the Forum, rather than ban them from the site in it's entirety, the staff may find it fit to temporarily or permanently ban the member from that particular area. Normally a much more rash action to take care of a rapid case of spam.