Here are our general forum rules that apply to everyone:
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The Astroboy Online community is a 13+ place where people from all over the world come to discuss their favourite little robot hero. Our hope is that despite our differences in nationality, culture, religion, age, sex, or politics, our common interest in Astroboy will unite us. As such, we have formulated a few simple rules and guidelines by which all posters must abide, to ensure that all our members and guests have an informative and most importantly enjoyable experience during their time here on the forums.
General Rules
The following rules apply to all members and every forum. Offending topics will be closed (no further responses allowed) or in extreme cases, removed all together. A member who does not follow the rules can expect a warning after their first offense. A moderator will contact them if the problem persists. After a third offense, the moderators will consider banning the member. However, the moderators have the final call. They may ban a member before a second or even a first warning has been issued if the offense is considered serious enough (blatant verbal abuse, trolling or baiting, or being generally unpleasant).
- Respect the other members.
Do not flame, bash or insult the other members. Treat the other members with the same respect that you would expect from them. Remember, we are all from different nations, have different cultures, embrace different beliefs and are all entitled to our own opinions. If you feel you cannot abide by this most basic rule, then please leave.
- No Political or Religious discussions.
Though the General Discussion forum has been provided as a place to talk about almost anything, there are some threads that are just better left unstarted and such topics often only lead to heated arguments and offended members with hurt feelings.
- No swearing.
Please remember that we are a community for all ages and that many Astro fans are young children. Do not attempt to bypass the swear filter, it is in place for a reason.
- No trolling or baiting.
Do not make posts that are deliberate attempts to anger the community or entice arguments. Such posts will be removed immediately.
- No blatant advertising.
Do not start a thread for the sole purpose of selling something. Advice on where to buy products or merchandise is acceptable if it is relevant to the topic at hand. Signature links to stores are fine.
- No multiple accounts.
Only one account per person is allowed. If you have forgotten your password, you can request a new one from the forums. If you would like your username changed, please contact a moderator and they will gladly fix you up. However, please note that having your username changed should be considered exceptional.
- No posting of offensive, overtly suggestive, illicit or pornographic material.
This includes the posting of links to sites containing such material, be they in your signature or otherwise.
Examples of inappropriate content include:
- Illustrations defining private areas of bodies, bodily functions, and sexual activity.
- Excessive display of blood, severe injuries, and grotesque images intended to shock viewers (such as decaying or bloody body parts).
- Text that describes sexual activity, as well as overt sexual attraction and seduction.
- Music with overtly sexual content (words, sound effects).
- Video and/or still images edited and manipulated to exploit overtly sexual and/or sexually suggestive messages.
- Graphic or pornographic images of characters (including slash/yaoi/yuri).
- Illustrations defining private areas of bodies, bodily functions, and sexual activity.
Copyrights
What cannot be posted:
- Don't post links to download or watch any anime episode, television show, movie, manga, or music video unless it has been posted legally by a company who owns the copyright and/or legal rights to such media.
- Don't post an invitation to members to contact you for information on how to access links to pirated media.
- Don't post a link to another site where visitors can readily find links to pirated media.
- Don't post links to anime, movies, manga, etc. at a foreign-language location (such as Japanese or Korean) unless it has been posted legally by a company who owns the copyright and/or legal rights to such media.
What can be posted:
- Our own fan fiction, artwork, AMVs, videos, etc. (just not using a significant amount of content from Tezuka's original work - any doubts, just contact a moderator). Songs are allowed in AMVs.
- Links to an excerpt (about 10% or less) of a show, a movie, an episode, etc. This falls under "fair use".
- Links to legal streaming sites such as Crunchyroll or Hulu.
- Links to videos from YouTube channels of companies who own the rights to any media. For instance, anything from the official Tezuka Productions YouTube channel is okay to post.
If you feel a thread or post has broken any of these rules, you can report it to our moderating team by clicking the exclamation mark icon in the top right part of each post.
Posting Guidelines
The following guidelines will give you some tips to helping make the Astroboy Online forums a fun and friendly place for everyone. While they are not hard and fast rules, we do ask that you follow them wherever possible.
- Avoid double posting where possible.
If you finish posting a message but find you have something else you wanted to add, edit your post rather than posting a second message.
- No resurrecting old threads unless you have something meaningful to add.
If a thread has been inactive for a month or longer, please do not add a post unless you have something important or meaningful to add. Consider starting a new thread instead.
- Please post in the relevant forum.
While we are first and foremost a forum for discussing all things Astro, there does exist a General Discussion forum for any off topic conversations you might wish to have. Please ensure you select the appropriate place for your thread.
- When posting large images, consider downsizing the image.
If your image is quite large, consider downsizing the image through image editing sites or software.
- Please be mindful when posting personal information.
Please remember that these forums are public and can be read by anyone with internet access. Use caution if you wish to send someone your photo or personal details.
- Editing and deleting posts
Members can make changes to their own posts for 36 hours. Members are responsible for what they are posting and should not expect the moderators to edit or remove old posts and topics on request after the allotted time.
- Please post only in English.
While we understand that not everyone has English as a first or even second language, it is the primary language of our community. You may post in another language only in the Multilingual forum.
Avatar and Signature Guidelines
Our forum allows you to use your own custom avatar and signature which will appear alongside each of your posts. Please try to keep the following in mind when choosing an avatar or signature.
- Avatars are limited to 100x100x200kb
This means your avatar may be no more than 100 pixels wide or tall and may not exceed 200 kilobytes in size.
- Signatures should be no taller than 150 pixels
In general, try not to have a signature that is going to be larger than 90% of your posts. The total height of your signature, including text and images, should not exceed 150 pixels in height (about 10 lines of standard text). Some exceptions may be made for signatures that are just over the recommended limit.
- Images in signatures
Images in your signature should not exceed a total of 640 pixels in width (to prevent horizontal scrolling) and be no larger than 200 kilobytes in size. You may have multiple images in your signature, as long as their combined total size stays within the guidelines.
If you have any questions or complaints, please feel free to contact one of our friendly moderators and they'll be more than happy to help you out.
And most of all, have fun!
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