Code of Conduct
Participation in the Generation Zero forum constitutes agreement to the following guidelines, which apply to posts, profile information, avatars, signatures, any other content on this site and participation in general. This includes private messages, which we have the ability to read, but only do so when a violation is reported to us or we have a legitimate reason. Although rare, it does happen.
Because of the live nature of the discussions on this community, it is not possible for us to review and/or confirm the accuracy or validity of a message before it is posted. If you believe that someone has violated our Code of Conduct or you have spotted content that may otherwise require attention, please use a Report button next to the post or send a private message to the Community manager, moderator or any other staff member with a link to the content and a brief description of what you believe is wrong. Notification is voluntary and anonymous, but in no case should a user respond to a situation personally, thereby aggravating the situation further. Responding to a violation in an inflammatory manner is a violation in itself and will result in appropriate action.
Any content that violates our Code of Conduct will be removed. Interpretation of our Code of Conduct is at the discretion of the staff.
Be courteous: Avoid duplicate posts
Cross posting is not allowed and will result in the removal of one or more posts. Cross posting is defined as posting the same information in two or more locations. When posting your topic, please try to post it in the most appropriate place within the organizational structure of our community. Identical topics posted in the same or different forums will be removed. Topics posted in the wrong forum will be moved.
Only meaningful posts, please
While member post count has meaning, it should not be taken too seriously. Attempts to artificially increase your post count are prohibited. This includes the mass creation of short or meaningless posts. When participating in game threads such as “Word association game” please do not post consecutive replies within a short period of time.
Do not bump posts. The act of bumping one’s post is considered spamming and contributes nothing constructive to the discussion. Your thread will be seen; there is no need to continually bump it to the top of the list.
Advertising
Advertisements are not allowed. By “advertisements” we mean unnecessary and excessive links to sites members are affiliated with, as well as solicitations or items for sale . Generally speaking, posts made specifically for the promotion of a website, product or service are considered advertising or, at least, posts made that unnecessarily send people to a website that you are in some way affiliated with. It does not matter if it is a commercial website, a personal website, a non profit website, etc.
Play nice
Respect is the name of the game. You must respect your fellow members. Please refrain from inflammatory and defamatory comments as well as flaming, taunting, harassing, threatening, embarrassing, and general disrespect. Do not simply put down the opinion or advice given by others. If you don’t agree with it, say why - respectfully. Don’t just tell them they’re wrong. Do not make uninvited remarks about typos, duplicate posts, posting styles, etc.
When an opinion-based discussion is being had, do not state things like “there is no argument” as if your opinion is the only one or the only one that matters. When someone has clearly stated their opinion, do not say things like “Are you serious?” and “Are you kidding me?” Remember, this is not a debate club. This is a friendly discussion community. Allow people to have their opinion. No one is to act as some sort of opinion judge, responding to each one to say whether they agree with it or not or whether or not it is a valid, well thought out opinion.
We don’t allow being overly and repeatedly negative which knowingly lead to overly strong negative and emotional responses for mere shock value. We will remove posts that are derogatory, sarcastic or showcasing a condescending/demeaning attitude towards other users or the developers.
Please refrain from commenting on posts that violate our Code of Conduct, as well duplicate topics. Do not write “IBL” (in before lock), or “this is a duplicate topic”, or “Moderators, please move this topic” etc. Instead, report the post or the topic by clicking on the Report button and we will take care of the rest.
Keep personal information personal
Do not post personal, real-life information such as home addresses and home phone numbers.
Be yourself
It is not allowed to impersonate another person (including celebrities), indicate falsely that you are a Avalanche Studios employee or a representative of Avalanche Studios, or attempt to mislead users by indicating that you represent Avalanche Studios or any of Avalanche Studios’ partners or affiliates.
English only
As this is an English-speaking community, we require that posted content be in the English language, so that it can be well received and properly monitored.
Keep your posts clean…
Vulgar language and inappropriate material (pictures, videos etc.) is not allowed and will be removed. Abbreviations, self censoring, and attempts to circumvent the word censoring feature of the community software also violate this guideline.
We try to maintain a family-friendly atmosphere whenever it is possible within the main subject matter of this community. Please keep this in mind when participating.
… as well as links
When linking to outside websites, you must ensure that the content of the link is appropriate for our community, in line with the guidelines laid out here. This includes mentioning or referencing a site, even if the mention is not hyperlinked.
Keep it legal
Posts that discuss illegal activities, transactions, or websites such as warez, cracks, etc. will be removed. This includes posting of information that you have obtained illegally.
It is not allowed to upload files that contain a virus or corrupted data.
Political, religious and other sensitive comments
Political and religious discussions are not allowed on this website. If it is believed that the end result of a discussion will be political or religious, the post may be removed. Likewise, strong political and religious sentiments should be kept out of profiles, signatures, and other content.
The same applies to comments about other person’s race, sex, nationality.
Posting content from other people or websites
Do not post copyrighted materials (articles, videos, audio, etc.) that you do not have permission to reproduce or distribute. For text articles, most of the time you may quote a small portion of the article (usually no more than 1/5 or 1/6) and you must link to the source (if online) or provide the source (if offline). Posting the entire article, even with the source, constitutes copyright infringement. This is not the place to illegally trade or distribute copyrighted (or those with questionable copyright status) video or audio clips.
Hotlinking
When posting and linking to images, videos, files, etc., please refrain from hotlinking. This is the direct linking to images (.jpg, .jpeg, .gif, .png, etc.), video (.avi, .mov, .mpg, .mpeg, .wmv, etc.), audio (.mp3, .wav, etc.), archives (.zip, .rar, etc.) or otherwise downloadable or streamable files, on servers that you do not have permission to link to, instead of linking to the page where the item can be found. This includes providing a direct link to the file, even if that file is not embedded into your post. This practice costs the server owner money and resources.
Only one account per person, please
Each user is allowed to create one account. If you would like to change your username, please contact us and, most likely, we can do it for you while you can keep all of your profile data, posts, and other content.
If you are suspended, it is not proper to get back to the forums on an alternate account. If your account is suspended, and you use an alternate account to post, the alternate account will be permanently suspended, and not only will you receive another official warning, but your suspension will be lengthened. All suspensions are documented by the Community Manager and moderator team. You do not need to contact us to review a suspension, as they are all reviewed by the rest of the staff. If we feel there is an issue with your suspension, we will gladly reverse it, or shorten its length and you will be notified with a Private Message.
Automated account creation, participation, and content scraping is not permitted.
Let the conversation flow
Do not try to draw attention to your post by posting in all capital letters, using excessive punctuation, etc. While everyone wants their posts read, we ask that you refrain from using sensational tactics in order to bring more people to your thread. Let your post stand on its own merit.
Using the words Avalanche Studios or any staff member’s name in a thread topic is frowned upon. Everyone would like Avalanche Studios to read and acknowledge their post, and we understand that. However, use of such words in the topic does not help that come to pass. Please make sure your thread title is relevant to the post subject.
Do not hijack topics. Posting comments which severely disrupts the original conversation within a thread is prohibited.
Petition posts are frowned upon. Please keep in mind that this is a discussion forum. If you have an issue with the game, please discuss it in a civil and informed fashion. There are other places on the Internet to form online petitions.
If you’ve decided to leave
We know that people will have to leave our community (of their own free will or otherwise) from time to time and to that end, we do not delete accounts, posts, or other content posted on our community. All content is granted to us with perpetual electronic publishing rights because any content posted on this community becomes a part of the community, even if you no longer are. You may request an item to be removed at any time, but we will decide when and if to remove content from our community. If you wish to no longer be identified with our community, we will be glad to close your account and alter your profile information to remove all identifying characteristics. After account closure, you will no longer be able to participate in this community and this action is not reversible.
Cheating is unethical
It is not allowed to try to get a password, account details, or other private information from a staff member or any other user of this community. Remember: Avalanche Studios employees will NEVER ask for your password. Do not give your password, reminder words, or billing information to anyone.
It’s also not allowed to buy, sell, or auction (or host or facilitate the ability to allow others to buy, sell or auction) an account or game characters, items, credits or copyrighted material or any other intellectual property owned or controlled by Avalanche Studios or our licensers without first obtaining our permission.
It is strictly prohibited to exploit any bug in the service or in any Avalanche Studios product to gain unfair advantage in the game and/or communicating the existence of any such bug (either directly or through the public posting) to any other user.
Bans & Moderator actions
Please do not discuss forum bans, game bans, social media bans, or moderator actions on the open forum. If you feel you have been banned unjustly, contact support.
Do not contact support on someone else’s behalf. The person who owns the account must contact them directly.
If you feel a moderator has taken action unjustly, contact @SR_Carni in a Private Message.
The final say
Moderators and Community Manager have the final say on anything. If you have a problem, you may make a complaint to them directly and not publicly on the website. Creating threads or posts that question or reference administrative decisions or potential administrative decisions, such as post removals and thread closures, is not permitted. We are not perfect and if you feel that we have made a mistake, please privately contact a staff member and we will review the situation. If you would like a copy of your removed post so that you can adjust it and repost, please contact us. As long as we wouldn’t prefer you to simply start over, we’ll be glad to send you a copy.
And finally… have fun!
Whenever you are participating in this community, please keep in mind that we strive to create a fun, friendly and inviting atmosphere. So, please have fun and enjoy the forums!
Freedom of speech rights do not extend to privately owned websites, such as this one. This Code of Conduct detail the types of behavior and activities that are allowed here.
If a user violates our Code of Conduct and shows a disregard for them, our staff and our community, they run the risk of losing their account. We reserve the right to deactivate any account and to edit or remove any content without warning. This Code of Conduct is subject to change at any time without notice.
Do you have a question about our Code of Conduct or anything else? Do you have a suggestion? Do you want to offer some feedback? Or are you experiencing some trouble with the site? Well, no matter what it is, please do not hesitate to contact us and we will be glad to help in any way that we can.
Thank you for visiting the Generation Zero community forums.