Forum Rules & Guidelines
Every community has its own written or unwritten rules for conduct. And our community is no different. This document serves as a summation and addendum to our site's Terms of Service (TOS). Plus you'll find our own guidelines, which serve as basic etiquette that make our forums work better for all.

The Rules:

• KEEP IT CLEAN
  Usernames that we feel are inflammatory, vulgar or constitutes hate speech will result in termination of the membership. Posts in public forums must be suitable for a family audience. Content of a sexual/erotic, violent and/or obscene (which includes profanity) nature in public forums isn't acceptable. No glorification or promoting of suicide, self-harm, or illegal drugs. No graphic depictions of murder (even 'fictitious' threats of such) or sexual contact. We offer a private forum for more adult or violent themes. So think carefully before you post. Our forums automatically censor out words we consider inappropriate; attempts to subvert this are prohibited. Type the word out and let the software decide, don't censor out a letter or two and think it's okay! Posting things in languages other than English is fine provided a complete and accurate translation accompanies it in order for all to participate and for our staff to be able to do their jobs.
   
• DON'T ATTACK OTHERS
  They may be just names on your screen, but we are all real people I assure you. Treat people with the same respect you expect from others. Abusive, harassing, threatening, trolling, defamatory and/or hateful (especially those made on the basis of age, race, nationality, gender, sexual orientation, gender identity, or disability) posts aren't permitted nor tolerated. 'Attack the issue, not the person'
   
• AGREE TO DISAGREE
  Never resort to name-calling, insults, "flaming" others, and/or trolling! This will not be tolerated. Debating an issue is fine when done in a respectful manner. Of course not everyone will agree on every issue. At best we can explain our opinions to each other. But after a certain point all we can do is agree to disagree and respect each others opinions. It's all about understanding others and the world around us. Never about forcibly convincing people.
   
• RESPECT COPYRIGHT LAWS
  Don't post works or materials you don't own the copyrights to of course. If it was a work you created with someone else you must get their permission to post it. If it is public domain, then be sure to cite such plus the source. The only exceptions will be minor and limited use of quotes falling under "Fair Use" guidelines provided you cite the source. Being a site aimed at writers we take this issue extremely serious. If we find anything violating copyright laws it will be removed! We also encourage our members to include a copyright notice (© year your name) with each work they post. By posting any works you grant AC the non-exclusive, limited royalty-free rights to use the works on this site and for promotional needs.
   
• DON'T POST MORE THAN 3 WORKS A DAY
  We know you want to just rush out and post all of your favorite things you have written at once, but don't. We're not going anywhere. So don't go "posting happy" (posting too many works at once) as it's considered selfish and annoying. Due to the amount of writers and traffic we get, limit yourself to posting no more than 3 works (posting three new threads with your poetry, stories or artwork) a day. Don't post the same piece to multiple forums as this just makes it tougher to sort through the wealth of works and abuses our webspace. It is only okay to cross post a piece to another forum if re-posting it from or to either the Writer's Workshop or Exercises & Challenges forums.
   
• NO SPAM/COMMERCIALS
  We all get enough spam in our email boxes, so we don't need or want it here. Chain letters, pyramid/multi-level marketing schemes, or any other financial solicitations unrelated to this site aren't permitted. They'll be deleted! Commercial links are only allowed if they specifically cater to the creative arts community and the business isn't conducted in order to scam or defraud, nor illegally or unethically. Links to and reviews of non-commercial and/or non-profit websites, in moderation*, are fine. (* Repeatedly posting day or week in and out about your site might push us to consider it spam however).
   
• RESPECT PRIVACY
  We ask all members think carefully before posting any personal information. Consider if you really want the whole world to see or know such information before posting it. And if you have children using this site please make sure you discuss privacy issues with them to ensure they don't give out sensitive personal information. Any public posting of another person's phone number, postal address or even attempts to pressure a person into giving out personal information is prohibited! Reposting private communications (such as emails, private or instant messaging) in our forums is also prohibited.
   
• RIGHTS & ABUSES
  Only one membership per person is allowed. Creating multiple or duplicate accounts under diffferent usernames is prohibited. AC reserves the right to delete any messages that we believe violate these rules, our terms of service or applicable laws. We may move posts to better organize our forums as needed. Your membership may be deleted and your right to use the site terminated if we determine you violated any rules or laws. Aiding and abetting banned members to access or use our site is prohibited. Typically we operate on a "3 strikes and you're out" policy. Staff may give you a "warning" or "violation" if you break the rules. A "warning" means you are close to breaking a rule(s) or that it was assumed you didn't intend to break a rule. Further such behaviour will be considered a violation. A "violation" means you definitely broke a rule(s) and that you need to watch your behaviour. 3 violations is instant grounds for removal of your membership. But we reserve the right to delete your account even for one violation. "Banned" members may be considered for reinstatement after 6 months by submitting an email with any relevant thoughts or facts to joe@arcanumcafe.com or using the forums contact page for a group staff consideration. Requires 2/3 or more staff approval and reinstated members then are on a one strike and permanently out policy.

The Etiquette:
Not 'rules' just common sense reminders & advice.

• LAY OF THE LAND
  If you are new to a place, it's always best to first get the lay of the land. So read around and comment on the works of others a bit. This let's you get the hang of the posting process a bit. But more importantly it's a chance to show others you are willing to give as much as you take. Think of it as warming up the crowd before your bigger debut.
   
• GIVE AND TAKE
  Life's about give and take. You probably expect comments on your posts right? Well so do others. But we're not going to get very far or be fair to each other unless we all are willing to read and comment on others' works right? So try to read and post replies more than posting your own works whenever possible. This is also the best way to get to know others and others to become familiar with you by name so that they may be more likely to read your works.
   
• SHOUT & OTHERS GO DEAF
  Don't use all uppercase letters in your messages or subject lines. This quickly gets annoying because it's hard to read especially in long blocks of text. Most importantly it's considered shouting by internet standards. So reserve it when you literally want to shout something and not for entire posts.
   
• WHERE DID IT GO? RE-POST?
  Another consideration is we can only keep what our webspace allows so as to not infringe upon others' chances of adding new works. So forums only store so many days of works or messages (this # of days may fluctuate based on webspace and posting patterns). And while it may appear your work has disappeared, please look back through older posts using the drop down boxes to sort threads or perform a search to see if it is still around. If a search doesn't show it as being posted anymore then it was probably deleted to make more space. You are free of course to re-post a work to get new responses if the work was deleted.

Related pages & addendums:

• Copyright & Servicemark
• Privacy Policy
• Terms of Service