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Pinside.com - Community Rules

By robin

October 22, 2015


5 years ago

Pinside Community Guidelines

Greetings and Welcome to Pinside!

Pinside is the absolute best web destination for all things pinball. Our large and thriving community is comprised of an incredibly diverse group of players, collectors, repair gurus, mod-makers, vendors, distributors, restorers, and all-around enthusiasts that have one thing in common: a passion and love for the silver ball. Pinside was created as a destination to discuss games, buy and sell, find tech help, and meet others. It has accomplished those things and, in the process, become a massive and invaluable resource of pinball information. We value our community and want it to remain vibrant, friendly, and fun, so here are some participation guidelines we’d like everyone to follow.

The Quick and Dirty

Pinside’s doors are open for everyone, from young to old, newbies to seasoned veterans, guys and gals, and EM fanatics to DMD era lovers. Therefore, we expect everyone to be welcoming, friendly, and respectful on the forum. It’s as simple as using common social sense and acting as if we’re all interacting with each other face-to-face. In other words, be nice! Keep that in mind and the Pinside community will continue to grow stronger and remain the premier web destination for pinheads. We also ask you to respect the moderator team. After all, our mods are the backbone of the site and their hard work and dedication keeps this ship afloat!

What Not to Do

Whether you’re a first timer or an old timer, there are certain rules everyone must follow. Here are a few things that Pinsiders need to avoid.

  • Racism, name-calling, and discrimination: Like finding a bombed-out half-working game on location, all of these are spirit killers and a big no-no. Nothing more needs to be said: no tolerance.
  • Personal attacks, suggestions of violence, threats: We want Pinside to remain a friendly place. Simply put: Don’t attack others or suggest violent actions. It’s up to you to keep things civil both on the forum and through the website’s Personal Message system (PinsideMail).
  • Flaming, baiting, trolling or otherwise inflammatory comments: These are all slightly different actions that share one thing in common, they stir-up trouble. So please don’t post things that are angry or mean-spirited (flaming), challenge others into heated arguments (baiting/inflammatory comments), or hop from thread to thread typing provocative things (trolling). It’s a waste of your time, our time, and ultimately damages our community.
  • Discuss Politics and religion: Each to their own when it comes to these hot-button topics, but they have absolutely no place in the world of pinball. Please discuss them elsewhere.
  • Illegal recommendations and activities: Illegal recommendations, suggesting illegal activity, posting illegal links, or encouraging other nefarious activities is strictly forbidden. Don’t do it here, period.
  • Publish personal information: While you’re free to post your own personal contact info (and general contact information for a company or business), you may not (under any circumstance) publish anyone else’s personal information. That includes telephone numbers, postal addresses, and email addresses, along with any material exchanged privately in PinsideMail.
  • Abuse the voting functionality of Pinside: Targeting another member with unfounded bad votes is the same as baiting or posting inflammatory comments. It starts fires that burn hot. Please only use voting features (like the post quality rating tool) to objectively rate post content, not to aggravate and push buttons.
  • Make speculative claims without fact: Speculation and opinions are fun to share and discuss, but avoid stating speculation as fact. Any claims of fact or allegations made on the forum must be supported by evidence and/or a trustworthy source. Moderators reserve the right to modify or remove claims of fact that lack proper supporting evidence.
  • Altering Quotes: Please do not modify the words that others have written when using the quote feature. This is sometimes done in a light-hearted fun manner (such as a "FIFY" joke), but sometimes it is done maliciously. In either case, it stillmisrepresentss what someone has said and can be misleading to others, since not everyone will realize that the quote was altered, and the author of the quote may not appreciate the changes that were made. It is still ok to quote a specific portion of an author's post, as long as the author's original words remain intact.
  • Announce ignores or drains: Announcing that you have put someone on ignore or that you are draining a thread really doesn't add to the discussion and frankly, we just don't care. Please don't do this.  

Keep It Clean

While we realize the internet is the Wild West of images and content, we want Pinside to be a family friendly place. Keep it PG-13, folks. We have a no tolerance policy for images with nudity or material that’s outright disrespectful to women. The same goes for text with vulgar, profane, pornographic, sexually oriented, offensive, or otherwise salacious language (this includes using memes such as “f#ck,” inappropriate text written on attached images, and cleverly concealed text uploaded with image file names).

We do allow some leeway when it comes to posting Not Safe For Work (NSFW) content (but members must flag their own uploaded images as NSFW if they contain content that’s generally deemed unsuitable for work or the family living room).

Don’t Derail Threads

Derailing threads with off-topic comments and images is frowned upon and counterproductive to the site’s goals. Please do your best to keep threads on track. If you feel like you have something to say that doesn’t fit with a thread you’re reading, then open a new thread and post your thoughts there!

In a similar vein, please don’t cross-post. Cross posting clutters the forum and makes it difficult to keep thread topics complete and on-point.

Be Respectful Towards the Industry

Just as we want our members to be respectful to one another, we also want the same courtesy extended to the companies and hard-working people of the pinball industry. Pinside welcomes discussion and opinions – even criticism, if warranted – pertaining to a company’s work or product, but attacking, insulting, or targeting companies and/or specific individuals in the industry is forbidden.

Only Register Once

We don’t allow members to open multiple accounts, nor do we allow members to create accounts designed to impersonate others. Please only sign-up once using a legitimate email address.

No Advertising or Spam

Pinside does not allow advertising or spam within the vast majority of forum sections and sub-forums. We do, however, allow members to post items for sale (or wanted) on the Pinside Marketplace. When creating an ad listing, there are promotional options available that allow a member to make their ad stand out by having it featured and/or automatically posted on the forum for added exposure and member discussion.

Posting Links to the Outside

We realize that members might want to post links to URLs for content outside of Pinside – that’s a-ok in our book. But, we have no tolerance for links to outside content that is inappropriate (as spelled-out by our forum rules), infringes on copyright, leads to members-only sites or sites promoting commercial products and services, or doesn’t contain material that enhances forum subject matter.

Respect the Moderators

Our moderator team is a dedicated group that keeps the forum a fun and friendly place, but they can’t do their work without the aide of other Pinsiders. Outside of following forum rules, we expect all members to help the mod team by flagging inappropriate posts. The tool needed to do this is present in the lower right hand corner of every post within a thread (images deemed Not Safe For Work can also be tagged by clicking the “!” icon in the lower right hand corner of every image).

Please realize, all moderator decisions are final – without question. If you’d like to address an issue with a moderator, then start a thread in the Moderator Feedback sub-forum. All threads in this sub-section are shielded from public view and kept private between the thread starter and staff; we promise a staff member will respond in a timely manner.

Protect Yourself

Participating on Pinside is done at your own risk. This includes using the forum and Marketplace, acting on technical advice received in the forum, or any other activity or function available on the website. While the Pinside Staff makes every effort to keep the forum functioning as a safe and friendly environment, members must realize that Pinside is a free service built around a live and fluid forum environment that allows posting without moderator review. Therefore, by participating on Pinside YOU AGREE TO PARTICIPATE AT YOUR OWN RISK.

Furthermore, Pinside suggests that members keep their email and other personal contact information private. While you retain the right to publish your information on forum posts, we strongly suggest that you only exchange personal information using the PinsideMail system.

For more information, read the “Fine Print” at the bottom of this page.

Copyright and Intellectual Property

Pinside members own the copyright to anything and everything posted on Pinside and shared within the Pinside community. This means you are free to take your contributions and post them on other websites. However, by participating on Pinside you agree to grant Pinside.com right and license to publish your contributions. Pinside members also may not upload or download copyright content or intellectual property that does not belong to them. If you see anything on Pinside that you believe infringes on your copyright rights, then contact Pinside staff immediately.

For more information, read the “Fine Print” at the bottom of this page.

Fine Print

We know reading the fine print is a painful process, almost akin to analyzing a rules card before you play a brand new pin. But we’re providing these finer details to make sure everyone’s on the same page. If you have any questions or comments, please contact the Pinside Staff.

More on Member Privacy and Personal Information

Members have extensive control over the type and amount of personal information displayed publicly on Pinside.com through settings available on each individual’s personal profile page. Pinside will not publish or provide personal data to anyone without a member’s explicit permission, unless it is in the interest of public safety, because of criminal behavior, or infringement of community rules. In those circumstances, and where appropriate, we will cooperate fully with criminal investigators, the police, and other law enforcement agencies. Otherwise, Pinside will only use personal information to validate access to Pinside.com or to administer any other business of Pinside.com, such as building site statistics. We will not supply any member’s email address or personal information to anyone else for any reason whatsoever, except in the case of law breaking or infringement of community rules. You can take a look at our privacy policy where this is outlined in finer detail.

More on PinsideMail Privacy

PinsideMail messages are private and cannot be accessed by any Pinside staff members, including the moderators. However, if there’s a strong suspicion of a member (or members) utilizing the PinsideMail system for unlawful, harassing, abusive, threatening, harmful, or otherwise objectionable messages, the Webmaster has the ability to access any member’s account and PinsideMail messages. If necessary, the Webmaster can forward the content of any inspected PinsideMail messages to the proper authorities. You can take a look at our privacy policy where this is outlined in finer detail.

More on Participation Risk

The forum administrators, moderators, and Pinside.com shall not be liable for any damages, losses, injury, or expenses resulting from member participation (or the participation of other individuals) on the website and forum. Anyone participating on Pinside is agreeing to participate at his/her own risk. Members and other participating individuals also acknowledge that forum opinions expressed by individual Pinside members are not the opinions of Pinside.com, its administrators, and its moderators. The administrators of Pinside.com reserve the right to make changes to this agreement (and other forum rules) at any time without notification or warning. Furthermore, forum administrators, moderators, and Pinside.com makes no warranty, expressed or implied, that access to the forum will be available at any particular time. Operation of the forum is not guaranteed to be interruption or error free, nor is any guarantee that any particular result or information will be obtained. Pinside.com and the forum are offered on an “as is” basis without warranties of any kind. You can take a look at our terms and conditions where this is outlined in finer detail.

More on Copyright and Intellectual Property

Members agree to grant Pinside.com a perpetual, non-exclusive, right and license to publish any contributed content on Pinside. Members also grant Pinside.com the right to publish and distribute contributions, and, with separate permission, contributions as part of any compilation work that Pinside.com may choose to produce in any format at any time. Once members have given permission, it cannot be withdrawn. This agreement applies even if members have been suspended or banned from the site.

By uploading a file or other content (or by posting a comment), all members represent and warrant to Pinside that (1) doing so does not violate or infringe anyone else's rights, and (2) that member-specific created files or other content uploaded is not stolen or copied (members have sufficient intellectual property rights) and is consistent with these terms. Members grant Pinside.com a non-exclusive, royalty- free, perpetual, irrevocable worldwide license (with sublicense and assignment rights) to use, display online (in any present or future media), create derivative works of, allow downloads of, and/or distribute any file or other content uploaded to our server.

By downloading a file or other content from Pinside.com, Members agree that they will not use such file or other content except for personal/non-commercial purposes, and members may not claim any rights to such file or other content, except to the extent otherwise specifically provided in writing by Pinside.com.

If a member sees anything on Pinside.com that he/she believes infringes on copyright and intellectual property rights, that member can notify Pinside via the contact form. Please include the following info (as stated in the DMCA):

  • Identification of the copyrighted work or works claimed to have been infringed.
  • Identification of the material on Pinside servers that is claimed to be infringing and that is to be removed, including the URL or other information that will enable Pinside to locate the material.
  • You as copyright owner, or by your agent, must issue a statement of good faith belief that use of the material in the manner complained of is not authorized by you, your agent, or law.
  • A statement that the information in your notice is accurate, and, under penalty of perjury, that you are the owner (or authorized to act on behalf of the owner) of the exclusive copyright right that is allegedly being infringed.
  • A physical or electronic signature by you or someone authorized to act on your behalf.
  • Instructions on how we may contact you (preferably email, but also physical address and phone).

More on Transgressions of the Community Rules

Failure to abide by the Community Rules will result in the offending member being contacted by one of the moderators or staff; appropriate action will be taken. Please note that Pinside.com reserves the right to suspend or terminate accounts immediately at its discretion.

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https://pinside.com/pinball/help/pinsidecom-community-rules
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