Announcements

[Gem]

Posting

Language

• English only, limit other languages to well known quotes or provide a correct translation.
• Anything deemed politically extreme, pornographic, illegal, or unsavoury in any way is prohibited.
• Racist or ethnic bashing comments are forbidden even if used in jest.
• Comments that play down the use of illegal drugs or promote the use of said substances are strictly forbidden.
• No use of profanity will be permitted. If it's something a moderator feels is inappropriate, it will be removed.

General

• Treat each other with respect and remain polite. You are able to use tactics to prove your in-game opponents in the world forums (See P&P)
• Personal insults are not allowed anywhere in this forum, including reputation and private messages.
• Users are not allowed to impersonate moderators.
• Spam and off topic comments will be deleted. This includes comments such as “In before Lock” and one word posts. If you wish to let the poster know you approve or disapprove of their post, please use the reputation system.
• Do not attempt to provoke moderators.
• Players who deliberately act against the building of a community will be denied access to these forums.
• Do not use copyrighted materials of any kind in your posts.
• It is not allowed to rebuke another user concerning his grammar/spelling. If the grammar/spelling of a user is that bad, report the post.
• Do not include lots of unnecessary quotations.

Images

• Maximum size for all posted images is 720 pixels wide by 540 pixels high.
• Although images larger than this will be automatically resized, we reserve the right to infract for images exceeding specified limits.
• Animated images are allowed, but no larger than 100x100 pixels in dimension.
• No image should exceed 512 kilobytes (kb) in file size.

Topics

• Ensure you are creating topics in the right forum.
• Avoid repetition of topics. If you post a repeat topic, alert a moderator!
• Choose appropriate topic titles. A bad example would be “Help!” or “Question”.

P&P (Politics and Propaganda)

• The idea of P&P is to post about ongoing conflicts in the attempt to spread information, ideas and even rumors in order to help yourself or harm your opponents. P&P can be a valuable tool on the forums and bring a new element to the game.
• For a thread to qualify as P&P, ensure when creating the topic the P&P prefix is used.
• All P&P should be done in character. No personal attacks or flaming are allowed. For example “Player Joe is a coward because he camps in our hotel and only hits our unarmed workers.” or “Town Metropolis is full of noobs who can't shoot straight”
• Unacceptable examples: “Player Joe has a court ordered psychiatrist and really needs to get a life. “

Advertising

• Topics and/or posts that are created solely for the purpose of advertising other websites without connection to The West or InnoGames are forbidden.
• "Referer-ID's" and thief-game-links are particularly unwanted. Discussions relating to other non-browser games are allowed.

Signatures and Avatars

• Avatars can be 80 x 80 pixels.
• Signatures can be 120 pixels high, and 700 pixels wide.
• They both must comply with all other rules.
• They must not be animated
• If you need more detail about any of these sizes, please see this guide

Moderation

Information

• All moderators are volunteers, recruited by the community managers.
• There are three types of moderator: Deputy sheriff, Sheriff and Undertaker.
• Deputies are assigned certain forums to actively moderate. You are able to PM them about any rules you are uncertain of.
• Sheriffs oversee moderation, and you are able to PM them if you have queries regarding Deputy Sheriffs or any infractions you've received.
• Undertakers are in-game moderators. Please do not PM them regarding in-game issues. You'd need to put a ticket in.
• Deputy Sheriffs will never moderate a world they play. This ensures there are no elements of bias involved.

Guidelines for the forum

• If you have a query or problem with any of the moderation, do not create a topic about it, PM a sheriff.
• If you wish to create a topic regarding moderation, contact the relevant Sheriff or Deputy first.
• Do not insult or degrade any of the moderators in any way. Treat them as you would a normal player – remember they play The West too!
• The Deputy Sheriffs have the right to edit or delete posts and close topics, follow their instructions.
• If you notice that your post or topic was deleted, it has been removed for a good reason. Do not rewrite it. If need be, PM the moderator in question about why it was removed.

Punishments

• When you breach a rule, you will receive a warning. After this initial warning, infractions will be handed out.
• In some extreme circumstances, the warning will not be given.
• If you are banned from the forum, you are not allowed to create an account to evade this ban. Doing so will result in a month added to your ban, and the ban evade account permanently banned.
• Arguing against the The West team who uphold these rules will be punished and topics that seek to create or worsen existing problems will be deleted.
• Repeated violations may result in probabtion or permanent removal from the forums.
• Please note that We reserve the right to ban or infract players even if they haven't violated the stated forum rules.

Other

Private messages

• Conversations, discussions and arguments between two people should be done in private. Please use the private message system in this forum or other applications (e.g. IRC, skype, …)
• Do not harass other people through use of private messages. Repeatedly spamming private messages for personal gain or to irritate other users will result in infractions. All forum rules also apply to private messages unless stated otherwise.

Other

• If you are unsure as to whether something is against the rules or not, contact a moderator before you go ahead with it! We will advise you as soon as possible on whether it is allowed on the forum or not.
• Do not discuss forum or in-game bans.