Site Rules (IMPORTANT)

Hello,
I have, after some searching and mixing, come up with a reasonable set of rules for you guys so we can all enjoy the forum properly without any annoying business floating around by spammers and such. Please read carefully and FOLLOW THEM or you will suffer consequences.

EDIT: STRIKED rules are no longer valid, but once were.
---
1. Respect all members of the forum, especially the MDA Staff. This means: No Flaming, No Bitching, No Arguing, or anything of the sort. If you have problems with another member, contact a mod or an Administrator and we will work something out. Keeping the peace is one of the top priorities of this site, so cooperation with each other is a must. So be sure to avoid problem causing topics such as Politics. Sports is fine, but watch yourself.

2. No Godmoding. Godmoding (sometimes incorrectly spelled as "godmodding") is a term used in message board based role-playing games to describe two behaviors of players. The term comes from the "god mode" found in many video games, allowing a player to activate features such as invincibility, unlimited ammunition or lives, or similar power boosts. Godmoding is almost always frowned upon by other members of the game, because it is regarded as a form of cheating against the game's tacit rules. In roleplay, it is acting if you can't be hit or your hit's always land.

3. This site is rated UR. HOWEVER, there are guidelines to follow. All explicit material will be posted inside spoilers. Also, it is to be labled in the topic title. If this is NOT done, the topic will be voided and deleted. There is a 0-Tolerance to this rule, We're sorry but we will delete them automatically and with out hesitation. However, if you yourself catch it before we do, you may change the title AS LONG AS, someone has not posted after you, OR all parties involved agree to the edit. LASTLY you can try by asking a mod/admin to change it for you, this will not count as a "mod/admin saw it first" it counts as "oh crap I gotta change it." Alright? Good.

4. Please, NO ONE LINE POSTS. I don't want to see any of that stuff and we take it very seriously, if you do it once you'll get a warning. Anything over one time disciplinary action will be taken and needless to say it probably won't be too great for you. We have 150 word post minimum here, Please do not forget this. It's mainly good for you as well, no one wants to roleplay with noobs.

5. No Off-topic Ranting! This only serves to rile others up and cause civil unrest, which is considered disturbing the peace. We don't care if something happened at school and you just need to let loose or if you're steamed at someone on the forum. A moderator or an Admin will delete that post and then you will face the consequences.

6. Please do NOT bug staff about checking your application and or weapon ETC. We do have lives and we know when things are needed to be done, so Please don't bother us. I know personally that I hate to come on and see around 20 PM's asking me to check things, It's plainly and simply just annoying. If your stuff hasn't been checked within 48 hours you may PM 1 Moderator. Please do not PM more than one. If that Moderator hasn't replied back to you or checked it within 48 hours please PM an Administrator and one of us will do it. In the Message please state which Moderator you first PM'd. That way we can check your stuff and we can rule out the Moderators that aren't doing anything.

7. Keep cursing to a minimum, please. We understand that most of us are big kids now, but that doesn't mean you have to go around saying the" F" word every other sentence. It really makes you look like a jerk and you may also come off as uneducated. You can swear occasionally though.

8. Death matches can be done at all times. Here is a tip for you if you don't agree with this. If you don't want to die, DON'T JOIN A TOPIC WITH SOMEONE THAT WANTS TO KILL YOU. If you don't want certain people to join, Post who you do want in the topic in the title and then put only.

Ex. Brother's Day Out -[Edward & Alphonse Only]-

Even if you don't care who joins, but you still don't want fighting, you can put that in the title as well and that will work.

Ex. Brother's Day Out -[Open, No Fighting]-

If stuff like this isn't added to the title, it's an open ball game. The staff won't listen to your whining, so you should probably take this seriously.

9. Please if you're not a member of Staff do not post on application's. Anything else that a Moderator would approve. Please, Don't do this. We pick staff members for a reason and if you weren't picked as one that means we either don't need you or we don't think that you're capable of doing a good job as a member of our staff. Either way, it isn't your place therefore don't do it. If you absolutely need to tell them what they've done wrong, PM them about it and it can be their choice whether or not they want to listen to you or wait for a Moderator or Admin to look it over. Disciplinary actions will vary depending on the seriousness of the infraction.

10. Please don't get too full of yourself here. Nobody likes an egotistical boaster or a show off, so please don't let things start to go to your head.

11. Until informed otherwise, you may have one character and one account only. People having more then one character can sometimes make things disorganized and our site doesn't have a lot of strength currently to be dealing with that. As time goes on we may and most likely will void this rule, for now don't do it. As far as other accounts go, Please don't. We are going to catch you and you're going to get banned. If you have a brother or sister or any other person that needs to make an account on your IP address then PM an Administrator first. Otherwise, you'll be banned.

12. No Metagaming.
Metagaming is a broad term usually used to define any strategy, action or method used in a game which transcends a prescribed ruleset, uses external factors to affect the game, or goes beyond the supposed limits or environment set by the game. In other words, sometimes using out-of-game information, or resources, to affect one's in-game decisions.

13. Organisations may not attack any of the towns without permission from any of the administrators. It hurts the site when organizations attack while the town is really weak because it doesn't have a lot of members, which is why this rule is an important one to follow. If broken the topic(s) will either be voided or completely deleted and further disciplinary actions may be taken.

14. Respect all staff members decisions. If you don't agree with something a Moderator has to say and it is something of great importance then PM an Administrator. Absolutely NO ARGUING WITH THEM. You'll be warned once for arguing, The second time you'll get another warning and after that you won't like what will happen to you. You may, however, talk it out with a mod or an Admin if you disagree on something. You have a voice and nobody is trying to take it away.

15. Spam will not be tolerated. We want this forum to be as clean and organized as humanly possible therefore we don't want ANYONE to spam. If you do spam you will probably only get one warning and after that we will take action, We don't want to have to ban people but trust me if we think you're going to downsize the forum we can and will IP ban you and you'll be gone for good. Just please keep this rule in mind before you make unnecessary posts.

16. Each canon character can only have TWO descendants, no exceptions. They dont have to be siblings, but if, say, Bobby Elric and Billy Jane beforewere descendant of Edward elric, no one else could be, get it?

17. No Canon Characters. This meaning no character from the FMA (ETC) Series. They are dead.

18. Only seven people may be Homunculi at a time, To apply send an application through into a new topic in the 'homunculus registration' area with your WANTED sin, if you dont get the one you want, we'll give you one instead.

(THESE RULES ARE SuBJECT TO CHANGE!!!!! READ OFTEN!!!!!!!!!)(also credit goes to (me and Al for making these rules)

Here are some more rules for certain site positions, just so you know what you can and can't do.

Administrator Rules:
1. You can only ban a member if:
- They are issued them with 3 warnings for breaking a rule and don't comply: In order to validate this, you will need to forward to me the same warning letter each time and in that letter you must provide a link to the area where the felony has been committed, plus state who the felon is and why they are receiving the warning.
- They have more than one account on the same IP address and no proof that the second account belongs to a siblings ETC: If the writing style is the same, if the character's are related and no proof of contact between the two before the application was published (This is canceled out if they are related to a canon character) or other loopholes might show are some clues towards the people being the same, if this happens, IP-ban the user.
- They are constantly spamming/advertising their own stuff here

2. You are NOT aloud to change the forum controls, functions or layout otherwise you will be IP-banned and all others with Admin-rights will be put down to moderator rights and only I will remain the only admin. Basically, screw up the site and not only will you affect yourself, you will affect your peers, so think of the other admins and yourself before screwing up with the forum's layout and design. No exceptions to whether it was an accident or not.

3. You may not meddle with user accounts unless you have permission from me, this includes your own account. Basically, you cannot just give yourself the title of State Alchemist and Fuhrer if you had registered your character originally as a Wandering Homunculus, you cannot give yourself a custom rank and you cannot just give yourself permission to moderate groups that I haven't assigned to you. This will immediately get you an account ban and your IP address will go on record, so if you re-register under another account, you will NOT get any staff rights and will have a permanent warning on your record that everyone can see when you post.

4. You must follow all of the site rules (That includes member, administrator and moderator rules) without exception as you are a site admin and thus a role model to the members. If you go breaking the rules and not get punished, others will start doing the same until this forum goes into chaos.

5. You may not change or adjust any of these rules to your own standards as you will be IP-banned from the forum if you break this rule.

Moderator Rules:
1. You may not move any topic without permission, unless that topic is in your jurisdiction to move (eg: If you're the weapons mod, you can approve weapons and move them into the approved topic but you can only do that.). Break this rule and you will be demoted back into a normal member status.

2. You may not edit any member's post unless they have vulgar things in it (eg: They have a very sexual-focused post, then you can go into the post and edit it so that the whole MA15+ and onwards scenes are deleted and you can have in brackets '(Explict Content Deleted)' in the area where it was.)

3. If you issue a member with a warning, you must forward me that exact same message and tell me who the member was and where the warning was needed (link to post) otherwise the warning will be disregarded and I will not listen to you if you request me to ban the member for misbehavior, neither will any of the other admins as they are not aloud to ban any member without my permission.

4. You can only lock topics that the creator requests to be locked, accepted applications or that are at least three weeks outdated (no posts in three months).

5. You can not delete user posts without good reason (If they said something you didn't want them to say and you delete it, you will be stripped of your moderator status).

6. You must follow all rules that apply to you (Moderator and Member) without exception, otherwise you will be stripped of your moderator status.

Promotion Rules (Applies to military only):
1. Only Admins can promote members.

2. Only three members can be promoted every three months, no matter who promotes them. Any more than 3 promoted will be disregarded and their ranks will not changes, no matter what you said. This rule is disregarded by the New Years Promotions every 2 years when everyone gets a promotion, no matter their rank.

3. Each member can only be promoted once every three months no matter when the promotion happened or why so they have enough time to play a few topics with that rank. Admins/The Fuhrer can not promote the same three people every three months, they must choose different members each time and if there are not enough members, then you just dont have to promote anyone. You can only promote the same person twice in the same year. A year is determined start to finish by their registration date.

4. Any breaking to these rules will strip you of your promotional privileges and they will be handed down to the first mods instead. This also counts for the Fuhrer's promotional rights.

Topic Rules:
1. Anyone can enter an open topic (Open topics are topics without any specifications in the title or the specification referring to open in the title in brackets. If the specification is not in brackets, then it counts as part of the topic name and the topic is regarded as open. Same goes for specifying only in the description.)

2. If specifications are displayed in brackets in the title, only those that match the specifications may enter the topic, anyone else must be disregarded and an admin/mod will delete their posts and any other posts that relate to that member's character. If the title specifies '(Military Only)' then only members of the military may join the topic, if it has something like '(Alexander and Kenya only)' then only those two members may play in the topic ETC. No exceptions.

3. Topics without specification against death are aloud to become death topics and members' characters are aloud to be killed in them. '(No fighting)' topics disallow any kind of physical fighting, '(No death)' topics disallow death, but serious injury is allowed and topics without specification are open death topics. No exceptions.

4. No chatting in RP topics and no RPing in chat topics. There are specific areas for both, so keep to those areas otherwise you'll be dealt with a warning and the posts/topic would be deleted.

Other Rules:
1. Only 2 characters at a time can be related to a certain canon character in the series (be descendants) in order for it to be fair. For example, only two characters can be descendants of Alphonse Elric at a time, but two characters can be descendants of Edward Elric at the same time too, so there can be 4 'Elrics' on the site, but only because they relate to different characters. See?
Not everyone has to be related to a canon character.

2. (More of a guideline) No demanding the site artists for art 24/7! Also, keep requests simple, please!! I speak form experience when I say that drawing a fight scene is really really HARD! We aren't geniuses, you know, so give us artists a break. I'm only 15, you know. TT.TT I do have a bit of a life TT.TT

Credit to these go to Al and myself