The purpose of HLP is to give people who want to work on or play the games we host here a place to come together. The idea is to build a community of people capable of talking with each other in a pleasant online environment. To this end, the moderators ask that users try to ensure that all discussion on HLP remains polite whenever possible. If you're unable to remain polite, you may find yourself unable to participate on the forum.
Below are the guidelines for forum conduct. Whilst these are guidelines (and therefore partially flexible), it is strongly recommended that each user read through and abide by them. Disregard them and you radically increase your chances of having your ability to post reduced or even finding yourself banned.
We reserve the right to review problems on a case by case basis. In these situations our word shall be final.
- In the event of any problems regarding another forum members posts, please make use of the "report post" function and state clearly in the "Comments" field if you would prefer us to clean certain posts or just lock or remove the whole thread. We will look into the matter from there. If the post is inflammatory, please do not respond and make the situation worse.
- HLP will not tolerate any posts of a racist, sexist or bigoted nature. Nor shall we tolerate any attacks of a personal nature.
- Lively and interesting debate is encouraged and welcomed. However we ask that members respect the right of free speech. That is to say that as long as a comment isn't of a racist or sexist nature - a member has a right to say it. If you disagree with something that someone has said then feel free to argue a retort on the sole condition that (in keeping with point 2) it is not a personal or bigoted attack. Argue the point; debate the person.
- Also, HLP will not tolerate the posting of pornography or warez files anywhere on the site. However the discussion of a pornography or warez related topic is still allowed. The difference being that the former contains content or links to said content - the latter does not. If you're unsure about what you want to post and are worried may breach this rule then please contact a staff member for advice first. Ignorance of this rule does not mitigate breaking it.
- Additionally, any links provided in your posts, forum profile or signature, PM's or other communications on this forum should not be related or associated with advertisement, farming, phishing or other activities of a dubious nature (Spam, warez, pornography, Ad Revenue). Promotion of community projects or personal (related to community) sites are all well and fine, but advertisements, money pot links or search result links will be considered as Spam (as they are) and will be removed with a warning given. Ignore that warning or continue the activity, and your account will be removed.
- When discussing topics that involve illegal activities, please keep in mind that HLP is not the place for confession and absolution. This includes piracy no matter how common it is. Any activity that could threaten current or future affiliations with any company in business, either developer or publisher will have consequences.
- Be nice. If you don't know how, go watch reruns of Mr. Rogers' Neighbourhood - he's a wonderful example.
- Any attempts to belittle other forum members for not agreeing with you will be treated in much the same way as a direct personal attack. Yes, you may find it annoying if someone is posting an argument that shows that they don't understand the topic under discussion as well as you do, but it's worth remembering that since you probably aren't a world renowned expert in the subject, there could be someone as annoyed at you. If someone is ignorant, it is your job to enlighten them, not make fun of their ignorance.
- HLP is not your blog. HLP is not your Twitter feed. There are special threads to talk about your life, what you're watching or listening to. Outside of those, we only care about your personal life if it is relevant to the discussion. Do not post stream of consciousness style posts. We don't need to hear you thinking on a subject. Shape them into a coherent point and then post. If you can't shape your thinking into anything coherent, don't post.
- HLP is not your soapbox. That isn't to say we can't have political discussions on HLP, just that you shouldn't drag an existing topic around to your particular pet peeve/hot button issue. Especially if that involves talking about something completely off-topic. Discussion of wider topics than the original post is fine if it happens organically, but if a topic mentions religion in passing, that doesn't mean it should become a full scale atheist rant about the evils of religion. If it mentions sexism a bit, it shouldn't become a discussion women's (or men's) rights. If someone mentions US politics, that isn't a reason to make it a discussion of US fiscal policy and the evils of the democrat party/republicans.
If you have an axe to grind, find another grindstone. HLP isn't your conscience raising platform/bund meeting.
- Do not backseat moderate. HLP has an established set of moderation staff. If we wanted your opinion on which threads need to be closed, who needs to be banned, etc, we'd have asked you to join it already. We don't want to see mob rule here, so we don't want to see forum users arguing that threads should be locked or people punished for certain posts.
If you feel a post violated the rules, report it. Do not attempt to moderate the thread yourself. Similarly, posts such as "Inb4lock" are basically spam at best, or an attempt to pressure the moderators into locking a thread. Don't do it.
- Do not post comments on the negative quality of a thread or the posts within it. Be sparing with posts simply saying that a post is a good post. The software the forum runs on already has a karma rating system for posts. If we wanted people rating posts, we'd turn it on.
- Try to maintain a high signal to noise ratio. Yes it's possible to reply to every thread with a smiley or one line comment but ask yourself first "What does this post add to the thread?" If the answer is nothing much, don't post it.
If anyone has any other issues or questions, please contact a staff member who will be happy to answer your questions.
A Note on AttachmentsAttachments to posts are NOT permanent in any way shape or form. There is a limited amount of space available on the servers, and "getting more space" is hardly the answer.
We would like to ask for you to consider the following guidelines in regards to what and when to attach an item to a post:
- If it's an image for something that is NOT an error, to highlight a problem or issue or as a part of a support request, consider using any one of the free and fine image hosting services and either link to it, or use a lvlshot tag link to put it into your post.
- If it is expected that people may still need to access it a month from now, then it is probably not safe as an attachment as it may get deleted if the attachment folder gets full.
