Arcturus Rules

The staff is not here to teach users how to be kind people. When rules are long and boring, sometimes people don't read them thoroughly, and that is an excuse, either. It's common sense after the age of 13 what is morally wrong; art theft, trolling, harassment. "I didn't know." Isn't a valid excuse. We also understand that people make mistakes and can learn from them. There are rules in many aspects of life. In general, people know how not to break rules; it is common sense. It's because of this that our rules aren't very specific and every thing that is considered a punishable offense isn't outlined. Instead, we look for malicious intent. If malicious intent is clear or proven, a punishment fit for the offense is decided upon at that time. As per procedure, a temporary ban may be placed on individuals who appear to pose an immediate threat for up to 24 hours while staff deliberate. Generally speaking, things such as theft of any kind, harassment, racism, sexism, bigotry, etc. is frowned upon. While we respect free speech, we also ask that you keep in that what you say or do could have a negative impact on another person. Cases of clear trolling, harassment, art theft, pedophilia, prejudice, anything deemed clearly especially heinous will be dealt with immediately.

Accountability, Repentance, and Penitence

penitence

/ˈpenitəns/

noun

the action of feeling or showing sorrow and regret for having done wrong; repentance.

repentance

/rəˈpentəns/

noun

the action of repenting; sincere regret or remorse.

This is really important because in order for our blanket rule to work, everyone has to be able to take responsibility for themselves. The staff do not want to ban every single person who commits something wrong, especially on their first offense. A user who admit they were wrong and learn from it is a user we want to have. This, however, is not a get out of jail free card. Repeat offenses make the apology mean nothing and will result in a ban.

Zero Tolerance Policies

There are certain few things that are exempt from the above policies and are an offense we have a zero tolerance policy for, including but not limited to: Bullying, harassment, multiple accounts in the same room, soliciting a minor(see below), art theft, and other serious offenses. They are taken on a case by case basis by the Mediators. Each case can set a precedent for future ones. However, with this being said, there are some infractions that warrant a permanent ban. Just be kind and considerate on chat.

-Soliciting Minors

Arcturus has a zero tolerance policy for soliciting minors. Soliciting minors is defined by an adult (18+) trying to groom, talk sexually to, coerce, sexually role-play with, ask out, "yiff", or anything else sexual related with a person who is a minor (17 and younger). This is not only against our rules for Arcturus, it is also against the law. We do not tolerate adults trying to solicit minors, even if that specific county, state, or country says a different legal age than 18. If you are caught soliciting a minor, just like on any other chat site, you will receive a permanent ban and referred to the Overseers who will take it from there.

-Age Requirement

We require any user that signs up for Arcturus to be at least 10 years of age at the time of registration. Any user found to be under aged will be banned until they are 10 years of age, regardless of parental consent.

If you are a victim of solicitation by an adult or you know someone who is on our chat or any other chat, contact an administrator immediately. We know how to properly handle the situation. Please place the user on ignore in the meantime and collect logs if you can.

We administrators work hard to ensure every chat member is safe here as well as on other chats. We work with other chats in order to keep the peace throughout Chatlands.

Before You Report

You need to ask yourself a few questions before you decide if you should report a situation to an administrator. Is this something you can work out between yourself and the person you are having problems with? If so, you should consider taking the conversation private - either via PM or whisper and block/ignore the offending user. If you cannot work out the situation between the two of you, please go ahead and bring the issue to a Gamma or a higher rank.

If you aren't able to talk it out, you should ask yourself why. Is the person being belligerent, harassing you, or is it a simple disagreement? Are they breaking any rules? What can an administrator do for you? What do you expect to get out of this? You should always report issues to an administrator if you can, but consider if it is something necessary to you.

How To Report

Chat - If an administrator is online, contact them via whisper by clicking the Report button on your talk tab. Click "ok" if you are sure you need an administrator, then choose the admin you wish to talk to. Start off your message with the situation at hand. An example of this: "Hi Zuko, there is a user posting threats in the room I'm in. Can you come please?" and wait for a response. Either the admin will respond to you or immediately come into the room with you. Next, copy all of the chat logs in the black box with the white text and type !message. Make sure you add in the ! before the command! Type in the admin's name into the "leave a specific message for" section and paste your logs into the message section - the big white box. After you do that, hit send. If it says your message is too long, talk to the admin and see how they would like you to send it; usually in multiple messages or instead on the forum. The admin will take care of it from there! Consider using the ignore feature in the meantime by clicking the person's avatar and choosing "ignore" or typing !ignore (user) with their name being (user).



Forum - If you have an issue on the forums, there are two steps you can take.
Step One: Gather all the information you can, such as a link to the topic where the issue is taking place and/or grab screenshots of the situation.
Step Two: Send a message to a Protector. You can do so by finding a post made by a Protector and underneath their avatar click the image of a person with MP on it or go to your inbox at the top of the forum. Write in a subject title, such as "Report" and paste all your information in a message, then hit send.