Terms and rules

Terms

The providers ("we", "us", "our") of the service provided by this web site/forum ("Service") are not responsible for any user-generated content and accounts ("Content"). Content submitted express the views of their author only, and you follow any tutorials at your own risk.

This Service is only available to users who are at least 13 years old in compliance with the Children's Online Privacy Protection Act of 1998. If you are younger than this, please do not register for this Service. If you register for this Service, you represent that you are 13 years of age or older. If it is found you are younger than 13 years old, your account is subject to receive a temporary ban until the owner of said account reaches 13 years of age.

You agree to not use the Service to submit or link to any Content which is defamatory, abusive, hateful, threatening, spam or spam-like, likely to offend, contains adult or objectionable content, contains personal information of others, risks copyright infringement, encourages unlawful activity, or otherwise violates any laws. You are entirely responsible for the content of, and any harm resulting from, that Content or your conduct.

All Content you submit or upload may be reviewed by staff members. All Content you submit or upload may be sent to third-party verification services (including, but not limited to, spam prevention services). Do not submit any Content that you consider to be private or confidential.

We reserve the rights to remove or modify any Content submitted for any reason, with or without cause, with or without notice. Requests for Content to be removed or modified will be undertaken only at our discretion. We reserve the right to take action against any account with the Service at any time, with or without cause, with or without notice.

You are granting us with a non-exclusive, permanent, irrevocable, unlimited license to use, publish, or re-publish your Content in connection with the Service. You retain copyright over the Content.

You also agree to the Service Rules below, and any updates that may follow. The Service Rules are part of these Terms. Please be aware that you are the sole person responsible for your account and any actions you or others take on your account on the Service. Staff members make the final decision in any dispute on the forum.

We do offer account upgrades on this forum (Service); however, these account upgrades can be bought only by using real currency. Even if you decide to purchase an account upgrade, you will be held to the same standards when it comes to forum (Service) rule enforcement. You get no privileges to disobey forum (Service) rules. If this is an issue for you, please do not opt in to receive an account upgrade. You agree to not give us any issues on the site (nor will you pursue legal repercussions) as a result of an infraction received from breaking forum (Service) rules.

Any user data on the Service will not be given to any law enforcement agencies unless a court order signed by a sitting judge is received.

These Terms may be changed at any time without notice, and you agree to adhere to any changes made to the Terms. A Last Updated log will be displayed at the bottom of these Terms to archive any instances these Terms have been altered. If the date below is different from when you have registered/created your account and/or from when you last viewed these Terms, please consider reading through these Terms again to ensure that you do not miss any changes that have been made.

If you do not agree with these Terms, please do not register or use this Service. Use of the Service constitutes acceptance of these Terms. If you have any queries, questions, concerns, or feedback, please contact us. We prefer that more personal matters be sent to us using this contact form rather than posted publicly on the forum (Service). All queries, questions, concerns, feedback, etc... sent elsewhere will not be processed and we will not be held accountable or liable for information not received.

Global Forum (Service) Rules

1. Spam: Posts which serve no purpose to a discussion topic or messages which otherwise have no contribution are classified as spam. Additionally, 4 or more consecutive posts (whether all on your profile, on other's profiles, or a mix) and commenting on banned profiles falls under this rule as well.
2. Advertising: Advertising any kind of other forum link or any type of inappropriate links on this forum is not tolerated. This includes making Content advertising your clan, a Discord server, or any competing site's hyperlink. If you are not sure if the Content you are posting falls under this rule, please ask a staff member before posting it. Accounts made for the sole purpose of advertising will be banned immediately.
3. Multiple accounts: Creating multiple/alternative accounts for whatever reasoning is not permitted (unless otherwise permitted by the Staff).
4. Member drama and flame wars: Drama, harassment, flame wars, etc... are not necessary. Do not engage in any form of harassment/flame war towards any user(s) of the forum.
5. Pornography and sexual content: Pornography and any other sexual content will result in a permanent ban from the forum (this may also result in potential criminal reports sent to law enforcement agencies, depending on the severity of the content).
6. Abusing plugins/features: Flooding the shoutbox, liking/giving ratings to a large amount of posts in a short amount of time, or abusing bronze/premium/VIP membership privileges is not permitted.
7. Trolling: Trolling can be purposeful posting with the objective of getting someone irritated by your derogatory remarks; possibly getting them to "fight back." Deliberately insulting the website, its Users/Staff Members, etc. with the intent of disrupting the website also falls under this rule.
8. Inappropriate speech: Speech not suitable for younger audiences is unacceptable. This includes, but is not limited to: discussion of illegal substances/drugs, inappropriate gestures, unwelcome flirtatious behavior, use of excessive profanity inappropriately, etc.
9. Controversial/Illegal activities: Content that discusses illegal activities, hacking, or otherwise controversial topics including, but not limited to: hacking on any game supported by this Service, piracy, malicious files/codes, theft, copyright infringement, etc... is not permitted whatsoever. Content regarding real-world issues such as terrorist attacks, political debates, natural disasters, etc. are allowed so long as they are posted in the Serious Discussions and Debates forum. Any user data that may violate federal laws will result in a ban from the forum (Service), and may result in a report sent to law enforcement agencies.
10. Clan reasons: Staff reserve the right to place an indefinite ban on your account for clan reasons.
11. Under 13: As stated earlier in the Terms of Service, and in compliance with the Children's Online Privacy Protection Act of 1998, we do not permit anyone under the age of 13 years to own an account on this forum. If you directly state that you are Under 13 anywhere on this forum, your account will be banned immediately until you reach 13 years of age. For example, if you state you are 11 years old, you will be banned for two years.

Use the report button!
We like to think that we can see everything that is going around on the forum, but we simply cannot. We are not always available, and members can communicate in conversations or private messages. So, we ask that if you find something that breaks the forum rules, you report it to the staff by clicking the “Report” button, and a staff member will deal with it accordingly as soon as possible. We would even rather see reports than users trying to police or coach each other on the rules (can be seen as back-seat moderation). The report button can be found on any post, any profile post, any profile post comment, on member profiles, and even in conversations or private messages. Use it if you need it!

Please be aware that staff may make up rules at their own discretion for obvious misbehavior. In general, the staff are very lenient when it comes to enforcing the rules. Usually, you will receive a verbal warning first, and repeated/major offenses are subject to warnings and/or bans. If you feel if a warning or ban you received (whether that be on the forum or the Discord server) is unfair, you may appeal your warning/ban by making use of the Unfair Punishments section. Please note that you must be logged into your forum account to access and post in the Unfair Punishments section.

Warning Values

If found to be breaking rules, staff members will hand out warnings. Warnings have a point value (25 is the maximum point value before you get a permanent ban), and (most of them) expire at some point. If you build up these points, additional punishments will follow. Warnings serve as a reminder to everyone that we want to keep this forum in good condition so it's a fun environment for all.

Rule #1 violation: Spam - 2 points | Expires: 1 month
Rule #2 violation: Advertising - 5 points | Expires: 3 months
Rule #2 violation (part B): Advertising accounts - 25 points | Expires: Never
Rule #3 violation: Multiple accounts - 25 points | Expires: Never
Rule #4 violation: Member drama and flame wars - 3 points | Expires: 2 months
Rule #5 violation: Pornography and sexual content - 25 points | Expires: Never
Rule #6 violation: Abusing plugins/features - 2 points | Expires: 2 months
Rule #7 violation: Trolling - 5 points | Expires: 3 months
Rule #8 violation: Inappropriate Speech - 2 points | Expires: 2 months
Rule #9 violation: Controversial/illegal activities - 5 points | Expires: 2 months
Rule #10 violation: Clan reasons - 25 | Expires: Never
Rule #11 violation: Under 13 - Automatic ban until you turn 13

Banning

Once you reach...

5 points = 3 day ban.
10 points = 1 week ban.
15 points = 2 week ban.
20 points = 1 month ban.
25 points = Permanent ban.

We have two levels of banning. They are referred to level-one bans and level-two bans. By default, everyone gets a level-one ban upon getting warnings that lead up to a ban. If multiple accounts are created or Unfair Punishment privileges are abused, a level-two ban will be placed with more restricted permissions.

Account Ban and Deletion Requests

In terms of taking account ban or deletion requests, we do not do either. You need to break the rules in order to receive a ban, and we simply do not delete accounts. The reasoning is because people always want to come back, even when they say they do not. Another reason is for statistical purposes. If you want to "leave" the forum however, we recommend you follow these steps:

1. Change your username. Most users have Bronze, Premium, or VIP Membership so they can do this by themselves. However, if you can't, then you can contact a staff member and we will usually be able to do it for you (it depends on the circumstances that we will discuss).
2. Remove all your profile information, including your location, signature, avatar, any profile biography, and any other information you wish to hide. Removing all your posts is not necessary since you will be changing your username and removing your profile details. We will not remove your posts either.
3. Unfollow every user that you are following; unless you want (a) certain user(s) to be able to view your profile when you have left.
4. Change your privacy settings. Go here: https://4drclanforum.com/account/privacy, and uncheck all boxes and change your privacy settings so that "People You Follow Only" will be able to view them.
5. Log out and do not log in again, unless you eventually decide to return.

Last Updated: April 14th, 2022 at 03:32 AM EST