Guidelines
We welcome you to participate in the Neowin Community, however as with all social circles there are a few rules you must abide by in order to maintain your active membership within these message boards.
These rules apply to the forums, comments system on our news and any blogs created here.
We are trying to provide the highest quality community experience for all of our members and following these guidelines is the best way to maintain a quality environment for all age groups. These rules are very basic and we hope that you read them fully. If we find that you break any of these rules, your account may be disabled and your posting privileges removed.
Thanks for your cooperation.
No Graphic Material of either a macabre or pornographic nature.
Any posts or links to such content will not be tolerated. We are a forum for all ages and expect posts to be family / work friendly.
No Illegal Software/Copyrighted Discussion.
Discussions involving warez, cracks, security circumvention, using torrents for downloading copyrighted or illegal material is strictly prohibited. This includes music files or other unauthorized software. Asking for help in doing so will cause warns or suspensions of accounts.
The following punishments may be applied to your account following infractions:
- Posting a link to pirated software/film/tv/music. = SNIP POST + WARNING LEVEL RAISE
- Suggesting (overtly endorsing) that somebody pirate material. = SNIP POST + WARNING LEVEL RAISE
- Requesting assistance in pirating material. = SNIP POST + WARNING LEVEL RAISE
- Posting screenshots that show obviously pirated material (e.g. someone's uTorrent download screen) = SNIP POST + PM and/or ZERO LEVEL WARN
- Openly discussing pirated material (e.g. z0mg - new episode of Lost was amazing!! BitTorrent FTW!) = SNIP POST + PM and/or ZERO LEVEL WARN
Repeat offenders of the above examples will eventually be restricted from posting all together
No Cursing or Swear Words
We encourage you to use our communities as a forum to debate topics, but please use proper adjectives to express yourself. We do not tolerate circumvention of our word filter or abuse upon another member. As stated above, we are a forum for all ages and expect posts to be family / work friendly.
No Racism, Threatening, No Victimization or Hateful Posts / Retaliation
If you are a long standing member, act like one; lead by example and assist other newer users rather than attacking them. We look upon our veteran users to use this opportunity to teach the newer users the appropriate way to conduct themselves in this community.
No Personal Attacks or Retaliation
Personal attacks such as instigating "flame bait", verbal abuse, mocking or sexist remarks of members is not tolerated at Neowin. Such content will be deleted on sight or moderated accordingly.
As above, if you are a long standing member, act like one. Lead by example and assist other newer members rather than attacking them. Members that reply to simply instigate argument will be warned / suspended from forum areas.
Post On Topic.
Please post on topic and within the subject area of the subforum. If your topic does not fit, please use our General Discussions area. If you have questions on the correct content area, please PM a moderator.
Use a title that describes the content of your post. Don't use all caps or special characters to draw attention to your post. This is an English speaking site, and we expect all posts to be in English. Links must resolve to other English speaking sites.
No Unacceptable Forum or News Comments.
While some members feel that post count is important, there are some posts that we feel do not contribute to the community in any way what-so-ever. If you wish to direct a fellow member to something that has already been posted, please do so in a courteous manner.
Unacceptable posts include (but are not limited to):
- "old news" or anything similar
- "first post" or anything similar
- "(insert product or brand) sucks" or anything similar
- "I posted this in BPN x days ago!!!" or anything similar
Do not post links to exploits, malware, or websites that produce undesired effects to our members.
This includes browser crashes, multiple pop-up screens, DOS attacks, or similar results. Links will be removed, threads closed, and members will be warned or suspended.
No Avatar & Custom Title Abuse.
These are a site courtesy and abuse of them will result in them being lost and your account being restricted. We also have Sig Guidelines that outline what image (type, dimensions & file size) we find acceptable click here to view.
Neowin Is Not A Support Forum For Other Sites.
Comparing, judging the content/value or raising the opinion of other sites, recruiting members or staff, bad mouthing (or victimizing) & negative discussion about non/affiliate site issues on our forums is neither wanted nor tolerated. Promotion of individual member sites or blogs will be deleted on sight.
No Spamming.
Spamming is characterized by the initiation of threads or posts that contribute nothing to a forum, be it off topic or on topic. Examples include: empty bodies, bodies with few words that have no relation to the current thread or discussion and those posts that state they are spam, either to annoy, advertise or increase a member's post count. Users may not use news item comments to advertise or promote another product. Resurrecting old forum posts is also not appreciated unless it serves a worthy cause to the forum. This determination is made by the forum Moderator or Administrator and is not up for discussion.
Forum signatures are to be used respectfully, Neowin already has to display ads to cover the running costs, so don't annoy our members by making your signature into your personal ad revenue opportunity.
Advertisement Blocking.
Glorifying the fact in posts here on Neowin is strictly forbidden. We understand that some members could not care less to display advertisements on any website, and therefore block a stream of revenue that is required to keep this site running. We can not do much about that but please do not glorify the fact.
We have a subscription package that professionally removes all advertisements from Neowin for a small annual fee. We never ask members to click advertisements, and for those that do; we greatly appreciate this. Simply allowing the advertisement to load (without clicking on it) also returns revenue for the site. If you feel that you can not whitelist Neowin or afford the subscription but would like to contribute, you are very welcome to donate via PayPal to subscribe@neowin.net and make a post here.
Respect Moderator Decisions.
Threads and posts questioning the actions or decisions of forum moderations will be deleted on sight, and the appropriate action taken (up to and including forum bans) against the thread starter and/or participants. However, as a member you reserve the right to PM any moderator, supervisor or administrator regarding action taken at Neowin.
Use the Neowin Reporting System Properly.
Do not abuse the report system. While we appreciate members reporting bad behavior, or posts, please do not use this system to post rude comments or retaliate against other members. Reported posts will be handled as soon as possible.
No Alternate (Dupe) Accounts.
Should you be disciplined with a restriction or ban, you are not allowed to open a new account to obtain freedom to post. Restrictions and bans are given for a reason, and usurping that ability by re-registering is not tolerated. If another account is opened, that account will be banned immediately, and the original account will be further penalized. Anyone who has warnings on their account is automatically excluded from changing their user name.
Neowin reserves the right to change or alter these rules at any time and an Administrator's word is final.
Note: Any infraction of these guidelines will result in a warning being placed against your Neowin account.
Consequences:
All actions have consequences and Neowin is no different, Neowin Moderators follow a standard policy when warning members.
If a member accrues a certain amount of points, they will not be allowed to post content in the following stages:
- 4 points - 2 days
- 6 points - 10 days
- 8 points - 15 days
- 10 points - 30 days
- 12 points - Permanent Ban
All of the above is automated.
We can also give null warns that have no points addition or post restrictions, this precedes formal warning(s).
Repeat offenders can also be moved into the following groups before being eventually banned, this is always optional for staff to carry out:
- Restricted (Gamers) - banned from Gamers' Hangout and sub forums
- Restricted (Mac) - banned from Apple related sections of the forums
- Restricted (no edit) - banned from editing any own post content
- Restricted (PM) - banned from sending PM conversations
- Restricted (Profile) - banned from editing profile
- Restricted (view) - banned from creating any content on Neowin
View our DMCA Policy.