Guidelines

Public Discussion

Please treat discussions in any community communications with the same respect you would a public park unless informed otherwise. The community is a shared resource amongst players of various ages, backgrounds, and philosophical beliefs — it is necessary to remain aware that, just like in a public place, it’s not always proper to say whatever comes to mind.

These are not hard and fast rules, merely guidelines to aid the human judgement of our community and keep this a clean and well-lighted place for civilized public discourse.

Note: chat areas that are private or marked as mature/18+/NSFW should maintain a sense of mutual respect amongst members.

Improve the Discussion

Help us make the community a great place for discussion by always working to improve the discussion in some way, however small. If you are not sure your post adds to the conversation, think over what you want to say and try again later.

The topics discussed matter to us, and we want you to act as if they matter to you, too. Be respectful of the topics and the people discussing them, even if you disagree with some of what is being said.

One way to improve the discussion is by discovering ones that are already happening. Spend time browsing the topics on our forums, social media, and chat tools before replying or starting your own, and you’ll have a better chance of meeting others who share your interests.

Be Agreeable, Even When You Disagree

You may wish to respond to something by disagreeing with it. That’s fine. But remember to criticize ideas, not people. Please avoid:

• Name-calling
• Ad hominem attacks
• Responding to a message/post’s tone instead of its actual content
• Knee-jerk contradiction

Instead, provide reasoned counter-arguments that improve the conversation.

Your Participation Counts

The conversations we have set the tone for every new arrival. Help us influence the future of this community by choosing to engage in discussions that make the community an interesting place to be — and avoiding those that do not.

The forums provides tools that enable the community to collectively identify the best (and worst) contributions: bookmarks, likes, flags, replies, edits, and so forth. Social media and our chat tools have similar utilities. Use these tools to improve your own experience, and everyone else’s, too.

Let’s leave our community better than we found it.

If You See a Problem, Flag It

Moderators have special authority; they are responsible for this community. But so are you. With your help, moderators can be community facilitators, not just janitors or police.

When you see bad behavior, don’t reply. It encourages the bad behavior by acknowledging it, consumes your energy, and wastes everyone’s time. When on the forums: Just flag it. If enough flags accrue, action will be taken, either automatically or by moderator intervention. Most social media platforms and chat tools used by the community have the same ability to flag messages. If they don’t, please reach out to someone on the moderator team to report the issue.

In order to maintain our community, moderators reserve the right to remove any content and any user account for any reason at any time. Moderators do not preview new posts or messages; the moderators and site operators take no responsibility for any content posted by community members.

Always Be Civil

Nothing sabotages a healthy conversation like rudeness:

• Be civil. Don’t post anything that a reasonable person would consider offensive, abusive, or hate speech.
• Keep it clean. Don’t post anything obscene or sexually explicit unless in a section specifically marked mature/18+/NSFW.
• Respect each other. Don’t harass or grief anyone, impersonate people, or expose their private information.
• Respect our forum, social media accounts, and chat tools like Discord. Don’t post spam or otherwise vandalize those resources.

These are not concrete terms with precise definitions — avoid even the appearance of any of these things. If you’re unsure, ask yourself how you would feel if your post was featured on the front page of the New York Times.

Search engines index the public sections of the discussions on our forums. Unless it is a private area, or the area has been specifically designated for mature content, please keep the language, links, and images safe for family and friends.

Keep It Tidy

Make the effort to put things in the right place, so that we can spend more time discussing and less cleaning up. So:

• Don’t start a topic in the wrong category or channel.
• Don’t cross-post the same thing in multiple topics.
• Don’t post no-content replies.
• Don’t divert a topic by changing it midstream.
• Don’t sign your posts — every post has your profile information attached to it.

For our forums, rather than posting “+1” or “Agreed”, use the Like button. Rather than taking an existing topic in a radically different direction, use Reply as a Linked Topic. Social media accounts allow similar functionality, and chat tools like Discord allow users to ‘react’ to a message with emojis.

Post Only Your Own Stuff

You may not post anything digital that belongs to someone else without permission. You may not post descriptions of, links to, or methods for stealing someone’s intellectual property (software, video, audio, images), or for breaking any other law. The community is not responsible for the content posted by community members. Please check to ensure the content you are about to post is owned by yourself, you have permission to use it, it is available in the public domain, or general permission is granted for promotional use.

Adult (NSFW) Content

Our community is a safe space for everyone, and we understand that some members may wish to share adult or NSFW content. However, to ensure that this content is only shared in appropriate spaces, we have the following guidelines:

• Definition of NSFW content: Any content that is sexual, graphic, or explicit in nature should be considered NSFW. This includes, but is not limited to: nudity, sexual activity, and sexually suggestive images or text.
• Private channels: We have set up private channels on our social platforms (Discord & Discourse forums) for members to share NSFW content. These channels are clearly marked and should be the only spaces where such content is shared.
• Access to private channels: Only members who have explicitly opted in to view NSFW content will be granted access to these private channels.
• Public spaces: No NSFW content should be posted in public spaces, including but not limited to: comments, public groups, or public messages. Any such content found in public will be removed immediately.
• Consequences for violating guidelines: Members who violate these guidelines may receive a warning, have their account suspended temporarily or permanently, or even face legal action if necessary.

By following these guidelines, we can ensure that our LGBTQ+ community spaces remain a safe space for everyone, while still allowing members to share adult content in designated private areas.

Powered by You

This site, the social media accounts, and the chat tools are managed or operated by the community moderators, the leadership team, and YOU, the community. If you have any further questions about how things work here, please reach out to us on our Contact page or through the various community resources (i.e. Discord). Have feedback to leave about the site or forums? Create a topic in the site feedback category and let’s discuss it! Again, if there’s a critical or urgent issue please reach out to us directly with the aforementioned contact form on the website, or in a chat tool like Discord.

Terms of Service

Yes, legalese is boring, but we must protect ourselves — and by extension, you and your data — against unfriendly folks. For our forums, we have a Terms of Service describing you (and our) behavior and rights related to content, privacy, and laws. For the website, we have the Privacy Policy that details much in the same. You will need to check the privacy policy for the resources that we do not directly manage, such as Facebook, Twitter, and Discord. To use these resources, you will need to agree to their specific privacy policies and terms of service