Xena Online Community is a place for Xena and Hercules fans of all persuasions to discuss the show (and other things) in a safe and friendly environment.
Let's face it, if you put five Xenites in a room you will probably end up with 15 different opinions, and sometimes those opinions don't mix well. The
rules of XOC are meant to ensure that everyone can enjoy their experience in this community. Posters who violate the rules in a continuous and flagrant manner
will be banned from the board.
Also, in addition to our own Terms of Service, all members are held to the EZBoard Terms of Use. They can be read here and legal issues concerning
the TOU can be found here
.
XENA ONLINE COMMUNITY
1. Respect for fellow board members.
XOC members are expected to be respectful and considerate toward other board members. Lively discussion and debate can and should be conducted, and strong
opinions expressed, with respect for other posters and their viewpoints and opinions. To ensure a friendly and pleasant environment, XOC prohibits:
* flaming (personal attacks on or insults toward other posters);
* derogatory remarks about other members' posts (e.g. referring to posters' comments, arguments and opinions as stupid, lame, bizarre, dishonest,
etc.);
* mocking other posters or their opinions, including by means of eye-rolling or laughing emoticons;
* criticizing another board member's posting style or choice of topics, particularly in a confrontational manner. If someone's posting style makes it
difficult for you to read their posts (e.g. if they don't break up their posts into paragraphs but post one long piece of text), you may make a polite
suggestion that they change it. However, as long as a poster is not violating the rules of the board, telling her/him what they should and should not post is
inappropriate, especially if such criticism can also be seen as a personal attack (e.g. an accusation of attention-seeking).
* attacks on groups of fans (shippers, subtexters, non-subtexters etc.);
* "baiting" posts intended to provoke a hostile response or start a flame war (for instance, gratuitous sarcastic remarks about another poster's
favorite character or relationship);
* bigoted comments (expressing hostility or contempt toward individuals or groups on the basis of race, ethnicity, gender or gender identity, sexual
orientation, or religion). Please keep in mind that comments generalizing about a group of people could be offensive to some even if you don't see them as
negative. Generally, when you make any kind of statement about a group, stop to think about how you would feel if a statement was directed at
your group;
* baseless accusations of bigotry (for instance, suggesting that people who don't support the Xena/Gabrielle pairing are homophobic).
2. Respect for public figures associated with the show or the fandom.
While XOC encourages spirited discussion of X:WP or other RenPic shows, or other works associated with the show such as fanfiction or articles, board members
are asked to treat real individuals (producers, actors, directors, writers) with respect. It is fine to criticize the works or the ideas, but not to bash the
individuals. Rumors and speculation about the private lives of people associated with the show (romantic relationships, marital problems, health problems etc.)
are also unacceptable.
3. Posting rules.
* Do not act in a confrontational or hostile manner toward other posters (see Rule #1).
* Do not post the same thing over and over in a thread, or disrupt a thread with posts that have no relevance to the discussion.
* Threads can and do go off-topic, but if a thread begins to stray too far from the original subject, a moderator may ask that the discussion return to the
topic. If the off-topic discussion continues the thread may be locked. In addition, if a poster is "pushing" a subject that strays from the subject
of the thread and disrupts the thread, s/he may be asked to drop the subject. Continued flagrant violation will result in a warning.
* Do not bump threads or polls with the intention of pushing a thread you dislike off the front page.
* Do not post in all caps (in the body of the post or in the thread title). Also, do not use large fonts in order to emphasize your point or draw attention to
your post. It's the equivalent of "screaming" in cyberspace and is considered poor netiquette.
* Do not bring issues from other forums (Xena or non-Xena) into XOC.
4. Respoding to flames, attacks, and other violations.
If you feel that another poster has attacked you, do not attack or flame them in response, or post a rude or sarcastic reply; otherwise, you and the instigator
will both be admonished. You can defend yourself and state that you consider the post inappropriate and insulting, but please do so in a civil and
non-disruptive manner. The same goes for responding to offensive posts that are not directed personally at you.
5. Moderation at XOC.
XOC is a moderated board. The moderator handles are listed at the top of each forum. Inappropriate posts will result in an admonishment from a moderator, or in
case of serious rule violation in an official reprimand or a warning (see warnings, reprimands and bans).
When a moderator posts in an "official" capacity, the posts will be signed, in bold, with the mod's
handle and the line, "XOC moderator" (or "
XOC moderator/admnistrator").
If you see a post that you believe warrants a moderator's attention, you can (1) privately notify a moderator by private message or email, or (2) make a
post in the thread stating that you find the post offensive and asking a moderator to intervene.
If you disagree with a moderator's actions toward you or another member, you are encouraged to address this in a private complaint (by email or PM), which
the mods will consider collectively. While you may state your objection or question in the thread in a respectful manner, please do not try to engage the
mod(s) in a public argument about an admonishment, reprimand, warning, or other mod intervention. You will receive an official warning if you:
* push such an argument after being asked to drop it;
* respond to a moderator in a sarcastic, hostile, rude, or confrontational manner;
* publicly attack or slam the moderators.
After a moderator has intervened to admonish a poster or posters, or to ask them to stop inappropriate behavior (such as getting too personal in an argument),
do not step in to further criticize the poster(s) or express outrage at their comments. Once the mods have spoken, please let the issue rest.
6. Trolling.
A troll is someone whose intention is to disrupt discussion by making deliberately provocative, annoying and harassing posts. Trolls will be immediately banned
from XOC (not just handles but IPs).
Please do not publicly discuss troll activities on the board (since such discussions are likely to incite further troll attacks). Do not respond to troll
posts, or engage in any conversation or verbal sparring with trolls, either on or off-board. Any board member who engages in off-board communication with a
known troll will be warned privately if this comes to the admins' attention, and may be banned if he/she does not cease the correspondence.
7. Spamming.
Do not spam this forum with commercial offers or other forms of advertising. We notify EZBoard Legal Staff of all spammers immediately. Where applicable, we
will also ban the IPs of spammer handles, sometimes using a wild card IP ban which will ban a range of IPs.
8. Pairing-specific forums.
Shipper Talk and Subtext Zone are designated respectively for fans of the Xena/Ares and Xena/Gabrielle pairings. People who do not support these pairings are
welcome to post in these forums and express their opinions. However, neither forum is the appropriate place for debating its core concept, i.e. the
romantic/sexual attraction between Xena and Ares in Shipper Talk and between Xena and Gabrielle in Subtext Zone. A post in a pairing-specific forum the
only or primary content of which is to
say that you do not support the forum pairing, or do not see the relationship as romantic or sexual, is inappropriate.
In threads discussing specific episodes or scenes, various opinions are welcome. However, if a thread in either forum turns into a subber vs. shipper debate, a
moderator may ask the posters to stop the debate or take it to the general forum. Posters are asked to respect such a request.
In the pairing-specific forums, derogatory comments about those who do not support the forum pairing or support a different pairing (or about their viewpoints)
are not allowed. That is, comments attacking or mocking subtexters or their beliefs, or fans who don't like the Xena/Ares pairing, are not allowed in
Shipper Talk. Likewise, comments attacking or mocking non-subtexters or shippers, or their beliefs, are not allowed in Subtext Zone.
All Ships Ahoy is a forum where any pairing, "canon" or not, can be discussed in a positive environment. Do not post in a Ships Ahoy thread about a
relationship or pairing solely to say that you don't see it or don't like it. Forum rules prohibit threads about incestuous or adult/child sexual
relationships.
9. Multiple handles.
Multiple handles are not allowed. If you wish to change your handle, please contact one of the administrators (xwpweb or LadyKate63) via email or EZboard
private message. Your old handle will be deleted and your new one approved.
If you change your handle, you should be prepared to publicly disclose the handle change and identify yourself as an old member posting under a new handle (or
to have this information disclosed by the moderators). In other words, you are not allowed to "change your identity" without the knowledge of other
posters.
If you gain admission under a second handle for the purpose of disrupting the forum, harassing other members, or other mischief, this will be considered
trolling. Not only will the duplicate handle be banned immediately, but you will get a warning
as a minimum under your "regular" handle, and may be banned immediately depending on the severity of the trolling behavior.
10. Language and adult content.
XOC is a board for Xena and Hercules fans of all ages. Profanity is not allowed here. EZboard has a filtering system that screens out certain words (if you try
to post them, you'll find out what they are). Members are also asked to refrain from using asterisks, dashes, or other punctuation marks to circumvent the
filter and spell out the entire word (e.g., s-h-i-t), or from using some words in a crude and offensive context even if one or more letters are replaced with
an asterisk (e.g., using the "f-word" with asterisks in the literal sense of a sexual act).
Also prohibited is sexually explicit material, whether verbal (graphic descriptions of sexual acts) or visual (sexually explicit or nude pictures). If you post
a link to a site that features content which may be inappropriate for minors (sexually explicit fiction or art), please include a warning to that effect.
11. Illegal activities.
Do not post links to sites where full episodes are available for download, or offer to sell pirated videos, or make references to watching full episodes on
YouTube.
12. Personal Signatures/Image Postings.
As with posts, profanity, pornography, bigoted remarks, and slams on other fans are not allowed in personal signatures.
Signature images sizes:
* Signature images should be no more than 200 px in height and 350 px in width. Images wider than 350 px (banners) should be no more than 150 px in height and
the recommended height is 100 px. The maximum width for a banner is 600 px and the recommended width is 500 px.
If you use two signature images (e.g. a signature and a "keepership"), their combined height should be no more than 230 px in height and the
recommended combined height is 200 px or less.
As a general rule signature picture files should be no more than 60 KB and personal pics should be no more than 20 kb.
* Signature text including links should be generally no more than 6-7 lines.
Images in posts:
* All pictures posted in threads should generally be no more than 500 pixels in width and height. (See this thread on
how to resize larger pictures.) Large pictures can push the margins wide apart and make the thread very difficult to read. Banners can be as wide as 600 px.
* Do not overload your posts with graphics, which can seriously slow down the board especially for members who have dial-up. Generally, anything more than 10
images in a post is too much.
* Do not "hotlink" to images from websites that ask not to hotlink in order to avoid excessive bandwidth usage. Instead, download the image, then put
it online in your own photo hosting account such as photobucket, and link to it that way.
* * *
Have a great time at Xena Online Community!
xwpweb, XOC Owner/Administrator
LadyKate63, XOC Administrator
08/09/03 --
Updated rule #11 on size specifications
07/08/03 - Updated for clarification in rule #3
- Updated with links to EZBoards Terms of Use Agreement and Legal Issues Over the TOU
6/19/03 - Updated for clarification in rule
#3
10/26/03 - Updated for clarification in rule #9
on profanity
01/03/2004 - Spamming Rule Updated
03/26/04 - Updated for clarification in rule #7
(Shipper Talk and Subtext World rules)
07/20/05 - Updated to restore the rule changes
lost as a result of the 5/31/05 hacker attack (rules #5 & 6)
08/12/05 - Updated and clarified Rule #2
regarding speculation about the private lives of people associated with the show.
03/23/06 - Updated and clarified the clause in
Rule #5 (respecting the authority of moderators) regarding acting as a self-appointed moderator.
04/09/06 - Updated and clarified Rule #9
regarding multiple handles and new handles.
04/14/06 - Clarified Rule #1 about the definition
of bigoted comments and about offensive remarks.
05/17/06 - Clarified Rule #8 about the rules in
theme-specific forums.
05/17/06 - Clarified Rule #10 on profanity.
06/03/06 - Clarified Rule #8 on Shipper and
Subtext forum rules.
06/05/06 - Edited rule #12 to add in a * on the
sub-parts.
07/28/06 - Edited rule #12 to clarify sig pic
size specifications.
08/18/06 - Edited link to the post on bans and
warnings.
08/23/06 - Clarified and updated several rules
particularly with regard to flaming and moderation.
10/17/06 - Clarified and expanded rule # 1 with
regard to respect for other posters; changed the title of Rule #1 from "no bashing" to "respect for public figures.
10/12/07 and 10/23/07 - Clarified rules on
signature sizes and banner width.
11/24/07 -- added clause about duplicate handles
for trolling purposes
