Forum Guidelines

[W1zzard]

User Accounts

• Only one account per user.
  • Creating multiple accounts is an infractable offense up to and including a ban of the account(s) in question.
  • This includes all account types on TechPowerUp between the site, forums and custom PC build sections.
  • Multiple profiles from the same user to pad votes in the custom PC build section can result in infraction and bans to be earned for all accounts involved.
• Choose an appropriate account name.
  • Anything that is considered offensive or malicious will either be changed by the site administrator or banned by the moderation staff.
• Do not attempt to mask or spoof as other users in any way, shape or form.
  • This would be considered a malicious act against TechPowerUp and its community and could result in a ban of access for your account.
• If your account has been banned, you may be immediately banned on a new account creation if moderation has not approved its creation.
  • If you need to contact the site administrator or moderation staff, please go here to see how to contact us through other methods.
• Please contact the site administrator to change your account name if necessary.
  • This can include typos, misspellings, or a total name change altogether as long as there is a good reason.
  • The site administrator reserves the right to decline any such requests without reason.

Starting a thread

• Use a relevant and appropriate thread title for your topic , threads like "Hard Drive", "RAM", "help me","weird problem", "Please help!", etc. mean nothing, please make the title of the topic clear.
• Describe your problem as clearly as possible, give system specs and mention what you've already tried.
  • System Specs Tip: Go here to fill out your system specs. They will be listed under your username when you post saving you and those wanting to help you time.
• Read the manual, use Google, Bing, etc.; don't be lazy. Do some research yourself, if your question can be answered by Google in about 2 seconds you're better off googling.
• Do not start a thread with just a link, picture or meme, at least add some appropriate and meaningful narrative otherwise threads tend to become a "free for all" more suitable for the Lounge.
• Use clear and appropriate language, of course not everyone speaks perfect English, this isn't an excuse not to try. Correct language and punctuation make things easy to read.
• Don't ask for warez or other illegal activities. (ie piracy, porn, drugs) Threads will be locked or deleted.
  • Discussion about these topics may be allowed at moderator discretion.
  • The discussion of related issues are permitted within reason.
• No begging for free stuff!
• No bumping within 24H, we all help for fun.
  • Don't expect people to help you right away, sometimes it just takes some time, therefore do not start further threads on the same topic, your patience is appreciated.
• Please watch your language, many times it is not necessary to use foul language here.
  • While we may let some things slide, the intent and usage of foul language will weigh heavily.

Posting in a thread

• Be polite and Constructive, if you have nothing nice to say then don't say anything at all.
  • This includes trolling, continuous use of bad language (ie. cussing), flaming, baiting, retaliatory comments, system feature abuse, and insulting others.
  • Do not get involved in any off-topic banter or arguments. Please report them and avoid instead.
  • Healthy debates will generally be allowed if the following criteria is met.
    • Useful sources and constructive wording.
    • Maintain the topic that they're taking place in.
    • No insults, trolling, shaming, hate or toxicity.
    • Avoid political or religious comment unless it is specifically relevant to a topic and in those cases is only acceptable if done in an unbiased manner.
    • Once it is considered over, do not drag it on only to have the last word.
    • Short and pointless posts like "yeah", "me too" or "haha" can be made on the rest of the internet, not here. Post count doesn't increase your e-penis.
• Stay on topic, changing the topic won't help the discussion. Feel free to create a new thread instead.
• If you reply to multiple posts use the "multi quote" button, that way the forum is easier to read.

Reporting and complaining

• All posts and private messages have a "report post" button on the bottom of the post, click it when you feel something is inappropriate. Do not use your report as a "wild card invitation" to go back and add to the drama and therefore become part of the problem.
• Feel free to use "report post" on your own posts, if you are unsure whether what you posted is appropriate, or if you need a moderator action like thread rename or delete, the original post unlocked, or thread closure.
• If you disagree with moderator actions contact them via PM, if you can't solve the issue with the moderator in question contact a super moderator.
  • Under no circumstances should you start public drama.
• Each forum has several moderators, contact them when you feel there is something wrong.
• Be polite to moderators to get your point across; attacking them in PMs is also worthy of an infraction!
• If you can't work something out with a moderator a supermod will be happy to try to solve the issue.
• Administrators are really busy people, don't bug them unless your issue can't be solved otherwise.
• Do not expect because you have reported a topic or complained that a change will immediately take effect or that we are going to respond in the way you would prefer. The moderation team at TPU reviews requests as a team and takes action based on what we feel is best for TPU, which may not align with what you seek.

Threads that should/will be closed

• Threads that request forums to participate in something illegal. For example, we will not tolerate threads requesting how to pirate Windows, where to buy marijuana, how to compromise a PC, etc.
• Threads started purely for the sake of starting a thread, aka a "spam thread".
• Spammed advertisements.
• Threads whose topic may be seen as political or religious or politically or religiously sensitive, this includes posts within a thread.
• Threads of malicious, spiteful or toxic intent against any user, group or company.
  • This may include a thread going off topic with posts that include the above depending on how the community is responding.
  • Threads initiating any kind of trolling, drama or issue publicly against the moderation team or TPU staff. If you have a problem with the mods, as stated above, contact them privately.
  • If the moderation team or staff starts a thread for feedback, we will then maintain it until it is no longer necessary at which point it will be locked.

Buy Sell/Trade Forum

• Your account must have been registered for 14 days before you can post in the Buy/Sell/Trade forum.
• You must comply with the BST Forum rules located here after the ability to post.

Hot Deals Sub Forum

We all like a good deal providing it's legal (in line with these wider guidelines) and specifically tech related. We ask that no eBay links are used whether that be to an individual's sales or items linked to business accounts, simply because with a degree of intelligence and research it may well be possible for anyone to open accounts with a name that loosely mirrors that of well known brands, there is considerable misrepresentation on the platform currently and whilst it is unlikely, the member linking to e bay may have an interest in the seller of the deal.​

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Signatures/avatars

• Let's face it, signatures and avatars are fun. So the first thing you need to do, should you decide to get one, is figure out how to see everyone's signatures and avatars.
  • To enable signatures and avatars, go to your UserCP, select Options, and in the Thread Display options, enable signatures and avatars.
• You may not have an animated avatar, unless a super-moderator/administrator approves it.
  • Any violations of this rule will be removed at moderator discretion, with little more than a link to this announcement as justification.
• You may have a signature that contains whatever is on your mind. However, we must ask that you keep profanity, vulgarity, insensitivity, politics, and flaming out of your signatures and avatars.
  • Any signatures that bother us will be changed at super-moderator/administrator discretion. No sexually suggestive avatars or signatures are allowed.
• You can link to wherever they'd like in your signature, within reason. We will mainly ignore said signature links anyways, unless they are brought to our attention.
  • If you report a signature to a supermod via PM, we will take a good hard look, PM the offending user about it, and if necessary, change it.
• You may have a signature picture. You may not have an animated signature picture.
  • To enable this, go to "edit signature" in your UserCP, and upload a signature picture via the upload controls on the bottom.
  • Then, once it's uploaded, type the indicated sigpic code into the signature field. It must be no larger than 128 KB, and it certainly can't move, unless a super-moderator/administrator put it there.
  • Again, all violations of this rule will be deleted at a super-moderator/administrator's discretion.

Posting links to your own content/website/YouTube/shop

• For new users, we do not allow postings of any commercial nature that benefit you personally whether this be for financial, promotional or any other intentions.
• Once you are an active, helpful member of the community, you may make such posts from time to time, if they help the community, or provide useful information.
• We reserve the right to remove any and all content that we deem inappropriate or purely commercial in nature.

Behavior that is inappropriate/should be reported

• Insulting other forum members (calling someone names makes you look stupid anyways).
• Racist, hateful, toxic, and otherwise demeaning comments will not be tolerated; whether meant as a joke or not.
• "Trolling"
  Wikipedia said:
  (Format change) "Trolls can be existing members of a community that rarely post and often contribute no useful information to the thread, but instead make argumentative posts in an attempt to discredit another person, more often than not based on what they thought was said rather than what was actually said by the other person, concentrating almost exclusively on facts irrelevant to the point of the conversation, with the intent of provoking a reaction from others. The key element under attack by a troll is the forum or group's recognized and agreed upon power structure. To this extent, a troll does not necessarily have to make malicious or incorrect comments."
  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Troll_(internet)
• Posting useless/wrong information in response to any technical or help seeking topic.
• Non-constructive criticism of a person's English language abilities.
• Posting "FUD" (Fear, Uncertainty, and Doubt), especially if the poster is trying to pass it off as legitimate news.
• Posting a lot of tech news articles in the forums.
  • One or two things when the newsposters are all on vacation is nice, but in general, please leave the newsposting to the news posters. It's their job, not yours.
• Post whoring (posting nonsense for the pure joy of it, otherwise known as spamming or thread-crapping).
• Posting only a picture/meme without relevant topical comment, especially as bait or to dismiss another member's opinion.

Following these simple guidelines makes our job as moderator a lot easier. Even though we try to keep the behavior we expect from members as clear as we can, moderators can still hand out warnings at their own discretion when and where they deem necessary. Please keep this in mind when posting on TPU forums. Any of the above offenses can and likely will earn you points, which can lead to revoking posting privileges, temporary and up to permanent ban, or loss of membership.


Warning System

• The warning system implemented at TPU forums enables moderation team and administration to give users infraction points earned for acting against the posted guidelines above, which can ultimately accumulate to earning a temporary or permanent ban depending on the user and situation.
• Offenses and Points
  • 5-Strike System
    • Standard offenses will be worth 3 infraction points up to a total of 5 "strikes" before a member loses posting privileges.
    • Standard offenses can be considered those that are not a constant recurring issue or on the more excessive side of insults, abusiveness, trolling, toxicity and will be determined by the moderation team at the time of delivering the warning.
  • Beyond the 5-Strike System
    • More excessive issues will likely earn more than the 3-points of the standard 5-strike system, that amount will be determined by the moderation team at the time of delivering the warning.
    • Repeat offenders will earn more points per warning as well, this is at the moderator team's discretion.
  • Points accumulate over time, but they can also have expiration on them.
    • The default, warning expiration is three months and is also under moderator discretion, so depending on the offense, it may be adjusted for more or less time.
• Bans
  • Reply bans are utilized in topics where an individual or group of individuals are breaking the rules set by our guidelines and is causing more harm than good to the topic by moving the focus away from the topic.
    • These can be adjusted to have an expiration time or be permanent at the moderator's discretion.
  • 15-points means losing posting privileges, similar to a reply ban but for the entire forum.
    • Private messages are still allowed for discussion with moderation staff should you want to plead your case, it is suggested you do so in an appropriate fashion.
  • 25-points is equivalent to removing all your account rights on TPU.
    • Once a user has caused enough degradation and problems to TPU's community, we will not allow those activities to continue in any capacity.
  • After you have accumulated enough infraction points from warnings within their pre-expiration time frames, you can also earn a ban just from earning infractions.
  • You can also have one infraction equate to any number of points or multiple infractions can accumulate if none of those infractions are expired.
    • This can allow us to give some members a limited break from involvement in the community to readjust their goals, attitudes and intentions.
• We understand that situations can get heated, interpretation of the written word can be far from intention, and that everyone has various levels of egos, emotions and sensitivity, but we always recommend to abstain from involvement in a negative situation that is against guidelines.
  • Avoiding or stepping back from situations and reporting, then moving on is one of the best ways to avoid earning infraction points.