Message Board Terms of Service
Last Updated: November 22, 2002
ACCEPTANCE OF TERMS
GameFAQs provides the services to you, the visitor, based on its Terms of Service outlined here. The latest TOS can always be found here at http://boards.paradoxicity.com/tos.php. When using the services provided by Paradoxicity, you are subject to these posted terms. Usage of the services on this site denotes acceptance of these terms. The TOS may be changed at any time and without direct notice to individual visitors, so it is recommended that you check back with this page at any time you have questions or concerns.

REGISTRATION REQUIREMENTS
In order to view messages on the Paradoxicity message boards without user restrictions, no registration is required or necessary. In order to post messages on the boards, view boards with level restrictions, and use other advanced services, you must register with Paradoxicity using a valid e-mail address. Upon registration, an Activation Key in the form of a URL will be mailed to the address you provided. You must visit this URL using the web browser of your choice to activate the account. No posting privileges are granted until the account is activated, and inactive accounts may be deleted after 48 hours of creation. Paradoxicity does not require you to use your real name or other identification that can be easily traced to you, and the e-mail address you provide will be kept private. In order to register on Paradoxicity, registrants must be 13 years of age or older. Paradoxicity does not knowingly collect any information from any users under 13 years, and if it is found that an underage user has fraudulently registered, their account will immediately be terminated.

CONTENT NOTICE
By viewing the site content, you agree that all content on the Paradoxicity Message Boards is the responsibility of the person from which the content originated. You agree that neither Paradoxicity nor its sponsors or affiliates are responsible for all content that you personally post or upload. Paradoxicity does not directly control any content posted on the boards, and does not guarantee the truthfulness or quality of any content. You agree that while using the Paradoxicity message boards, you may be exposed to content that is offensive or objectionable, and that you will in no way hold Paradoxicity nor its sponsors or affiliates liable in any way, shape, or form for any harm or loss that may come to you or others as a result of viewing this content. Paradoxicity is not responsible for screening content before it is posted..

ACCOUNT RESPONSIBILITY
Users are solely responsible for protecting their accounts from access by others. You are strongly encouraged to select a hard-to-guess password and not re-use that password on any other sites where it may be read by the owners or adminstrators of that site.

While it is acceptable for users to maintain multiple accounts on Paradoxicity, Paradoxicity can and does track multiple shared accounts from a single or multiple computers as one account in terms of TOS violations. If the TOS is violated severely enough to warrant the banning of one account, all known accounts shared between a single or multiple users who use the same computer may also be banned for the actions of the violating account at the administrators' discretion.

Because of this rule, it is highly recommended that board users do not share their accounts with others, nor share their computers used to access the site with others, as the actions of some other person could easily directly impact all known shared message board accounts.

PRIVACY AND RELEASE OF INFORMATION
Under normal circumstances, Paradoxicity will never release your provided information to any third party without a court order requiring us to do so. However, in cases of certain severe and/or repeated TOS violations or illegal activities, we reserve the right to forward any and all known information about you and your accounts to your ISP (including libraries, schools, and places of employment), e-mail service provider, your ISP account owner (if someone else is actually paying for it), and any parties whose copyright has clearly been infringed by your actions on the boards.

MEMBER CONDUCT
You agree that you will not use this service to perform the following actions:

  1. Offensive Posting
    Posts of a patently offensive nature are not allowed. This includes, but is not limited to:
    • Using vulgar, profane, or sexually explicit language
    • Using race, religion, sexual orientation, culture, ethnicity, handicap, nationality, or gender as a means of insult
    • Using sexual preference terms as a term of insult in any way, shape, or form
    • Using threatening, harassing, defamatory, hate-speech, or libelous language
    • Posting or requesting links to or material from pornographic, obscene, or hate-speech web sites
    • Posting links to web sites with potentially offensive content without a clear warning
    • Descriptions or details about any sexual act or sexual organs
  2. Flaming (Insulting Other Users)
    Posts clearly insulting other board members, individually or as a group, directly or indirectly, are not allowed. This includes, but is not limited to:
    • Name-calling ("You're an idiot", "You moron")
    • Direct insults ("Screw you")
    • Offensive orders ("Go kill yourself")
    • Insinuations ("Are you stupid or something?") or insults towards family ("Your mom...")
  3. Trolling (Inciting Flames)
    Posts intended solely to annoy and/or offend other posters by going against the clear nature of a board or topic are not allowed. This includes, but is not limited to:
    • Provoking other users to respond with flames
    • Provoking fans of a particular system or game, especially on boards dedicated to that system or game
    • Making misleading topic titles
    • Asking obviously useless questions
    • Posting false information as fact
  4. Illegal Activities
    Posts that violate or incite others to violate the law are not allowed. This includes, but is not limited to, asking for or providing, in any way, shape, or form:
    • Illegal copies of copyrighted software (ROMs, Warez)
    • Methods of circumventing copyright protection (Cracks, No-CD Patches, CD Keys, mod chips)
    • Illegal copies of copyrighted music (MP3s), movies, videos, or any other type of media
    • Reprints of material from other web sites (pay or free)
    • Methods of cheating in online games
  5. Spamming
    Posts that clearly advertise a service or product are not allowed. This includes, but is not limited to:
    • Unsolicited commercial or personal web site advertisements
    • For-Sale/For-Trade/For-Auction/Wanted notices
    • "Make Money Fast" scams, chain letters, and pyramid schemes
    • Advertising for another message board (even other GameFAQs boards)
    Users are allowed to include a web site address in a signature, request comments on their personal site in a social setting, or providing only once an interesting or relevant link to another site.
  6. Off-Topic Posting
    The main purpose of the GameFAQs Message Boards is to provide discussion forums for various video and computer games and their systems. Topicality is expected and will be enforced on all gaming boards for current and recent systems, all system boards, and all special interest boards. On these boards, topics designed to get hundreds of posts with little or no content, topics that have nothing to do with the board's category, and other "social" topics are not allowed.
    • On system, gaming, or other topical boards with no corresponding Social board, new topics must clearly be related to the game, system, or topic in question. Discussions may vary broadly, but must essentially be about the topic in question.
    • On gaming boards with a corresponding Social board, new topics must clearly be related to the actual gameplay or story of that game. Things such as Tournaments, RPGs, pass-along stories, fan fictions, and the like should be posted on the corresponding Social board.
  7. Spoilers without Warning
    Posting "spoilers" (critical plot details) about games, movies, time-delayed broadcast events, or other media in the title of a topic or in a message without advance warning is prohibited.
    • To discuss such information in a topic, users should leave the title of the topic as vague as possible and include a warning (i.e. "SPOILER") in the topic title.
    • In a message post in a non-marked topic, users should leave several blank lines in a post after a warning before revealing any vital plot information.
  8. Disruptive Posting
    Posts that disrupt the message boards for other users, intentional or not, are prohibited. This includes, but is not limited, to:
    • Message posts or topic titles that force browsers to scroll horizontally
    • Large blank or content-free posts
    • "Bumping" multiple older topics (posting in them well after the last post)
    • Posting multiple identical or near-identical messages or topics, including "fad" topics
    • Intentionally hard-to-read topic titles (i.e. ALL CAPS, AlTeRnAtE cApS, no spaces, no or excessive punctuation, 1337 speak, et cetera)
    • Posting multiple hard-to-read or nonsensical messages in a single or multiple topics
    • Posting large ASCII art (except in social topics specifically calling for it)
    • Post counting (i.e. "First", "100th Post")
  9. Flooding, Invading, and Board Wars
    Users will be immediately banned (along with any associated accounts) for:
    • Flooding a board with multiple disruptive topics or posts
    • Invading another board (flooding a board as a group with multiple topics or posts)
    • Instigating, participating in, or retaliating in an invasion of a GameFAQs message board or any other online service
    • Announcing or inciting a "war" or any conflict with the regular members of another board
  10. Impersonation
    Users will be immediately banned (along with any associated accounts) for impersonating other boards users by creating and/or using a message board account with a name clearly intended to impersonate, mock, or antagonize another user, or otherwise falsely claiming to be another message board member.
  11. Harassment/Stalking/Privacy
    Continual harassing behavior directed towards a certain individual or group with the intent of an creating an intimidating, offensive, or hostile environment on the boards, with or without use of explicit or implicit threats is strictly prohibited. Posting private information without permission is also prohibited.
  12. Unauthorized Access
    Accessing or attempting to access any GameFAQs user account not belonging to the user in question without permission is prohibited. Accessing another user's account in this manner is grounds for immediate loss of all known accounts.
  13. Bugs and Exploits
    Using exploits or tricks in the GameFAQs code to gain privileges, access, or abilities not clearly intended by the board design is prohibited. While you are more than welcome to try and find any exploits away from the public eye, making them public or using them for personal benefit is grounds for immediate loss of all known accounts.
  14. Usernames, Profiles, and Forms
    Violating any of the above rules with a username, any part of the user profile (signature, quote, e-mail, IM), or via feedback forms (such as the Mark for Moderation function) is considered a severe violation.
  15. Other
    Any other activity that is clearly detrimental to the flow of conversation and normal activities of the boards and its users may also be deleted.
TERMS VIOLATIONS
Topics and message posts that violate the TOS will be deleted from the boards, and addtional penalties may be applied at the moderator's discretion. Re-posting deleted violations (yours or those of others) is also considered a violation.

Messages and topics may be removed at any time and for any reason at the sole discretion of Paradoxicity and its designated moderators. User accounts may be warned, suspended, or revoked at any time and for any reason at the sole discretion of Paradoxicity and its designated moderators. All determinations of what is "acceptable" and "unacceptable" content will be determined solely by Paradoxicity and whoever it designates as moderators. You agree that the decision of the moderators and administrators is final, and you may not legally contest their rulings.

Intentional, repeated, or severe violations are cause for the banning of your account, all use of the boards from your IP address or your entire ISP, and Paradoxicity contacting your ISP or other relevant parties concerning your activities.