THE APOLYTON FORUM FAQ v2.1I) What is this?
This is obviously what the title says. 
II) What is the purpose of the FAQ?
It is to set, once and for all, they way the Apolyton forums work. The FAQ, however, is possible not to cover all the rules of the forum administration
III) Who runs these forums?
MarkG and DanQ are the Administrators, and Moderators of most of the forums. Some of the forums have a specific Moderator other than MarkG and DanQ
IV) What is the purpose of the forums?
The purpose is discussion on civ-related topics.
V) Who can post on these forums
Anyone has the priviledge to post on our forums
VI) Why do I have to register my login?
So that noone else can use your login and claim to be you
(revised in v.1.5, 7/August/99)
VII) Why do I have to give my e-mail address?
This is done in order to avoid fake and double logins.
Be assure that your mail will be kept private if you wish so. You can set in your preferences so that your mail is not publicly shown
VIII) Why do you ban free mail services(yahoo.com, hotmail.com, and others)?
Again to avoid fake and double logins. It is very easy to get a second e-mail to create a fake login. We ask that you use the e-mail address your ISP gave you. If you don't have such an address please contact us at markg@apolyton.net or dan@apolyton.net
IX) Where do I post what?
Each forum has a specific topic. Only on-topic discussions are to be held in forums. Off-topic discussions can be held in the Off-Topic forum.
X) What can I post?
Anything, as long as it is on-topic(or off-topic in the OT forum), and it's not covered in "What can't I post?"
XII) What can't I post?
Insults, flames, hatred comments, spamming, advertisements are an abuse of your priviledge to post and can result to a penalty
(revised in v.1.1, 26/July/99 and v.1.6, 27/September/99)
XIII) The forums are moderated, someone has the ability to ban people and close and delete threads. How can you have such rules? Where is freedom of speech?
Use of these forums is a privilege, not a right; in return for this privilege, you are asked to follow a few simple rules. The "freedom of speech" guarenteed by the U.S. Constitution only protects you from governmental intervention in your right to express yourself -- it doesn't give you free reign to use computer resources against the wishes of their owner.
XIV) Why do you censor certain words?
Because there are lots of people(including us) who don't like reading these kinds of words. The list of censored words may vary depending on the way people use the forums
XV) Can I have a second login?
No you can not. Creating a second login, using the login of someone else, etc is strongly prohibited
XVI) Which are the penalties?
The administrators have the choice of a simple warning, to a disablement of someone's login(allowing to read, not allowing to post) for a short or infinite period, to baning any access to the site for a short or infinite period. The administrators may ask from the members to decide on the kind of penalty in a certain case, but they are not obligated to.
(added with v.1.5, 7/August/99)
The third time someone loses his ability to post for something on the forums will be the last (the disablement will be permanent). In more serious circumstances, the first disablement could also be permanent.
(added with v.1.5, 7/August/99)
XVII) So, to be sure, what will most probably mean the disablement of my login?
Double Log Ons...
Massive spamming in a thread
Multiple identical comments posted in many different threads.
Hate Threads... Or seriously hateful posts
Massive Flaming
Behaviour which is considered distruptive to this site.
No explicit sexual discussion allowed
Doing anything after an Admin or Mod tells you not to do it.
Usually, common sense is the rule of how we want things to work here.
XVIII) Hey, I don't like these rules!
We're always open to criticism, but noone is forcing you to post on our forums.
(added with v.1.5, 7/August/99)
We were a bit reluctant to say it in this past, but this a privately owned forum, not a public square. It is our right to accept or not accept certain kind of discussion or certain kind of users. We will be seting the rules and enforce them as we see fit. We believe in freedom of speech, but again, this is not a public square(there are laws that apply to public squares too, but that's another issue ). We hope that you understand our position.
(added with v.1.05, 26/June/99, totally changed with v.2.0, 21/December/99)
XIX) What's these titles under each poster's login? And why some posters have special status?
Each poster has a status shown under his username. That is depended by his post count, like this:
Settler 1-30
Chieftain 31-100
Warlord 101-300
Prince 301-1000
King 1001-3000
Emperor 3001-10000
Deity 10001+
Note: this system is not intended to rank people in any way. It is only meant to give a "civish" modd on the forums. A few, specific, special posters have their own status so that they are easily recognized. For example Brian Reynolds has a "Civilization III Designer" status.
(added with v.2.0, 21/December/99, modified with v.2.1, 16/January/00)
XX) What happens if there is an abuse of the title system?
To avoid abuse of the title system there are the following rules:
a) spamming(=posting continuous one letter/ word/ phrase/ whatever posts): -20% of post count
b) disablement for one week(for whatever reason): -10% of post count(2 weeks, -20%, etc)
c) club threads(e.g. emperor thread only, etc): thread closed. starter gets -10% of post count
d) post count threads(e.g. "let's see if can get to 500' threads): thread closed. starter gets -10% of post count
one's status might even be changed to "village idiot" if he really acts like one to get to a higher level
FAQ History
v2.1, 16/January/00: Modified XX, penalties increased(a: 10%->20%, b: 5%->10%, c/d: 2.5%->10%).
v2.0, 21/December/99: Totally changed XVIX and added XVX due to new forum title system.
v1.6, 27/September/99: Revised XIII due to finding a better wording to describe our position.
v1.5, 7/August/99: Added XVII on most probable causes of disablement, added third disablement rule in XVI, revised VII to include info on e-mail privacy, explained more our position in XVIII
v1.1, 26/July/99: Revised XIII due to the appointment of Ming as the fist OT moderator
v1.05, 26/June/99: Added info about special posters in XVIX
v1.0, 31/May/99: First version posted