Revision 3.0.3, 2nd May 2022
These rules are based in part on the phpBB forum rules, and have been adapted to suit The Transport Tycoon Forums.
1. Forum Rules
- Posts are to be made in the relevant forum. Users are asked to read the forum descriptions before posting. Users consistently posting to the wrong forum may be given a warning (see Policing below). If in doubt as to where a topic should go, post in one of the General forums, or the Off-Topic forum.
- Before posting about a problem with Transport Tycoon, Transport Tycoon Deluxe, TTDPatch, OpenTTD or Locomotion, please use the Search facility to see if your question has been answered before.
- Double-posts are generally not allowed. We realise that sometimes these can be accidental, and in cases where identical double posts are made, the extra post will be removed by a moderator or administrator. If a topic has not been posted to by any other user after a reasonable period of time (a few days at least), then a double post may be tolerated if new information is being added. Posting again simply to "bump" a topic is not allowed.
- Members are expected to post in a way that is respectful of other users. Flaming or abusing users in any way will not be tolerated and will lead to a warning. Remember that some users may be more easily offended than others. Treat other forum members in the manner you'd expect to be treated yourself.
- Expanding on rule 1(d), new members to the forum may not be familiar with the rules and with where everything is located, etc. Existing members should be patient and tolerant of new members. If a user asks a common question, point them gently to the FAQ or the appropriate topic - don't be abusive towards them.
- Members should remember this board is aimed at a general audience. Posting pornographic or generally offensive text, images, links, etc. will not be tolerated and will lead to a warning.
- Members are expected to respect the copyright of other users, sites, media, etc. Users linking to or asking for information on warez, cracks, etc. will receive a warning and their post will be removed.
- Members are expected to post in a way which is consistent with "normal writing". Members should not post excessive numbers of emoticons, large, small or coloured text, etc. Similarly users should not SHOUT or use excessive punctuation (e.g. ! and ?) in topic titles or posts.
- Members should use an appropriate, descriptive title when posting a new topic. Examples of bad titles include; "Help me!", "I'm stuck!", "I've got an error!", etc. Examples of good titles include: "Problem with GRF action 2", "Cannot build new stations", etc.
- Spam of any kind is not tolerated here under any circumstance. The term "spam" includes, but is not limited to, unsolicited commercial marketing, flooding, boasting about post counts, posts with fewer than 3 words (an exception is made for word games in the Forum Games board), and posts only containing smilies. Users posting spam will be warned and their post removed. If you do come across a spam post, please report it using the Report icon next to the post, and a moderator will attend to it as soon as possible. Please do not, however, reply to the spam message. We reserve the right to issue official warnings to users who reply to obvious spam messages.
- (this rule has been merged with rule 1(j), but this text is here to preserve the existing rule numbers)
- There exists a number of "word games" in the Forum Games subforum. If you decide to participate in these games, please restrain yourself to one post per ten minutes in each game, at the very least. Constant 'flooding' of the word games by one or two members will be frowned upon. Additionally, remember that the rule regarding making double posts applies to the Forum Games subforum as well.
- The moderators and administrators reserve the right to edit, remove or lock any post at any time. The determination of what is construed as indecent, vulgar, spam, etc. as noted in these points is up to the Moderators and Administrators and not members. Members are welcome to enquire about an administrator or moderator's action, and the administrator or moderator will disclose their reasoning behind such actions.
- If a topic has been locked by a moderator or administrator, please do not start a new topic to continue the discussion which lead to the original topic being locked. Doing so will result in the new topic being locked, and the user who restarted the discussion receiving a warning. If you would like to argue against a topic being locked, please contact one of the moderators or administrators (ideally the moderator who locked the topic) to argue your case.
- Attempts to imitate moderators or administrators, by using similar usernames, signatures or post content, may result in a warning, banning and/or username change, depending on the severity of the case. The specific action taken will be decided upon by the administrators.
- The above forum rules, where applicable, also apply to private messaging. Abuse of the private messaging system may lead to warnings (as above) and/or the revocation of private messaging for an abuser.
- While the forum interface is available in a variety of languages, please only post to the forum in English. You may of course have conversations within private messages in whatever language you desire.
- Once posted, messages can generally not be edited by users. There are some exceptions to this, however: the first post of any topic may be edited by the original author. Any messages under a week old may also be edited. After a week, a post becomes archived and can only be edited by an administrator or moderator in certain circumstances. If you feel you need an old post editing, and you have a strong reason for it, please contact an administrator or moderator to request this.
- Signatures may contain up to five lines (one line being that displayed on a browser opened to 800px width) of text (of small or normal size) and/or one image, valid combinations include; a single image of no more than 60px high, 800px wide and 25KB in size. Two images are allowable side-by-side if they abide by this height rule, and their total width does not exceed 800px. The total file size must be no larger than 50KB. Signatures containing an image this large may also include one line of small size text. Signatures containing an image of 30px high may include up to three lines of small size text or two lines of normal size text. Images of 15px height or less may allow up to three lines of normal size text or four lines of small size text. Please note that minor variations on this will usually be acceptable - in general, think of the common sense rule that your signature should not be longer than your post.
- Text sizes should be between 9 and 12 (small and normal). Text in signatures is subject to the same conditions as posts with respect to decency, warez, emoticons, etc.
- Links are permitted in signatures. There is no requirement to link to Transport Tycoon-related material, and commercial links of a general interest are permitted. However, the administrators and moderators reserve the right to remove any link that they deem to be unfit, for whatever reason. Links are included within the text and image limits above. Links to offensive or inappropriate sites, as interpreted by the moderators or administrators, may be subject to removal.
- Users abusing these rules may lose their ability to have a signature, in addition to receiving an official warning.
- Users are permitted to upload an avatar, or to link to one of their own. User defined avatars (this constitutes both uploaded and linked avatars) are to be no larger than 100 pixels wide by 120 pixels high, contain no image which attempts to portray the user as having an official status here (e.g. mimicking ranks or copying avatars of administrators/moderators), may not exceed 50KB in file size and must have a consistently high availability (i.e. links to images on slow servers or those prone to failure may be removed). Animated avatars are allowed, providing they abide by these rules and are not distracting. Flashing images, for instance, may be defined as being distracting by a moderator or administrator, and may be subject to removal.
- Avatars are subject to the same conditions as posts with respect to decency, etc.
- Users abusing these rules may lose their ability to have an avatar, in addition to receiving an official warning.
- Users may upload up to three attachments per post. Attachments should only be posted in appropriate topics. Inappropriately placed attachments may be removed by a moderator or administrator.
- Attachments may be up to 25MB in size each. Please use compression where possible. Also note that large inline images (any image with dimensions of up to 1200x900 will be displayed inline) may be removed by a moderator or administrator.
- A list of allowed file extensions is available by clicking on the appropriate link in the "Add an Attachment" section of the posting form.
- Attachments are subject to the same conditions as posts with respect to decency, etc. Vulgar, illegal or indecent attachments may be removed.
- If you believe an attachment to be a violation of copyright law, please contact Owen Rudge (forum username orudge), and provide the following: a link to the topic the attachment resides in, a link to the specific attachment (if multiple attachments exist in the topic), a description of how exactly the attachment is violating copyright, and preferably a link to the original source material the copyright of which the attachment is violating. He will speak with the other administrators and moderators about this and reach a conclusion. Action may not be immediate; please bear with us on this as we have to consider all sides of the argument. Priority may be given to requests from registered forum users over unregistered users. If you are not registered on the forums, you may e-mail abuse@tt-forums.net with your concerns. Please read our copyright policy below for further information.
- Violation of any of the above rules will result in a warning being issued. This is subject to the three strike policing policy of the Transport Tycoon Forums. Users will be warned a maximum of two times for offences committed. If a third offence is committed, the user will be banned for a period of two weeks. If, after being unbanned, the need arises for a fourth warning, the user will be banned permanently (at the administrator's discretion). Specifically:
First warning: You have been warned and are asked to change your behaviour so it fits the forum rules.
Second warning: You have been warned twice and are informed that one more violation of the forum rules will result in a temporary ban.
Third warning: You will be banned temporarily for a period of two weeks (unless otherwise decided upon by the administrators' discretion).
If you fail to change your behaviour after receiving a temporary ban, you will be banned permanently. Attempts to sign up with a new account after being permanently banned will result in any new accounts, and potentially your IP addresses, also being banned permanently. - Being abusive towards administrators or moderators after having received a warning will lead to an immediate additional warning. Should this exceed three strikes a temporary ban will be put in place as above.
- Users who feel they have been unfairly warned are welcome to contact an administrator or moderator to discuss the matter and/or appeal against their warning. The issue will be discussed with other administrators and moderators, and if collectively they feel you were treated badly, they may remove the warning.
- Any attempt to circumvent a temporary ban will lead to that ban being made permanent. Circumvention includes re-registering under a non-banned username, changing IP addresses to evade an IP ban, or registering a new e-mail account to evade an e-mail ban.
- If after being banned permanently a user attempts to sign up as a different user, the administrators reserve the right to ban any such accounts immediately and permanently.
- An exception to the three strike policy applies when users contact administrators or moderators personally (via any method) and post insulting, indecent or vulgar material. Such users may be subject to an immediate permanent ban. Likewise, posting illegal, hateful or abusive messages on the forums or sending private messages this nature to any forum user may also result in an immediate permanent ban.
- Permanent bans are a last resort and thought is given before implementing them. While the administrators may consider lifting permanent bans from time to time, this is a rare occurrence.
COPYRIGHT POLICY AND HOW TO REPORT VIOLATIONS
We do not tolerate any kind of copyright infringement on The Transport Tycoon Forums. Links to material violating copyright laws are not allowed. Remember that copyright law does not just cover material produced by large corporations, but also creations by individuals on these forums, such as NewGRF files and Locomotion modifications.
If in doubt about whether you can use third-party content in your own creation or post, remember:
- Asking permission to use content is not the same as receiving permission.
- It is ultimately up to the content owner to grant permission or not. If they do not reply to your request, then unless their licence allows you to make changes or reuse their content, you do not have permission and should not use that content. You cannot set a "deadline" for them to reply by.
- If an agreement is reached to allow use of content, then both the copyright holder and permission seeker are strongly advised to keep a time-stamped copy of the permission grant somewhere safe.
When reporting a copyright violation, please provide us with the following details:
- A link to the post, file or download in question
- The exact model or sprite the copyright infringement applies to
- Proof of the suspected copyright infringement - e.g. a copy of your older own work, or a link to an older thread showing it
Note also that making phony copyright violation claims may result in an official forum warning.
We request that all copyright claims are submitted to Owen Rudge via private message or via e-mail, as explained in Rule 4(e). Owen will endeavour to reply to all claims within 24 hours, but in certain situations it may take up to 72 hours to reply.
COPYRIGHT DISCLAIMER
All original "Transport Tycoon", "Transport Tycoon Deluxe" and "Chris Sawyer's Locomotion" graphics, sounds and music here are the intellectual property of Chris Sawyer and/or Atari, Inc. Copyright © Chris Sawyer 1994-1996, 2004. All rights reserved. The use of these graphics on The Transport Tycoon Forums is believed to constitute "fair use".
By posting on the forums, you agree that your posts and/or attachments will be archived permanently on The Transport Tycoon Forums, and you give the site owner the right to republish your content in this context only. Content will not be reproduced elsewhere by the site owner. Posts or attachments may be edited or removed in exceptional circumstances only.
COOKIES POLICY
The Transport Tycoon Forums will create session cookies on your computer when you log in. This enables the forums to keep track of your user account, and ensures you remain logged in when browsing the forums. No personal information of any kind is stored on your computer, other than your user ID and an encrypted session identifier. If you do not wish cookies to be stored on your computer by this site, your web browser will offer a mechanism to disable them. You may, however, find that your browsing experience is severely degraded by this. While in theory our forum software will work without cookies, external links to forum pages and even internal links within users' posts may result in the forums losing track of your session, and logging you out. We do recommend that you keep cookies enabled when browsing the forums for the best experience.
Note that this site does carry commercial advertising provided by Google, Inc. They may send you cookies, including cookies that may track your browsing habits. We have no control over these cookies, but you can read more about what information Google uses, and modify your preferences regarding Google advertising, on their web site.
If you have any questions or concerns regarding these rules and policies, please post a message in the Forum Suggestions and Feedback forum, or send a private message to Owen Rudge.